The view out the window upon arrival at UBC last week – what’s up with the SNOW?!
The last part of February passed in an absolute blur, and I’ve been away from the blog completely but for brief moments to reply to comments. But I’m back, and life promises to settle down a bit after the recent flurry, and my stack of to-discuss books is frighteningly tall. I’ll get back to my blogging routine very soon – I’ve missed you all!
Claire – I did make it to Vancouver, but it was literally a flying visit – I was there two days, visited Van Dusen and the UBC garden in the snow, stopped in at three bookstores – Pulp Fiction on Main (which I found well-organized but very high priced) and Lawrence Books on Dunbar (which was gloriously overstuffed and a bit chaotic, also very high-priced, but full of treasures) and of course the excellent Pages (now renamed) in Hope on the way home. That cup of tea – next time!
I came to Vancouver for a glimpse of green grass, but sadly found lots and lots of SNOW instead – but at least it wasn’t minus 25C like it was at home!
Multiple vet visits with our elderly dog, including one rather costly surgery (she’s recovered brilliantly – what a tough old girl she is), and minor surgery for one of the humans (three wisdom teeth removed – the person in question is in looks-like-chipmunk recovery mode today), and the regional dance festival ate up vast chunks of my time these past two weeks, but things are easing up a bit.
We have a two-day Vocal and Choral Festival to get through this coming weekend, but it promises to be a gentle diversion after the high-energy Dance Festival, and I am looking forward to just sitting back and listening to the music, in between my not-very-arduous duties as the local Provincial Festival representative. Kevin Zakresky, choral director of the Vancouver Symphony, Prince George Symphony, and Pacifica Singers, is our Vocal adjudicator, and it sounds like he will be a lot of fun, so very much looking forward to that.
I shall soon be back posting away as usual – I have been reading some very interesting books, which I’m keen to share thoughts on.
Van Dusen Garden in Vancouver, February 24, 2014 – There are spring flowers out there – really! – I saw glimpses of them – buried for the most part under the unexpected snow. A very beautiful botanical garden, under any conditions.
Leaves & Pages 
We didn’t have very hospitable weather for you, did we? Sorry about that. I’m happy to say it’s all gone now and the spring flowers seem unperturbed. I’m glad you had a good, if busy, visit, though I’m sorry we weren’t able to connect. Glad you got both some garden-visiting and book browsing in during your visit – two of my favourite activities! Lawrence Books is right in my neighbourhood but, like all the used bookstores in Vancouver, it is quite pricey.
Glad you’re well–I sure have missed your reviews!
So glad to hear your dog is doing well! Now you can read with a lighter heart.
I’ve been wondering where you were! Looking forward to more interesting book discussions.
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