Harvest Festival

Every fall the Strathcona community puts on the Harvest Festival which includes a pie tasting contest, live music, crafts, and other things to do with the fall harvest.  We arrived late so we missed the pie but we got there just in time for a community hay fight.  It was awesome.  Who ever thought to dump a giant pile of hay in the middle of the park was a genius.  It never got old throwing hay in people's faces.  It was such a great feeling to be part of a tight knit community.  Even the little girls got themselves together and organized their own potato sack race.

Near the end of the fest, I was chatting with a friend when suddenly we heard a roaring noise and saw black smoke billowing into the sky.  An old wooden heritage house caught fire at the end of the park and everyone started running towards it.  I think it's so crazy that people throw themselves right in front of danger to get a good look.  It didn't take long for the fire department to put the fire out and no one seem to be hurt.  All the commotion kind of killed the party but made it extra memorable.

What's so special about East Van?

Everything.

Peaches!

I really wanted to try canning peaches this year but thought I would never make it with a new baby in hand.  However, an opportunity presented its self and two cases of peaches arrived at my door step.
I was told the peaches would take a few weeks to ripen up.  That should be enough time to do some research!

.....nope.  

The next morning McKay's brother Landon, who was staying with us, said if I didn't can the peaches that day, I would probably have to throw them all in the garbage.  Panic!!!  

So in the end, canning peaches isn't as crazy as I thought.
I just want to say thank you to Landon and Brittany because I probably would have eaten most of the peaches and made the rest into jam if they weren't around.  

Autumn Fruit Bowl

Summer is a time to gorge one's self on the copious amounts of fresh fruit.  For me, as soon as the local cherries popped up in the market, I could not stop eating them.  I would have several sittings and eatings in a day, every day, all summer long.  The cherries were just so big, plump, and juicy....  

But all good things must come to an end and I finally hit my saturation point in the last week of August.  I could no longer plough my way through a large bag of cherries.  I would have 4 or 5 cherries but that was enough.  I knew at that point, summer was over.  I don't think I can look at another cherry again for at least another year.  

Thank goodness for autumn fruit.  Pears are starting to show up in all shapes and sizes along with the italian plums.  Their deep colour next to the bright pears is how autumn looks and feels to me.  I think they look pretty good in my Fez bowl too.  It was actually Banyan's idea to get the plums and he's already eaten half the bag.  It will be sad when the local fruit disappears altogether from the market. 

Clover and Grass

Autumn has floated in with the September breeze, settling like a cool crisp blanket over the city.  The sun is hot but is quickly mellowed by the arctic air pouring down.  I wish I brought a sweater to cover my bare arms.  I drop my son off at his first day back at preschool.  It's a new beginning, a new classroom, and new faces.  I have one hour before I can pick him up.  It's just long enough to walk to the thrift store and let a tea cup fumble out of my finger tips and smash brilliantly across the floor.  No one seems to notice except an old chinese man who pauses for only a moment to watch me smile and collect the broken pieces.  I lay the the tea cup in it's new form back on the shelf wondering if this was the cup's true destiny, never to be used as a tea cup again.  I continue past the once useful but now forgotten to pick up my son...

I pack my camera every where I go, searching for a moment of inspiration, a moment of intrigue, even if I am only walking through my neighbourhood where I've walked a million times before.  I doubt  I will see something new.  What could possibly get my attention that hasn't already?  As I near the end of my walk, I notice swaying in the autumn breeze, clover and wild grass so delicate and unconstrained.  This is a moment I want to keep forever.

Granville Island Marina

 We hung out at the marina a few days ago while we waited for our posy to come back from their sea-dooing trip.  We had a great time exploring the nautical happenings.

Sometimes when I take a photo, I don't realize how much I'm inspired by it until I see it on my computer screen.  I love the blue and grey tones in the photo of Banyan.  Lately I've been finding inspiration in these colours along with many different shades of white and the look of naturally weathered wood.