Monday morning, just after six a.m. and temperature at our back door just hovering over the zero mark (Celcius).  I've decided to take the bike, maybe only as far as the seabus, as the Lions Gate will most likely be coated with glaze.  Will have to walk down the Point Grey Hill.  Come on, Winter, take a break - a really long break!  This is Vancouver, remember?

Fell asleep on the couch last night, waiting for the laundry to dry, and that was it for Sunday blogging.  Here's a little account of the afternoon ride to the gym, to keep up the bike portion of this title.  The sun and fog continued to argue over which one would dominate, with the fog winning as I looked out our front door before leaving.

Going along 8th Avenue (the bike lane street), the fog was pretty thick until around Cypress, when the sun suddenly came roaring triumphantly through.  No pictures, but blue skies brought back the feeling of the morning.  I thought of stopping several times, as I noticed tree branches holding hands over the centre of the street.  Vancouver has beautiful forested areas, but another thing I love about this city is the tree-lined streets.  When a bridge of trees reaches over to meet the other side, it reminds me of country road drives in Quebec when I was a kid.  I have one memory of my father trying to teach my mother to drive along one of those roads, while my sister and I giggled in the back seat.  We had to stifle our full-out laughter when a bicycle passed us.  Teaching someone to drive has to be the ultimate relationship test, one that  my father unfortunately didn't pass.  Some time later, my mother finally enrolled for lessons with a Montreal driving school.

But back to Vancouver.  I forgot my book (The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill) yesterday, and a latte stop without Bill and without a book, just isn't the same.  So I turned right off 8th, left on Broadway and stopped at Chapters at the corner of Granville to buy another one (a book, that is.  Bill is a one of a kind.  Hope his cold will be better soon.)  I asked the clerk for Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund, one that dp recommended, but they said it's coming out soon, and not yet available, even to pre-order.  That was confusing, as I know dp read it some years ago.  I guessed they meant the soft cover.  Then I asked if they had a hard cover version, but no success there either.  So, I headed downstairs to the Awards wall, and chose Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje.  Then I headed off to Our Town for a good latte (but no beautiful pattern yesterday and they were all out of my favorite raspberry-banana sugarless muffins ) and some happy reading time.  I'm going to be torn between these two books, I can see it.  I could hardly tear myself away to go to the gym.  
I'm seriously out of blogging time, so the rest of this one will be quick.  Here's my bike (on the right) at Our Town.  No time for links this morning.  Hope dp will forgive me.  Note that one of the things I love about this place is the little bike corner.  I'm assuming the red one belongs to an employee. 
A bird nest, along 12th, a couple of blocks before Cambie.
Also taken from 12th, looking North.
These last of the mountains were taken from inside the shopping center, where Fitness World rents space, at 12th and Cambie.
I'm off.  Wish me luck!