I like living in the city. I am always amazed when friends and colleagues move to places like Calgary so they can afford a big house. No offense Calgary, but I would never leave Vancouver for your endless suburbs. I also believe in high density living, the world needs nature more than it needs another sprawling subdivision.
For years architects and anthropologists have been studying our moving from the front porch to the backyard - and the profound impact this has had on our society. It’s a theory that I find fascinating, and even though Tom and I aren’t spending our evenings hanging out on the veranda, we are very connected to our neighbors. When you live as close to your neighbors as we do - you learn to work things out, and take care of each other.
Vancouver is one of the great cities of the world, a rare combination of urban sophistication and nature. While living here, we’ve had raccoons, coyotes, otters, beavers and even a cougar wander through our hood.
Today’s photos, a glimpse of life in the city.
A few years ago my honey started something we like to refer to as Project 365, the intent being to take and post at least one photo every day of the year. He lasted all of 14 days before he moved on to bigger and better things.
Now that I’ve discovered the iphone I’ve decided to pick up where he left off. Just to be clear, I’m not and never will be the photographer Tom is. Nor am I a purist, I plan to use every cool filter and special effect I can find. My goal is to create a photo diary of my wonderful, wacky life. Who knows, maybe I’ll even convince Tom to make the odd guest appearance.
I recently took a photo of this old car as it reminds of of my first set of wheels, an old Buick Wildcat. It was my grandfathers pick, his criteria being “you could drive into a brick wall and maybe not kill yourself”. I didn’t really appreciate it’s classic beauty at the time, not realizing the fenders provided a certain cool factor. Eventually I realized that if I was going to keep driving it I would probably need to start dating a mechanic, and if you’ve met Tom you know how that story ended (when we were dating we had to roll down the windows of his Ford Fiesta as it was literally smoking inside the car).
For years after the Wildcat I drove sensible cars, based on advice from the men in my life. At one point we bought a Mazda and logged over 240,000 miles on it, but truth is it was always more Tom’s car than mine. He loved pointing out to anyone who would listen that our little car had traveled the same distance as from the earth to the moon!
It wasn’t until I got Tex and Maggie that I gave myself permission to buy a convertible. Anyone who has ever loved a dog will tell you that they come in two models:
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that top heavy dogs, like bulldogs or pugs, probably shouldn’t be allowed to defy gravity at 70 miles an hour. Getting the convertible seemed like a good compromise, and the pugs got to feel the wind in their fur (with Born to be Wild playing in the background).
I love my mother, but truth is we’ve always had a tumultuous relationship. Someday I’m going to create a series of Mother’s Day cards for people like me, with verses like “Happy Mother’s Day - after years of therapy still thinking of you! “.
Philip Larkin probably said it best in the following poem:
This Be the Verse
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.
My grandmother used to say that if we are lucky, life gives us what we need, not what we want. Every time I look at my beautiful son and pugs I am reminded of those wise words. Having come from a long history of family drama and angst, having kids wasn’t really part of my life plan. I am so very thankful that the great spirit had other ideas for me.
Being a mother has been the most rewarding experience of my life, teaching me how to love without condition, live without fear, and giving me a deeper appreciation for my own mother.
