Can you believe there have now been 300 small pleasures posts – gosh! Well, this week’s edition brings together some of the rest of my recent trip to Vancouver. The purpose of the visit was to see my older brother, a small pleasure in itself. Here are some of the other things from my time on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
Exhibition
I was lucky enough to get to the Vancouver Art Gallery to see the Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment exhibition, a collection of more than 200 works of art by women artists of the 1920-1940s. It was a fantastic exhibition, with some amazing works that I hope will remain with me. Below is the outside of the gallery and one of the pictures taken from the gallery website that I loved, Prudence Heward’s, At the Theatre from 1928.
Food
We ate out one evening at East is East, pictured below. I enjoyed a boulani, a stuffed whole wheat roti with paneer cheese stuffed with spinach and served with a chickpea dish, and very good it was too. There were some good lunches too – fish tacos at Cactus Club, a seafood salad at Seasons in the Park on the day I flew home, and a great salmon burger eaten with a fantastic view (see below) at Lift Bar and Grill.
Friendship and a walk
A highlight of my trip was meeting an old friend I hadn’t seen for years who now lives just over the border in Washington state. We met in Scotland, last saw each other in Australia in 1994, and got together in Canada 2022 – as she said, a friendship over three decades and three continents. A real big small pleasure! We took a walk along the waterfront, stopping by The Inukshuk monument and to watch kite flying on the beach.
Stanley Park
A short visit to Stanley Park to see the totem poles was a must, as well as enjoying the views across the water through the welcome gate.
Views
Below you can see the view we had with our lunch at Lift Bar and Grill – so peaceful, so beautiful, and a perfect accompaniment to lunch. The featured image at the top of the post was taken from Queen Elizabeth Park, which at 125m above sea level, is the highest point in Vancouver. Finally, a sunset over English Bay, taken on my last full day.
I am now back in Wellington after a trouble free journey home. Of course, when I was away Queen Elizabeth II died – what a life she had.
So, what were your small pleasures this week? Here are some other blog posts from a few fellow bloggers looking at the good things in life.
- Carol Ann over at Fashioned for Joy takes us to the wonderful looking Hillwood Estate and goes back to substitute teaching.
- Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard enjoys moon cakes.
- Natalie the Explorer takes us to the charming town of Trinity.
- Anne over at Something Over Tea shares pictures of elephants.
- Share a coffee over at Trent’s World.
- Popsicle Society shares her Monday Motivation.
- Joanne at And Anyways enjoys raclette.
- Retirement Reflections shares lots of food pictures – and is one of the hosts of What’s On My Plate.
- Scribble and Scran goes to the farmers’ market and makes an apple crumble.
Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com
Thistles and Kiwis 
Congratulations on all your posts. I enjoy reading them
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Thank you!
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💕💕
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A lovely reminder of Vancouver and lots of big pleasures for you!
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Hi, Barbara – I am glad that you had a great trip to Vancouver and a hassle-free flight back home. I’ve been to some of the restaurants that you visited while in Vancouver, as well as Stanley Park and the amazing Art Gallery. But I haven’t been to the current exhibition and hope to make it there before it changes. Thanks again for the shoutout!
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The current exhibition is definitely worth a visit. I must say I was pleased with how trouble free the travelling was!
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How lovely to catch up with an old friend. And I bet you picked up as if you’d just seen each other yesterday.
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Yes we did !
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Thanks for giving us a tour of Vancouver and the food looks very tasty! Good to know you had a hassle free trip and welcome home!
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Thanks!
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I really liked the picture from your art gallery visit. My not so small pleasure was cycle for twenty miles on Saturday with the wind behind me.
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That’s a huge commitment to this theme. I’m sure it must be really great to look back through so many posts.
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It really is like a diary of the good things in life!
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I’m so glad you had a wonderful trip to Vancouver and a trouble-free journey home. Looks like you had good weather during your visit. Your pictures are beautiful. Thank you for the shoutout.
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It was a good trip and the weather was fantastic – only one slightly rainy day. Thanks Natalie – glad you enjoyed the pictures.
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Welcome home! and congratulations on this 300th Small Pleasures post.
Thank you for sharing the delights of your travel … it must have been wonderful to catch up with your brother after this long break. And to have trouble-free travel home (not something one can take for granted these days, from all the stories trickling our way) – fab!
Love the Heward painting you shared – there is something so simple and so haunting about her backward glance …
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Thank you! Yes it was a good trip and I can’t believe how lucky I was with the travel.
I love that painting too!
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That looks like a fabulous trip with lots of yummy food. I think it’s just wonderful that you got to meet up with your friend and think it’s so neat that you’ve met up on 3 different continents!
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It was a good trip – and yes it was so much fun to meet up with an old friend.
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I love visiting Vancouver with you; so many interesting things. ! I also admire the painting you featured: simplicity and complexity in one glance. And how delightful to reunite with a three-decade, three-continent friend! Thank you for the mention too.
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Glad you enjoyed the bits of Vancouver in the post! Meeting my old friend was a very big small pleasure as you can imagine.
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