Welcome to Vancouver, where the rainy season lasts about 6 months. That’s what the locals tell us, anyways. Apparently it rains most days from November through ‘til April. And when we say rain, we mean a constant downpour for hours on end, nothing like Calgary rain that lasts a half hour and then clears.
The rain has been much worse than normal this year, so much so that it has washed out highways and caused major flooding and massive disruptions to people’s lives and livelihoods. The flooding for the most part is in the Sumas Prairie area, which stretches from the east side of the mountains towards Vancouver, between Abbotsford and Chilliwack. We’re not directly affected, but we’ve definitely felt the supply chain crunch, as any road or rail shipments to and from Vancouver have com to a halt.
The highways are so damaged that it’s calling into question our ability to travel home for Christmas. There are only two routes that may be open in time for Christmas, the 99 through Whistler, which is a steep gravel road in places, and dangerous in the snow, or the 3, which is down to one lane, and is massively backed up because it’s the only route through the mountains. We will have to wait and see what happens closer to Christmas, if safe highway travel will be an option.
Meanwhile, we’ve spent a relatively quiet week staying mostly inside and keeping out of the rain. Matt has spent a few evenings on the boat working on replacing some worn out hoses on the generator and wing engine, and he has also replaced the broken and stuck latches from our cupboards and drawers. They’re really neat latches, quite satisfying to click open and closed, but some of them have worn out over time. Fortunately they’re easy to find online, and we were able to purchase a whole set and replace where needed. We also got a cute stubby screwdriver for small spaces.
While Matt was doing boat work, I took time for a baking session. It was so soothing to be in the kitchen again, mixing up batter. The result was a batch of delicious lemon poppyseed muffins. I love lemon poppyseed muffins, and I’m surprised that I’ve never made them before this. Absolutely delicious, and there’s still lots of poppyseeds so I can definitely make another batch. I do want to find a way to make them a bit more lemon-y, though.
We wrapped up the week with a visit to the Vancouver Christmas Market. It takes place in the Jack Poole Plaza, where the torch from the 2010 Winter Olympics is located. The market is German themed, and while it has vendor booths with the usual suspects (candles, home made dog harnesses and greeting cards), there are many German food options to choose from; Haxen, Kartoffelpuffer and Glühwein! I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it made me a bit homesick for the real German Christkindlesmarkt.
It’s almost December, you can definitely feel the Christmas spirit in the air. I’m looking forward to putting up lights and decorations, and baking. Maybe, we’ll even dress up Eudora in some Christmas lights!
