Starry Night - don't miss it!

One of my favourite nights of the year is the annual flagship AIDS fundraiser of the Shooting Stars Foundation. On Monday, November 23rd - the 24th Starry Night will feature a who's who of Vancouver and Canadian talent appearing in concert and musical variety at the wonderful Stanley Theatre to kick off the holiday season.

Every year, the event brings me to tears, to smiles, to musical warmth and shining joy. I absolutely love it and recommend it!

Ski Season Starts!

With only 3 months to the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the local mountains are opening with some of their earliest skiing ever!

Cypress Mountain, less than half an hour drive from the B & B, opens today for both alpine and cross-country. During the Games, Cypress will host Freestyle (Aerials, Moguls & Ski Cross) and Snowboard (Half Pipe, Parallel Giant Slalom, and Snowboard Cross). Two stadiums, each with a 12,000 person capacity have been constructed. The huge new Cypress Creek Lodge offers excellent apres-ski dining and lounges. It isn't an Olympic sport but I love the snow-tubing at Cypress. Who can resist a big truck-sized inner tube with safety handles and ropes on a bumpy sliding course built for kids of all ages!

Skiing at Whistler-Blackcomb, North America's largest and foremost ski resort opens tomorrow. It is just an hour and a half from Nelson House, using the vastly improved Sea to Sky Highway. The resort offers 8100 acres of skiable terrain spread over two mountains and the town of 10,000 at their base. More than a vertical mile drop and runs of over seven miles in length. 38 lifts speed you to over 200 trails. The new Peak 2 Peak Gondola breaks records as the highest and longest unsupported span in the world. Travelling from mountaintop to mountaintop in just 11 minutes, the Gondola provides breathtaking views of three glaciers and the valley far below.

In 90 days or so, the Alpine Skiing events will take place on Whistler Mountain and include Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, and Combined. Whistler Olympic Park, the Nordic Competition Venue is complete and will host all Nordic events: cross country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, and Nordic combined events. The Whistler Sliding Centre on Blackcomb Mountain will host the Sliding events: Bobsled, Luge, and Skeleton events.

Me? I am more likely to be found partying at Whistler's gay ski-week, WinterPride, the first week of March.

For information and links to all of these and more of Vancouver's winter wonderland, please checkout the Attractions and Directions page on our website.

Nelson House B & B Video Review

Watch more Vancouver videos at tripfilms.com

One of our B & B guests has recently posted a video review of Nelson House online. Thank you Nick! Let us know what you think.

Halloween at Nelson House B & B

Last night, although I sat home with the flu, the wind tossed the autumn leaves into the air, a harvest moon lit the West End and little spooks overcame their primal fears to enter the Nelson House garden in the search for CANDY!

We warned them that this old house has secrets and stories to tell. On all hallow's eve, no one can be sure that the spirits will not rise from the grave and follow you up the long walk to the big wooden door with the brass knocker.


In fact, the ghosts follow one little girl and hear her Mom say to knock hard so that they can hear you. But who are THEY? The big, heavy door swings open. Looking up - everywhere there are chandeliers hanging with cobwebs. Is that a rat under that chair? Do I hear a wolf howling ?

Maybe - but there is a nice man named Matthew and a lady named Briana - who looks a lot like that boy scout in UP. I liked that movie. ANYWAYS, they are pointing at a table, just covered with every kind of candy!

There is a fire in the fireplace and everyone seems really happy in this house. Maybe it's my fairy princess dress. I smile at the nice witch while I pick a few more of the best ones for my purple bucket. Mom says to say "Thank You". I do and bat my wings right out of there.

I'll remember THIS house for next year!

Vancouver's Olympics - getting ready!

Beijing, Vancouver, London, Rio de Janeiro.... Good company to keep.

Vancouver likes to party. The invitations have been accepted and we are working hard to get ready....

The excitement is starting to build....

The athletes are gathering to train at their competition venues....

And soon - the world will be joining them.

We always knew we were special.

Two very fun things this week.



I received an email entitled "Vancouver Originals - you are one". This is a new Vancouver website where the listings are chosen by a local jury. To be selected, the business must originate in Vancouver, have a unique and original product or service that is recognized, or have all of the above with historical merit in addition. As their slogan states:"Chosen by locals in the know...." It's very nice to be acknowledged. VancouverOriginals is a site to keep an eye on.



And then we had the honour of hosting Nick Vivion, a formidable young film-maker from New York and San Francisco. He was in Vancouver on assignment for http://www.tripfilms.com/, the net's best quality source for member-generated travel videos. Nick, like ourselves, is a traveller in love with life. Check out his work at tripfilms or via his own website. He shot a video review of Nelson House B & B, which we can hardly wait to see!

A green B & B update.

As summer-like weather wanes, the Dalai Lama is in town teaching peace and compassion. Cynics can gripe but I doubt that this man is capable of a harmful thought or utterance. When it comes to religious leaders, I wish they were all so unbiased and openly loving. I say good on Vancouver for lending him an ear.

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At home, a number of B & B projects are moving from the background to take centre stage. The greening of Nelson House is still underway. The attic crawlspaces will soon be much better insulated. I have been talking to electricians, furnace contractors and our local utility company concerning a major upgrade of our heating and cooling systems. With a 100 year-old house, I am not surprised that every step of this eco-project has produced differences of opinion, new choices to be made and of course, taken longer than might be wished. Fortunately, in beautiful Vancouver, I have no need to worry about a looming deep-freeze from Old Man Winter.

The dog day of summer.

Sept. 20th, the eve of the equinox, the last day of summer 2009. Those folks over there are departing for Alaska onboard their Carnival Cruise. Me? I am glad to be staying right here in beautiful Vancouver.

Sunshine in the city and the promise of at least another week of it. Down at Granville Island Market, the fresh caught Sockeye salmon, the local berries and Okanagan peaches, plums and cherries lead me to count my blessings. It's a lot of counting.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, there really is no place like home.

A new Cairn in town!

Some weeks ago I mentioned that we had decided to add a second Cairn Terrier to the family and the B & B. I am very pleased to introduce Zack to everyone!

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Zack started life in Missouri and came to us through the dedicated and life-saving efforts of a dog rescue organization - in this case, the Colonel Potter Cairn Rescue Network. "Colonel Potter" was a much-beloved Cairn Terrier who died in a car accident. In his name, a U.S. and Canada-wide non-profit network has been established to rescue Cairns from puppy mills and unscrupulous backyard breeders, auctions and animal shelters. In these days of recession, many of these dogs, like Zack, have been given up by their families for economic and personal reasons.

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We consider ourselves very lucky to have found a four-year old, fully house-trained, sweet and intelligent young dog like Zack. He has been through a lot - abandoned by his first family after he encountered relatively mild health issues, briefly in a shelter, flown to Seattle, driven to Canada and cared for by a series of strangers. He has been with us only a week but with the help of our resident Cairn, Ozzie, he is relaxing and starting to believe things will be OK. They will be better than OK, Zack. We promise you all the love and care that we can give.

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If anyone reading this should be thinking of a getting a dog, please consider looking on the internet for these rescue organizations that are out there helping almost every breed. The dogs will come to you only after a full veterinary check-up, treatment, vaccinations etc. The dogs will have been settled down in a Foster Family to observe and prepare them for your adoption. The dogs are usually purebred and available for a donation to help defray the non-profit's costs. Most of all, these dogs NEED and DESERVE to live a long and happy life. Won't you help? In return, they will love you forever!

Vancouver's Fair - the 2009 PNE

I grew up in a small town where the "Fall Fair" was a big deal not only to a town kid like me but to all the surrounding farmers - ready for a trip to town to show off their prize-winning Clydesdales, Holsteins and let their 4-H farm kids parade the favourite calf or pony round the ring in front of judges and an appreciative grandstand.

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I thought the 4-Hers were definitely quaint in their pressed white smocks but I was not so hip that I didn't enjoy perusing the quilts, handicrafts, pies, cakes, chickens and rabbits to see if the right one got the blue ribbon. Today, I still enjoy the livestock barns and a peek at the people who work very hard to grow our food and somehow make a living. A trip to the PNE is a reminder of a goggle-eyed youth taking in the sideshows, midway and the carney life. I probably saw my first tattoo on some greasy bad-ass ride-operator.

Photo courtesy of Heritage Vancouver

Times have changed and still they haven't. The PNE offers a whole summer of Playland excitement, rides and amusement. The 1958 wooden roller-coaster is one of the world's remaining classics for coaster afficianados. Only a few years ago, it was a threatened structure but money was found to restore it to its original glory for it's fiftieth anniversary in 2008. Over half a million thrill-seekers take the ride every year.

People go to the fair for the all too cute Superdogs show, for nightly live song and dance performances like Celtic Legends or the pyro-musical spectacular Kaboom. Then there is a roster of scheduled performances from the likes of Al Jarreau, Chris Isaak, En Vogue, Rick Springfield and Canadian rockers, Chilliwack.

Me? I also go to the fair for the mini-donuts, the super-mops and all the latest gadgets. But since it's a rare event, I might once again take in the world-famous equestrian event - the RCMP "Musical Ride".