I've seen these life sized figures of people with motorcycle handle bars for faces all around town. I thought they were supposed to be there until I saw someone painting over three of these guys in a row on the side of a building on Hastings Street down by the PNE. I found these ones over by Science World today on my way to a work thing. I wonder who does these? The detail is nice and it must take some time to put these up. Strangely, I don't find this kind of work to be vandalism graffiti, it's more like art. Although, if I was to own a building and someone painted or stuck this on it, I'm not sure how appreciative I would be of the art.

In other news, I have to confess, I was bragging today about my pumpkin patch at work. Like, really bragging. I can't believe how excited I am about growing my own pumpkins in the yard. I just finished sending Cynthia an email all about my pumpkin excitement. And my friend Lianne told me I should have hay rides and everything, just like a pumpkin patch in Langley. She also suggested a petting zoo - where we could pet the neighbourhood cat, Caesar, and I could sell apple cider for a quarter a cup. I think this is a great idea. Actually, I'll get Mike to run the juice stand. I'll take the "buy your picture for $10 in the pumpkin patch" pictures for all the kiddies. And, I even have an order in for 1 white ghost pumpkin. I like that name better. BOO! Scary pumpkins. And I'll try out that trick Denise suggested - scarring the pumpkins while they are growing. I'll look into that, too.

I'd better take good care of these plants. And get some hay. Denise pointed out that there's a danger of slugs moving in and helping themselves to the tiny seedlings. Not on my watch, there won't be. Looks like I'll be digging a moat around the pumpkin patch and filling it with near beer as a preventative measure.

Only 5 to 9 more sleeps until germination. I'm looking forward to it.

Holy. It took a few hours, but I got these babies (That's orange AND white pumpkins!):

in the ground here:

And now I owe Art & Jo-Ann some chicken wire. They left a roll and I just went ahead and helped myself. It really came in handy. I was trying to figure out a way to protect the little seedlings from the friendly neighbourhood kitties taking dumps in my pumpkin patch AND digging up the little pre-plants while using the patch as a toilet. I think this will work just fine. And when the plants get bigger, I can take the chicken wire out or just press it right down into the dirt and they can grow around it.

How long do we have to wait?

I can hardly wait. I was talking to my mom today and discussed the possibility of becoming a crazy pumpkin patch lady who sleeps in the garden with the pumpkins with a shotgun across my chest protecting the crop. It could happen. Mike & I watched a documentary about these pumpkin farmers who grow those gigantic 800lb pumpkins. They babied those pumpkins and checked them for skin breaks and rested them on palettes. Hey...we've got palettes! Now I owe Art & Jo-Ann chicken wire and palettes.

UPDATED TO ADD: I just found the documentary about the pumpkin farmers here. I wish I had come up with that title - The Lords of the Gourds. Genius!

A few months ago, I was home...I think I was sick...and I saw Martha Stewart making some cute reusable grocery bags out of t-shirts on the teevee. I knew I had to make them. But when? I put that gem in my mind to make for later and kind of forgot about them.

Along came a few weeks before Mother's Day, and then a week before Mother's Day, and I had not finished my crocheted reusable grocery bags for the moms. Oh no! What was I going to do? Buy some cute t-shirts in Gastown with Vancouver sewn on them and turn those shirts for some quick tote bags. Here is how it's done - ala Martha Stewart style.

1) Find a cute t-shirt. Does size matter? Not really. It's for groceries, not people.

2) Turn the t-shirt inside out.

3) Carefully cut the sleeves off the shirt. And cut the collar off as well. I used a stainless steel bowl as a template and traced around the outside. Just like Martha did.

4) I ironed the shirts after I had cut the sleeves off to get the fold marks out.

5) Next, the sewing part. You have to use the zig zag stitch on the stretch material. I'm very good at sewing straight lines. And I love this dramatic sewing shot right here:

6) I sewed it twice, just to make it strong.

7) Turn it right side out and voila! You're saving all kinds of petroleum products by using the t-shirt bag instead of a plastic one.

And...if you need to clean the grocery bag, you just throw it in the washing machine. Because it's a t-shirt. Tada! Everyone wins!

I filled up the bags with goodies - some moms got some Purdy's chocolates because you can't get them in Nova Scotia and some moms preferred Panda licorice and golf tees. And all the moms got their stuff in time. Phew!

I think I've said this before, but, I'll start earlier next year.

Happy Mother's Day - to my mom and all the other moms from the naked statues down the street.

And from me, too. Fully clothed.

Hope you all get some good stuff and have a fun day.

We went to an all you can eat sushi & bbq place for dinner tonight. It was quite a feast. I tried some of these oysters and they were great. I'm usually not into the oyster thing, but these were really nice.

We also had the usual sushi:

My mom gets a bit concerned with the raw fish on the rice thing, but this was very fresh and very great. It was like butter.

Can you believe that my sister turns her nose up at this? She does not approve of sushi at all and gets upset by just the smell. But one thing she would approve of is this:

It's a built in barbecue pit in the middle of the table. We cooked up some chicken, beef and lamb on that bad boy right there.

This is a bunch of food, and I should point out that there were 3 of us. Eating all this food.

I read many websites with hints for taking nice photos of people. One suggestion I've read a few times is to NOT take pictures of people while they are eating. As a general rule, people don't look their best while eating food - I guess it's their expressions and the fact that their faces are a bit distorted while their mouths contain food. Sometimes people take pictures of the wedding reception with people eating only to be disappointed with the end results. I learned that the best way to show people enjoying food is to show the presentation of the food and then the people after they've eaten.

See? Not flattering. No matter what I do to this photo, Mike does not look attractive with this spicy squid in his mouth. Also not good? Spicy squid. It's too chewy and rubber-booty for me. Blech. Even if you call it Spicy Cthulu, it doesn't make it taste any better.

One more time not to take a picture of someone? Immediately after they've eaten. Poor Wes looks like a zombie in this after-we've-finished-a-delicious-meal photo:

So remember kids, only take pictures of people before eating, around food or a little while after. Never during the eating time.

And thanks to Wes and Mike for modeling in my most unflattering photos of them ever. I'll make it up to you guys. I promise.

Oh. Right. THAT pumpkin patch. I didn't quite get to it today. But I will get to it this weekend come hell or high water. And it's supposed to rain tomorrow and Sunday. But it will happen irregardless. Heh. Like that? It's a real word, irregardless. A non-standard word, but my writing's casual enough for it. I'd like to think so, anyway.

I didn't get my hands dirty today because I was busy shopping at the local garden shop down the hill. I bought some fancy dirt for the pumpkins and a few plants. Mostly herbs and edibles. Here are two samples of what's going to grow on the balcony:

1) Lavender:

I'll grow this lavender in one of the terracotta pots that my buddy, Cathy, gave me a few years back. Lavender thrives in the worst conditions - dried up dirt and prefers being ignored, unless you need to chop some of it off. That's fine. It just grows back again, so no big whoop. It's low maintenance and tasty in shortbread and as tea. It's a perfect take care of ourself plant. I'll probably pick up few more bunches.

2) The hardy orchid, or, Look! I didn't kill it!:

I bought this little orchid at last year's daffodil show in Bradner. The lady who sold it to me told me it had to stay outside. So I plunked it out on the balcony and hoped for the best. After a few months, I thought it was dead, but just never got around to tossing it out. Good thing, because today when I was bringing in my balcony loot, I noticed it had a great big bud on it. Welcome back, hardy orchid. I didn't kill you after all. But your pod, it looks like teeth! You're a scary little orchid, aren't you?

I bought some other fun balcony & container plants, but won't show them all to you at once. And, I think I'm going to do a trade for some photos with some other gardeners so I can add a few more plants to my collection using the barter system. I know someone with a pear tree AND a dog. I could do well if I play my cards right.

Mike and I headed down to the Commercial Drive area and went out for coffee with Fiona and some buddies. We laughed a lot. And the coffee was terrific. The coffee you see here is a latte made by one of the owners of the establishment. It's a hang out for an older Italian crowd, especially during soccer season. It's got the feel of a diner as well as something you'd see out of the Sopranos. They don't serve gobbagool, but they do serve a mean coffee and some Orangino
Hey! Faggetaboutit!

Those were Mike's parting words to me this morning. Good one! I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I've got tomorrow off to plant a pumpkin patch. YESSS! I told Abby that at work today. Her response? "Uh, is this a joke?" long pause..."I'm sorry, I don't believe you." Nope, it's real. I celebrated by getting off the bus at the McDonald's on Hastings and Cassiar to take pictures of the Buddha statue at the Buddhist Temple across the street. I pass by him every day and keep meaning to stop to take his portrait. I did that very project today. I've never been inside the temple and I'm not sure if they allow photos inside, but that would be a cool thing to do.

My agenda items for the weekend is very long...starting with sleeping in. We're watching movies tonight. And tomorrow the work begins. Can't wait to plant those white pumpkins.

I saw Kate on Monday and she gave me an update on Tommy Tomster. She explained that Tommy still doesn't want visitors. He's off the big ventilator and on the CPAP machine and getting used to it, but he still can't talk. And this is why he doesn't want visitors. Who could stand it? Listening to all that talking and not being able to respond? Dude, I really understand. That's my job and I get paid to do it. All that listening plus the added bonus of no one listening to my suggestions? Forget it. We'll wait for you talk. And something tells me, we won't be doing much talking when that happens. You'll be making up for lost time. It has been 6 weeks after all.

She did say he's looking much better these days - he seems much less tired than when we saw him last time and his colour is good. He's slowly making some improvements.

Today I got to do some work stuff right at the hospital and since I heard Tommy wasn't seeing any visitors, I went right up to ICU to see if I could sneak in a visit. I'm here to report that there was no sneaking into the ICU. The first line of ICU defense is the telephone where you call the nurses desk so that they'll open the big giant remote control doors for you. I tried using my best "I'm supposed to be here" voice with the nurse who answered the phone and she was having none of it. She put me on hold for a bit then came back on the line and told me Tommy was sleeping and his wife had stepped out. She also told me I was not on "the list", and, in fact, no one was on that list except Kate. DARN YOU TOMMY! I decided to wait to see if I could catch Kate on her way back Tommy and then casually see him that way. I walked down to the new area where he's recuperating now and hung out. I must have waited a whole 10 minutes, then decided to leave. No Kate sighting. No Tommy sighting. No nothing sighting. So, what do you do when you're at the hospital and have no one to see? Take pictures.

Talk about nervous. I felt a little weird taking pictures in the hospital. I didn't take pictures of anyone, just this stained glass piece inside the Pattison Pavilion. The ICU is located in this building - a building named after Jimmy Pattison, a local businessman who's been reported as being about 4 times wealthier than Oprah. I heard a rumour that he paid to finish up this part of the hospital due to some kind of lack of funding that kept the building from being completed. I expected that something with his name on it would be pretty snazzy. However, I'm sad to say that the waiting room bathrooms leave little to be desired and same with the cafeteria. Yeesh. I resisted the urge to completely sanitize my whole body with those little sanitizer stations they have every few feet in the pavilion.

Outside the hospital, there's a nice area with a bench and these gigantic red spatulas. This sculpture is huge - 24 feet tall. But I didn't get it. Why two big red spatulas in the nice little garden area near the hospital? Then I noticed the sign:

Oh. I get it now. Two big spatulas = partners or family or friends or the doctor/patient bond. Not to mention you use spatulas to lift things...it's uplifting! It all makes sense now.

I'd better run that past Tommy.

I'm busy making plans and getting things done around the house - inside and out. I decided to take Friday off in order to get even more stuff done. Like plant that pumpkin patch I didn't get to on the weekend. And washing down the balcony so I can plant some tumaytas. It will be great.

My mom and sister are coming out for a visit for the last couple of weeks in June. I've also got those days booked off from work and I'm good to go.

I also sent out Mother's Day presents today. I was assured by the post office they'll make it to their destinations on time. I didn't get the crochet gifts done, and had to switch over to Plan B. I took pictures of Plan B, but that will have to wait until after Sunday.

And right now, I'm home alone, reading blogs and watching American Idol. I have to say the guy singing "Stand By Me" is pretty good, but the guy with the dreadlocks? YEEIKES.

It's good to be home.

I know. I shouldn't take this much glee in someone losing the Stanley Cup, but when your image appears on the cover of the Hockey Times with the horns and skinny mustache on it BEFORE you've even opened the magazine? You've really outdone yourself. Good one, Hockey Times!

He is such a turd.

Wowza. This beauty decorated ala 1986 was parked outside my office this afternoon. I stopped to take pictures just in case it wasn't there later. I have to be honest, I was late for my appointment. But don't worry, it was for work. Heh.

ANYWAY, the moment I saw this car, I was sure ZZ Top was somewhere in the vicinity. Just an aside, I heard someone pronounce Zee Zee Top as Zed Zed Top once. Weird. Okay, back to the car. What was Zee Zee Top doing in Vancouver, with their car parked outside the building where I work?

Were they:

A) Shopping at Holt Renfrew for silk suits, black ties? Because you know what every girl's crazy about, right?
B) Shopping at a booth in the middle of Pacific Centre Malll for some Cheap Sunglasses?
C) Looking around in Sears down the street for some sleeping bags to sleep between the Pharaohs in the shifting sand?
D) Window shopping around the corner at Tiffanys for a pearl necklace?
E) All the above.
F) None of the above.

My guess? They're off doing the Tube Steak Boogie somewhere.

Naughty, naughty!

As seen on the friendly neighbourhood garbage bin in one of the alleys downtown.

And honestly, I think it's neither. It's that guy over there...trust me on that.

So, I missed the big winner of the marathon today by about 20 minutes. I thought for sure the first place person would be done in closer to three hours, but no...the winner of the Vancouver Marathon, Thomas Omwenga of Kenya, finished running the 42.195 KM in 2 hours and 15 minutes. That's pretty much the same time I got back to the car to plug the meter. Well, that won't happen again, I can assure you. Now that I know these guys are that fast, I'll be on top of the whole pay for parking situation. Also, why did I think it would be around the 3 hour mark? I guessed. I know. My ESPN is NOT working.

I did get a few goodies, though. Like this enthusiastic runner who asked us to cheer for him:

Which we all did...he just showed up during a lull in crowd participation, but we were back on track after his reminder.

Then this little girl in a blue dress and black boots crashed the race to run across the finish line with her mom:


We have a piper down! A piper down! We saw a runner get transported toward the the finish line in the golf cart ambulance all hooked up to an IV and everything:

I think he was okay. He waved to the crowd as they zipped by in the Cushman.

And finally...on the other side of the finish line, this little baby being carried by her mom who just finished the half marathon.

That's the mom that finished the race, not the baby.

Just to be clear.

My buddy Suzanne completed her first marathon ever today. I went down to the finish line today to catch her in action. I had headed down pretty early this morning to see my coworker Abby finish the half marathon, but I somehow missed her. And then, because I had to go pay for parking and I wasn't organized enough to pay via cell phone from the finish line, I then missed the first place winner of the marathon. DUH. Next time I'll leave earlier and cover all bases such as parking and exact map routes. ANYWAY...

Since Suzanne was running all 42.195 km, I had some time to practice some shots and to get a good spot for Mike and I to get stationed at and then wait for the big finish. Suzanne did not disappoint. Here's the play by play:

1) After Suzanne's sister and niece found us and let us know Suzanne was coming into the home stretch, we perched up on the overpass for a good shot of her coming in to the finish line. After a couple of false alarms (Wait! What? Did we miss her? What? NO! Oh no! Oh, that's not her? Oh. Phew.) We did see her finishing strong towards the finish line:

Alright...looking good! Here's another shot of her striding in towards the finish line:

Good form on that one. And next, she waves to all her fans cheering her on:

And here's the step over the finish line. Proof! She finished running 42.195 freaking kilometers. In a row. All on the same day. Phew. That was a long haul:

Mike and I ran down to meet her. I ran down the whole staircase. Exhausting. And, how did she look after running all that way? Pretty fresh faced, I'd say. And cheerful. And happy.

There was a crowd gathered around her at this point and she was answering all their questions with one word answers. The answer to my genius question, "Hey Suzanne! How was it?" Her response, "Hard." Oh. Yah. I ask all the tough questions during my documentation sessions.

One last shot...and I can't believe she was still standing up at this point...but she had to show us her marathon medal:

Hooray for you, Suzanne! Congratulations! That was an amazing distance you crossed today. Perhaps your next challenge will be that 100 mile race across the desert?

Have a good sleep tonight, and you may want to see the massage therapist in the morning. *Wink*

*Please note: Suzanne's occupation? Massage Therapist. BOMP.*