Photos from the week.

Tuesday

More fall colours to appreciate. The leaves have pretty much dropped by now. Today, however, I noticed that Van city still has quite a few trees with lots of leaves. It's gets that much colder once you move further from the coast and here in whoville we've got some elevation as well.








Friday

There were wind warnings in the news so I got out early and ran. The run went well and I managed to avoid the nasty weather, which really didn't get that bad until well into the night.

For dinner I debated with myself on what to do with the two smallish delicata squashes and finally settled on squash risotto. This is an easy way to make your risotto creamy without having to add an dairy products. Creamy and delicious. Make your risotto as you normally would, but prior to adding the rice, cook your chopped up squash for about 10 minutes. I cooked the squash with a couple of tablespoons each of earth balance and olive oil and then just covered the pot. Then I stirred in my rice and cooked it a little before adding the wine followed by the doses of stock.


Sunday



db named this one the Mt. Crumpet soynog cappucino. It's actually my tea with a noel nog cream. Delicious. It's a great way to start a Sunday.




The One-of-a-Kind show has come to Van city. Eventhough we had already gone to Circle Craft's seasonal show, we decided to go to the One-of-a-Kind as well. It's about a fifth of the size of the one in Toronto, but it's the first year.
I was curious on how they could pull it off in BC Place with that icky roof and the dull lighting of a stadium. You can see the solution. It worked really well. An area of the field had been cordoned off and enclosed. There was carpeting to muffle the echoey sound that you might expect in a stadium and overall it was bright and set up really well.
We weren't really shopping since we don't really Christmas shop (and of course having no money to spend helps), but I really enjoy being able to admire all the work. I guess it's more like going to a gallery for me. I probably should have gone to the east side culture crawl, but I made my choice. Next year I'll have to get to the culture crawl.

This week seemed to fly by.

I've been busy at work trying to learn about more areas of the store to get an idea of how the whole system functions (or where it can break down) so it's been a challenging and tiring week. I've been multi-tasking myself stupid to the point where I started to wonder what area fits best with me and what doesn't. I suppose this is a good place to be since now I can make my job what I want it to be. I was a bit down on my job because I felt I wasn't being fulfilled creatively, but I've been trying to make my job work for me as much as possible. After not getting the office position, I was a bit pissed feeling like it was a dead-end job, but now I see that since then I've been working harder in other areas. In the end it is probably more rewarding working with displays, learning the warehouse, and juggling the express and web orders. True it's not as much money as the office job, but money isn't everything is it?

It's also true that I'm not freelance writing or making much money in that area (actually zero dollars right now), but if I sit around moaning about it I'll waste too much time and energy bitching and complaining which leads to bouts of not wanting to get out of bed and poor eating habits (damn you Miss Vickies!).

Does this make me want to get up and go to work? No. Am I still chomping at the bit to leave at the end of a shift? Yes. Am I the last person to volunteer my time? Yes. Some things can't be changed.

***

db and I went for a run today. This is the first time we ran together since the marathon. The day was overcast and cool, the ground damp from the rains earlier in the morning. As far as I'm concerned it was great running weather. There's very little chance of overheating in this weather. We covered a solid 6 k before db's IT band started to bother him. He had to walk by the time we got to the inlet trail. So I'd run ahead and back to meet him and then we just walked for a bit. After all I'm not training for any event right so I thought I might as well enjoy the walk with db.

We stopped at one of the creeks that runs into the inlet to see the salmon. I sense it's nearing the end of their run. There seems to be fewer now. We followed the path along the creek and stopped a various points to see if others were struggling along. Sure enough there was always one or two working away. We also noticed two bald eagles quite close to the creek ready to reap the benefits of a creek swimming with salmon about to give up. I think we saw a nest. Makes sense that they would set up home in such an ideal spot.

***

Friday we went to Circle Craft since it was two for one entrance fee. Since we don't really do Christmas gifts with anyone it's fairly easy to go through there and not shop which was great. We mostly just purchased food (like we usually do) and I bought a recycled rubber card holder (I gave my last one to my brother and have been trying to replace it since).

Once again it was the woodworkers that impressed me the most. The knitters are interesting but I can't wear a lot of it because of the wool factor. Mostly I just got ideas from the knitters and a couple of booths I thought "I can do that." A couple of shawls and some scarves seem to do the trick. Hmm yes, but do I want to try and make a living at it? That's a whole other ball of wax (or wool I guess).

It's a little more specialized than the one-of-a-kind show in Toronto. There's more high end work as opposed to the production stuff. There were many craftspeople from Quebec which seems like a long way from home to be, but I guess it must be worth it for them.

***

Anywho...we're getting out the persimmon chutney and making a bit of an Indian themed dinner tonight with a veggie korma, homemade chapati, tamarind tofu and coconut rice so I'd better get cooking.







We are also getting incredibly busy since the Christmas shopping is underway. I've been working with the display coordinator for some time now and I feel like I'm scrambling around to make things "Christmas" ready when we're already in full swing.