The City

San-sa-Fran as I like to call it, was amazing. I had been there a couple times before, but they were exceedingly short visits, which mostly included the waterfront, Union Square and taking pictures of the Golden Gate bridge. San Fran, circa 2007, was also the first time I ever went to H&M or rode a streetcar. I loved it then, but I love it more now. It was deliciously warm as we meandered the streets. We went up Coit Tower for a 360 view of the city, walked through China Town, went to the Palace of Fine Arts, discovered neighbourhoods like the Marina, had dinner in the Mission, had lunch on the boardwalk. Who could ask for more? No one could, that's who.

We had been walking toward this park when we got detoured by an Apple store. Mark and I walked on ahead to discover it alone. I thought we were heading to any ol' patch of grass.. so to see this was a shock to the system. We proceeded to nap on the grass and listen to Great Lake Swimmers until the others arrived. Mark is sneakily playing Canadian music almost exclusively, so that when our new friends ask casually 'Who's this?', he can tell them followed with 'THEY'RE CANADIAN'. Andy Shauf and GLS's have been big hits so far.

New friends that feel like old friends straight away are the best type. 

I was so high on life when we were here. I broke into spontaneous made-up song about how sweet life was at one point and then remembered I was with people who barely knew me and felt slightly embarrassed.  I said slightly. 

Made it to the bridge before the sun was gone. My iPhone does a terrible job of capturing this scene. But, I can't complain, it is, after all, a phone. Forget that sometimes. 

Got a little hyper on a long bus ride over to the Mission for supper at Bar Tartine, which was delectable. Next time I will make it before the Bakery closes :( 

Tonight we are going to a Giants game! Don't worry, I got debriefed on the rules of baseball last night, so I'm pretty much good to go. 

Esplorin' California

Mark and I went on our first Californian adventure with new Apple friends (Kendall from San Diego, Robbie from New York and Jing from Toronto) on Saturday. It was filled with beach, path, and boardwalk strolls. Sunscreen applications, fish and chips, in n' out burgers, Canadian/American jokes and sharing music. Stunning coastal drives, water falls, Bixby Bridge and the fog rolling in. We got home in time for a night cap, a coat or two of aloe vera and with two very burnt feet (mine). We slept like logs and woke up early(ish) Sunday for our day in San Francisco. Pictures to come tomorrow! 

Our first stop was the beach at Santa Cruz. 

Jing bought some Rainbow dippin' dots for us. We LOVED THEM. Thank you Jing. And liquid nitogren.

Next we went to Bixby Bridge which was a real stunner. 

Pfeiffer National Park... Incredibly beautiful.

 

Sigur Ros & Trying to Use my Words

We drove into Oakland last night with two gentlemen to see Sigur Ros perform. One from New York, one from San Diego, and two from Calgary. Us.

We arrive at the Fox Theatre just in time. I will try to describe the experience to you, because when you see something beautiful, sometimes you need to share it. Or try to.

Mark and I. Sitting beside someone where your hand can travel wordlessly to their hand, squeeze and they know exactly what you mean is so wonderful. You don’t have to take your eyes off the stage. We communicated a thousand variations of ‘Isn’t this awesome?!’ Squeeze back yes. Slow squeeze ‘This is too beautiful.’ Belated squeeze ‘I know, it is.’ I had this overwhelming sensation of being so grateful that I was sitting next to Mark while feeling so alone in my own experience at the same time. He provided no distraction; he was just there with me, my partner. We both had our own experiences sitting side by side and that is a beautiful thing. Sometimes I feel so defeated with my words later. I want to describe exactly how I felt to him, to others, but it’s so hard after the moment has passed. I have to learn to be at peace with this and those moments that are only possible to share with my own little self.

How do such beautiful sounds exist in the same world where the sound of bombs exists? Where pain exists. My simple mind cannot comprehend their strange juxtaposition. It is beyond me. The whole night was beyond me. Just too much in every sensory way possible. We could have been sitting in an empty room watching dust particles lazily float about and it would have moved me to tears. Waves slowly gaining momentum. Ice freezing across glass surfaces. A single strand of light or a thousand. A speck of sand. Crescendos built and built and built and built and built and built. A lone trombone. A haggard bow on guitar strings. A fallen sheet. 

I remembered Sunday morning, quite a few years ago. It was sunny, we were driving. Sigur Ros was playing and building through the speakers. We were quiet until Dave turned to me and said ‘Look, Beth. It’s heaven.’ It was just a regular day. It was a magical day. 

That's the drummers shadow projected on the wall. 

Couldn't be happier, we two. 

Inaugural Bike Ride

Oh HEY!

It has been wonderfully warm here in Calgary as of late. I'm currently in Kensington and it is a-BUMPIN'... tons of people on the streets, patios full, jeeps blaring music in the street, I almost overheated in my car, you know... all those summery things. It's only a Thursday afternoon in March! I won't get my hopes up that we've seen the last of winters icy grip, but I will enjoy this no-jacket, sweater-optional weather while it lasts. Too bad Mark works for the next 6 days! Dangit, employment. He did, however, have Tuesday off, which was great. We got together with new, but dear,  friends Amy and Aaron Castle for an impromptu bike ride and weiner roast. Hanging out with these two sometimes feels like you're on a sitcom, in the best of ways. Below is our adventure.

We got all 4 bikes on one bike rack! Crazy, right?? Yup....Mark's bike was the last one on and when we got to the park, to our horror, it was GONE. We raced back up the muddy road, laughing really hard (read: nervously) to the subdivision with speed bumps where we were pretty sure it must of fallen off. We had been watching the bikes the whole way there, but got distracted by Amy and Aaron's shocking retelling of the show 'Animals F'ed up my Vacation'. Those crazy animals!! 

We found his poor bike just meters away from a gigantic speed bump, and it seemed mostly fine after Mark bent the handle bars back. Yay! No harm no foul, right? ...never used that saying before. Now lets go for a bike ride!

Oh but wait! This is what the paths look like. (Shaking fist at Calgary) We will persevere! We eventually found some clear paths and we were on our sweet, sweet way.

Oh but wait! First Marks' chain will fall off a couple times. 

Oh but wait! Nope, not this time. This part was so actually so great, I was ringing my bike bell in joy, like a crazy lady. This neighbourhood was full of beautiful houses with their backs to the river. I probably said 'Mark look at that one!!!' five hundred times, but lets be honest, he probably would have looked without my prompting. 

Eventually we were biking right along the Elbow River. It was so pretty! Bike paths: I feel so safe on you.

Can't wait to tube down this in the summer!

These two are the best, and showed us so many cool paths and places to bike in the future. 

Mark was pretty cute in his new coat.

After bike ride, we roasted some weiners in the park. It was swell. At this point we did, in fact, need coats. Note: I'me wearing my hiking shoes.. yes! 

We each had two. They was delicious. 

By the end we were basically smoking them. Which is also good! We all went home smelling like campfire. I have a love/hate relationship with that smell, but this time I loved it... it smelt like SUMMER. What a lovely day.

Photo worthy attractiveness. 

Quickly progressed to these dangerous axe-weilding antics.

We're done here. 

PS - I'm starting a portrait of Mark today. Keep you posted. My weaving is slowly coming along. My big problem is I don't quite know what I want the end product to look like, colour/pattern-wise. I need vision. Until then, progress will be slow... and white.

Also, those of you who don't follow me on Instagram, won't have seen the finished braided rag rug. It's sweet, 'cept we need a sticky rug thing for under it because it does tend to slide a wee bit. Still happy with the end result though. Check it: