It’s a new year and soon it will be time to take down decorations and slip into post-holiday routines. If you’re looking to recycle your Christmas tree, there are a handful of chipping events around town that will take it off your hands and support a great local cause in the process:
Mount Pleasant
When: Sunday, January 6, 2013 from 10:00am to 4:00pm
Where: Kingsgate Mall (370 E Broadway)
What: Mount Pleasant BIA’s 4th annual tree chipping event to raise field trip funds for Mount Pleasant Elementary School. Free cookies and hot chocolate. Chipping by donation.
UBC Botanical Garden
When: Now until Wednesday, January 9, 2013 from 9:30am to 4:30pm
Where: UBC Botanical Garden (6804 SW Marine Drive)
What: Christmas tree recycling fundraiser for the food garden expansion at Thunderbird Elementary School. There is a suggested donation of $5.
City of Vancouver Tree Recycling Stations
When: Saturday, January 5, 2013 from 10:00am to 4:00pm
When: Sunday, January 6, 2013 from 10:00am to 4:00pm
Where: Kerrisdale Community Centre ice rink parking lot (5670 East Blvd)
Kitsilano Beach parking lot (Cornwall Ave and Arbutus)
Sunset Beach upper parking lot (Beach Ave and Broughton)
Rona Home and Garden Grandview (2727 E 12 Ave, overflow parking lot south of 12th)
What: City of Vancouver and volunteers from the Lions Club are providing Christmas tree chipping events in several locations. After the trees are chipped, they are taken to the Vancouver Landfill to be composted. Cash and non-perishable food donations collected at the events will be distributed to local charities.
You can also set out your tree with your food scraps and yard waste in the City of Vancouver. Be sure to remove all ornaments and tinsel.
Surrey
When: Saturday, January 5th, 2013 from 10:00am to 4:00pm
Where: Newton Athletic Park (128th St and 74th Ave)
What: Surrey’s 28th Annual Chip-In is by donation to the Surrey Firefighters Charitable Society.
When: Saturday, January 5th, 2013 from 10:00am to 4:00pm
Where: IGA Mall (17710 No 10 Hwy)
What: By donation, hosted by 1st Cloverdale Scouting.
Burnaby
When: Saturday, January 5th, 2013 from 10:00am to 4:00pm
Where: Lougheed Town Centre (corner of Austin & North Road)
What: Presented by Burnaby Firefighters Charitable Society. Come on down to the full service Christmas Tree Chip! Hot dogs, pop & firetrucks.
We’re fortunate enough to break out of our West End bubble to dine out at a selection of eateries, hotels, and fine restaurants throughout the year. In 2012, we enjoyed cuisine from British Columbia, Washington State, and the lush farming island of Maui, Hawaii.
Dunn’s Famous in Vancouver
Black Rock Resort Ucluelet
Ashiana Restaurant in Surrey
The Urban Tea Merchant
Wild Rice in New Westminster
Brunch at Reflections in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia
Pop-Up Patio at the Westin Grand
Slow Food Cycle Farm Tour in Agassiz
Nita Lake Lodge Whistler Creekside
Tulalip Bay at Tulalip Resort and Casino
Ka’anapali Fresh on Maui
Chefs Across the Water with Lee Parsons of the Wedgewood Hotel
Yolk’s Breakfast Food Truck
Connie’s Cookin’ at Granger Grocery
Copperleaf Restaurant at Cedarbrook Lodge
Holiday Tea at The Urban Tea Merchant
I’m still dreaming of the crab cake from Tulalip and a risotto we had at Cin Cin during the Vancouver International Film Festival. The croque madame from Yolk’s Breakfast, our hearty tofu and spicy pork from Donburi Ya, ramen from Kintaro, oysters in Seattle, pretzels from MARKET’s Oktoberfest, and much more.
Get outside of your comfort zone, try new flavours, support growers and farmers, and enjoy the best local ingredients that are offered. Close to home or far away, I’m looking forward to tasting more delectable bites in 2013.
2012 was a much sweeter year than 2011 which contained too many tears due to losses in our families. We bounced back and embraced the last 12 months with enthusiasm and a thirst for adventure. In 2011 I traveled 75,000kms, mostly on my own. In 2012 I wanted to share more with John and I think we were successful in combining our adventures. We spent much more time in Seattle (including taking the train down for the Mariners’ opening day), had one of the best massages of our lives at Tigh-Na-Mara in Parksville for our anniversary, we explored more of Whatcom County just south of the border and found a Tesla coil in the Spark Museum, we biked a circle farm tour in Agassiz, and the biggest puddle jump for us was going to Maui for the inaugural Ka’anapali Fresh festival.
While Instagram became an easier and more mobile way to post photos, I have put together the following “Year in Review” using my Flickr images that were *not* taken with an iPhone. I used my Olympus PEN the most along with my Nikon D90 and still managed to upload over 104 pages worth of photos to Flickr.
January
Our year started off in Iowa again and took an afternoon drive over to LeClaire, the home of American Pickers.
February
The most romantic month of all. We celebrated Valentine’s Day at Black Rock Resort in Ucluelet where we walked the Wild Pacific Trail and then our anniversary was spent at Tigh-Na-Mara in Parksville during their Parksville Uncorked festival.
I also got to check out the Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition and the newly re-opened BC Sports Hall of Fame.
March
I was invited to Powell River to write about the historic Patricia Theatre and the town’s efforts to help it go digital through fundraising — which was a success! I also got a tour of Townsite Brewing, which burst onto the BC craft beer scene this year.
April
Our friend Duane moved back to Chilliwack for a few months and I experienced more of Tulalip Resort (and the Hibulb Cultural Centre) in Washington State.
May
When the spring sunshine popped out I did a few random photowalks in the West End, capturing traffic circles of all things, and of the budding flowers in Stanley Park. John and I also had some fun checking out downtown New Westminster for a day.
June
Marc Smith started up his 30 Day Adventures campaign in June where he set out to discover a local attraction every day for a whole month. I booked a day with him and we spent hours touring some of Langley’s best wineries. I also toured BC Place, did a TreeTrek in Whistler, and Whatcom County destinations like Fairhaven, Bellingham, and the Hovander Homestead.
July
John’s brother and his family visited us from Iowa for the first time so we had a lot of fun playing tourist in our own town, from a Stanley Park walk to Grouse Mountain’s SkyRide, and a trip up the Sea to Sky. July also had Canada Day festivities, Surrey’s Fusion Festival, another tour of the Celebration of Light barges, the Slow Food Cycle Tour in Agassiz, and I sat in on a few Vancouver Film School Summer Intensives.
August
The end of summer was all about Maui and our trip to the Ka’anapali Beach Association’s first annual food and wine festival.
September
A sizzling season of even more food and wine with O! Osoyoos Celebrates and Chefs Across the Water on Salt Spring.
October
We took a trip to Bellingham to visit the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention and I visited the Canadian Red Cross’ Emergency Response Unit setup in Ontario.
November
It was the first time we traveled to support a hometown team on the road as we followed Vancouver WhitecapsFC to Los Angeles for their playoff game against the Galaxy. My mother and I then traveled to New York for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — something that’s been on her “Must See” list her entire life.
December
We left for Iowa earlier in December this year so we didn’t get any other travel in. I sponsored Christmas at Canada Place and took one last photowalk around False Creek before we left for the year.
Here’s to more laughter, love, sharing, caring, and happiness in 2013!
We’ve been away in Iowa for the last part of the month where temperatures have been working their way down to -20C. It’s the type of cold that impedes you from going outside and enjoying the snow — feet of snow that fell weeks ago but remains on the ground due to the chill. When it snows in Vancouver, aside from traffic snarls and headaches, our region becomes a winter playground. Snowshoeing, tubing, skiing, boarding, and even continuing sunny day activities like kayaking and cycling. Over the last week I’ve seen a handful of breathtaking photos from the local mountains so I’ve made them the focus of today’s roundup from the Miss604 Flickr Pool.
As always, please click through on these images to view more work from the photographers and feel free to share your own photos with the Miss604 Flickr Pool. View all photo collections here.
Today is the City of Vancouver Archives building will celebrate its 39th anniversary. Opening on December 29th, 1973 in at 1150 Chestnut Street near Vanier Park, they were named after the man who started the archives when Vancouver was a new city — Major J.S. Matthews.
Matthews declared the Vancouver City Archives officially open on June 13, 1933 but the Major J.S. Matthews Building that we have today was the first building in Canada to be built specifically as a city archive.
You can visit to do research in the reading room, access the materials from the stacks, research online, search their database and more.
The archives are currently closed for the holidays but they’ll re-open on Wednesday, January 2, 2012 at 9:00am. They are free to visit and my favourite feature is that you can look through old albums of historical Vancouver photos and order prints for a very reasonable fee.
Follow the City of Vancouver Archives through their website, blog, Flickr, History Pin, Facebook, and Twitter for more information.
