Dairy Queen was giving away free mini Blizzards today and Maëlle Ricker was there signing autographs WITH her gold medal. Remember her kicking all that a$$ at the Olympics? Here’s the video of her winning the Snowboard Cross race in February. I got to the event around 11:20 (I took an early lunch – I promise. The event was only 2 blocks away from my office.) and there was just the right amount of people there. That steadily increased as it grew closer to the noon mark.

There were plenty of treats for everyone who arrived – little cups of ice cream and some cookies. And a gold medal.

I know! It was just sitting there! She had it sitting there beside her as she cheerfully signed autograph after autograph and then picked it up for photos. Like this:

Then something weird happened. A person came up to me and asked me if I was a member of the press. I am sad to report I said, “No.” and I was a bit unfriendly about it, too. Why did I do that? What a weird response. And it turned out she was a PR person for the event company putting on this event. GAH. Dudes, I am the worst shmoozer ever.

Meanwhile, Maëlle joked around with the people that came to see her.

She is a far better shmoozer than I am.

I must tell you, today was probably my second favourite lunch break of all time. ALL TIME! The only lunch break that I enjoyed more was that time I ran into Martin Brodeur, Scott Hamilton and Michelle Kwan during the Olympics. My buddy, Catherine, was with me both times. She seems to be my lucky lunch break pal.

I read on the twitter today that the CBC was hosting a big screen TV presentation of the Netherlands vs. Uruguay on Granville and Robson Street. Catherine and I headed up there and were pleasantly surprised. There were plenty of fans there – mostly wearing orange clothes – we did spot one guy wearing the Uruguay flag like cape. Spoiler alert: that was one sad Uruguayan fan after this game.

There were spots to sit on the ground on some astro-turf, so people picnicked and watched the game…

But we didn’t bring our lunch, so we opted for some savoury crepes on the patio, in the shade, with an excellent view of the humongous TV instead. Not a bad option at all. In fact, it was a glorious choice.

We even drank Orange drinks in support of the Dutchmen:

I am now cheering for the Netherlands – since all the teams I was cheering for up to now are no longer in the tournament. I know. That pretty much makes me a bandwagon jumper. I’m not too concerned about this, as I only watch soccer every 4 years. I decided to cheer for them after I saw Wesley Sneijder, The Man of the Match, slap his head repeatedly after turning his header into a goal in the game before this one. He’s terrific.

We all basked in the warm, summery weather while watching the big game. The CBC sponsored this event and I’m so glad for it.

See? I told you it was a great lunch break! I think the TV will be up tomorrow for the Spain VS. Germany game. However, tomorrow I’ll be down visiting an employer on Commercial Drive around lunch time – another hotbed of World Cup Fever in Vancouver. While I didn’t mean to make this meeting correspond with the big game, I could not have planned it better. If all goes well, I should have some rowdy Commercial Drive World Cup photos for you tomorrow.

Fingers crossed.

Here are a few more photos of the crowd watching the game today if you like the colour orange.

I made a little trip to the Cauldron today because I heard it will be lit up again for Canada Day tomorrow. I seriously doubt I’ll be making any trips downtown to see it lit up. Call me a crabby old crabtree, but I’m not up for THAT public transit experience. No way, no how.

Anyway, I was surprised to see that they’ve added a fountain to the cauldron, and there’s no fencing or anything around it. I was able to walk right up to it. I believe it will be accessible tomorrow for the festivities as well. There were a couple of stages and rows and rows of chairs set up. Also in the general area? The CTV tents and a great big screen with the newscast on it.

There was a crew putting the final touches on the Cauldron and getting it ready to go. I could see the gas coming up out of the top of each post. It really looks nice in this convention area – it’s a paved park overlooking the North Shore Mountains and the Burrard Inlet. Also, from this angle, it looks pretty nice against the Cole Harbour glass buildings along and the old fashioned Marine Building.

I’m sure tomorrow’s festivities will be great.

Interesting fact: I read on miss604′s website that if you want to light the torch for a special occasion you most certainly can, for the low, low price of $10,000. Hey, it’s my birthday coming up. Hmmm…and it’s my 40th, so perhaps I could sell the car, take out a loan from the bank and light it up. An excellent investment! What? It stays lit for 24 hours. We could pitch our tent on the pavement and I wouldn’t have to worry about running water – it’s right there.

Below is an instructional video about 1) the correct pronunciation of the vuvuzela and 2) how to play it. I hope you enjoy all 35 seconds of these instructions.

Not explained in the video? What’s with the chicken hat?

Well, it could be a turkey hat or any other type of roasted poultry. But I picked this hat in support of the Nigerian Soccer Team and their fans. I read in this article that the Nigerian fans were upset when they found out at the stadium they were not allowed to bring their chickens into the stadium. They had been able to bring their green painted fowl in the past, but, not this year.

Happy World Cup! Enjoy the team spirit!

How often does this happen? I leave my office on my lunch break, turn right on Granville Street, and I see this:

Fireman appreciation day right on the street where I work! Glorious Community Hero Day! They had a great big boot they were filling up for a fundraiser. I dropped some monies into the big boot and began to snap away at the the terrific community spirit all around me.

Downside: when I dropped the money into the boot, the fireman said, “Thank you, Ma’am”. Oof. That hurt. I’m not 40 until July. Do I really qualify for “Ma’am” talk?

Upside: he handed me a chocolate coin for my donation. All is forgiven.

Here are some candid firemen photos for your enjoyment. I mean, so you can celebrate the community heroes as well.

Please note: all the photos are candids. I used my zoomy lens and didn’t ask any of the firemen to pose with poles and stuff. Cross my heart.

I’m very proud of this portrait. He’s right next to the bright red fire hydrant. Totally unplanned!

Smokey Joe & his pal collecting funds together. They also posed for photos! Good sports all around.

The firemen also extended the big ladder –

And went up to the roof of Holt Renfrew.

I can’t remember having such a terrific lunch break right out the front doors of my office. Thanks to the firemen! We do appreciate all the work you do. And the chocolate coins didn’t hurt, either.

They have some terrific and happy names for the flowers at the Roozengaarde Garden. You just can’t get happier than Yell Cheerfulness! YAY!

I’m taking some time out from my current project – hand sewing a funky pillow. It’s slow going, but it will be worth it. I like sewing this way, but it’s not for the impatient. I need lots of yell cheerfulness for that project. Too bad that name is already taken, or else I’d name the pillow that.

I’ll show you the pillow a bit later. It may be a gift in the near future, so I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Mike’s more of a stickler for rule following than I am. I’m respectful of most rules. But here’s one I broke on Saturday.

I know. I walked between the rows. But I was careful and I did it in the name of art. Tulip art.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

We got up really early this morning – at 5:30 – and hit the road about an hour later. It wasn’t too tough to get out of our cozy bed after the big storm last night because we were on our way to the United States. Rather than going to LaConner, I decided we should go to Roozengaarde in Mount Vernon. Just a side note – good going Roozengaarde for getting “tulips.com”. Excellent scoop on that domain name. They either snagged that early on or paid big bucks for it.

At our stop at the Border Crossing into the US, the guard was friendly.

US Border Guard looking at our passports: Where are you going today?

Me: To the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon!

US Border Guard: Oh no, Mike! How did she convince you to do that?

The border crossing at 7:00 am was about 45 minutes. Not bad – especially compared to yesterday.

We only had to drive about an hour past the border and into the countryside of Washington State. The weather was totally unstable – we hit rain, then hail, then overcast skies during that drive. I just hoped that we’d be able to get a break in the rain so we could take photos without having to haul out the umbrella or spend hours in the car waiting for it to stop raining.

Once we got to the display garden (with the windmill) the rain had passed for the time being and we all got our photos on:

I took over 200 photos today. I took pictures of people with groovy flower boots:

I got some good close ups of all different types of tulips:

The yellow and pink ones were my favourite. They’re called Fidelio – and apparently were named after an opera composed by Beethoven.

Sometimes I took the photos of the names of the flowers, like this one:

Watch those tulips. They’re stealthy.

For the most part, we followed all the tulip rules,

I’ve got plenty of tulip shots…so if you like that sort of thing, there’ll be many of them posted over the next few days. We also went to a big tulip field nearby, so I got some tulips in the wild photos, too. Very beautiful. It was a great day and we stayed dry the whole time we were shooting. Good/lucky timing for us.

I warmed up to the party people after sending Mike a text that said, “I’m hiding in the bathroom”, while actually hiding in the bathroom – a very shiny and brightly lit bathroom in the CBC building. I frequently use the bathroom as a hiding spot, especially any time hand-washing dishes is involved. Yeesh. I loathe that chore. Since no one’s supposed to bother you in the bathroom, I take advantage of that “safe zone”. I don’t remember how I snuck out of doing the dishes at Viki’s cabin, but I can assure you I did not hang out in the outhouse.

I got over that little nervous hurdle and felt more confident when I read Kimli’s sticker:

Then I got very chatty with Rachel, who’s originally from New York City.

What I learned this evening is that we need to:

1) Visit New York City
2) Visit Paris (she’s also spent a lot of time in France)
3) Eat more mangoes. I had some prawn and mango sushi at the party. Where have you been all my life? I need to incorporate mangoes into our diet. It tastes like sunshine.

Did you know that in New York City, it’s pretty much part of the culture there to got out for “happy hour” from 4-7 every day after work – it’s not so much a boozy event (although I’m sure it can be) as it is a time to hang out and mingle. I was starting to think I’m a better mingler from the comfort of my own couch, but if you went out every day, the whole small talk thing would get easier, I’m sure. It’s just practice.

Funny that we talked about New York so much this evening, because outside our office this afternoon they were shooting a movie with New York cabs.

The point of this party was to fundraise for education for children in 3rd world countries. It looks like the party raised about $6,400.00 so far. I didn’t stay for the silent auction winners or the door prizes. But I did get a little prize – a pin from the Italian Paralympic team! Ariane is the most generous pin trader ever. She’s also thinking about going to Sochi.

I think a few of us around here are.

The magnolia trees are almost in bloom – it’s spring in Vancouver. It was a beautiful and warm day – almost felt like summer.

This makes me excited for an upcoming event – The Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley, Washington, USA! Terrific! I think this time we’ll go where the windmill is and pretend we’re in the Netherlands. This will be great! Like the Tulips Olympics! I cannot wait.

The festival goes from April 1st to 30th,

I’ll be checking here for bloom updates. And judging from the map, we could be going as soon as next weekend. It looks like some tulips are in bloom already. Since next week is the Easter long weekend, that might just work out perfectly.

Here’s another shot of the magnolias downtown (right across the street from the Cathedral).

And here’s a photo of me in an old fashioned sink:

What can I tell you? Spring fever!

*Thanks to my sister and mom for posting all kinds of baby photos of my mom’s side of the family on the facebook today. This was just one of many – they also posted a photo of my Grandma as a baby. But not in a sink.*

I was thinking about last week’s Sledge Hockey game and how at the end of the game, both teams took off their helmets and waved to the crowd. The Italian team had a casual crowd waving style. And then the Norwegians lined up in a row and raised their sticks to us.

They did this to both sides of the stadium, so we all got to see their sweaty, happy faces after a game well played.

It was with great sadness that I unpacked my pin bag, put my pins on my pin board and put away my pin case. Today is the last day of the Olympics. The cauldron will go out tonight and there will be NO pavilions anywhere to visit on my lunch hour. The Zipline won’t be open over Robson Square and there’s not much chance of running into any athletes in my travels.

I am so happy I got to experience The Games in the city where I live, to see the athletes and appreciate all kinds of new (to me!) and interesting sports that I didn’t know about until last month. It was a glorious time. And I am very grateful to have been able to share my experience with whomever was interested because it was okay to 1) bring my camera to the events and 2) share my photos on the internets.

Thank you.