All Hallows' Eve

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe Hallowe'en this past weekend.

This being the first year since I got too old to go trick or treating (or rather I didn't get too old, my brother got too tall) that I didn't have a paper to write, I thought that I simply must do something.

So, on Friday, I went out to the Halloween Special of the Taboo Revue, which is Vancouver's longest running burlesque show. It was beyond brilliant! So many great performances, a lot of them featuring zombies and voodoo, because zombies are just so much awesomer than sparkly vampires. Can't wait for next year's show.

As for Hallowe'en itself, I went to work and I did wear a costume. And by costume, I mean I went for a Land Girl look and wore my snood and new wool trousers from Heyday. And by costume, I mean I wore my normal clothes.

I then changed into my fabulous record skirt and biggest petticoat, which is the only day of the year where I don't get strange looks while wearing it, actually a lot of people wanted to have their picture taken with me as I was waiting in the train station downtown. I only wore it because it was warm enough to not wear a coat over top and I was refusing to spend any money on a costume this year. Why buy a costume when I can wear my normal clothes? I went with my friend Courtney on the Haunted Trolley Tour, which is a tour on a trolley that goes around downtown, through Stanley Park, then up to this cemetery and then back to downtown, finishing off at the Police Museum (which used to be the morgue and the coroner's court) and pointing out houses were hauntings and gruesome murders have taken place. Because hanging out in a graveyard and an old morgue on Hallowe'en night is what cool people do.

Apart from a couple of snaps for the Facebook, I don't have any pictures to share on the old blog. But I should probably go back during the day sometime and take some photos of the Police Museum with my proper camera, since it is my favourite museum in Vancouver.

What did you do for Hallowe'en?

The theme for this month's Cinema Tuesdays shall be An Affair to Remember. Expect the first movie pick shortly.

Don't Blink

As you may know from this post last year, my Pappy and I like hanging out in graveyards slightly more than the average person. Cause that's what cool people do.

Last week we went to Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver's oldest and only cemetery as founded in 1887. I wore the Hawaiian dress I bought at The Red Light in Portland and shortened. Also my boater hat (to prevent sun burn) and my sunglasses that I have no idea where I got them but remember that I paid $10 for them.

Isn't that a beautiful Art Deco building? It's actually the crematorium, the second one built in Canada!

This is the sign they put up to enforce the dogs on a leash bylaw. I told you cool people hang out in graveyards, although I am disappointed that I can't take my elephant for a walk in the cemetery anymore.

This is the granite storage area off in the corner, full of broken headstones.

We also spotted a few mild but still creepy Weeping Angels on our tour. Pappy ran away from them.

I, of course, have no fear of the Weeping Angels. Well, expect for this one.

Wasn't it cruel of the BBC to have spilt the season in half and leave us with a cliff hanger over the summer?

Some of the older graves didn't have anything other than a general marker. This one is cute and unique, but some of them just said "Mum" or "Dad" and they could belong to anyone's relatives at any point in the cemetery's hundred plus year history.

As with all cemeteries, there were thousands of soldiers graves from the two wars. Although some of them lived full lives, most of the ones in the three War Memorial sections were for soldiers who had survived and returned home, only to die within five years from the effects of being at the Front.

Of course, you know my favourite type of tombstone: the space left for the spouse who is obviously dead but didn't want to be buried there.

Day Trip to the Garden City

Last Friday, it was warm, sunny and the start of the long weekend (for Victoria Day) and the ferry was running extra sailings. So I got up really early and took several buses and a ferry to reach the capital of British Columbia, named in honour of the late Queen.

The ferry was only a couple of years old, as opposed to the older ones from the Seventies that I normally take to visit my Grandma on the Sunshine Coast. The new ferry included a fancy lounge for people who can afford the $12 entry fee. It was completely empty but it shows your tax dollars at work.

The ferry ride was an hour and a half and really boring. So I read my book while trying to balance crappy ferry coffee. Ferries used to have cup holders and places to put your feet up, but not anymore for some strange, unknown reason.

The Empress is the most famous hotel in BC and was built in 1908. It originally didn't have a sign, since it's quite clear that it's a Canadian Pacific Hotel. Plus it's in the harbour and next door to the legislative building. You can read about it's history here.

One day, I shall have Afternoon Tea at the Empress, even through it's expensive and the touristy thing to do. I wanted to take a picture of the ceiling of the crystal ballroom, but couldn't, since a wedding was being set up in it. Instead I took a picture of the original post box next to the elevators.

This is one of the downtown sidewalk trash cans. They all look like this, isn't that nice.

I only stayed downtown, because I was on foot and downtown is the only part of Victoria that I have a mental map of.

Victoria's Chinatown is the oldest in Canada and the second oldest in North America, after San Francisco. However it's now quite small, about two blocks, especially compared to Vancouver's.

I had lunch at the Fan Tan Cafe, which was small, but had delicious food, excellent service and was really cheap.

Fan Tan Alley (between Pandora and Fisgard streets) is the narrowest street in Canada. The part where that woman is walking to is less than a metre wide!

There are a lot of colourful buildings downtown from the last half of the nineteenth century. These two are my favourites.

I then went to the Royal BC Museum, which is more focused on being for tourists then for educating the locals about their own history.

I took as many photos as I could. Most of the photos didn't turn out well, since the lighting is low (to preserve the artifacts) and I couldn't use my flash, which damages the artifacts, even through a lot of the tourists couldn't read the "No Flash Photography" signs. Remember kids, never never never turn your flash on in museums and art galleries, it makes History cry.

But there's still some neat stuff to see, like the Natural History and fun with taxidermy section.

The First Nations exhibit, which has stuff from all tribes in BC, not just the ones from Victoria. These are some Haida hats.

And of course the permanent historical exhibit that combines the "cram as much of BC's history into a bite sized portions" and the "look at all of the stuff people used in the olden days" exhibits into one small section.

There's a small model of the HMS Discovery (Captain George Vancouver's ship) to walk through, which reminded me of last week's episode of Doctor Who with the pirates.

Model of the original city, back when it was Fort Victoria in the 1840's and a fur trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company.

Naturally, there a mock up of a silent movie palace to show school children what silent films look like. This one always plays clips from The Gold Rush.

Next door to the museum is Helcken House, which reopened that day, one of the oldest houses in BC still on it's original site. There wasn't a lot of stuff in it, but it did have this beautiful kitchen floor and a cool medicine chest.

Building plans for the parliament buildings to hold BC's legislative assembly, built between 1893 and 1896.

I didn't go on the free tour because the legislature wasn't sitting and there were a few field trip groups of rowdy teenagers and screaming children waiting for a tour.

I didn't go into any stores, because I didn't want to find anything I wanted and would then have to carry around in the heat and then drag back with me. But I did go into Munro's Books (yes, that Munro) and since Duthie's closed in Vancouver, the closet general independent bookstore. I bought Some Sunny Day by Dame Vera Lynn and The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.

I still can't believe that I had to spend a total of two hours on buses and three hours on ferries just to shop at an independent bookstore.

You can see more of my picture in this set on Flickr.

I Like To Hang Out In Cemeteries And Visit Dead Celebrities

Yesterday, my Dad (who grew up next to a cemetery) and I went out to Fraserview Cemetery in New Westminster and had a wonderful time wandering around 150 years worth of tombstones, cause that's what cool people do.

This is also my new favourite skirt. I got it last week on sale and it is almost mint condition, I just had to secure a few beads and sequins that were coming lose. I love novelty prints and this one reminded my of The Three Caballeros, so it came home with me. I also finally found a straw boater, quite by chance, at my local sewing and notions store during a quick "oh my gosh, I can't believe I ran out of bright green floss" trip.

The major reason to visit this particular cemetery instead of one where some of my relatives are buried (which we did after but the camera batteries had died) was to see where Raymond Burr is buried. Mr. Burr is the most famous person to have come from New West, he even has a theatre named after him and he was the star of my favourite ever television show!

So, what other famous dead people are here? Well, beneath this obelisk lies Captain Irving, who's house is the oldest one in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia and it is now a very interesting museum, which you should visit if you're ever around these parts. I also noticed that his grave is the tallest thing in the cemetery, including the trees. Methinks the late Captain thought very highly of himself.

And this new and very shinny tombstone marks the grave of Gassy Jack, which Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood Gastown is named after. When it says "Pioneer Hotelman" it actually means "Pioneer Saloon Keeper", because his bar opened to serve the workers of the first saw mill and thus encouraged people to move to what is now Vancouver.

This is my favourite tombstone, which is actually made out of metal, because it reminded me of Edward Gorey's introduction to PBS Mystery!

This is my other favourite one, because it looks like it is made out of wood.

A lot of the tombstones had spaces reserved for still living relatives in an act of wishful thinking. Yes, that Weeping Angel totally creeped me out and I did back away from it and didn't blink.

We did wonder a lot about the stories behind the people who were once living. Like with this grave, since Mrs. Hardie is clearly quite dead but why would she not want to be buried beside her husband?

We thought that this one was the funniest, because instead of saying "Beloved Wife of" it says "Wife of the Above". I guess they didn't like each other, but were just used to each other.

You can see more of my photos in this set.