Tuesday Walking Club

Step Out Walks in VancouverVancouver Street Trees - Walk
The “Walking Tour of Vancouver Street Trees” is a 3.3 km route that starts at Almond Park (12th and Dunbar). This route provides an opportunity to exercise while enjoying a sampling of some of Vancouver’s mature street trees. Starts at 12th in Almond Park at 12th and Dunbar.
Today it was only Virginia & I but we still went & really enjoyed this. Off the internet I was able to get printed the 5 page leaflet with description of all the trees in the neighborhood. I can imagine how full they will be in a month or two.
http://vancouver.ca/parks/activecommunity/walks.htm

This newly built house has a really intersting shingled roof as it is in waves.While we were finishing our walk we could hear this little woodpecker & zoomed into him & got this pic as he blends into the tree very well LOL

Senior Discounts

Please when you are shopping in most major stores do not hesitate to ask if they give senior discounts & if not that day on what days if they do. Some stores will give you if you are 55 plus, some you must be 64 plus. It cost nothing to ask & you may gain by it.

If you get a coffee at McDonald's, Burger King & any other fast food ask for Senior's coffee.

You will pay from .50 to .90!!! Depending on the eatery.

Walking Group 25 Apr

Today a new member, Judy, joined our group at Britannia Seniors Centre with Rosemarie, Henny, Linda, Deborah, Lorna and me (Virginia), we walked to Broadway and Commercial and hopped on the 99 B-Line only to discover that Deborah was missing ... she had sidestepped the group to go home and make a quick change of clothing and we lost her ... when we arrived at Broadway and Cambie, she called to say she would join us next time ... At this point, I reminded the ladies that it is necessary to the integrity of the group that anyone who wishes to leave or take a quick side trip should let me know so that we can decide to wait for that person or continue the walk ... this is to prevent unnecessary delays as we try to complete by 1:30 pm, unless we are travelling farther, such as Steveston Village in Richmond ...
Cambie Street was recently re-opened, following months of construction of the Canada Line underground sky train tunnel ... today the big box stores (Save on Foods, Canada Tire, Best Buy, London Drugs) held a an open-air celebration along Cambie ... hot dogs, coffee, balloons and coupons for products and services were offered and a stage was set up with ongoing live entertainment for the afternoon ... By the time we had collected coupons and coffee, the sun came out so we decided to continue our walk along False Creek to Granville Market ... Lorna excused herself to go to Pacific Centre train station where she was arranging a trip on VIA Rail ... Henny returned to Britannia to pick up her car as she had other errands to run ... that left four of us ... The Market was not as busy as it usually is on a Saturday so navigating the narrow aisles was easy ... we found great coffee and pastries which we enjoyed outside on the north deck where a musician was performing ... we also stopped at Ocean Cement's open house where cement trucks were parked along the perimeter of the fenced yard ... a few of the truck mixers were painted in beautiful designs ... one mixer was painted to look like a giant strawberry ... in the centre was a huge sand pile crawling with little people playing with loaders, dump trucks and other construction equipment ...
The clouds returned and the wind came up with a chill, so we caught the #50 bus downtown and transferred to the #20 Victoria and came back to Britannia Centre ... We are tentatively planning a car trip to Steveston Village on the Victoria Day weekend ... Rosemarie and Henny will drive so we can take a total of eight passengers ... a small sum will be requested from each passenger to cover the cost of fuel .
Thanks to all those people who have provided ideas for walks and entertainment venues ... until next week, keep your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds .
Contributor Virginia

Tuesday Walking Club

Well today we headed off to Science world by bus/skytrain & walked to Granville island from there along false creek south side. The weather was warm & good day to be by the water. The pics below are around Granville Island. Totem pole & gals taking a break. We found the boat homes & took this shop as well of their mail boxes which were unique.
Today was Virginia, Deborah & myself (Laurette). Afterwards Deb headed back home & Virginia & I stayed downtown & shopped a bit.

Walking Club 19 April

Today, Henny, Flora, Deborah, Linda, Helga and Virginia (that's me) caught the #20 Downtown bus, transferred to #19 Stanley Park and hailed Lorna who was waiting at the Georgia-Denman Street bus stop ... she joined us for the final ride into the park where she led the group through the formal rose gardens to the trail around Beaver Lake, an easy level 5 km walk .
At the rose gardens is a long arbor, in the centre of which is a tiny raised flower bed with a plaque provided jointly by Hector Steele, the City Parks Board and the Provincial Government commemorating the 100Th anniversary of the Vancouver Pioneers Association [1893-1993] ... a tiny cairn containing memorabilia is to be opened in 2093 ... I guess we'll never know what's in it !!
An information signpost states that the rose garden had its beginnings in 1920 and throughout the decades, 3,500 varieties of rose bushes have been planted there ... the gardens and lawns are beautifully maintained and are surrounded by grand evergreens and criss -crossed with paved pathways .
At the top of the garden is a lovely Swiss style chalet designed by architect Otto Moberg and complete with climbing vines and overhanging roof ... the upper level is constructed of rustic logs with stone facing on the lower level ... named the Stanley Park Pavilion, it was commissioned in 1911 by city park commissioners and opened to the general public ... in 1919, the Prince of Wales hosted a reception to honour Canadian soldiers killed in the First World War ... in 1923-24 the building was enlarged and the restaurant is now only available for private functions, however the "Bar & Grill", a wide cement deck more recently added to the side of the building, opens Victoria Day in late May ...
At the east side of the garden is a large memorial containing two bronze statues, each flanked by a granite stone with inscriptions honouring the friendship between Canada and the U.S. and commemorating President Harding, the first U.S. president ever to pay an official visit to Canada ...
Linda was able to get some great photos of the pavilion, the memorial, and our walking group beneath a flowering Japanese Cherry blossom tree ... the group split up with Flora and Helga wanting to continue their walk in the balmy sunshine ... Deborah and Lorna went their separate ways, while Henny, Linda and Virginia returned to Britannia to enjoy coffee and cookies left over from an earlier reception in the seniors centre ...
Future walks are planned for West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Horseshoe Bay and Steveston ... new members are welcome ... we meet at 10:15 a.m. Saturday and our return times vary from 1:00-2:30 pm depending on how far we travel ... we use public transit to get to most of our destinations and are often surprised to find something new that we didn't know about before ... this is a recreational, social and educational adventure series for seniors ... Until next time ...
Contributor Virginia

Evening Social April 16!!!

Games Night!

Thursday, April 16th

6:30-8:30pm
AML at Britannia Community Centre
Join us for a few fun games!
We’ll play some group games like Pictionary and Wii, or play a round of cards with a smaller group.
Bring some snacks to share.
Check the potluck sign-up sheet to see what others are bringing.
Hot chocolate and tea will be provided.
For more information,

call Michelle at 604.718.5837

Tuesday Walking Club

Today Virginia, Deborah & I (Laurette) met at the library & decided on where we were going to. I had two choices & decided on Mount Pleasant Park Hopper Walk.
We took bus to the Mt Pleasant Community centre at 16th & Ontario St. Went in for washroom break & asked for a printed map. I had called yesterday & asked about this & told no problem as they would print one out for me. I seem to have started something cause the person on the desk started emailing the offices asking why is that they do not have this folder to hand out. Not everyone has a computer to download & print it. It is 1 sheet that folds in 3.


Anyways we got out sheet & off we went to do the 1.08km, 8078steps etc... This is one of the "Pedometer Walking is a Great Start" program for better health.
We had a nice walk in a residential neighborhood & visited the 4 gardens that are mentioned.
Not long after we started out we found this little shop!!! This shop specializes in corsets. Well we found this interesting & took the pics & told the ladies what I was doing. They asked me if I wish to try one on. Try it & talk about the experience. lol No way, I like my comfort. They told me that their oldest client is 86! Well good for her to still feel sexy I think. As well they had a selection of stiletto heels but pretty & not tacky.

Their web site is http://www.laceembrace.com/ established in 1997.

On the way home we saw this very small car & looks like a mini jeep. Forgot the name of it & should have written it down.

Walking Club for 31 Mar & 04 Apr

Tuesday 31 Mar
Today Virginia, her friend John & I (Laurette) took the buss to 24th & Fraser. We headed up Fraser to 50th ave & walked back to 41st. This area is a mixture of Asian & east Indian stores. It was sunny, cold & very windy. But we trudge along & got out exercise. Afterwards Virginia & myself only headed to Main St, Punjab area for our lunch. After that she went home & I went to visit our friend Vera who is in the hospital. Great outing.
Contributor Laurette

Saturday 04 April
Today yielded a great surprise: we had three new ladies join our walking group - Henny, Deborah and Rosemarie ... we caught the #20 bus to Hastings and Richards and walked to Pan Pacific Hotel at Canada Place where we met up with Lorna ... Laurette had called earlier to let me know that the new conference centre beside the hotel was officially opened to the public today, so we followed the hundreds of people throughout the three levels of this magnificent structure ... the most important job I had was keeping every one in our group as close together as possible ... it was like being a Brownie den mother again ...
The conference centre is built of wood, steel and structural glass, jutting out over Burrard Inlet and providing 180 degrees of view from Stanley Park and Grouse Mountain on the West through North Vancouver, the Iron Workers Memorial (2ND Narrows) Bridge, and the industrial harbour area to the East ... the day was sunny and mild with noticeable bands of snow on the Grouse and Seymour ski runs .
The interior walls of the centre are covered in yellow cedar blocks reminiscent of BC's forests, the openings to the escalator wells are steel grids, the muted carpet colours resemble the ocean waves, the floor to ceiling glass walls slope outwards affording a view from the water below to the sky above ... special feature rooms are set up on each floor ... one large reception room was decorated in Italian Tuscany grape/wine theme for last night's special guest opening ... another room contains totems; the end wall of a Haida long house with a central figure of a bear, flanked by wolves and ravens; and separate islands of BC rockery, reeds, trees and mosses ...
We left the conference building at the west side doors and took several stairways to ground level near the Harbour Air float plane docks ... strung along the edge of redeveloped Coal Harbour parkway are the Thunderbird Marina, Harbour Marina and Westin Bayshore Marina ... as we continued west, we found the "Light Shed", a sculpture mounted on three slightly slanted logs painted silver ... atop the logs is a replica of an old freight shed that sat in Vancouver City's Coal Harbour wharf 100 years ago ... the shed was created by Liz Magor in 2004, half-scale, cast in aluminum at the Harman Sculpture Foundry... it looks exactly like the rough-wood siding and door of the original but is all metal ...
We arrived at the new Starbucks on the corner of Robson and Denman Streets where we found comfortable seating to enjoy our mugs of hot coffee and a snack ... this was the former location of popular Bo Jangles Cafe which moved to Pacific Boulevard and will be bought out under a new name ... sadly, another of our local favorites disappears ... we say farewell ...
We bused back to Britannia Centre along Robson, Seymour and Hastings Street ... next week we plan to walk Beaver Lake in Stanley Park ...
Contributor Virginia