So We Went Away

Walking in Stanley Park

The dude and I went up to Vancouver. We hiked, ate loads of Asian foods from across the continent, and relaxed. We had a fabulous time! I got some stitching done on the flight out but I'm afraid I had my nose in a book the rest of the time.

Precolumbian!

If you ever get to Vancouver, you should head out to the University of British Columbia. The campus isn't much to look at; we took a picture in front of the chemistry building and captioned it, "Sentenced to four years at UBC." However, MOA (the Museum of Anthropology) is unbelievable in the depth and breadth of the collection. There are hundreds of thousands of ethnographic and archaeological objects from native peoples from all over the world, with a special focus on the First Nations of the northwest. An extraordinary number of items are on exhibit or available to see when you pull open a drawer (there's glass). I bring you a photo of Precolumbian textiles. Let that sink in. Precolumbian...textiles. How are they not completely disintergrated? The dude pointed to the big, stripey fragment in the middle, and said, "Kate Spade." True, but hilarious in that the dude is so not a brand name guy. But just when I think he is paying no attention, he surprises me. Family lore says we are part Cree, so I used the available computer database to find some of the Cree items in the holdings. I guess I was awestruck by the beadwork because I didn't take any pictures.

I hear the university also has a nice botanical garden but we were at MOA all day and had no time to spare for that. (It's okay, we went to Butchart Gardens and the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden instead.) I hope you've been making exciting summer discoveries too!