True North

Two weekends ago, Teri, Farrow, and I headed north to Vancouver with our friends Palee and Jess (pictured) to go experience the Olympics. We had no tickets to any events but we thought it would be fun to hang in the city where everything was happening. We had a place to stay and an agenda of free things to do.

On the first day we battled the rain and traveled to Granville Island, Robson Street, and Yale Town. Palee and Jess patiently tolerated Farrow protesting against the stroller which eventually just became a way for use to push around coats and bags. Farrow could not see throught the crowds down that low and repeatedly demanded to be higher.

Vancouver was packed. Many of the streets downtown were closed and turned into pedestrian boulevards. The red maple leaf was everywhere. We hopped around international houses and free viewing sites trying to take in the Olympic spirit.

Here I am hanging with some Swedish fans. This guy thought I was Che Guevera.

Palee and I ran into this guy after not getting into a free Wilco concert. We wandered the crowded streets of Vancouver one night and watched Canadians celebrate their women win a hockey game 15-0. The bar we were at ran out of so many Molson's that they were forced to serve us Coors Light. We also ran into an impromptu version of "Oh Canada" being sung in the middle of the street with about 50 people participating at midnight.

The next day the sun came out and we had a day of scouting to see where we should spend some time wathcing speed skating. And here we are hanging at the German house. Brats and Pretzels. And Speed Skating. The German house was a large tent whose inside was set up like a Bavarian beer garden. Picnic tables, music, beer, saugage and sourkraut.

The experience was worth the rain and crowds. It was fun just to be there with nothing to do but see what an Olympic city was like. Though we didn't see anything cool like snowboarding, we did see the flame. That was good enough (even though Vancouver tried to hide it behing a building under construction and some fencing.)

Halloween with the Davis Family

Meet the Davis Family. Katie, John and Ava are our friends and next door neighbors, though it is probably more appropriate to call them our roommates. At least twice a week we eat, hang out, or do something together. If you have visited, you have met them, or seen Wrigley, one of their dogs, jump the fence and run into our house. They are new friends, but close ones, and it has been really great to watch them raise Ava. Their advice has been invaluable, and it is exciting to think about our kids playing together in the next few years.

We have a tradition, albeit new, that we spend Halloween in our front yard with a small fire and hand candy to kids as they come to our house. Last night we did this for a second year and everything started out great. Many of our neighbors came by with their kids, some stayed and chatted about what was going on with the election, or our collective lives. Some asked about Teri's pregnancy or our house projects. And others still came by to introduce themselves to our group of 5. It was really a nice evening.

Then the Fire Department came. Some jerk neighbor (I think it is the old hag piano teacher across the street) had apparently called them on us. Our fire, though contained in a Home Depot clay pot, burning clean wood on a ground freshly wet from 2 days of rain, scared some neighbor to the point she called the Fire Department. There was no warning or conversation of "Hey, that tiny safe fire worries me, can you put it out?" Nope, none of that. Instead it was just a chickenshit call to 911. Ahhhh tax dollars. The big truck, with four firefighters in full gear stopped at our house, walked up to where the five of us were sitting, looked puzzled and asked about the pit. Turns out the law is that you need to have food and a metal grate in order to have an open fire pit. So they made us spray it down. You could see the embarrassment in their eyes, as the smoke rose and the fire was put out. We weren't there to cause trouble, and they were just answering a scared bitch neighbor's call.

Luckily, we had reinforcements. Armed by the Davis's fire pit (with a metal grate) we started a fire anew. John and I cut some more wood. Teri and Katie continued to hand out candy, and our neighbor, Jan the mail carrier, brought a pound of frozen ground beef still in a bag and we continue our evening. More neighbors stopped by, asked about the commotion (then laughed at its ridiculousness), our fire continued, and we had a pleasant evening.

In the great words of Chumbawumba "I get knocked down, but I get up again. You ain't ever gonna keep me down."

Especially on Halloween.