Vancouver's record summer

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We are living in a zoo! So far around the house we have seen a raccoon, seals, minks, cormorants, squirrels, deer. I stretch the truth only slightly - the deer was while out on a bike ride, standing by the side of the bike trail completely unconcerned by sweaty pedallers. While out the other night a neighbour warned us about a cougar that was seen in the street last week. Bears are common but we haven't seen one yet. Oh, and while out kayaking the other day we saw a salmon get caught. At the moment we have crab pots down so I reckon we'll add to the animal count soon. One of the least attractive features of the menagerie is the Canada Geese which decide to start hooting around 4.30 - 5.00 each morning on the water just in front of the house.

This is Monday 29/7/13. Since our last blog we have been actively touristing. Rob and I biked in the Seymour River conservation area along with hundreds of other's. Some on road bikes on smooth, wide roads closed to traffic, some on mountain bikes, some on hybrid bikes like us, some on trikes that articulated and bent with the curves in the road. Amazing machines - I want one! There was a 10k run just finishing when we started along with dozens of joggers/runners enjoying the quiet trails and roads in the forest. I was pretty envious of the brilliant environment for biking. Along the way we saw the aforementioned deer and our bike ride took us to the Seymour River salmon hatchery where we got a one-on-one talk by one of the workers who explained how it all worked. And we looked at thousands of salmon from a few centimetres long to the big adults. Beautiful wild area easily accessible to the public.

Meanwhile Lyn and Gill had gone to Lonsdale Market and watched a Carribean festival of food, music, dance including, so I'm told, some very unattractive and overweight belly dancers. Not sure what that had to do with the Carribean. They brought home some delicious food from the market for lunch.

The previous day we'd been kayaking early in the morning on mirror-like water, a couple of k's down Indian Arm watching seals lolling on the top then diving and blowing. On one side the tranquillity and beauty of the water, on the other multi million dollar homes and boats parked up at the private jetties, some with ugly barn-like boat sheds to mar the view and the ambience of the natural beauty.

Then biking in Stanley Park. Sheryl kindly lent us bikes and riding gear and we puddled along checking out the sights in a an area so close to the city yet feeling like a hundred miles away ( In Canada they still use miles). We had lunch in Stanley Park at the Fish House. A cold beer never tasted so good. A bucket of beer actually.

Apparently one thing causing Vancouver to drop down the list of most liveable city's is the traffic congestion - after our bike ride Lyn and I saw what that meant. Heading home for a cleanup before our evening appointment with Shakespeare turned into something of a marathon as roads were clogged after a couple of accidents in different parts of the roading network.

Bard on the Beach is a Vancouver tradition going back over 20 years. Shakespeare is performed in vast marquees erected on the beach with the back of the stage open to the view of the water. We saw Twelfth Night. Very well done and absorbing. Plenty of laughs, well staged and performed.

We have a snag with our photos appearing on the blog - apparently there's a software incompatibility with the iPad and this blog site which doesn't allow pics to display properly. Only half a pic appears. Bloody nuisance. We'll persevere though and maybe put photos elsewhere for those interested to look at.

Thanks for the comments y'all and stay well.

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