25/52

I went to visit Amanda on the Sunshine Coast for the weekend, since she would be moving out of her little cabin at the end of the month and wanted to have a small farewell party. Dan & Tim were there too, and kindly offered me a ride back (I had quite the adventure trying to take the bus from the ferry dock). We went to the Persephone brewery, cooked hot dogs on the campfire, made focaccia bread, and smoked weed under the stars. The next day Kaylie and her girlfriend stopped by, which was nice because I hadn't seen her in months (or more). We sat on the patio at the coffee shop eating pastries and doing the NYT crossword, and then waited a bajillion years to get on the ferry. At least it gave me time to get gelato...

12x12: February

At Amanda's in Robert's Creek. She laughed when she saw me taking pictures of these socks; some of them have been there since the summer, when they got so covered in burrs & dirt during some adventure that she hasn't been able to get them clean.

February first — those are some keen cherry blossoms!

Amanda admiring the blossoms; Ian getting some love from the cat.


Amanda remembered that this was my favourite mug to use when she lived at Flatland, so she gave me my morning coffee in it without me even asking.




The front window at Amanda's; the marina in Gibsons, on my way to the ferry home.

It's hard to tell, but this is Natalie at her baby shower. I lost a bunch of photos on this roll due to distractedly opening the camera without winding the film back first, which is why I'm forced to share all these ones with light leaks. Some turned out nice, others were... a little disappointing. But those are the risks of film — I'm just glad I didn't wreck the whole roll.

12x12: January

My aim is to shoot 24 film exposures per month, and share the best twelve of them. Here are January's, though they were all taken on the 31st, when I went to the Sunshine Coast to visit Amanda. Click on any of the photos to view larger.

On the ferry.


Amanda's yard in Roberts Creek.

I don't know if this is true for the other cabins on the property as well, but the tub & shower at Amanda's are outside. For most of the year, solar panels heat the water for the shower, but in the winter there's not enough energy so there is no hot water running out of the tap. She keeps a pot of water on top of the fire for washing dishes, and in the winter warms her bath using the fire pit below it (the tub is built into a slab of rock, and two large rocks can be moved to cover the opening to keep the heat of the fire in). We heated the bathtub while we cooked & ate dinner (using the fire to roast some vegetables wrapped in foil), and put our towels to warm on top of the stove. I also discovered I'm actually pretty good at chopping firewood! I admit I was apprehensive about the idea of having an outdoor bath in the winter, but sitting in the warm tub out under the stars with a cool glass of beer was actually fantastic.




Various spots in Sechelt, where we went for groceries. The buses don't run very often, so while we waited I filled my coat pockets with nice rocks at the beach and we watched the sun set.

5/52

I took the Friday off work and took the ferry over to the Sunshine Coast to visit Amanda. I stayed until Sunday; the weather was lovely and it was so nice to go somewhere quiet. I love the city but it's good to get away from the busyness of it all, and feel a bit closer to nature sometimes.
When I came home I went to my parents' for Jimm's birthday dinner, and Alice drove me home which was nice.
The Canucks lost some games. It was cold outside.

23 September 12

Cookoff day! The theme was salad, and it was both better than the original salad-off because no one had any allergic reactions, and better than the previous two cookoffs because it had more than three competitors. It was a lovely evening, still felt a little like summer... at least until the sun went down.
As always, check out the cookoff blog to see the entries and who won!

08 July 12

Sarah and I went to Wreck Beach to meet up with Laryssa & Amanda & co., and after a lovely time swimming and eating snacks and socializing, we headed home to shower and change before Joel's birthday celebration at the Biltmore. Every time I go to Kitty Nights, I wonder why I don't go more often...

14 April 12

Liang came by in the late afternoon; we picked up some wine and then rode our bikes over to have dinner at Laryssa & Amanda's. We ate a lot of curry, got stoned, sat on the roof. Rode home. My brother Travers turned 19... normally I would have brought him some celebratory beers, but he doesn't drink.

07 March 12

Didn't take a photo on the sixth, so here are two from the seventh, which was cookoff day!



As always, check out the blog to see all the entries and the winner.

10 September 11

I met up with Amanda and we had beers at Steamworks, and then lunch at La Taqueria. Briefly stopped into Payless and MAC and then walked over the Granville Bridge to go to the Granville Island Market and buy heirloom tomatoes. I came home with my delicious treasures and attempted to reproduce the tomato & quinoa salad we had at Chambar, and it turned out reasonably well.

23 August 11

I was the official photographer at the opening of the Papergirl Vancouver art showcase at the Roundhouse. Please do check out the blog or look up the facebook page if you don't know what Papergirl is. Jeff and a cohort, Alix, got this started in Vancouver (Jeff later had to step aside as coordinator due to other obligations but stayed on as a volunteer) and by the time of the showing they had over 500 pieces of art donated to give away! Pretty amazing stuff.
You can see a few more photos from the event here and here.

02 July 11

In the afternoon Jeff and I went to Third Beach for Angelique & Ben's going-away party. It was a lovely day... up until we arrived at the beach and it began to cloud over. We stayed talking and eating freshly-picked salmonberries for an hour or two, and then I went to Maple Ridge for Alice's birthday party. It was a kegger and although I didn't intend to, I got pretty drunk. My camera got passed around a lot, so of the photos that are actually interesting and/or in focus, I'm really not sure who took them. Alice did four kegstands because she's amazing. Covered in mosquito bites, I took a taxi back to my parents' place around 2am and passed out in Alice's bed, as she had already called it a night on a futon at the party. She showed up around 1:30 the following afternoon with a Big Mac meal and said she felt fine. What a champ.

14 February 11

Cookoff day! I of course did take photos of the food (a couple of which can be viewed here), but I just really love this shot of Amanda and Tim.

12 February 11

Brunch at Mal & Kaylie's again, and in the evening, party at Amanda's in honour of hating Valentine's day. It was a wonderful party full of booze and friends and good conversation. Here is Amanda looking lovely in a dress she borrowed from me.
This photo got explored on Flickr, which I found out only by chance... I really wish they had some form of notification for this stuff!

24 January 11

Cookoff! The theme was food you ate as a child. I made Mickey Mouse-shaped Scotch style pancakes with veggie sausage and tied for second place. Kaylie came in first with her Frito pie (basically chili/salsa with avocado and cheese and Fritos). This is Amanda not wanting to leave any of Yaara's chocolate cake on her plate.

04 December 10

Amanda and her peacock-themed outfit at my birthday party. It was a lovely party with delicious food and many gifts of booze and hugs from friends. Every time I host a party I am childishly afraid that it will just be me and like two other people standing around in nice clothes in front of a table of food, but happily that hasn't happened yet.
The rest of the photos can be found here.

29 August 10

Amanda enjoying samosas at Deserts on the Drive. Afterwards a bunch of us went to the Sunday Service which was pretty fun. The food there is not that great but at least the beer isn't too expensive.

13 August 10

Malloreigh and Amanda, at the Perch for Mal's 25th birthday celebrations. Food, drinks, cake, and good times were had by all. A few more photos can be viewed here.

16 May 10

Amanda and Steph came over for dinner. Jeff made delicious pizza and I made sangria, and also red velvet cupcakes for dessert. And then suddenly it was 9pm and everyone was like "oh crap I have to work tomorrow". Stupid/awesome daylight savings time.

07 March 10

Amanda drinking chai at the curry-off. I made swiss chard dahl as an homage to my accidental chard pie of the year before and everyone laughed.
Earlier in the day we went for dim sum for Tamara and Val's birthday, which was terrifying and delicious. Mmmm, balls of random meat...

20 November 09

People smoke out in the alley on Amanda's birthday. It was a wonderful night, full of friends and kissing and booze and dancing and good times.