Tuesday 22 July 2014

Golden Wagon Blues: Tuesday, July 22nd!

If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint. -Edward Hopper, painter (1882-1967)  


who dat man[men]?
Galiano  Giggster Man et al! Just a very short, highly abbreviated note, as time is flying, nay whizzing by, and we must away, the better to enable ourselves to be at Kensington Wine Market, when it opens, domani, to purchase maltage and vino for the 69th, and then hie ourselves to Medicine Hat to be coddled by Zircon for the night, bridge and endless supplies of fire-water, as there is a famiglia connezzione to a local liquor store! Long trip but nothing that Benzedrine couldn't fix and we managed to find our hostess, Jan, without too, too much bloodletting!
 


En route, pulled into Tim Hortons,  in Golden, around 5:30 pm, local time, and after voiding our bladders, stood in line for java/Chai Latte, (Guess who ordered which?), and I overheard an accent I discerned to be from Oz. Asked the chap if he was from the Antipodes and he said he was from Melbourne. I mentioned it was a wonderful city and asked him why he was here, in Canada. He retorted that he was touring with a band, Wagons! We had seen them, and been much impressed, at the Folk Fest, so we became New Best Friends! Long and the short of it is the fact that I am their new manager and I can offer you CD's at a  discount! Cora Lee is staying in Golden and working on starting a Friends of the Golden Public Library. She will be living under a bridge on the outskirts of town, until she establishes herself in the community, so if you have any spare tarps, I'm sure she would appreciate them!



Lovely chaps and we met everyone as they were snarfing their fast food dinner. I've booked ourselves for the 69th Wedding Anniversary, in Falcon,  so I'll be signing autographs while Rosita and Coat-Hanger are describing almost a century of domestic bliss! Fondestos to one and all. Sorry I cannot personalize this message but get used to it as I really don't need any of you anymore!!! Cheers, "On-The-Roadstar-Manager", Patrizzio!
 

Pics: Publicity shots, Golden, BC!

Dear Hoi Poloi! Sorry, my Executive Assistant forgot to attach snapolas! Cheers, "No Room at the Top" Patrizzio!

Happy to hear you've made it to Calgary xoxo

We both enjoyed our brief, yet, warm sharing with you both at the festival... and look forward to a richer sharing in our futures. My invite to Cortes is open! Love Adrian 

I see that you did not get away as planned this morning. Wayne 
  • Ayn P likes this.
  • Chloe Alexis Dunn You are hilarious!!! You tag yourselves at a wine shop!! Ayn P look where our parents are, they don't call to say they arrived safely just letting Facebook know their having wine with dinner.
  • Ayn P Yes, they are all ours Sissy...we're so lucky!!
  • Patrick James Dunn I thought that Facebooking was what one is supposed to do to let the world know about everything important. Also, haven't mastered the art of texting while driving under the influence, yet! 
Falernia, Valle de Elqui, 2011 Reserva, Carmenere, 15%, fleshy without the tannins that would balance. Still a necessary drop after day's drive!



Deer Lake Park
P, Apologies for the lapse in communication. It has been slightly harried here as you can imagine. Finally slowed down long enough to look around and even opened a book.

All is good here - divine in fact, although I am weeks or months away from truly settling in - making it feel
my own in a real sense. I look forward to having you here to show you around and do some training rides up and down the the island. Each way is about 25 kms - kinda like Semo Demfo except twice as far and not quite as smooth.

Only have cell phone coverage at the moment - when the wind and smoke is in the right direction. Hope to rectify that soon.
 

Byrne Creek Park
Here is wishing you well on your travels. Please give my fond regards to the beloved prairie light, Clare & Dusty - and Corinne of course. Be well, G

Dear Friday: How are things going? Are things going? Things going? Going? Gone. Hope all is well. Have you heard from Robinson Crusoe yet? Best, Kurt Rathfelder 

Hi everyone Can't believe we are less than two weeks away now! If you have any favourite photos with Clara and Dusty I would ask you to send them on to me as I am working on a little photo collage. thanks, Marlo
 

Robert Burnaby Pool
Hi Patrice, Meant to respond a little sooner as usual! Firstly so sorry to hear about the car ..isn’t it funny how life’s balancing act can rear up as in how you were thinking how lucky you were only to suddenly have the rug pulled out from under you with the car breakdown. Small potatoes of course when one thinks about all of the worse possibilities even with the rather large towing bill! Do you have BCAA? I might suggest it if you don't and you have the long drive ahead . I pay $170 a year for all of us to be covered and have a 160km. towing coverage clause should I need it which sounds like it would have gone a long way to covering it. The other option is you could have towed it to the cabin and held up there for a while...also flown in a mechanic along with some caviar and champagne or crate of malt etc. to help while away the time. I trust that the car is all ship shape now however and you are poised for the trip tomorrow. Glad as always to see you two travelling around and enjoying life to the fullest.
 

Big Six Restaurant
I have gotten out on a number of good rides recently and last week got out with my friend Jerry who I was doing the cruise ship work with. He hadn’t been out with me and is very competitive so when I would say “normally I go this way but I know you haven’t been out much so we could do this instead “ I would get the “bring it on Waldron...don’t you know who you’re talking to!” All good as I enjoyed pushing past the norm anyway . I wound up going over to his place on Elliot and picking him up , he has a new Kona mountain bike he just got from Jubilee cycle on Imperial St. near here. From there we went down to the river and headed East toward Foreshore park , along the river path as far as we could into the Park area at the far end of the industrial area. We made our way through that area and popped through the fence on Marine way into the big bend area through to 12th St. which is straight up at about a 45 degree angle and comes out at the bridge right beside Sky train where it crosses 10th Ave. we made our way up through Byrne creek park stopping to much on some huckleberries. Jerry was very very pleased with the route as he had not been to any of these places before and thanked me for opening his eyes to the riding possibilities available nearby.

We continued on up to the B.C. parkway the one I met you on a while ago but up near my place. I said to Jerry that normally that would be one of my routes but I had thought about doing a Deer lake run as well as a river run as a goal for myself I wanted to achieve soon. I gave him an out again but he said he wanted to go for it so I thought great let’s do it and let sore legs be damned the next day!


I took him over towards Metrotown and got to Sussex ave which is the Sea to River route I took you guys on some time ago. We whizzed down Sussex to Deer lake west and through the forest toward the Royal Oak overpass which we went under. Once in the main park we turned back up the hill which I likened to the climb up a rollercoaster as once at the top you can let gravity take you all the way to the middle of the park with a stop midway at the wooden lookout structure to survey the entire park before you.

I led us through the boardwalk which you are not supposed to ride on..spitting on the signs as we passed, all the way to the Art gallery and Shadbolt center for the arts and circled through the gardens in full bloom in front of the haunted Ceperly manor a.k.a. the Burnaby Art gallery. we stopped again to take in the view of the lake and then proceeded to the beach area at the East end of the lake where Jerry was finally able to get a drink as he had brought no water with him! After replenishing we continued toward the no. 1 hwy and paralleled the new fence separating the highway from the houses toward Robert Burnaby park. after a couple kilometers we finally got to the park and started the ascent toward New west where we were going to have lunch at the big six restaurant. By now we were both absolutely famished and our legs were burning!. We did a dipsey doodle through the public pool at Robert Burnaby which I consider to be one of the most beautiful settings because of the surrounding very large fir trees that canopy the pool and give it some shade. 


We braced ourselves for the final hill and powered through knowing that sustenance was only a matter of ten minutes away. by the time we reached the “Big 6” restaurant on 6th street our legs were like rubber and it felt great to flop into the overstuffed and duct taped vinyl seats.

Had a great meal there as always and had a great talk about the ride and made pans for another outing soon. Would love to get you to join us or vice versa when you get back in August. Hope you have safe travels and a wonderful holiday with the family. Give our love and congratulations to Dusty and Rosie and the rest of the clan and we’ll look forward to hearing about your trip. Take care, Al

pics: Byrne creek park, Deer lake park, Robert Burnaby pool , big six restaurant.


 

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