I had the loveliest afternoon planned with my mister the other day. First off – skating at the new outdoor ice rink in Robson Square:

photo credit: entheos_fog via Flickr

Now I haven’t skated since I was a kid, but the weather has been nice, the skate rental was only $3 & I figured my hockey-playing mister would find my incredible lack of balance hilariously charming. We were all set to have our romantic comedy movie moment when we arrived at the rink only to find it packed with people taking OFF their skates & the ice being covered with rolls of carpet. Drat! Foiled by a winter fashion show!!

We poked around the shops on Granville for a bit before heading to the second planned location for our date – a showing of the 1933 version of Alice in Wonderland. I’ve never seen the version featuring Cary Grant and W.C. Fields, and it sounded like a great way to boost my creative ideas for a new painting series. We got into line with plenty of time (or so I thought) only to have a very official sounding lady with a clipboard come out a few minutes later to inform the line that the show would sell out and there may not be enough tickets for everyone in line. I tried to keep my hopes up. I couldn’t have my plans dashed twice in one day, could I? Oh yes! Yes, I could indeed.

Clipboard Lady went back into the theatre, then returned a good while later with an official remaining seat count. She started counting off the people in line ahead of us:

You…how many? Two, three…how many? Five, six…single? Seven. And eight!

That’s it! Sorry folks.

The last ticket went to the diminutive lady standing directly in front of us. The show sold out literally right in front of us. *sigh*

We managed to salvage the afternoon by drowning our sorrows in a fantastic eggs Benedict at a local pub, but I can’t help being a little disappointed. The theatre only scheduled that one single showing of Alice, so I’ll have to be content with the DVD releases and clips I find on the interweb. And my imagination, of course.

It’s only the 7th of January and I’ve already broken my resolution to blog more, but at least it was for good reason – I caught the ferry on New Year’s Day and took off for a few days of rest and relaxation with my folks. They have a lovely cabin overlooking the ocean that blessedly has no TV. The downside is they also have no internet, but it was good to have a real break. It felt so good to have quiet, to beachcomb (though nothing much alive at this time of year…didn’t even see a crab), to spy on the seals hanging out on the rocks. Ahhhhh!

I came home with fully recharged batteries and promptly began to push the paint around. I’ve been thinking about painting a skunk ever since my encounter with one a few months ago, but hadn’t sketched his companion until a few days ago. Happily this little gal popped up in my sketchbook and eventually sprang to life on my canvas:

She hasn’t told me her name yet (nor the name of her odiferous pet), but I expect she will soon. She still needs a coat of varnish and a good scanning before she’ll land in the shop, but keep your eye out!