let's just say, hypothetically...

showdown.

2012-03-10T12:59:00.002-08:00

after pressure washing my deck to within an inch of its life, i took my show on the road to issy's. there was some green grime out there that needed washing off so it was done in a quick and furious manner. then as i am able bodied, somewhat, i broke out the ladder and started in on the eaves - it had been a while since anyone had cleaned them out and having done them as a kid i figured today, or that day, was as good as any to be up on a ladder, in the rain, cleaning crap out of gutters.
it started out badly when the grape arbor i had put my ladder up against - one that has never given an ounce of grapes worth eating - decided that it had had enough, broke and sent my ladder going one way and me the other...it's kinda funny how as your falling you have to decide, and quickly, where and how you're gonna land.
it worked out. but the grape arbor is now done. and really, it's day was done a long time ago.
in the end, a clean green free house at issy's. good stuff.
last night it was my first visit back to refuel since being back from the world trip and i was ready for some snacks - as were corie and the garbs. i have nothing really new to add about a visit to refuel except that last night the garbs and i, corie passed on the opportunity, tried the roasted bone marrow for the first time....i'm pretty sure there will be a second and third time for that. good. really good. the burgers and dry ribs were awesome as well...and the margs.
today i have been senor domestic and cleaned the yard. lots of dust here lately...like you give a shit...anyhow..i have bigger fish to fry that my dust anyways...
i have a grocery store below me now (beware i am about to make some overly dramatic statements but right now i feel them...for reals...) it's a no-frills. not that the type matters, because it doesn't. but. for the last six months they have been doing construction down there and making a fucking racket every day. drilling, building of an elevator, tons of contractors..and that's the way that goes. i get it. you're building something. but now, i get to hear the daily goings on down there. the loading bay doesn't seem to be a huge deal with the trucks and trailers doing deliveries in the mornings - though last night at 7 pm a huge semi was backing to do a delivery...nice. but what i hear is some sort of system they have in place for moving shit around down there. things with steels wheels, i assume, that make a hell of a racket. and it's every day. not all day. but every day. and early.
sure, i'm an early riser but, i'm not a fan of this noise. and while i understand that i am living in a city and living with others, etc...this shit sucks.
i am going to try and see what they've got going on in the back that's making all the noise and scraping sounds, and i have heard that the guy who owns the store - alphie, is a good guy. so....we'll see if something can be done. if not...well, we'll see then but....i may have to think about moving.
seriously.
the increased traffic in my alley, the trucks bringing deliveries, the scraping and moving noises, etc...i don't know, honestly, if i'll be able to take it...i never thought a grocery store would make me wanna move but, maybe...just maybe.
i think the garbs was right last night when he said it was an age thing...and not that i'm a geezer but, i see the city differently now that i did when i was younger. i need the things the city offers less and less every year. i don't need the night clubs, i don't need all the sports teams, i'm not looking to make the scene...i'm here for a few reasons really...my life is here. but my life really is a small part of the whole city. my relationship with garvie, issy, a handful of close friends, and my job. that's it. that's why i am here.
my reality is i need a couple of good places to eat, a movie theatre, my job or a job, a team to play hockey with and decent internet. i don't need 90% of the stores on fourth or main street. and i don't need all the traffic...sadly, the work is here so i'll stay....but if i win the lotto ever, all bets are off...

g. xo

busy bee...

2012-03-08T10:34:00.001-08:00

since coming back i have been slacking a little...and why not? we, the gang at the BOC have no project on the go, i have time to sit and look out the window at the day each morning and relax a little...
ok. i need to get going.
i have made a list of things that need doing and today i'm starting in on it. yesterday i went for lunch with issy and saw all the work she has done in her basement - wow! and it looks great and i'm glad i could help a little here and there...the garbs too. i put a few more things on craigslist and they are now the way out. nice. soon that basement will look great and when it comes time for issy to sell it won't be a huge deal getting shit out of there...years away but still great to get shit done now.
i just swept my deck in prep. for the power washing i'm gonna do later today and then i'll pack everything up and take the whole show out to issy's and get rid of some green out there. power washing is very satisfying...you just have to be careful not to get too close to shit or it becomes a paint removal tool and a concrete fucker upper.
but i'm happy to have the list now to guide me each day....because i find it very easy to sit on the couch and drink coffee and just think about doing things...

g. xo

maybe....

2012-03-07T19:45:00.001-08:00

....there's something you want....

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/zip/2890587582.html

g. xo

If I ever....

2012-03-07T16:50:00.001-08:00

...am talking on a cell phone in a coffee shop talking with headphones on and have a suit that's tight and a briefcase full of bullshit...
Kill me.

G.

home is where the heart is.

2012-03-04T18:27:00.000-08:00

yup.
i made it.
many states and planes rides later. i am here.
garvie is here and is making me dinner and i am very happy about that... both for dinner but more that i get to see her.

more later.

g. xo

hello santa cruz, hello san francisco...hello I-5

2012-03-03T21:34:00.001-08:00

after a nice sleep at the old motel 6 i was ready to go - as usual at the old man time of 5 a.m. good lord. my sleep on this trip has been nothing short of weird. and fucked. yet i seem to be making it ok.
got into santa cruz around nine am this morning and decided i needed to do some laundry as my car was getting a little smelly...not terrible but...and it worked out well because one of the stores i wanted to go to wasn't open until ten am so...all good.

after i picked up a new pair of sunglasses - same drill as the last three times i have been there, it was off to do a little walk around and then get some lunch...and my friends, we have a new top dog in the world of mexican food in santa cruz.

los pericos taqueria is fucking amazing. i had driven by it many times before but had always gone to my mainstays but today i decided to give it a go....good lord! as i said the other day i wondered if i would ever find something as good as little poca cosa again....well, today i did. totally different, but amazing. it made my day. next time i'm in santa cruz there won't be any doubt about where i'm getting my lunch...and maybe my dinner.

then it was off to the surfer statue to drop off some shoes. a while ago i dropped off a well worn pair of shoes and left some change in them hoping one of the dudes in santa cruz that needs a pair of shoes would take them. of course i have no idea who got the shoes but i have always hoped it was a homeless guy who could use them. today i put another pair there that i was done with. hopefully tonight a guy there is wearing a new pair of nikes.

i left santa cruz and headed into san francisco for a couple hours...i wasn't going to there at all as garvie and i were just there a couple of months ago but i remembered a couple of things i wanted to pick up so i went downtown and, since it was several hours later i needed a little pick me up before i hit the road towards portland.....so i dropped by pancho villa for a couple little tacos...not as good as santa cruz but still great....and then it was get out of town time...
so here i am in weed, california and tomorrow i will be in portland and then home...in my own bed...i look forward to it...

see you soon...

g. xo

stories in LA, sandstorms and back tracking to austin.

2012-03-02T21:24:00.003-08:00

ok...

i have to say that yesterday in tucson was about as perfect a day in that town as can be had. lunch at little poca cosa, coffee at epic coffee, a very nice visit with renee's parents - george and nancy - then a margarita at the cup cafe inside the congress hotel and then, the topper, before leaving town a short trip to the vacant lot at stone and 22nd where a couple of guys make sonoran hot dogs. perfect.
then it was off towards phoenix, actually just west of phoenix, and then to bed. so good. i wanted to get on the other side of town so in the morning i was not going to have to deal with the morning traffic.

and it worked...but what was interesting was the wind. and the sand. and then the two together. my arms are actually kinda sore tonight and tired from keeping my hands hard on the wheel as the gusts of wind were so hard that they would force the car sideways at times...not un-nerving at all. and i got to see and be in my first sandstorm. it was small but it gave me a very good idea what a big one would be like. the pictures i took don't really do it justice. it's like being in a fog on the highway except it's sand and super sandy. super cool.

i rolled into town and made my way to see libby at her shop ranch-n-roll. her birthday was yesterday so it was nice to be able to give her a visit as my birthday present to her. libby is awesome and has had, to say the least, an interesting life since moving to LA three years ago. (she had moved there to be with her boyfriend of eight years - they had been dating long distance all that time...) and then after she came south it kinda all went south. and the story of how it all did fall apart os insane...it will be repeated in select company but not here.
we took her dog tango for a walk and had some tacos and talked and it was awesome to see her. she's very happy despite all that's gone on and i think things are gonna go her way from now on.

i then got i my stinky ride and drove down to the area of town that shauna is now living with, with the her new man, and after a short look at her place - an old store front - we went and got some coffee and a coupe treats...the sun and such seems to be agreeing with her and she, like libby, seems happy with life in LA...
then it was time to get on the highway and make my way north. i can only stay in LA for so long and right now any city and all the traffic after being out on the road with no traffic is hard to take.

oh...ok...so austin texas. here's my thoughts on that town.
great looking city and the people i met there, just a few but, were all very nice and happy to help and give directions and...but i think unless you're there for a specific purpose - like south by southwest (music festival) or to run the restaurants every night, and see the shops on south congress street...it's like most other cities. i'd say that portland actually is a city i'd prefer to spend more time in. i think to really enjoy auatin i'd need to drink more. and then even more. i'd definitely go back, but not alone. i think being there with someone and doing things together is more austin style.
ok...
there.

i'm actually shacked up in a motel 6 and am a little annoyed that for the second time at a hotel on this trip i have to pay extra for wi-fi.
bullshit...

ok. bed time...below a bunch of pics for the last while...

g. xo

i had bbq at this place. doggy 'hood. and the place had no windows.

night in the middle of texas.

i wanted to try the chicken here but they were closed.

libby's shop in LA.

sandstorm action.

tacos in LA.

a nice drink at the congress.

a long way. for one thing.

2012-03-01T15:04:00.002-08:00

i know how it looks. i'm aware. i often drive long distances for one thing - generally food, but not always, sometimes a baseball game, a concert, a....place thing here. i have gone to san francisco for a burrito and a ball game. i know how that looks, especially to the border dudes.
and i know, also, that it seems odd that i would drive all the way somewhere, say thousands of miles in some cases, and stay, eat, watch a game, or...and then head home, or somewhere else. but, i am driven by the greatness that is at the other end. or something at the other end i'm willing to drive and see if it's all it's cracked up to be...
and so. today. i woke-up in van horne, texas and knew i had a six plus hour drive to tucson, arizona ahead of me...and sure. no biggie. but i wanted to make it to little cafe poca cosa before they closed at 2:30 p.m. there are to restaurants with the poca cosa name here, the night time fancy poca cosa, and the little sister, little cafe poca cosa. both amazing. but i have come to love the little one. and so i was off and running.
i made great time and was walking into little poca cosa at 1:00 p.m. and was so excited i could barely contain myself. they have an amazing menu of very traditional mexican food. not a burrito on the menu. and the people who run it play loud music and make you give them hugs when you come in...and because i can never decide what to get, they have a 'surprise plate' where they bring you three items of their choosing...
today that was: cochinito en chili colorado - slow stewed pork in a spicey chili sauce, pollo negro mole - chicken in a black mole sauce and a roasted pepper soup. plus beans and tortillas, salad and chips and house made salsa.
seriously.
ten bucks. oh, it was 14 with horchatta...such a rip off...i told garvie that i almost started crying after my first bite and that it's the kind of food that's so good you're not sure you'll ever taste anything as good ever again...(you will...but...)
because i had driven so far they gave me a bag of chips and a tamale to take with me...gratis.

i love that place....!
so in the end, sometimes the trip is well worth the while...and all the stuff i get to see inbetween...
then it was off to get my car washed and the oil changed before i head off to LA and then north to santa cruz, etc...and then home.
home. that will be nice.

i'll give my report on austin later. i'm still too stoked about my lunch to tell you now.

g. xo

muggy and hungry and thirsty and....

2012-02-29T05:57:00.001-08:00

welcome to austin.

i generally like to get to places, cities in general, long before the ruch hour starts so i don't get all caught up in traffic jams when i'm trying to find an exit and then have to try and cross three lanes when i see the one i need to get to.
so.
i am now in austin and did exactly that. beat the crowd. all of them. and made my way over to south congress st., where all the shit that's happening that i need to see is happening - according to my research. and it would appear, well not appear, it's true, that nothing opens or gets going until 11 a.m.
ok. i have a few hours to relaxo.
i met some kid at jo's coffee shop when i first got here who was a particular lad. he asked me why i changed my shoes when i got out of the car. so i told him that i rotate my shoes so they have time to air out. he then started asking me all sorts of questions...and in a very peculiar way. he kept saying sorry for asking me questions, and calling me sir and saying how i was blowing his mind - i had told him where i had driven from, etc...it became increasingly clear he was a guy who hung out at this coffee shop because they had outdoor seating - because he was there long before they opened, and he may have actually been up all night and was, maybe, still on some sort of buzz.
maybe.
i told him i was gonna go for a walk and come back when the coffee shop opened.
which i did. and he was still here when i came back. he's since left and gave me a very odd look when he walked by me.
cool.

ok. more coffee.

g. xo

leap.

2012-02-29T03:53:00.001-08:00

i sometimes, as much as i love being out here and driving and looking around and..., get overwhelmed by the maps and the distances to my 'next' stop...so i don't look at maps a lot - only when i need to. i generally start out knowing what interstates i wanna connect to and directions i wanna go and it all works out. but, when i stop sometimes and really look at the map. holy cow. (and this comes from a guy who has driven to every state in the union but one or maybe two) i have bitten off a huge chunk this time out. it has been two and a half days of heavy driving - something i know a few of you know about having done these long hauls yourself. but. holy cow.
i made my way through kentucky, tennessee and arkansas and am now just outside austin, texas - which is my next port of call. i have passed by here a few times on other trips but have never gone to austin. so today it will be coffee, bbq, walking around, more coffee, more bbq and then my real trek west begins with my sights set on tucson, az., and the congress hotel, cafe poca cosa and a margarita at the cup cafe.

have fun today...

g. xo

a few pics from the road.

the waffle house, bluegrass and saying good bye to london

2012-02-27T14:24:00.001-08:00

wow. what a day and half it's been.
i woke up and london the other morning and went to bed near scranton, pa. i actually overshot my mark last night thinking i was where i wanted to be but this morning has to backtrack forty miles - which in the grand scheme of things is nothing so...all's well. through Massachusetts and new york and in Pennsylvania. and good night...

and today it's been more PA, west Virginia, Ohio and now Kentucky. i feel like i'm missing one but i can't care right now as i sit out side a macdonald's using thier free internet and thinking about getting through Louisville.. it's been a good day. the weather is amazing today - i've actually had my window open when in town just driving around, which i did a little in Cincinnati.

i went by the ball park to have a look and to buy a hat...i kinda have a loose rule about only having hats from ball parks i have been to but before i was a tigers fan, i was a reds fan. sparky anderson, johnny bench, joe morgan, pete rose, et all...so great. so i bought a hat today that has on the side of it, the logo for the 1975 world series as that would have been when i was a huge fan.

i'll drive for a bit more and then find a place for dinner and then a place to sleep. i am trying to get to Texas and by pass most of this area as i spent a bunch of time here years ago,...i also find the east so congested, i just wanna drive in the middle of nowhere Texas - alpine, marfa, austin...
ok.
have fun...this was my lunch today...i love the waffle house...

g. xo

ok, in a pinch.

2012-02-25T09:49:00.003-08:00

one last look

well, i made it from berlin to london and due to the time i arrived and when i leave tomorrow i have gotten a hotel right by heathrow airport. i booked in on-line the other day and it was cheap. i was surprised by that but now that i see the hotel and my room, not so surprised.
i think this comfort hotel has a nice side and a side with rooms in it that they rent to those, like me, who book on-line and get the super cheap rate. like 1/3 of the posted rate once you get in the door.
and you pay extra for internet, and my bat tub is very old and i can feel the bed springs, and....oh....it's only for one night.
and there's something weird with my seat selection with delta on-line but i'll get that sorted in the morning...
ok...just checking in...

have fun today.

g. xo

ich bin weg!

2012-02-24T20:38:00.001-08:00

i think there may have been a meeting somewhere in the city yesterday. one where they all decided to give me whack directions at every turn...either that or i wasn't paying attention. or both. or a million other reasons i just couldn't find where i was going.
i had been congratulating myself on the quick study i had been on learning the s-train, the underground, etc. and thinking how i was pretty proud of myself on learning the maps. yup. i was.
then i decided, as a last little adventure, to try and find KaDeWe, continental europe's largest mall...now why would i want to go to the biggest mall in all of europe? one: my pal mike had just been to berlin and said it was insane and b: well, i have my reasons. and i'll tell you this, once i found it, it's huge. and it's a big square building that houses all the brands that you would find at say macy's or the bay or old eaton's but also all the holt renfrew brands and fancy pants stuff. and, as far as i could tell, is one big store, not a mall in the sense of pacific centre on vancouver where there are a bunch of individual stores in one huge building.
good lord.
it was all going well until i got off the train at charlottenburg. which i was sure i was suppose to. then i walked to a small mall and asked the info woman how to get to the big huge ass mall. she gave me directions and i was off...no biggie. i went to the subway she had told me to go to and it all seemed wrong. so i went back to the info booth and asked her again. she said i had gone to the wrong one and that i was to go outside and take a left and up the street five minutes was the underground i wanted. so i did that. well over five minutes up the street i was now in a whole new zone and no new underground. i then reverted back to my 'look at their hands when they speak not what they say always' mode and backtracked to the small mall and then up the street five minutes and i was at the right underground and, after asking for the correct train, on my way to the big as mall.
after going in and conducting my business i decided i would try another currywurst to see if it was any better in this part of town. nope. it wasn't. as far as i can tell, currywurst is just a big wiener with ketchup on it. period. if you like that sort of thing, you'll love it.
then it was back on the underground and i knew i could go one stop back and get to the zoo station, famous from the movie 'christian F' and the scorpions song 'the zoo' and U2's album...anyways. i asked a woman on the platform if the train i was about to get on took me to the zoo station, she said yes in english.
well, it didn't. it went the exact wrong way. so i had to get off and then wait for a train going the other direction back to the zoo station and then connect to a train to my main stop near my hotel.
holy cow...
after all that i was done. i watched a little BBC and sky news and called it a night. i had thought about going to see the second lambchop show but it was sold-out and the night before prices had been very high to buy scalper tickets and i didn't have it in me to negotiate with a german ticket hound. i had also thought of going back to the taco joint for a little dinner but the wind and rain kept me from that was it is quite a walk from here.
so bed early and up early as i'm off to the airport soon and back to england where i have a hotel near heathrow booked and will catch my flight back to boston sunday morning.

i think, for me, five days in berlin was about right. i saw a lot of very interesting sights - museums, parks, stores, etc. walked a ton. ate some good and weird food. saw lampchop. met kurt. ate some berlin tacos. met some dudes from the netherlands. it was well worth the trip.
now. some packing. some breakfast. and one more train ride to the airport.

auf wiedersehen

g. xo

run forrest run!

2012-02-24T05:36:00.000-08:00

i left here in plenty of time this morning to walk to the reistag but decided because the weather was super shitty to take the train...and i took a short cut. or so i thought and by the time i got myself un-lost and back on track and to the train i had twenty minutes to make it there. they tell you to be there at least a half hour before your scheduled time and i was thinking i could be fucked.

i made it off the train and started in the direction of the building, i saw it up ahead and in my haste actually went to the wrong building. not only did i go to the wrong building, i went in the wrong building and went through their security check. and when i got my shit together on the other side of the security check the guy at the counter was wondering who i was and why i was there. so i showed him my letter of admittance. that's when he looked at me and got up out of his seat and came out from behind his glass and pointed me in the direction of the correct building.

now, let me point out....if you know the building i was to go in, if you have been here and do that/this...you know it'd pretty hard to make the screw-up. the building next to the reistag looks nothing like the reistag. at all. i was so hellbent on making it there on time and saw the dome and then looked down and followed a few other folks who looked like tourists into the other building....duh...

so out i went and over to the right reception area just outside the actual reistag building and in i went, with three minutes to go. now having actually been there i think if one was a few minutes late it would be ok...

so now i'm having that kind of hot sweat - i had out on my top layer of long underwear because it was so cold out this morning - the kind of sweating where you don't know if you can ever feel right again and that everyone else around you looks perfectly fine and every hair's in place and you're a mess....like when you're on a subway in london or new york in august. like that. i was like that. and i just had to wait while other assembled, because they take you in groups to the main building. i couldn't wait until the walk outside to the main building. finally it came and by the time we got there, a few hundred yards, i was almost back to normal.
and we were in.

now the reistag - where the parliament meet, is an impressive building on it's own but the dome on top is amazing. it rises, i believe, 50 metres or so and once inside you walk along a circular walkway to the top while wearing a headset that tells you all about the building and stops you and gets you to look in certain directions to see sites in the city of interest.

and once you've reached the top you come back down a separate walkway that parallels the other walkway. or runs directly underneath...whatever you wanna call that.

it was worth the rain today to see the dome. sure, the view sucked. but that's ok. as my last official duty as a tourist i was happy to have seen it. you should too if you come here. just don't forget about registering in advance as you can't just show-up and go in like a carnival ride. (thanks to my friend paul t. brooks for letting me know that ...)
ok. now i need some down time. my feet will thank me.
i may or may not go and see if i can get into lambchop tonight...we'll see. i may just need to watch the bbc and relaxo. i leave tomorrow morning so a decent sleep should be in order.

have fun.

g. xo

ps.... i went for a walk after going to the post office and did some exploring in an area not far from my hotel - oh, note....my hotel is right on the diving line or tourisy and locals...the locals area is great. tons of shops, coffee places, post office, grocery stores and lots of places to eat....i found a taco joint run by tow guys from the states, well, one is an aussie who lived in philly. pretty good stuff. i may go back for dinner...their logo is funny. it's a woman who looks more japanese than mexican...

been there. done that. got the (lambchop) t-shirt.

2012-02-23T23:04:00.000-08:00

yup. i did. i had to. and now i'm wearing it under my coat today as i make my way to the reichstag. the german parliament building with it's impressive dome that you can walk inside and see the city from. i had to make an application to go, something everyone must do who wants to have a look. i hear it's fairly impressive.
after that another quick roam around and the mailing of a few things and getting ready to leave tomorrow. back to england. then back to boston.
ok.

on three.

g. xo

make mine (a) lambchop.

2012-02-23T15:19:00.001-08:00

i keep thinking about a line mishi said i should use on anyone in berlin who asked me why i was in town. "i'm here for the lambchop". sadly, no one has asked me why i'm here. that's ok. i know why. and really it's all part of one big road / flying trip but the lambchop show was the straw that stirred this drink. and so it was tonight.
lambchop at the babylon theatre.

me: excuse me, kurt i don't wanna bother you.

he had said he'd be outside smoking after the show ended and there he was with his drummer scott. just hanging out. smoking. like he said.

kurt: (leaning in towards me looking for my hand which i gave him and he shook it) that's ok. hi.

me: i drove from vancouver to boston and then boarded a plane and flew here to see lambchop play

kurt: (leaning in again and grabbing my should with his hand) you didn't have to come so far, we're playing boston.

me: yes, but i live in vancouver.

kurt: oh...

me: anyways. great. i'm gonna try and come tomorrow as well.

kurt: thanks...

me: bye.

and so it was. i hope he doesn't think i'm a stalker...i had met some dutch guys earlier in the evening who kept me occupied while we were waiting for the band to start. they didn't really know lambchop but had heard a few things and liked what they had heard. they had driven down from holland and were just hanging out for a few days. peter and huke. good guys.

i told ailsa this and i'll tell you now as well. there's no way that the show could live up to what i had in my mind's eye and ears after such a long trip and the time to think about it, over and over. so. i'll say this.
it was great. and as i told ailsa, it's him. and it's how the songs he's written move through him and are translated by his band for him. all great players. his voice is as amazing live as it is on cd or lp. yes lp. it was a lower tempo show than i had expected, with only three so-called uptempo numbers thrown in but, the songs are so great, and he's so humble and charming and...shit, it sounds like i'm trying to date kurt wagner...anyhow...i am very happy i saw them and may, indeed, try and go to the show tomorrow.
then again, i may just leave it as is.

big day. i'll let you in on what's up tomorrow. tomorrow. it's cool.

g. xo

bones.

2012-02-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

like an interpol album cover

i have figured out one thing for sure while here. better to watch the hands sometimes when getting directions than to actually listen to what they're telling you/me. i know that when i was learning spanish last year that i often mixed-up the words for left and right and up and down. i think some of the germans here have the same problem. and i got to be part of that confusion today.

i think i walked five miles-ish to the museum of natural history when it should have been about a mile because i kept getting different directions from a variety of different people. the rain had stopped so it was fine but my feet and lower back got a decent workout well before noon.
but the reward at the end, the museum of natural history, was well worth it. fir those of you who have been to the museum of the same name in new york will know what i mean. i love that stuff - the dinosaurs, the stuffed lions and hippos, the jars of specimens, etc...love it. i know ailsa's daughter fiona would have loved it...along with the 150 other kids that were there.

from there i made my way over to the bauhaus museum which was cool but short on supply. it was just one main floor and over before you knew it. but i think that signified the end of garn's berlin museum tour. i had bought a pass for 9 euros that got me into almost everything i saw and if i had had to pay for each thing it would have been well over 30 euros so...and i did find ten euros on the ground today so that kinda paid for my pass...

i ate a thing called a flammkuchen today...i had read about it and had to try it. it's like a super thin pizza but made from a very different dough. think of the thinnest thin crust pizza you've ever had, and then make it half again thinner. no cheese. but they have sour cream and assorted toppings - mine had bacon and two eggs...good stuff.

i also found a great coffee joint today that i will be trying to go to at least a couple more times...good coffee and i had a nice slice of apple strudel.

i've made my way back to the hotel and will now have a little relaxo before heading out to find the venue that lambchop is playing at...

have fun.

g. xo

some action from the museum of natural history today.

i came across the saudi consult...nice building.

a town with all seasons

2012-02-23T00:09:00.000-08:00

in keeping with the trend, today it is raining. not hard but it's nice to see the weather is covering all the bases while i'm here. i don't mind the rain but am not crazy about the wind, which has also shown up to greet me. it's ok.
i was suspect of the breakfast they were offering for me when i first checked in here for an additional few euros...but i have to say. it's kinda perfect.
juices, many types of coffee, various meats and cheeses, pastry items, breads, eggs, yogurts, fruit, etc...it a: takes the guesswork out of where to go for breakfast and b: is kinda what i want anyways. love it. i was suspect only because of what you get in most other hotels when they offer you a 'continental breakfast' as a bonus to your stay. more like bullshit breakfast.
i think today i'm going to check out the museum of natural history as they say, so they say, they have the world's largest dinosaur skeleton there. i love that shit. and if i can make it, i'm going to try and see the bauhaus museum because you need to see stuff made for regular folks.

have fun today!

g. xo

wearing holes in my shoes

2012-02-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

ok.
i'm fuckin' tired. i've been walking like a crazyman - which really is the way to do any big city - nyc, london, etc...but, at least for me, i'm fine and then all of a sudden, i'm done. and that is now, for today.

i started my day at the DDR museum (which i found kinda weird...) and then made my way to the national gallery - which, so far, is the big winner. they are having a huge exhibit of Gerhard Richter - a name i did not know (at least not in my recent memory bank but, after i looked him up last night before heading over to the museum today, i knew some of his work and was stoked to go and see it in person) those into sonic youth in the 90's would know one of his paintings as the cover to the daydream nation album.

pretty cool stuff. a lot of the paintings are in the photorealism vein but done almost as if the camera was slightly out of focus, while other pieces are very realistic. he also does abstract work. he's awesome. like i need to say so.

downstairs in the same gallery are the big wheels of the art world - Warhol, Lichtenstein, Judd, Picasso, Bacon, Rothko, etc...so great.

i spent a long time there and then went over to the Brandenburg gate, looked around like a million other tourists did today alone and then walked the long walk back to my hotel. i am done...for now.
tomorrow...a little more and then lambchop in the evening.
good times.
below...a whole load of photos.

enjoy.

g. xo

berliner dome.

that tall lookout thing.

had to try one.

brandenburg gate.

this is cool. an sea of blocks of different sizes that spans a city block-ish. you're not suppose to get up on them but everyone does. it screams for you to do that and the sign that says you're not to do it is very small and on the ground covered in dirt. so i went up.

great bronze statues of a family and one of some children.

more gerhard richter.

great glass building i came across.

not sure if you can read the words printed on the piece next to the piece.

more richter.

this glass piece is his too. it is five or six pieces of glass stacked against each other with a small gap inbetween each one. it gives you several images of the reflection at once.

the boys.

statue of worker.

looking for chevy chase

2012-02-22T01:08:00.000-08:00

the view out my window this morning.

i think there must be, and i'm sure if i did some research i could find out, some sort of reading break or pre-spring break because there are a ton of students in berlin. there were a bunch on my flight from england coming over to museum hop, my hotel is full of kids around 16 or 17 years old, german kids, but not from berlin and in the museums yesterday there were swarms of little kids with teachers in tow.
and what a difference a day makes. it's very vancouver-like in that it snowed yesterday for a good portion of the day and now there's no sign it ever did. it warmed up last night and rained and presto-chango, sun...or more sun than yesterday.
i'm off to roam around and see what's what and will report back later on. two specific museums are on the agenda for sure but after that....

g. xo

sometimes you gotta ask for permission

2012-02-21T12:12:00.001-08:00

bring on the noize...or snow...whichever.

2012-02-21T08:15:00.002-08:00

after i left here this morning the snow really started to happen. it made getting around, at least early on, a bit of deal. but once i found the area i wanted to be in initially i was indoors for quite a while.

i bought a museum pass that will get me into over 19 different museums if i choose to go that route. there are many, many more than that here but at least ten the pass gets me into interest me so it should pay for itself i would think. there is a area called museum island that has, i think, six different museums all within blocks of each other. i went there to start my little tour today - a 15 minute walk from where i am staying.

the first i went to was the neues museum. if you're ever in berlin and looking for everything egyptian...this is your place. it also houses a lot of interesting pieces from germany's history and artifacts from eastern europe. so much to see. in fact, after a while, because it's so large, it becomes somewhat overwhelming.

after that i decided i needed something a little less historic, or at least more recent history and in a different vein altogether. so i made my way over to the helmet newton photography museum. as a major fashion photographer and known largely for his nudes to say there's a lot of skin on display is putting it mildly. but in the works as well are looks at his fashion photography over the years for vogue, etc. and all his cameras are there on display, personal letters and a large series of polaroids. pretty good stuff.

i was a little hungry after all the walking in the snow and had remembered that a local delicacy is the currie wurst. a sausage chopped up and covered in onions and ketchup and then sprinkled with curry powder. really? sure. why not. i had one. i think that will be it unless i am stranded at a bus stop for several hours. and they don't have small, medium and large sizes. they have large, x-large and xx-large...ok.

i went for a bit of a walk after my train ride back but am now feeling a little tuckered out after my weird sleep so i'm gonna chill for a while and see how i feel around dinner time. real food for dinner.
have fun!

g. xo

a few more from today...

someone decided to do a little public art with a shopping cart today.

a skull they recovered and remade in resin.

creepy julius bust.

a little pick me up...

like large xmas decorations.

they don't really tow your car here as much as they pick it up and take it away.

up and at 'em....

2012-02-20T23:14:00.000-08:00

...at 2 am i was ready to go. wide awake with a sore neck. (i have since figured out how to pound out the pillows to make them flatter.) so i, after figuring out what time it was, napped and such until around 6:30 and have now just finished the lovely breakfast buffet the Ibis does every morning...i think it's a good deal. (i'll have to consult the currency convertor....ok. i did. it's a decent deal for a nice hotel and breakfast...)
this chain hotel, Ibis, is all over europe and they offer an affordable place to stay and give you what you need...no more, no less. the room i have is more than decent and i originally signed up for one night to make sure but will now stay here. it's very central so what the hell. (i had no hotel when i got to the berlin airport so i enlisted the help of a young woman at the tourist info centre and she did the booking for me right there and told me how to get there on the train. sold me the train ticket too..) although. when i was on the train i was looking and consulting my subway map and an older woman across from me asked me where i was going so i showed her. she told me i had to transfer trains even though the young woman at the tourist info had said i didn't have to. a younger woman on the other side of me then said 'no', in english, and the older woman said she would take me to the train i was to be on...lucky. at that point i needed a bathroom and a hotel room so being on a train any longer than i needed to be would have or could have proved bad...
once off the train i asked one guy if i was going the right way and he sent me on my way to the hotel - about a ten minute walk away. and when i walked in the guy said, you must be mr. garnet...
nice.
i feel better today. i have to. after a bunch of nights in my car - which i love but that can add up...and some bad luck, that can happen to anyone it just happened to be happening to me (tickets, cell phones, etc...) i needed a great sleep. (once again a big 'so sorry' to those great pals of mine who saw me at less than my best in boston...) so i am ready to do some walking around. i have my long underwear on - really i do. and i'm gonna see what's what.
i was here in 1986 when the wall was still up and feel like i am, and i am, visiting a whole new place. where to go first? if you have any ideas e.mail me. i'm sure i'll see the usual but if you know things i should see 'fer sure' let me know.
ok.
have fun today.

(the view from my room this morning...now it's just started snowing so that could put a bummer on things today...oh, well, off i go.)

g. xo

25, 28, 30...i dunno

2012-02-20T10:01:00.001-08:00

i think when you add in the time i got up in the morning yesterday, the 19th, then add the over night flight that i didn't really sleep on - me and planes and sleep...not a good mixture, then the bus ride from heathrow to luton airport, then the flight from there to belin, four hours later, a flight that takes an hour and a half...and then my train ride to the stop i got off at and then the walk to the hotel...i think we're getting close to thirty hours awake-ish...
nice.

i need a quick snack and then off to bed...it's only 7 pm or something here.
super geezer bedtime.

more later.

g. xo

stress test

2012-02-19T03:14:00.000-08:00

i rolled into boston this morning and had a nice little breakfast at the whole foods. at least i know i put something good in my body today...not much later but the breakfast was good stuff - oh...we had good tacos later on at anna's.
i got in touch with leora, and old friend from my citr radio and cbc radio days...i think we've been friends for over 25 years. yikes! while i was waiting to meet her i went by a t-mobile and asked about getting my cell phone changed so that i could call and text canada...and long story short - nope. well, not without spending another 60 bucks. at least. so i just will use the time i have on my US cell phone to get calls from canada or make calls i need to make here...which isn't many...and my canadian phone to text canada and such as it will cost about the same in the end as spending the extra money on more t-mobile action...or non-action. shitty. oh well.
it was great to see leora and see boston with her. she's been here for four years and knew some places to go and walk around. i was in boston once ages ago but just passed through on my way to see jaime in nova scotia so it was all new.
i like it.
then, after all the goodness...the stress came. leora knows a lot about small commuter airlines in europe from when she lived in england so i enlisted her help. she's probably sorry i did that now. it seemed for the first while i could not get the site i was on accept my credit card. over and over. and over and over. it was painful. finally after stressing out a little, low key compared to my former self from many years ago, it worked but i felt badly that leora had to see me have a bit of a meltdown. there was some swearing, no yelling, but some stern talking directed at the computer...leora was the calming force tonight. and so it was done. tickets booked after a bunch of pain. then i realized i had booked the wrong day for the flight out of london. i booked the 19th not the 20th. i leave here on the 19th but it's an over night flight so...it will be the 20th. that flight leaves for berlin from london in about 10 hours. oops. so i had to go back on-line and buy another ticket from london to berlin.
awesome.
leora and i also met up with emily for dinner, a woman i know who lives in boston that i met while i was in mexico last year...well, a year and bit ago. she's awesome. very nice woman. but she had to hear about my screw-ups and while i tried to keep it all to myself and enjoy her and leora's company, every once in a while i would think about the ticket and the fact that i still needed to buy another one...but it was great to see her. she's still i love with her boyfriend that lives in oaxaca....that must be tough.
so i am now back out the highway getting ready to skype with ailsa and then go to bed. in the morning i will go by leora's place and have a shower before heading to the airport and my flight to london.
finger's crossed.

g. xo

some pics below from the last day or so...all the old buildings are from upper new york state, the jesus stuff from boston common park, tacos from anna's and stuff...oh, and niagra falls.

up and down like a yo-yo...

2012-02-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

i'll say this.
today has been a bit of a test. but it'll all be fine.
i'll also say this. i did, what i thought, was a pretty decent bit of research on flights out of new york and boston to amsterdam. i put in dates and went through the whole process and got some good prices. i also put in fake dates very close to the departure day to see if there was much of a difference and there wasn't.
not until today.
i went to book my ticket to amsterdam today - and i'll explain it this way why i waited until today.
1: i wanted to make sure i made it through to toronto
2: i wanted to see how long i stayed in toronto
3: i wanted to get back into the states before i made a reservation because if i had trouble, it happens, i'd be out a bunch of cash.
so..today i went on-line and was a little taken aback at the prices to amsterdam from boston. and they were not better from nyc. my exterior was calm but inside i was having a little bit of a moment. garvie was on-line so i told her what was happening and she told me to remain calm. i did. (i have to admit having her on the other end just getting me to relax was awesome...) and she was very good about not telling me 'i told you so' about the ticket prices - that move like stocks - though i know she was thinking it...there's a time for casual, seat of your pants stuff and time for real planning...i'll take her advice next time and do more planning where planes are involved.
anyhow...
in the end i found a flight that is only 75 dollars more than the one i thought i'd get to amsterdam but i am now flying into london, heathrow. no biggie. and instead of a train from amsterdam to berlin, as originally planned, i will fly from london to berlin. presto. and that ends up costing less than the train would have cost, return to london on the plane. all good. i was, however hoping to ride the train and may, stil take the train to amsterdam after i see lambchop and then fly back to london to get my flight home. i will plan this better than i have so far.
ok.
i am about a 120 miles from boston and will stay outside the city tonight and then make my way into boston in the morning and meet-up with leora and figure out where i'm going to leave my car while i'm away, etc.
have a great night...talk tomorrow.

g. xo

good-bye toronto...hello buffalo!

2012-02-17T05:17:00.000-08:00

bill baker relaxing after a hard day's work....

one more coffee and i am outta here. late start by my standards but....sometimes it's that way. i'll be heading through buffalo and then along the 90 to boston - about a 10 hour drive.

have fun today.

g. xo

go enzo or go home!

2012-02-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

today was some sort of action.
woke up at 6:45 am because i had to move my car. did some laundry - thanks bill for the use of your washer and dryer. had some breakfast. then came back to the shop and bill broke out the tattoo gun and away we went on some new tattoo action. i know the garbs wanted me to get 'GARBS BFF' ...but i decided on something else...kind of a companion piece to another tattoo i have plus some touch-up work on some other pieces i have. good times.
then we went out and roamed around a little - got me a shave at enzo's - i had told bill that in a perfect world my barber would be fat, old and italian...i got two of the three at enzo's. fat he wasn't. and he did a great job. good fun. old school not hipster dofus we can maybe fit you in friday action. i loved it. then we went and got some lunch where i/we ran into a woman i know, shannon, who used to work in film in vancouver. she now lives in PEI after buying her grandparent's house. it was great to see her. small world.
tonight i had dinner with my very good friend debbie....she moved here about two years ago to be with the new love of her life katherine. she seems very happy and it was nice to finally meet katherine. we had a nice dinner in the east end and i finally had to call it a night as i am heading to boston tomorrow morning. after coffee with bill.
have a great friday!

nice breakfast.

nice shave.

nice...no...great tattoo shop.

ready to tattoo.

ready to shave.

g. xo

Gary.

2012-02-16T16:00:00.001-08:00

Gary carter, one of the greatest catchers to ever play the game of baseball died today at the age of 57.
Wow.
Call someone or text them or whatever and tell them you love them.

g. xo

fit in friday....maybe.

2012-02-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

the funny thing about toronto is...well, a few things. in a minute.
so i made my way though indiana and into michigan - home of the mighty tigers and red wings, and after a short stop there...and i'll say this. i love those teams and the history of detroit but, that town is a dump. and it's sad. that it is a dump. that it is what it has become. it's a ghost town. so, after a trip to the tiger's team store, it was time to head back to canada.
and here's where toronto and the 401 highway and such becomes so very toronto. there are no milage signs on the highway, initially to tell you how far it is to toronto. the signs say basically, this way to london and toronto. and away you go. it isn't until you have passed london do they say that toronto is 177 kms away. and away you go. then when you get into the toronto area, unless you know the street names you're looking for and know when to turn down into the city, you could pass the city altogether. seriously. i almost did that my first trip here over twenty years ago. in most cities it says, for instance, 'downtown vancouver this way...' to city centre, to arts district, business district....not here. you just have to figure it out. for yourself.
and once here i decided to finally get rid of this hair on my face. get a shave. back to the fresh faced garn. so right across the street from bill's tattoo shop is the crowsnest. a hipster barber shop where all the guys would love to be members of social distortion and are heavy into the sailor jerry tattoos and being cool...so bill and i went in to see if i could get a shave. well, they may be able to fit me in friday. maybe. 'we're pretty busy' said a guy sitting in one of the chairs fucking with his ipad looking at openings i may be able to fit in to...friday or....so after all the talk one guy said that maybe today, at closing, he may be able to do it. maybe. so i said i'd talk to them tomorrow and see how it was.
i'll find somewhere else.
today's it's tatoo touch up day, look at some glasses at some shops, eat some food...
etc....

g. xo

be on my side i'll be on your side....

2012-02-14T21:55:00.000-08:00

first things first....

a very happy valentine's day to the woman i love, ailsa garvie brown...though i am having fun out here, i miss you and love you. xo

today didn't start out so well. when i couldn't find my toiletries bag - i had already left my towel at zach and julie's so i thought maybe i had left it there as well...so after buying a collapsible toothbrush at the truck stop i was getting a shower at, i knew i needed to go and buy a whole new set of crap to keep myself smelling pretty and nasal passages clear. fucked. (i later found it not where it should have been - after a few emails back and forth to julie asking her to please have a look....)
anyhow. all's well.
it was a big day of driving but the weather does make it a little hard to keep the 80 mph rate i like. snow and rain make it hard sometimes and i'm getting better at realizing it's not a race and slowing down when required. or prudent. or both.
today started in south dakota - in a days inn parking lot - and ended, or is ending right now, in a comfort inn parking lot, in indiana - near gary. so for those scoring at home today's total is south dakota, minnesota, winconsin, illinois and indiana. tomorrow michigan then into ontario.

i'm sleepy.

enjoy the pretty pictures.

g. xo

hard packed, dry and clear and a chance of 'oh shit'.

2012-02-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

getting to wilson, wyoming way pretty easy compared to today's drive from wilson/jackson, wyoming to where i am now - just on the eastern side of rapid city, south dakota.
leaving jackson you have to take a single lane highway basically all the way to the I-90 - unless you go to casper which take you up the I-25 and then to the I-90. that would be the smart way to go. but if you wanna shave off some time when you get just past riverton you head north. through the mountains. kinda. i was going to go through casper, but the roads were so good when i got to riverton i decided to head north and take a little time and distance off.
great idea for time. great idea to see more cool stuff. maybe not so good once past worland where you start to climb into the mountains again. something my map didn't show me so well. and the scary thing was that at anytime they could chose to close the road and i'd be forced to drive back a few hundred miles and go to casper and around that way. that would have been a bummer. but, as luck would have it, i made it through and my gamble paid off and i was safe as milk the whole way. sure, there were some pretty shitty spots but after the initial drive today from wilson/jackson to riverton, where it was hard packed snow almost 75% of the way, i knew it couldn't be any worse.
and so i made it to the I-90 and am now headed east for real. tomorrow will really set the pace and i'll have a better idea of how long this is gonna take to my next real stop - toronto.
today edition gives you a lot of pretty pictures to look at.
enjoy.

g. xo

***not that it really matters but, i just looked at a map and i maybe should have gone through casper and then down the I-25 to the I-80 and along to chicago that way...6 of one i suppose....

the view from my bedroom this morning.

outside jackson.

more morning view.

more outside jackson.

between riverton and the I-90

zach and julie's.

sunday...must be wyoming...

2012-02-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

my day actually started off in dillon, home of...well, nothing...and me getting back on the 15 and heading south. now, heading south would generally mean less snow, not today. today it meant more snow. and then even more snow. and while there was a moment, just a moment, when i thought i'd maybe have to make a phone call to julie and zach and give them the bad news, that i had had to turn around, it all went away just as fast as the roads became clear and i was able to drive at speed once again.
so today was south down through montana, into idaho and then left into wyoming.
wilson, where i am now, is right next to jackson - the big ski hill known as jackson hole is here. it's also home to like likes of harrison ford. and, my pals julie and zach whom i met in mexico last year (two people i knew i had to come and see if i was ever heading across the country. they were a highlight, along with bill from wisconsin, of my time in mexico.) so at around noon today i made it to wilson and to zach and julie's. and what a place. perched high above wilson it looks over the valley with the town of jackson to the east. amazing. (i will post some pics of the home tomorrow.)
after some lunch we went out for a drive around wilson and then for a walk along the snake river. the landscape is amazing. and i may not have seen so much snow. maybe ever. well, ok, i did live in northern b.c. for a while so....but this really is god's country.
when we got back to the house i noticed that they had a painting by a woman who's last name was and is stofer. and i found out that she's married to a good friend of theirs name mike dennis and he lives on denman island. i asked if she had a brother names scott. turns out she does. scott is a friend of mine, i told them, who i work with in vancouver. he lives near my dad's in victoria. small world. some people i met in mexico last year, are good friend's with a friend of mine's sister. neat.

we went to the stagecoach bar tonight because every sunday they have a band there and they know one of the guys in the band. bill briggs. bill briggs is kinda famous for being the father of extreme skiing. he's in his seventies now but has played banjo in this bar every sunday for 30 years or more. it was awesome. a bunch of people go to this bar on sundays just to see this band and dance. and it's old school. guys ask women to dance and then at the end say thanks and go back to their table. and then the next song they do it again. no picking people up, no fighting, no drunks. just people being very civilized. and dancing.
julie made us a great dinner and now it's quiet time. tomorrow after coffee i'll be heading due north and towards toronto....
i'm very happy i came to see zach and julie. so great.

g. xo

bob dylan has been to the stagecoach bar.

downtown dillon

julie at the stagecoach bar.

out on our walk along the snake river.

for some reason some guys were dressed in lederhosen at the bar tonight.

somewhere along the way.

outside zach and julie's

may snow today.

like a runner in the..holy crap...

2012-02-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

i had a restless sleep last night after all the tacos and such so after five hours sleep i knew it was time to hit the road.

the weather almost the whole way was shitola. rain and fog mainly. the roads themselves were great even as i drove past ten ft. high snowdrifts between seattle and spokane. (i think there may be a lot of inbreeding in spokane....i can't be sure but there are signs..) it's definitely a depressed city and a lot of traffic intersections have pan handlers on all corners.

but they make a decent greasy burger at dick's. i do wonder if they are connected to dick's in seattle...same look, same crappy burger...it was a great lunch though after a long drive.

i am in dillon, montana now - like hope but with slightly more character and probably a lot more teen pregnancy. i found a place i'm gonna try and sleep soon - between a winnebago and a school bus just down the road from the mcdonald's i'm stealing internet from right now. i think everyone in town has been here in the last 45 minutes. (i sat in the back of the element and ate trader joe's cereal)

tomorrow morning i will head to wyoming and try and find zach and julie's place - i have no idea how far it is from here but will check the old google maps very soon.
have fun!

g. xo

garn's little helper...

2012-02-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

i forgot to post these pics of fiona helping with dinner last night (big help)...and her trying on some jewelry at the pickle yesterday....

g. xo

for those wanting to keep track

2012-02-11T04:35:00.000-08:00

fiona drew me up this great map outlining my driving and flying for this trip i am about to take...pretty good stuff. so now those of you who didn't know where i was off to and why...well, now you know.

g. xo

so much action in so little time...

2012-02-10T22:53:00.000-08:00

it's been a busy few days....getting ready to go, running errands, etc., etc.,...tonight was a wicked taco dinner, if i do say so myself, with fawn, dave and tasha joining ailsa, fiona and me...pulled pork, prawns, halibut, veggies, home made salsas....some great action followed up by some awesome brownies made by garvie with ice cream and choc. sauce. that's a send off..

and last night it was burgers of enormous proportions at refuel. i can't even start. i think even the garbs was horrified buy the size and amount of goodness on each of them. and jessie's margarita's just get better and better. who can have just one. or two? or...
and the night before that the bombers gave it 90% and got the win against the thoroughblades or however you spell their name...it was a good game. i was glad to have that as my last game before i went away and don't get to play for a month or so...

and earlier today i picked up fiona from school and we went down and saw the garbs at the pickle - where also earlier in the day mishi did a great repair on a whale bone handled silver spoon belonging to ailsa's mom...thanks mishi! and after a little beading arts and crafts and a donut over at the market we came home to start on the taco dinner...

ok...i need to go to sleep...

night night...

g. xo

lambchop announces US tour....

2012-02-10T22:17:00.000-08:00

sure...lambchop announces their US tour....i knew it was coming but didn't know when. and really, we could all be back working by then so, i'm still going...
sometime in the next eight hours i'm outta here....first stop, wyoming.

see ya.

g. xo

senor hat head

2012-02-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

i met ailsa downtown today to show her some glasses i was/am thinking about buying (didn't really workout as the store has, seemingly, misplaced the frames...at both of their stores since we went to their other store as well where the frames were suppose to be but were not....). maybe they'll turn up, maybe not. i did try on another pair i like but agree with ailsa that the others, that she has seen a picture of but not seen on my head, are better in that they are much different than the ones i have right now...just gotta find them now.

nice hat head i had while we were there...and the nice crease in my forehead as well..good lookin'.

g. xo

a hell of a bomber..a hell of a guy.

2012-02-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

a huge happy birthday today to craig 'superpest' northey! he's fifty! fifty years old! and he can shoot! and stretch! and shoot some more!
last night with three seconds left in the game he scored his final goal as a man in his forties. and i was so happy to be there to see it.
happy birthday pest!

g. xo

finally...some from then and now...

2012-02-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

ok...so now it works. here are a few pics from the last few days. me with my head through a hole in front of trader joe's...some shoes that mishi didn't buy and few from around the 'couv.

g. xo

morning sickness...

2012-02-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

the last post wouldn't let me post pics...so here are a couple from yesterday.or not...fuck it. no pics today.

g. xo

beardo and bellingham

2012-02-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

i started growing, or at least stopped shaving with the idea of growing, this beard around dec. 29th and now am getting to the point of, maybe, wanting it gone. but now am thinking if i keep it another week i could go to some crazy barber in wyoming or montana and get it taken care of when i'm on my trip. a guy in my hockey game last weekend was giving me the gears about being an old man and i reminded him that this old man, along with several other old men, were beating him and his team 5-2. old guy power.
mishi and i headed to bellingham yesterday to grab some goods at trader joe's and have a little lunch at casa que pasa. there's a mexican deli/dry goods store there we've going to as well lately and mishi got out of there with a bag of goods that will keep the garbs in mexican snack goodness for a while. and it wouldn't be a trip to bellingham, for mishi anyways, without a visit to aladdin's lamp antique mall. i usually find an old chair and hide out until she's done or chat with the large pancake make-up'd transgendered man/woman who runs the joint while mishi goes through the old crap in the store. good times.
today could be busy....my aunt and uncle may drop by here soon for a visit, lunch with mike from standard, haircut from k-win, dinner at garvie's and then hockey later...

g. xo

macarthur park

2012-02-08T07:55:00.001-08:00

i left my hockey equipment out in the rain. (nice yesterday....not so much now...) i have a game tonight. hopefully it dries by then.

bummer.

g. xo

the garbs...

2012-02-07T16:47:00.000-08:00

the garbs had great timing last night.
it's a story far too long for here but suffice to say, i, by chance, met one of the new shop teachers at van tech high school yesterday. his name is rory. that in itself isn't a big deal. cool job but that i met him is no biggie. except that a very close friend of mine, marty basso, was the shop teacher there for many years until he died of cancer approx. two and a half years ago. as we talked about marty and how great he was as a friend and a teacher, i started to feel sad and moved our talk to other subjects and then left.
i was trying to decide what to do next. go home. go get some dinner. drive around. then my phone rang.
"where are you?"
it was the garbs.
i told him i was over near naniamo and hastings.
"let's get some tacos"
it was perfect. i didn't really want to go home and seeing the garbs would be the perfect tonic. another great friend.
so i went and got him and in the end we went to roma for pizza and then, though we both said out loud we didn't actually need it, ice cream.
after i dropped him off i came home and felt a lot better.

thanks garbs.

g xo

***i should also say this. i have now, some friends that are in many ways as close to me now as i ever was with marty, and they know who they are and, hopefully, how much they mean to me. marty was just one of the first. hopefully i don't need to miss them like i miss him now for a long time.

rattlehead rocks wilco.

2012-02-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

last night, because of the great generosity of brent and mina, garvie and i went and saw wilco at the orpheum. i hadn't seen them for a very long time, in waht, in fact, seems like a lifetime ago since they have really become a very different band in the years since. the band that first came out to the ashes of uncle tupelo - another band i am so happy to have seen when they were together - was much more of a straight ahead band somewhat in the vein of the flying burrito brothers or a few other so-cal country rock bands. out of the gate they were great. now they're even better with so many other influences dotting their sound - experimental, noise, funk, california dreamin', rock, country, jazz....and last night they were awesome. i'm kinda glad i hadn't seen them for a number, probably, 10 or more, years, it allowed me to really see a brand new band. kinda.
that probably made no sense. anyhow.

it was great. (even better that beefie - bomber brethern - was close by and i could feel him loving it as well) and that the tickets, very unexpectedly, come from on high from mina and brent - he another bomber brother and long time friend...and i can't thank them enough. a couple lawn cuts are on the way come spring.
also last night it was like a reunion of sorts. so many people i hadn't seen in ages - katherine hyashi, john and tony pantages, ken the promotor guy....and gerald rattlehead. yes. that's what they call him. and he was, to say the least, in the spirit. the ushers had a few chats with them but i spoke to the ushers and vouched for him. i have a soft spot in my heart for gerald from my days at citr radio. a quick glimpse into gerald here. he loved the show last night. he loves every show.

ok. so much to do. i leave next saturday for wyoming.
(i think i'm gonna go across the road and order a couch.)

g. xo

let me help you open your funkin' door.

2012-02-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

the other day on granville island, right in front of the pickle, a kid was trying to open the door to his car. a beautiful 1998 toyota tercel. he was having a time of it. i was waiting for mishi so i had a little time and went over and gave him a few words of advice and then realized my advice needed some added tools that he didn't have...so i went to my car and also grabbed a thing from the pickle and away we went. he was trying to get the latch inside in a way i knew wouldn't work. so, politely, i told him to give me the coat hanger, bent it up in a slightly better way, and told him to hold the tools i had inserted in the door. after a few minutes the door was open and we were all on our ways. not before he offered up a Funk Hunters t-shirt. i guess he's a hunter of funk.
turns out the funk hunters are a couple of guys from vancouver who travel the world as hipster dj's in the manner of too many dj's or soulwax. pretty good stuff, if you like that sort of thing. they have a mixtape you can download from their site.

g.xo

kissing your sister.

2012-02-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

great game last night or at least entertaining. but, in the end, a tie - which they should just leave it as not this shootout shit. as far as i'm concerned it's a tie. the points system the league has is so flawed. i won't start.
great time with mike and a big thank-you to him for taking me. i'll tell you, the club seats are excellent but the crowd in that area is wacky. i'm not sure there are really that many knowledgeable hockey fans down there. big banker dudes in suits or there going out on the town affliction shirts, with the trophy wives and girlfriends, big hair, tight pants (on the gals and guys...) and people who show up late to the start of each period and leave with a few minutes left in each period. gotta get a snack and drink. and at $263.00 a ticket it signals almost everything that's wrong with hockey.

fun to go with mike. a few tacos before hand - where we ran into 'he who can not be named on the blog' and his nephew alex. a couple peanuts at the game. some people watching. hand shaking with friends i saw there.
nice.
ok.
off to have lunch with issy.

g. xo

boston taco-fest

2012-02-02T11:10:00.000-08:00

after sweating it out in the gym this morning i am now ready to make my way out to get shit done. ok.
and it looks like after a few e.mails back and forth that my trip east will now stop in boston and i will be enjoying tacos east coast style with my long time friend (25 years at east) leora. why wouldn't i check out anna's and jose's...i mean really. i also received an email from emily whom i met in oaxaca last year - she was and may still be a big wheel with the micro-finance outfit en Via - and she's also in boston living and working and, hopefully, wanting to eat tacos.

ok. i'm outta here.

g. xo

red wings and wilco

2012-02-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

today's action will include, much later on, a good seat at the canucks game (or as i prefer to call it, the red wings game...) with my friend mike. he was good enough to offer up the game to me and i wasn't going to say no. i do love the wings. sure, i think NHL hockey is bullshit. and sure, i hate the four on four and the shootout has wrecked the game...but i do love the wings. oh. yes. i do hate bertuzzi as well. anyhow. i do love the wings. and it will be fun to be at the game with mike who is, i'm sure, gonna have a few over-priced beers and provide some great commentary.
also, yesterday, as i walked home from the chiro, i received a text from mina and brent - the shums - saying they had a couple extra tickets to wilco and they wanted to take me...so now garvie and i are going to the big show with the shums! that's some nice action. thanks mina and brent!
otherwise today it's a few errands, including picking up my last paycheque, taking some glasses of ailsa's in for possible repair, pick up of some long sanding belts....all very exciting.
have a great thursday!

g. xo

walkin' tall...

2012-02-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

the one thing, or one of the things i like about first being off a show and away from the salt mine is being able to get shit done. which is kinda what i do at work but this shit is shit i need to get done. and i get to do it at a pace i like. and days like today are the best ones to get shit done. period.
today's action was great. walked to my chiro appointment at 4th and macdonald, walked back and then headed up to granville to have a look at the neil wedman show - super duper! then up to 12th and granville to look at some glass frames at eyes on twelfth. afterwards a walk down to cafe bica near west 2nd to have a coffee and chit chat with senor mushet. there was a lot of catching up to do so it was good to have the time to do it.

then it was downtown across the burrard st. bridge. it was there really that i really realized how nice the day was. trucking across the bridge, seeing some touristas, and folks on bikes and other people making their way downtown. it was good.
i made my way to robson and my bank, then another eyeglass store and then decided to try out the tacofino truck for some lunch. i had mentioned to garvie once, probably twice, that i had not tried any of the food trucks in vancouver - something i do in other cities - and she said that maybe while i was off that i should make a go of trying some...so today i was gonna try 'he who can not be named on the blog's favorite, tacofino. so i found their truck and asked for a fish taco...'oh, sorry. we can't make any more fish tacos we're out of salsa'. oh ok. so i asked for a pork burrito. 'oh sorry. we just ran out of pork'. ok. maybe tomorrow.
and since i was out on a long walk i decided to make it even longer and walked over the cambie bridge and up to la taqueria.
great idea.

then, after a short trip to granville island to see mishi and pick up some goods for dinner....i'm home and making bbq sauce from scratch and getting ready to stoke up the bbq and do some winter grilling.
nice.
have fun!

g. xo

ladies and gentlemen - the belke boys!

2012-02-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

happy birthday to the twins. the belke boys. muc and buunt. happy birthday boys!

g. xo

sometimes leaving the house...

2012-01-29T16:47:00.000-08:00

...can be dangerous.
i bought a couch a few years ago from UA - upholstery arts - that was/is beautiful. sadly, i never fell in love with it. most everyone else thinks it's awesome. classic styling. very nice grey wool - imported from england - fabric. blah, blah, blah.
today i saw a couch at fullhouse on west fourth that i may just have to buy. lovely. really. more of what i really wanted in the first place.
so what about the old couch - which really isn't old...? i dunno yet.
need a nice couch?
(below nice new couch...)

g. xo

for hannah.

2012-01-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

sometimes things are closer to home than we'd like. here's a bad, sad story that, may, in the end, be a starting point to good things.
cheryl hamilton is a friend of mine. she's awesome.

g. xo

the end of days.

2012-01-28T14:45:00.000-08:00

yesterday was the last day at the salt mine, for how long now one is really sure but i do know everyone to a man was ready for a break. as a last death throw we all went to lunch at rodney's oyster bar in yaletown. i had only been there once or twice before but remembered it being ok...and yesterday it was pretty good. i had a little clam chowder and then a dish of mussels...nice. everyone seemed to enjoy their goods and afterwards some went to play a little pool while corie and i drove up to west 45th ave and grabbed a vespa.
my pal simone, president of the vespa club, had a bike stored there, kinda, and needed it moved to her place on commercial so away we went. now i know that a vespa will fit, almost, perfectly in the back of the element. pretty good. a big thanks to corie for holding it steady while i drove - i had forgotten i had some tie downs in the back and that forgetfulness made corie use his arms a little more than he needed to....sorry.
ok...have fun today!

g. xo

ladies and gentlemen...jasper lee tornack.

2012-01-27T18:37:00.000-08:00

yes it's true...and really, it was true two weeks ago but i was waiting for the go-ahead before posting pictures or announcing to the world via garnville any word of the bun in the oven making it's, or rather, her exit. and what a little champ she is.
yes. the little nugget, as they like to call her, made her debut wed. jan. 11th late in the evening, literally minutes from being a baby born on the 12th. pretty exciting for the new parents corie and katherine.
congrats!
below a few pics of the new little miss.

g. xo

post game post

2012-01-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

well...we're almost done at the salt mine and will all be going our separate ways until the next dig. it's been a long show so i think a break will be nice.
i'll be off to wyoming to see zach and julie, then further on to toronto to see bill and then...well, at some point i'll be boarding a plane and then....in the end, lambchop. pretty cool.
in the meantime, after friday, i think i'll be mr. handyman at garvie's and my place. maybe a trip to trader joe's. possibly some daytime hockey. bomber and cowboy hockey. maybe some late night tv and hanging out at my gym down the hall.
some visits to issy's to take more stuff out of her basement. more getting shit done outside of work.
nice.
tonight was hockey night with corie, the garbs and 'he who can not be named on the blog'...canucks vs. oilers. and for once it was a game that was pretty good. fun to watch. sadly ending in a shootout. (the shootout and four on four overtime has singlehandedly ruined professional hockey for me...oh, and guys making millions and not giv'ner anymore....) it was good to hang out with them guys. tacos beforehand, the garbs and corie keeping pace with the brew, me and 'he who can not...' watching in amazement...ice cream bars between the second and third period. good stuff.

the other day i saw this. and i felt, for once, slightly ahead of thew curve...only slightly. back when i lived up on west 5th ave - with brent and dave, i made a couple car models. but i decided, mainly because i was a bad painter, that i would make my models look like beaters. now they sell them in kits, beater car kits. i love it. i gave mine cracked windows, shitty paint, etc. now they do a lot of it for you. good times.
have fun tomorrow.

g. xo

hockey talk with scott.

2012-01-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

during the canucks game tonight scott and i were exchanging texts as the game went on.

me: ham juice sometimes looks like he's 12. i saw burrows in the grocery store last night and he gave me a really weird look.

scott: you're silly.

me: no, i'm serious. i saw him and wasn't sure if it was him. when he turned around he looked at me kinda like he knew i knew who he was but also like he was guilty of something and then he turned and walked away. he has a big ass for a little guy.
he bought four two litres bottles of water. i guess he was thirsty.

scott: maybe he had bum implants.

me: that's it.

g. xo

i do love the barry mcgee bottles.

2012-01-17T12:41:00.001-08:00

love it.

i do.

g. xo

more purging, more stuff outta here...

2012-01-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

i did more purging today and yesterday. it's great. and while i was cleaning out my junk cupboard i came across something odd. well, what it is isn't odd, but the fact that i had it is. i found a paycheque from sept. that i hadn't cashed. i know. that's fucked. but i think i know how it happened. sometimes, when ailsa and i would be having dinners, she would take stuff that was on the counter (i keep current bills to pay and cheques to put in the bank on one corner of my counter) and put it in the cupboard, always letting me know she had done it so if i couldn't find some paperwork or bill i knew where to look. i guess i forgot.
it's like a bonus even though it's money i earned not like a lottery winning or poker win. still cool though. i have sent the accounting dept. an email just to make sure it wasn't a cheque i thought i had lost and had them re-issue before i go to the bank and drop it in. good times.
so pretty domestic day all said. tonight some hockey with the cowboys and then back to the salt mine in the morning. last night was the wrap party for this most recent project. it's funny, we have these parties at the end of every film and they're kinda like grad parties. like the end of every film is a graduation of sorts.
ok. i'm attempting to make rice. i can cook a million things reasonably well. rice is not one of them.
have fun.

g. xo

clutterbuck.

2012-01-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

as you may or may not know, i have been taking stuff out of issy's basement - going through boxes and tossing some stuff, donating some, and bringing stuff back here that i don't know what the hell i'm going to do with it. the other day when shauna and i went out there i found some of my old molds for my crowns. i love these things, i have four such things and know i should toss them but i can't...like i have five autographed pictures of mark fidrych, pitcher for the detroit tigers in the 70's and know i don't need them all, or any, but i will stow them for now until i figure out what will happen to them - maybe i'll pick my favorite and sell the others on ebay.
some old punk rock or alike vinyl was also found out there and it may mean me taking a trip up to zulu to see what they'll take and what comes back here and gets stored away for many more years. lots of people want the vinyl but they don't want to pay for it.
some toys are gonna hit ebay soon too. i have a few kaws pieces that are finally gonna hit the world wide web and fund my trip to see lambchop in berlin. i don't need the money from the toys to get me there, it's just an excuse to part out some of my collection i don't have a large part in my heart for anymore. plus getting a few grand for stuff sitting around here that i don't care about is a-ok by me. i also want less here so when i buy new things i don't feel like i'm becoming a hoarder.
ok. getting to less is more.

g. xo

tour de...

2012-01-12T07:38:00.001-08:00

for those of you old enough to remember this album will find this amusing. or, at least i did.

g. xo

neal. simply neal.

2012-01-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

in my world, he may be one of the nicest men i have ever met. he and one of his good friends - surrounding himself with like minded and equally good guys - marv newland. a couple of great guys. (and really i know a lot of them, great guys, but...for now i'm talking about neal.)
neal wedman.
i have known neal, in a friendly way, for a long time now...and i have always wished for a piece made by him. and while i'm no closer to this now, there is a show right now at equinox gallery just a few blocks from my house. and you'll be able to find me there soon looking over the goods and maybe, just maybe, picking up a number for myself there.
i have talked of neal before and am, now, doing it again. you should go and have a look.
really. you should.

g. xo

and now for the weather...over to bob...

2012-01-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

ok. so i have been doing some research - as one should before leaving on a trip, to plan clothes to take, etc...and it's gonna be fuckin' cold in berlin.
shocker.
there will be no shorts in my luggage...well, there may be but they won't make an appearance until the trip home when i may drive down and cut through arizona and california so i can see some sun on this trip. otherwise, it's long pants and jackets the whole way. maybe even gloves.
i received an e.mail this morning from esther telling me she had put aside a ticket for me to the show on the 23rd of feb. and that i just need to call or e.mail her and let her know how i want to pick it up. pretty cool. she/they have really been great in helping me out on this little adventure.
more as it develops. now i need to figure out where i'm going to fly from, if i'm going to go to toronto and see bill baker and my good pal debbie, what eastcoast US city i will fly from, etc.
by the seat of my pants. as i like it.

g. xo

that would be fine, thank-you very much.

2012-01-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hello,

yeah sadly the second show is sold out but you can get one for the first show 23.02.2012 . the ticket would be 31,05 € and would be ready for you at the entrance.

Would that be okay for you?

Cheers

Esther

expensive postman

2012-01-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

so, the buying of a ticket to the lambchop show in berlin is proving a little difficult. well, maybe that's not the right word to use. it's kinda fucked. the ticket is 34 euros. and they, the ticket agent, want to mail it to me and will not do a will call (picking up the ticket at the venue) for this show and the letter is registered and costs 34 euros from berlin to me.
huh?
so i have contacted the booking agent and she's trying to help me out by contacting the local agent doing the show, etc....and try and get me another way around it...and really, don't get me wrong, it's not the money, it's the principal. 34 euros to deliver a 34 euro ticket.? nope.

oh...this just came through my e.mail...things are looking up...

......

Hello Garnet,

as i gathered from the emails you would like to have a ticket for each of the lambchop shows. Is that the case?

As we cannot charge the money directly from your credit card I was wondering if you would be alright with paying both tickets directly at the door of the show or if you are here in berlin beforehand to pick them up at our office? What would be better for you?

Cheers

Esther

..........

drivin', flyin', ridin'...

2012-01-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

while i have come to no real answer, i think i may be charting a course for a vacation of sorts. (i think i'm driving garvie crazy with my thoughts about how and when and more how and when...) i have always wanted to see the band/ensemble lambchop and since they are not going to be playing in the states or canada anytime soon, and may, actually, be on their way out as a band, the time my be now to see them - wherever they may be. and that now is europe.
they are starting a tour in australia soon and then heading to europe and the tour dates i see that i would, maybe, be able to get to would be in germany in late feb. and i say, why not.
expect for that fuckin' long plane flight. good god. i'm no one's friend after ten hours in the air. that's the truth. so. why not drive part way there?
so. drive east heading to julie and zach's place in wyoming (a couple i met in mexico last year who are awesome...), see them and then keep heading east. try and see my pal bill in wisconsin - also from my time in mexico. then drop in on bill baker in toronto, then head to new york or boston and fly out of there to london. shorter flight and i have had a fun little drive across the states.
fly to london, take the train/whatever to continental europe and then head to germany by train - i like the train...and then see lambchop and then do the whole trip again in reverse.
ta-da.
that's what i'm thinkin'.

g. xo

out there we's stones.

2012-01-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

sometimes it all goes south. literally. and that's kinda what happened today. we had another job here at the salt mine that the new boss took away today so we're left now with a lot of time on our hands after this current dig is over. such is life at the salt mine.
it's ok. but now i'm left wondering what i'm going to do after this is all over at the end of the month. go for a drive? hang out? play day time hockey? drink coffee every day with 'he who can not be named on the blog'? fix up ailsa's attic for storage? relax? go visit bill baker in toronto? go see zach and julie in wyoming? still much too early for spring training baseball...but if i'm still off in march that's a great option.
tacos in tuscon? a trip back to gerlach? clean out more of issy's basement? for sure. there really are a lot of options. but i generally know when this may happen and it came kinda quickly - though there were rumblings of this a while ago, i tried to think good thoughts. and really, truth be told, we're had a good run here. job after job after job...we'll be fine. and in a couple months there will be lawns to mow and sun and such.
i haven't had an in-n-out burger for a long time it seems. it's a long drive but that's a great burger.
so there you have it. that's my report. pick-up hockey tonight in north van with the bombers and friends. nice action. then home to sleep and tuckered out and still having to get up at six to come on back. it's good.

have a wicked thursday.

g. xo

want it.

2012-01-04T17:47:00.001-08:00

i want this.

g. xo

fuse-tastic

2012-01-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

i ordered a few fuses for work. some i picked up at the vendor, the others, they said, would be shipped in later. we picked them up yesterday.
they were packed in this.

what the fuck?

g. xo

super duper - early - spring cleaning.

2012-01-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

the garbs and i went out issy's today to get rid of some of the stuff we have in her basement. and not only us. i have stuff there, the garbs does, mishi, mishi's brother peter, marcy, my sister allison, gary and shauna....and issy put a call out a little while ago that she wasn't so concerned with the things there as much as she was in knowing people still knew what they all had there. so today was our day. and we made a huge dent. we also took away things issy had been planning to take to the dump.
so we loaded up my honda element and my trailer and away we went. to the sally anne to make sure some clothes, bedding and toys made it to the right place, to the dump to do some recycling and get rid of stuff we couldn't donate or give away (plus ailsa's xmas tree to the greens recycling area there...), then to see a friend who took the entertainment centre thingy i wanted to give to someone to use, then to ken diamond's studio to give him a load of leather the garbs had been given years ago but was just too much for him to use all of it.
then to refuel for a well deserved first burger of the year...
now a little relax before bed time and a nice sleep before heading back to work tomorrow...

our snack today.

a very loaded element.

ken diamond at his, now fuller, studio.

here ken, have some leather.

getting the trailer packed.

bustin' out.

xmas tree graveyard.

g. xo

victoria food fest.

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

after a hockey game that got me home at 1 am last night and asleep, maybe, by 1:30 am...i was back up and heading towards the 7 am ferry at tsawwassen today. and not sleepy one bit.

it was a day of eating - not a lot of food but a good variety of food - today in the provincial capital. a shredded chicken mexican number on home made tortillas and a, slightly, spicy chipotle sauce with poached eggs. then for lunch, very french bagette sandwiched, grilled, with roast beef and cheese and such...very nice...followed by a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and a side of mac and cheese...pretty good but, sadly, not as good as garnyard pulled pork - if i do say so...

it was nice to see floyd and janine and roam around town with them. they are off to mexico soon so today seemed like a good time to go over and see what they were up to. kinda cold over there today and blustery...and awesome rain on and off...mainly on early on...
on the way home i stopped by scotty stofer's place - all around good guy and fellow fx guy - as he moved to the island a few years ago and has told me if i was ever over at floyd's and had a few extra minutes to stop by...so today was the day. i got to see his place - very, very nice...and to finally meet his wife, allie. also, very, very nice...he's got a good thing going on over there.
the...more ferry action to get home.
and now...
sleep.

have fun.

g. xo

meet you in the woods.

2011-12-29T16:00:00.000-08:00

the holidays have moved past me quickly and i feel like i haven't done an update in ages...not truly but, it feels like that.
yesterday found us at ailsa's place thinking about going out into the woods for a look see and walk...well, you can't have one without the other so - off we went. we packed up ailsa's car and tucked fiona in the back seat and away we went to the north shore - where it looked like rain. and it did. rain. but it was actually ok. afterwards - wet and even a little sweaty, we ate soup like champs and ate cheese in the form of pizza and grilled sandwiches. nice.

last night 'he who can not be named on the blog' came by, as he has a few times over the holidays and watched the hockey game and then, after showing off his new boxing day purchased leather jacket, was gone back to crazydale.
here's some stuff i know...i'll be back to bombing tonight with the boys and happy to be doing so. picking up soon-to-be dad corie along the way. (i think we're down to the last few strokes on this baby making he and katherine have been working on for nearly nine months now...truth be told, as always, his 'work', in the making of the baby wasn't really work. ) start the countdown from ten...starting....now!

i was just looking through the georgia straight and saw an ad for tickets to the walfdorf hotel new year's eve party. the pre-sale tickets are sold out. ok. the 'come early' tickets go on sale at 8 pm. ok. and all tickets will be 20 bucks off after 1 am....huh? i don't now how much the tickets were to begin with but to pay nearly anything after 1 am seems retarded. shit, i'll be deep into freaky dreams by 1 am...
the holidays make me, and i mean, make me, watch more tv and thank god for the gym down the hall...i will say this, i've noticed that all these cooking shows have the same cast of characters on them. or a lot of them do. one chef could be one five shows. one or two as a the 'boss' and the rest as some form of competitor. i should have learned to cook well...maybe i could have made a bunch of money, in a short amount of time making food on tv...or attempting to.
cooking and reno shows rule the holiday viewing.
i have watched some of the world juniors hockey tourney as well, when not off in the woods or looking out at the people boxing day/week shopping from my gym window...but after goal five or six or seven, i get a little bored, if not pissed off, at the players celebrating the same way after goal eight as they did in goal number one. no arm raising after a five goal lead.
ok. have fun today.

g. xo

around town.

2011-12-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

a few pics from around town yesterday.

g. xo

sleepy.

2011-12-26T10:07:00.001-08:00

how did my place get so messy?

g. xo

for the love of stuffing.

2011-12-25T23:34:00.000-08:00

after a short relax at home i, after giving the garbs a ride to his mom's place so he could have dinner with bob and the family unit such that it is, headed out to issy's for a visit and dinner.
it was a nice to have a loungaround followed by a tasty turkey dinner followed by some nice pie....thanks issy!
afterwards issy and i headed down in larry to the brown's - tom and dorothy - to have visit and be tempted by more desserts made by dorothy. it was a nice visit with ailsa, fiona, family friend michael and tom and dorothy's neighbours....if i wasn't so tired i'd be able to remember their names...shit...margaret and .....shit. very nice folks.
my place is s a bit of a shit show but i'll sort it out tomorrow...others can do the boxing day sales....i'll tidy up.

g. xo

more grove, less sauce.

2011-12-25T13:25:00.000-08:00

for many years now - i think it first started in or around 1993 - i have been eating christmas day breakfast at the grove restaurant on denman street.

the garbs wakes up and smells the sweet smells of the grove.

today was no different. what has become different is the the hollandaise sauce on the eggs florentine has become somewhat watery. last year it was looking like it was going that way...this year it's official - next year i'll be switching to something else, but as long as the grove is there and serving breakfast, i'll be there in the morning.
this year it was just me and the garbs hossing down on eggs and bad coffee. afterwards we went driving around admiring the empty streets and drinking better coffee.

my nice new rockmount shirt made it's debut at the grove this morning.

i stopped by garvie's to have a look at what santa had brought fiona - holy cow! - and having a short visit before they headed out to tom and dorothy's for the next couple of days. i'll be heading out to issy's soon and hanging out there and maybe later, just maybe, going to see a retarded xmas blockbuster.

have fun today. drive safely.

g. xo

pipeline.

2011-12-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

i had to share this picture that was just sent to me.
it's of my friend marv surfing in 1964 - somewhere in california i'd assume.
so great.
i love that guy.

g. xo

larry gets out for the holidays.

2011-12-22T14:28:00.000-08:00

sure, it's a time for seeing friends and family you/we have all ignored/neglected/forgotten about/avoided/missed for the last year or so...but it's also a time to get out in larry and go for a fun ride to ladner.
yes. ladner.

there is a barn i pass by often that i look at and think of as accidental art. they have fixed the side of it with different colors of corrugated metal and created a great look. sort of, if you squint just so, a mondrian look to it. i love it. so today i drove out and took some pictures of it after thinking about doing so for too many years. i once, as a kid, wrote something on the roof of the same barn...or i was drunk and there the night it happened...or...i had something to do with it. it was a grad thing. it was 1982 and i didn't know any better.
anyhow.
today was something else.

g. xo

next stop...MOMA

2011-12-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

we had decided that one of the main things - besides eating and drinking coffee and walking around - was to go to the MOMA. so. we did. decidely smaller than the MOMA in NYC...it's still a pretty great place.

g. xo

A few pics for your eyeballs from s.f.

2011-12-20T09:00:00.001-08:00

g. xo

some long winded range review....

2011-12-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

or not.
i will tell you this about Range on valencia st. in san francisco - it's amazing. great food (we had a small salad - that they gave to us, we think, because of our insane cab ride over - that had a light dressing on it that was amazing. i had some mushroom and goat cheese filled ravioli that had a citrus taste in the buttery sauce that was maybe the best ravioli i have ever had. ailsa had leeks with a poached egg and aged cheddar. for the main ailsa had california swordfish with sweet potato, escarole, portobella mushrooms and a grain mustard sauce(menu listing...) that was great and i had a oven roasted chicken with spaetzel, pancetta, baby broccoli rabe, fromage blanc and arugula-pistachio pistou (from the menu)...
anyhow...it was awesome. my pal laurie and her girlfriend gizelle showed up - she is the manager of range - bought us a couple of drinks and had a short chit chat...so great to see them.
yesterday was roaming around, drinking some coffee, getting the garbs his giants t-shirt, me a new hat, some odds and ends...then dinner at pancho villa. so great. ailsa was loving her prawn quesadilla...then home to relax and watch some bad tv.
there's a ongoing protest across the street at another hotel that wakes us around seven every morning. no wake up call needed...

ok we're off to get a snack. (blue bottle coffee already in us..)

g. xo

insanity in san fran.

2011-12-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

i could try and tell you about the cab right we had in san francisico last night. i really could. i could tell you that we couldn't find a cab to get to our restaurant and that we had to get in a cab with two other people - each going different places themselves - like a colectivo in mexico....i could tell you that the driver didn't go the right way for the first passenger jennifer and she started telling him he was going the wrong way and the driver started getting mad at her. then i could try and tell you how upset the driver got when ramesh, the other passenger, told him he had no idea where he was going. then stopped and starting yelling and at ramesh and kicked him out of the cab near our hotel. he finally got jennifer to her place and we started to our restaurant. i could try and somehow relate the erratic driving, the hard on the brakes followed by excessive speeds down market street. the turning up loud of the classic rock station. the swearing that came out of his mouth made me blush. really.
wen we finally got near Range, late, the traffic was crawling and he was still driving like an asshole and we decided to get out of the cab and walk. i threw some money on his front seat and we fucked off. then we heard him yelling from his car at me/us. driving slowly along following us as we walked towards the restaurant. he was laughing out the car window at us. telling me i was an idiot. that i was a fucking stupid white boy. telling us to fuck off. over and over. i gave him my best spanish swearing and away we went.
to dinner.
we had a few drinks.
the report on range will come later. i can't tell you right now how great it was...but it was.

i need some coffee.

g. xo

United 378

2011-12-16T12:11:00.001-08:00

one more sleep.

2011-12-15T21:56:00.000-08:00

the boss left the salt mine yesterday and headed for a hot spot in mexico with his family and i'm not far behind him - at least in heading out the door towards elsewhere and less phone calls and text messages. garvie and i are heading to san francisco tomorrow afternoon and, shortly after landing, will be dining at range tomorrow night then sleeping soundly at the world famous king george hotel. ok. not world famous. but after a great meal at range it'll be nice to lie down and have a long nap and have coffee at blue bottle in the morning.
it'll be a weekend of hanging out, drinking coffee, eating, hanging out, sleeping and more eating. hopefully the MOMA, pancho villa, giants clubhouse, valencia blvd., etc....good times.
look for updates...and food pics.

g. xo

seating options

2011-12-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

hi...

issy is looking for two piano stools...used is super duper...anyone have some they wanna sell or...?

give me a dingle.

g. xo

passed out past in.

2011-12-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

sunday i started my day off getting dinner ready for that night...well, after some coffee of course. ailsa and i were making dinner for her neighbours and i was gung-ho to get going and make some tasty short ribs. and they turned out great - if i do say so myself.

it was a great team effort. they were a mustard seed dry rubbed short rib cooked in a bourbon and beef stock, etc., sauce for almost six hours...tender goodness.
some nice action.

i have no pics of the finished product but it was great and eaten and gone.

g. xo

best of the blog 2011 in pictures part six

2011-12-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

g. xo

Merry Christmas to me...

2011-12-10T09:10:00.001-08:00

Yup. Bought or am buying myself a pretty wicked Xmas present right now...something I've always wanted. New brakes all around. And a couple of fluid flushes. I'm all tingly with excitement. Thank you Honda for the best present ever!
Truthfully it's fine. All part of owning a car and especially one you use for work. And better to have good brakes than bad.
And now I'm having breakfast with Issy.. So awesome...

g. xo

time for.

2011-12-09T17:08:00.001-08:00

oh my.
what a week it has been.
i can't even start on the weird stuff but it was, wierd and crazy and fucked and...and now, it's fine. just fuckin' fine.
i went and helped garvie and fiona get their xmas tree the other night down the road from their place. strapped it to the top of the element and took it home. of course it needed some trimming at the bottom to make it fit, and i had forgotten to bring a saw and...so last night i went over before hockey, ate a few perogies, and made it all right with the help of the two kids. it looks pretty good...and probably even better today after all the trimmings were put on after i left.
tonight i think it will be relaxo.
maybe even some garnyard, though that may just force my hand into eating all manner of things in my house...
i may just let the chips fall where they may.

g. xo

best of the blog 2011 in pictures part five.

2011-12-09T15:33:00.001-08:00

g. xo

best of the blog 2011 in pictures part four.

2011-12-08T07:19:00.001-08:00

g.xo

best of the blog in pictures 2011 part three.

2011-12-07T07:28:00.001-08:00

g. xo

sunset on william st.

2011-12-06T12:16:00.001-08:00

this time of year the magic hour sun is really something special, look at me all hippy, especially when coupled with the changing leaves on the trees - i think i'm gonna cry.
anyhoo...
it was a nice bit here yesterday so i thought i'd pass along the goodness.

g. xo

best of the blog in pictures 2011 part two.

2011-12-06T07:46:00.001-08:00

g. xo

pure gold.

2011-12-05T14:36:00.001-08:00

i found this picture today and had to share it. he once hit me square in the head with a mike stand at a show at the commodore around 1983.

awesome.

here it comes...the best of the blog in pictures 2011..part one

2011-12-05T09:36:00.001-08:00

g. xo

cutting for the dogs or kids or....

2011-12-04T16:25:00.001-08:00

i got a call the other day, actually an e/mail, from the kids who run the vet. clinic asking me if i could cut the dog lawn one more time- if my stuff hadn't been put away. well, my stuff had been away for almost a month but i like rob and yvonne so...out to richmond i went today (i didn't even take the trailer i just stuffed everything in the element and away i went..) and gave it one more cut. there were a lot of leaves but i managed to make it all work. yvonne was there and i told her i had never cut in december before and that today's cut was for the kids that any money was to go to the empty stocking fund. or something. just seemed like if i was cutting in dec. it should go to a santa of some sort.
she was down with that...nice.

speaking of nice - two things - we had a very nice dinner last night with katherine and corie over at ailsa's place (great hostess...even better cook..) we teamed up to make a texas chili/stew that i had made before and i think it turned out pretty well...and it went well with the cornbread and fancy salad garvie made to go with it. and this morning after a some coffee and light snacks we went for a little walk around the hood before i broke off to go cut the dog lawn. along the way we saw this house that is into the xmas spirit a little early.

my japanese maple is trying to hang onto its leaves but it's a losing battle. after it all goes south i'll do a pruning as i did last year. i want to keep it small and under control.
bomber hockey yesterday saw me talking the reins on defense instead of forward as we were short players...and while i didn't pull any super boners, i was hardly awesome but that's ok...all part of getting out for a good sweat. we managed to pull out a 2-1 win despite the other team scoring approx. 20 seconds into the game...
tonight - cowboy hockey out at eight rinks then pizza and a movie at ailsa's...then i'm gonna sleep like a champ.

have fun.

g. xo

welcome to dec...can you come cut my grass?

2011-12-01T08:28:00.001-08:00

my hallway extinguisher

i have never cut grass in december....not that i remember. my stuff is, usually, well tucked away by december and thoughts of cutting are no longer dancing in my head. this year may be different.
yesterday i received an e.mail from the kids at the dog lawn asking me if i could do one more clean-up/cut before i put all my stuff away and i didn't have the heart to tell them i had hunkered down all that stuff and was now spending my weekend mornings on my couch drinking coffee and not wondering whose lawn i was gonna cut first. so...this weekend i'll be out to richmond and be cutting the dog lawn - in december. another first in the world of lawn order.
in other news all the tickets and the hotel room have been booked so ailsa and i can just arrive in S.F. later this month and just have a nice weekend there - we'll be going out to los gatos (i hope) for the world famous el presidente burrito at adale. that's a great big smile of a meal that one.
and welcome to december. the shorter days are awesome. the cold, the rain, the...and it all lasts all december long and then...in the new year..more of it.
have a great thursday!

g. xo

bright lights for brian.

2011-11-28T10:47:00.001-08:00

a guy i work with - a guy i like quite a bit - has, today, been diagnosed with cancer. i'm not going to say alot except that we're all thinking positive thoughts here. maybe you could too.

g. xo