Tangents….

It’s official… I’m a Gillespie. I’ve proven this fact this weekend.

My ethnic background is split equally down the middle being half Ukranian and half Scottish. My Scottish Grandparents emigrated to Canada at various ages & my Great Ukranian Grandfather came over on a boat in hopes a new fruitful life. I never really recognize my Scottish side. I think it’s partly because we’re the only Scottish family I know that isn’t blazing proud. No, we’re more on the reserved side.

My person is almost as equally split down the middle. I look like my late Mother (the Ukranian side) but I have the personality traits of my Father (the Scottish side which is good because otherwise I’d be crap). However, if you ask my brother or my dad if I look like my Mom, they will deny it & my brother furthers this by telling me I have the body of my Aunt Helen.

I will agree, I do NOT have my mother’s body as I don’t have a buxum chest and a flat ass but Aunt Helen’s Body? Damn… that just hurts. I don’t think I need to explain her features for anyone to understand that’s BAD. He told me this on an elevator one time to which I freaked out. The stranger in the elevator was killing himself laughing as no, it’s not good to resemble your recluse, angry Aunt. Hey Mark…. when was the last time you got a gander of her? Last time I checked she was a round, puffy woman with thinning hair and a slight moustache.

It’s my face. My face is my mother. I started noticing this in grade 12 when I was looking at my Grad pictures & exclaimed in a not so flattering manner, “Oh GOD! I look like you!!” I can only imagine how harsh I insulted my mother as I look at my neice these days and am proud to think she looks like me. When the day that comes that she cries out in disdain of our similarities, I will probably have to kill myself.

I can further back up my argument by letting you know that I was accosted by a little old lady in the washroom at my Baba’s funeral who assumed I was Patricia’s daughter. I learned that this little old lady (who was freakishly strong) was my mother’s school teacher. I figure if you have age & senility working against you and you still recognize me well then Hot Damn! I resemble the woman.

I definately have my father’s personality traits however, as does my brother. Whenever I get into an argument with Mark and look for sympathy from his wife, I get none. She just asks me what do I expect when all three of us are the same person. Because this is my forum, I would like to take the time to say that I think I’m the least tempermental of us all and the most understanding (I am sitting in front of my computer screen smiling, batting my eyelashes and looking cute) but my humour, my quick temper, & smarts come from my Dad but I think this weekend proved that my brother may have rubbed off on me after all.

I always give him a hard time that he reads in the bathroom. I ask why doesn’t he just add a little more fiber into his diet. I mean it shouldn’t be an all day affair in there. I, mysellf would be a little concerned. He was quick to point out that when you have 3 kids, it may be the only alone time you get all day and so he tends to milk that time for all it’s worth. He reads, ponders life, gets brilliant ideas… I say “fair enough”. I live alone & find that when I have guests over I follow them into the bathroom as I can’t get enough person to person contact in my day.

So this brings me to the point of this entry (FINALLY). Sunday I was out with Stine & the Handler. We orginally started out at the WISH cup’s beer garden down at David Lam park. David Lam park is a nice greenspace equipped with a huge grass field, cement concourse, playgrounds & tennis courts. The field was in use with the soccer tournament but the cement concourse at the top of the steps was set up with a tent and a patio for the purpose of selling bevies. The glorious feature of this cement concourse is that it has fountains that turn into waterfalls on each side of the deck.

So as it was a blazing 25+ Celcius Sunday, people moved thier chairs into the fountains and soaked their feet in the water. I kid you not, it was spectacular! Hands down the best beer garden EVER. Not only was it refreshing, but you stayed cool. Guys liked it as girls kept walking in wearing their bikinis. I liked it cuz there was hot soccer ass everywhere. It kind of resemembled a live beer commercial. This is where the belly dancer entered & performed for us. We agreed that this patio should be open all summer and in fact we should design a bar that is seasonal.. Summer is a fountain; Winter is an ice rink.

Later that day, the three of us left to go to Greek Days down in Kitsilano. We first had to take the girls home to change as the Handler was soaking wet from a water fight. I spazzed about the water when I first arrived so I stayed dry. (Hey, I was dressed up. I had a date I stood up & didn’t want to mess my hair).

For Greek Days, (actually it’s Greek Day as it’s only Sunday from noon til about 9 pm. So it’s more like Greek Hours) they block off Broadway between McDonald & Blenheim. The street is lined with Slouvaki vendors & Stages with Dancers. Pub Patios are full and the street is filled with people. However, as mentioned earlier, it was hot and was only bearable when sitting in a fountain. You can imagine the stifling heat as you are walking down the black top of the street. So we decided that once you’ve seen one slouvaki, you’ve seen them all and headed for the Coppertank, a pub where I met live evil. (hey live evil… that would make a good logo as it’s read forward & backward… isn’t that a palindrome?).

We ordered our drinks & I excused myself to the washroom where I got the most brilliant idea!
Let’s apply for a grant so we (the three of us) can write a book about the various beer gardens & patios across BC. You see, the grant would be there to help fund the research needed for the book. After some discussion & modifications to the initial plan we agree that this idea would be awesome and are currently looking into what kind of funding we can get. We’re going to try the angle that this is a piece to help promote tourism in BC. But really, this can be spun into all sorts of different ideas & tangents.

I need to go ponder this… hope I have enough toilet paper… Thanks Mark.