Island Life
One of the things we put up with living on the island is that nearly all the good shopping is in Vancouver. As the crow flies, Vancouver is not far - maybe 40 miles. However, the crow is expensive, so we take the boat - about 75 minutes worth of driving and 1.75 hours on the ferry. This way, too, is expensive - round trip for the two of us yesterday was $114 (down from $128 at peak summer rates).
In spite of all this, our trip to Vancouver was a welcome distraction on chol hamoed. I've been missing Detroit more keenly this week. Sukkos, I've come to realize, is a very communal holiday if you're single. As a female, I was never obligated to build and eat in a sukkah, so I didn't. My neighbors two doors down invited me nearly every night of chol hamoed. Suppers were lively with all the boys home from yeshiva and usually a few out-of-town guests. I missed that this year. Soulmate and I built and enjoyed our sukkah, but we remained very concious that ours was one of perhaps 6 sukkahs in the entire city. In Detroit, you could hear your neighbor singing in his sukkah. Here, I'm sure the neighbors are panicking that the sukkah will be a permanent structure in the back yard.
Nothing like a little retail-therapy to give you a boost. We managed to score a dining room table from the "damaged" room at Ikea that will sit eight - there were no visible scratches or structural problems, so we paid for the table and left quickly before they could realize that we were getting a screaming deal. I also managed to find frozen, unbaked croissants. Soulmate had purchased a box at Costco last year. We discovered when we got married that they make an easy and ideal Shabbos breakfast treat when combined with butter and homemade strawberry jam. Alas, we ran out several weeks ago and have been having to subsist on homemade cinnamon buns. Costco no longer carries a kosher brand of croissants (at least not here) so we expanded our search. Fortunately, a new bakery opened in Vancouver a few weeks ago selling frozen unbaked croissants! We now have 3 dozen in the freezer and 10 proofing on the counter.
The leaves have started to turn here and the long-awaited winter rain is scheduled to arrive tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to snuggling inside and enjoying the mild temperatures. As Soulmate has been fond of annoucing when passing the outdoor thermometer when we leave the house, "It's two degrees cooler now than when I came to see you at Chanukah last year" (generally this comes up when the temp is in the mid-fifties - about average in the winter for around here). Who'd have thought that I would move to Canada and have to pack away my ful-length down-filled winter coat?
In spite of all this, our trip to Vancouver was a welcome distraction on chol hamoed. I've been missing Detroit more keenly this week. Sukkos, I've come to realize, is a very communal holiday if you're single. As a female, I was never obligated to build and eat in a sukkah, so I didn't. My neighbors two doors down invited me nearly every night of chol hamoed. Suppers were lively with all the boys home from yeshiva and usually a few out-of-town guests. I missed that this year. Soulmate and I built and enjoyed our sukkah, but we remained very concious that ours was one of perhaps 6 sukkahs in the entire city. In Detroit, you could hear your neighbor singing in his sukkah. Here, I'm sure the neighbors are panicking that the sukkah will be a permanent structure in the back yard.
Nothing like a little retail-therapy to give you a boost. We managed to score a dining room table from the "damaged" room at Ikea that will sit eight - there were no visible scratches or structural problems, so we paid for the table and left quickly before they could realize that we were getting a screaming deal. I also managed to find frozen, unbaked croissants. Soulmate had purchased a box at Costco last year. We discovered when we got married that they make an easy and ideal Shabbos breakfast treat when combined with butter and homemade strawberry jam. Alas, we ran out several weeks ago and have been having to subsist on homemade cinnamon buns. Costco no longer carries a kosher brand of croissants (at least not here) so we expanded our search. Fortunately, a new bakery opened in Vancouver a few weeks ago selling frozen unbaked croissants! We now have 3 dozen in the freezer and 10 proofing on the counter.
The leaves have started to turn here and the long-awaited winter rain is scheduled to arrive tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to snuggling inside and enjoying the mild temperatures. As Soulmate has been fond of annoucing when passing the outdoor thermometer when we leave the house, "It's two degrees cooler now than when I came to see you at Chanukah last year" (generally this comes up when the temp is in the mid-fifties - about average in the winter for around here). Who'd have thought that I would move to Canada and have to pack away my ful-length down-filled winter coat?
posted by Sarah at 06:40
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