Spring at the Chan Center

Recently I went to an amazing concert called Spring at the Chan. Rachel Z. was in the choral group and It had been a long time since I had listened to live singing so I had to go. Trinity Western College put it on and they did such a good job. I had never been to any concerts other than elementary and high school, so attending the concert was a huge treat for me.

The day was spent shopping with friends (thanks LeAnne and Martha!) and I was able to get some new clothes for Spring, specifically for our Bible conference coming up in just a couple of weeks. After shopping we went out for dinner at White Spot with Chasm and his Lady (Drooler's parents) who actually were sans kids for the evening! The White Spot that we went to made their fries in a dedicated fryer, and knew quite a bit about what to watch for when serving a gluten free dish so I was able to order a bunless burger and fries and it was such a treat. Believe it or not, my server actually had Celiac disease and she was able to quickly tell me of three dishes on the menu that were gluten free as well as inform me that they served the fries to people with Celiac disease on a regular basis. I love that restaurants are becoming more aware of gluten and cross contamination. Hopefully there will come a day on this earth where I do not have to tote around a cooler full of gluten free food everywhere I go! Anyways, sorry for the loooong side note, I got distracted.

So after dinner we went to the Chan Center which is on the University of British Columbia campus. The Chan Center is an amazing building. There is no way to explain it, you have to experience it yourself. A mouse could squeak and no matter where you were sitting I bet you would hear it. The instruments and voices were equally balanced with NO amplification. There was even a harpsichord and we could all hear its little tinny notes as clear as day. There were a few solos and it was so neat that they didn't need amplification.

The location of the Chan Center is so beautiful.

I did snap a few photos, but what I cherish the most is the video. I don't even know if it is proper to take video at an event like this and now that I think about it, it probably isn't. I'll just say that there were others around me taking video and that the guy two rows up recorded the whole thing with his camera, so I don't feel that guilty. I like the video because I can look at the program and listen to the music and remember how much fun it was to be at the concert.

Before the show.

There were many different styles of songs, some in English and others in foreign languages. There was a piano duet during one of the songs, accordion, bagpipe, cello, electric bass, flute, electric guitars, organ, harpsichord, a trombone quartet, as well as drums and many different variations of rhythm instruments. There was a guys choir and also one song where a number of choir members stood up and down the aisles and sang the main part of the song with the choir joining them later, it was so beautiful!

Chasm and his Lady.

Wow, look at the happy couple behind us. Grrr!

Ay-Laung Wang directed the whole show and she is good, very good in fact. A few times she even directed while playing the organ. The movement of her body cued everyone else even though part of the time her arms were crossed and her feet were on pedals on opposite ends of the organ. After the intermission she spoke directly to the crowd for a little bit and it was like stand up comedy, she is a character and it was so enjoyable.

A piano, harpsichord and organ trio.

Rachel had quite a few family members and friends come to the concert but it was so crowded after the performances and so busy that I didn't get a photo of Rachel (but she looked beautiful.) I guess if you zoomed in to one of the chorus group photos you would be able to see her on the left hand side near the center of the sopranos wearing a dress with a wide v neck. :) Oh and Little R, sorry I caught you off guard in this photo! I had to post it anyways.

Please, once again, do not make fun of notice my poor video skills. They will probably never get better, so if you are prone to sea sickness, just close your eyes and listen and it should pass. :) It's a long video, but you should watch it anyways! It is just some short clips of a few of the songs, and the end is really fun. It was great watching a bunch of girls in pretty dresses and men in bow ties sing like they were around a fire in Africa or something.

Coupeville

While we were out on the Puget Sound with Sallad and Grace, they took us to one of the cutest little towns I have ever been in. I knew I would love the place as soon as we were pulling up to the dock. The waterfront is filled with colorful old buildings on stilts and old fashioned signs beckon you to explore. The town is called Coupeville and I highly recommend you click on that link and take a gander at their header. Isn't that a beautiful and historic looking waterfront!?

This little guy was hanging out right beside where we docked Sallad's boat.

My photo of the waterfront isn't quite as pretty as the one on their town website, it was a really bright day and the tide was out. I just loved the old buildings!

Sallad, Bri and Grace making their way towards town, how cute is that?! Bri is such a good walker now, but I don't quite think she is ready to walk on wobbly docks all by herself.

Want to rent a kayak?

The water level around the pier was low because the tide was out and we could see hundreds of starfish. Yellow, Terra Cotta orange, purple and several shades of blue were spotted, it was so beautiful but hard to capture on camera.

The Mr. and our niece Bri. She is such a good little girl and just goes with the flow even though her parents take us on adventures.

A real Dall's porpoise skeleton. I am pretty sure we saw some sort of porpoise on our way to Coupeville but I didn't get any photos. All we could see was a small fin arching it's way out of the water several times as it swam along and we were quite far away from it. There is also an amazing real skeleton of a Humpback whale to see. Both of these skeletons are found in the large red building on the pier that says "Coupeville."

Aren't these buildings just adorable? They are original, complete with fake fronts. The pale yellow building has a very interesting history that I have to tell you about. It is where Seattle's Best Coffee started! You can read some of the history on the net but I will try and give you the short version from a typed out history of the company that was pasted on the wall inside the building. (I took a photo of it.)

In 1968 a man named Jim Stewart rented the building and sold ice cream to make money for college, calling his shop the Wet Whisker after his cat. In 1969 he branched out into the coffee business, selling fresh ground coffee beans and coffee. Jim's brother Dave joined him shortly after that and together they opened a Wet Whisker in Seattle, on Pier 70. Once they became more popular and had more locations, they dropped the ice cream and focused on coffee. In 1988 they changed their name to Seattle's Best Coffee and eventually went on to win a "best coffee" contest, beating Starbucks and other local coffees.

So what's in the building now? ICE CREAM! Doesn't that make sense? There is a wonderful lady there that makes all her own waffle cones and the shop just smells wonderful. Make sure you stop by Kapaw's Iskreme for a cone if you are ever in Coupeville. I am such a lover of local history and I love the fact that I stood in this building. This little town was built because of a rumor that the railroad was coming to the island and gold was being discovered in Alaska.

We were able to walk around a bit and it felt like spring even though we still had a few days to wait before spring was officially in town.

Look at that stone foundation, amazing.

This whale weathervane suited the area well. It was so fun to be in this town that had so many great photo opportunities. Especially since it was the first outing with my new camera! This weathervane was on the top of a turret of a two story Victorian style house, across the street from where I was standing.

Some brightly colored bed and breakfasts.

I am always glad to see Heather in the spring because it is always nice and early!

Having Celiac disease is life changing and one of the hardest parts about it is worrying about cross contamination when eating at restaurants. We had walked down the street and taken several dining options into consideration before settling in at the County Deli. I stood in line, but had already mentally decided not to order anything and just eat the food I had packed along with us when we got back to the boat. For some reason, when I got to the front of the line with The Mr. I told the lady behind the counter that I had Celiac Disease. I don't know why I even decided to try and order, but I did anyways and you know what she did? She pointed to a small menu that was about a foot away from my head. I turned to read it and across the top, it said "Gluten Free Menu" can you believe it? Not only was it a gluten free menu, but it had 15 items on it, and yes she knew about cross contamination and she even had a family member who couldn't eat gluten. I think the Lord knew I needed some encouragement in the gluten free eating area of my life and led us to this Deli, how else would something like that happen? Recently I had been getting very discouraged about eating out, but now I know that there is hope! Above is the photo of my turkey, cream cheese, pesto and tomato wrap, which was amazing and I had absolutely no Celiac reaction at this Deli. I give this wonderful business 10 stars out of 5 if that is possible!

There was a little park fountain with statues of two little kids playing in the water and someone thought they looked cold. Above is a hooded girl and there was also a boy with a matching scarf. I am sure some sweet little old lady knitted these and dresses the statues each year. She probably has no clue that there is a madly popular urban knitting graffiti trend that is on the rise. Ok, obviously you aren't going to go to all of those links, but you get the idea.

A neat path between two buildings complete with antique knob on the gate and tons of grapevine wreaths and baskets. The metal part of the knob/latch had "Patented Oct. 11 1880" stamped into it.

Bri loves to look out windows and it kept her occupied at many of the stores we visited!

I'd love to try and make something like this with local beach treasures.

I had to try at least one of the photos in sepia, I think it almost looks authentic. We just needed fisherman clothing for Sallad and The Mr. instead of jackets and winter hats!