"If you asked 

the sources of his glee he would shrug  

his thick shoulders and roll his eyes  

upward to where the turning leaves  

take the wind, and the gray city birds  

dart toward their prey, and flat clouds  

pencil their obscure testaments  

on the air. For a moment  

the energy that makes them who  

they are shatters the noon’s light  

into our eyes, and when we see  

again they are gone and the street  

is quiet, the day passing into  

evening, and this is autumn"

from Salt and Oil

by Philip Levine

"These are the stories the dogs tell, when the fire

burns high and the wind is from the north"

from City

by Clifford Simak  

A quick stop in Vancouver, which means the Sylvia Hotel on 

English Bay, and dogs on the seawall, 

and gulls on rocks 

and 

rocks without gulls,  

and sea

washed pebbles,

the mysteries of the deep, Cthulhu?  

the last flowers of summer 

Favorite eateries 



and funky boutiques.

"There is mystery here, but a soft, sure mystery that is 

understood and only remains a mystery because I want

it so. The mystery of the nighthawk against a darkening sky, 

the puzzle of the firefly along the lilac hedge."

from Time and Again

by Clifford Simak

"One dark and rainy night at the edge 

of a city on the edge of an ocean, 

a stray cat came walking down 

the beach. 

Across from an old hotel covered 

with vines, the cat stopped. As he 

looked at that place, he got a 

strange warm feeling inside him. I 

think, thought the cat, I am tired of 

being a stray cat."

from Mister Got To Go

Story by Lois Simmie

Illustrations by Cynthia Nugent

And so finally we will end our, in blog post time, fairly long

visit to the Sylvia Hotel which I want to mention is also the

setting for the two wonderful books pictured above.

So a quick look at some of characters and sights

we encountered on the trip.

                                                                                 

"These plants grew abundantly in the wet coastal 

weather and drooped out over the fronts

of the houses. If a person liked the fog and rain, 

he'd like Seaside. It seemed to Jonathan

to be the sort of place where a chap could 

write great poetry while peering down at the 

fog-shrouded streets from a fourth-floor attic study."

               The Elfin Ship

                             James Blaylock

 "You are so far away
On this cold and empty night
As I lie in a hotel room
Lookin' at a street light
Outside my window
I listen to the rain
And the sounds of the passin' cars
And the waves on English Bay"

 

   from English Bay

  Blue Rodeo

 

 

"The Sylvia Hotel is a designated heritage building,

ideally located on English Bay, beside Stanley Park

and just 5 minutes from downtown Vancouver.

Built in 1912, the Sylvia Hotel is a city landmark

and one of Vancouver's greatest treasures."

 

From the Sylvia Hotel Website

 

Helen and I have been starting to feel the grey

days of winter so in mid March we were off to

one of our favorite spots,  the Sylvia Hotel on

English Bay in Vancouver. On one side you have

Denman Street with lots of restaurants, in front

the beach and the Seawall, and a block or so away

on the other side Stanley Park. A  1000 acre park

with thousands of fir, cedar, and hemlock trees. In

Mid March we are still too early for the beautiful

displays of rhododendrons and azaleas but despite

the rain, off and on for two of our four days and the

occasional cold winds, it is green and there is no

snow. Our room a corner suite on the seventh floor

has a view of the lights of Denman Street from the

bedroom and views of the bay from the living room.

 

After a walk along the Seawall we had a wonderful

meal at the Legendary Noodle House and picked up

some flowers for the room.

 

 

 

Photo taken from our suite

someone braves the rain to explore

the beach.

 

 

Large groups of gulls and crows frequent the

seawall. Cormorants, herons and rafts of ducks

can normally be seen along the bay.

 

 

 

The Seawall is a favorite place to walk dogs.

 

 

 

A solitary Heron watching the waiting ships

 

 

The following photos were taken from our suite.

 

 

The lights of Denman St from our suite.

"About me the night   moonless   wimples the mountains
wraps ocean   land   air  and mounting
sucks at the stars   The city   throbbing below
webs the sable peninsula   The golden
strands overleap the seajet   by bridge and buoy
vault the shears of the inlet   climb the woods
toward me   falter  and halt   Across to the firefly
haze of a ship on the gulps erased horizon
roll the lambent spokes of a lighthouse"

 

      from Vancouver Lights

  Earle Birney