Catching up (again x 2)

It’s been a busy summer, but you wouldn’t think so just by looking at my blog. Let’s catch up!

Must-Riff TV

Eric Fell reunited with fellow Gentleman Heckler Shaun Stewart at Little Mountain Gallery to riff on an old episode of Buck Rogers. It was also secretly a 50th¹ birthday celebration. Happy birthday, eh!

Family travel

As I do most summers, I visited my parents in Comox again. This time, however, it was a full-on family reunion with my siblings and their families. We did some touristy stuff, but for the most part we just spent time together and went to the beach. Then we had another family reunion—22 of us!—over at Harrison Hot Springs.

Cathedral Grove

It’s a magical place. I recently read John Vaillant’s book on The Golden Spruce, and much of the coastal BC rainforest would’ve looked like this before the settlers arrived. It’s a tragedy that we’re still logging the last remaining fragments of old growth forest, and it’ll be centuries before it’ll ever grow back (if we let it).

Parksville Sandcastle Competition

We stopped by Parksville for lunch, and to look at the sculptures. It was a bit of a cloudy day, but they were worth seeing.

Comox Festivals

I think the Filberg Festival and Nautical Days take place at the same time, which is absurd. I must be wrong. We went to both, and the BC Day parade.

For a sense of the vibe:

E-bike adventures

My dad bought a used e-bike, so I took it around Comox a bit. It felt heavier and a bit less agile, but for the most part it felt like any other bike. Then I rode it up the hill on Pritchard Road between Knight and Guthrie, and I made it all the way to the top without stopping—in fact, I had sufficient energy to continue down to Noel Ave and ride up another hill. Whoa.

The Merry Wives of Windsor

My long-awaited return to (watching) Bard on the Beach. The play was changed a bit: now it takes place in the Windsor Community Centre somewhere in Vancouver, the woman everyone wants to marry is on the soccer team, and at one point Falstaff was tricked into getting dumped into False Creek. Fun show!

Harrison Hot Springs

I hadn’t been in years. I have a friend who used to invite people over to his dad’s house at Harrison, but the place was sold off long ago. My experience of visiting there was mostly hanging out, drinking, and singing karaoke. I wasn’t sure what there actually was to do in Harrison, other than go to the beach.

It turns out there’s a lot! The tourist strip along the lake has tonnes of restaurants and little shops to look at. There’s water recreation options, like renting a sea-doo, or splashing around a giant water park. There are little museums in town, the beach, and (of course) the hot springs. Best of all, tho, it’s relatively compact, so we were stumbling into each other all the time.

Bridal Veil Falls

It wasn’t old growth, but the waterfall sure was nice.

On the drive over we stumbled across Cheam Road and made fun of the name. “Cheem”? What a silly name! Of course, that was us being ignorant settlers: it’s the anglicized version of a Halq’eméylem word, and it’s actually the name of the local Cheam First Nation. The proper way to say it is like “[exhale] chi-yom”.

Westminster Abbey

We were too late to attend Sunday mass, but we listened to some chanting before the monks kicked us out to lock up the church.

This is, bee-tea-dubs, where Mission gets its name.

Cybertronic Spree

What’s the opposite of Gregorian chant? People dressed up in elaborate Transformers costumes playing rock music? Sounds good to me!

Whitecaps

The Whitecaps absolutely destroyed FC Dallas. 5-0. I felt bad for the Americans. Granted, this was just after Trump added a bunch of tariffs on Canadian exports to the States, so I didn’t feel that bad.

Critical Hit Show

I forget most of the details, but in this edition of the long-running comedic fantasy improv show, the heroes of Tarkindale took the Skytrain to Costco and harassed one of the free sample employees. I took two new people to the show, and it was a weird entry point. 😆

The new Oakridge

Earlier in the summer I rented a car to take some junk to the recycling depot, and on the way there I drove past the new Oakridge Mall. It’s this massive block-sized complex with a bunch of skyscrapers sticking out of it. Near the end of the summer I was riding around on my bike, and decided to check it out properly.

Uh… it’s a high-end mall, and thus not really for me (just like the old Oakridge Mall). The food court looked interesting, tho: lots of interesting restaurants with good-looking food, and it’s too bad I’d already eaten. There’s a nice pseudo-public area above the mall, tho.

Return to Mission

Last weekend some friends took me to Mission for a picnic. We stopped by Rocko’s Diner in Mission (AKA the restaurant in Riverdale) to get take out, then hung around in Heritage Park, eating and chatting and playing with their dog. It was a good day.