Tales of a Green City Racer

Tucked behind the the Great Northern Way campus, and the BCIT Green Roof Research Facility, you will find a new Evergreen project - an urban orchard!

 And here is where we began one of the most enjoyable and challenging family adventures ever!!

 I enlisted Mark and Sasha to join me on a team to compete in the inaugural Green City Race organized by Evergreen, which is one of my ultimate favourite environmental organizations that focuses on bringing all kinds of awesome greenery to cities and schools around Canada.

The little orchard just happened to have a small stage, so while we waited for the race to begin after registering, Sasha chose to pump us full of positive green energy with a spontaneous green song.




As the "Whittam Greens" our family joined 55 other racers (in teams of 2-3 people) on an Amazing Race style journey around Vancouver by foot and transit.

One of the organizers took to the stage next and shared a summary of the rules: After we complete the first challenge we will be given a bag full of clues, and other useful things we may need during the race - like a day pass for transit! Once you reach the destination of your first clue you will be able to answer the follow up question on the clue sheet. The answer to the question will some how reveal the number for your next clue. Keep going til you answer all your clues and make it to the finish line.

In between random clues there will be a couple of challenges for your team to complete before you can be given your next clue number.

There was a Hint Line we could call if we found ourselves stuck, but it costs you a few points. And we were not finished all of our clues by 2:30, we were to call this number for help to find our way to the finish line before time ran out.

Smart phones had been recommended because some clues would require internet access to solve, and the other option was to have someone you can call to help look things up for you. Our phones are pretty basic, so we went with option B and enlisted a few 'phone-a-friend' back up helpers for our team. (a couple of my Britannia co-workers and Marks library staff network)

With the race basics covered we were introduced to our very first challenge - plant an apple tree! As a team we had to dig a hole, plant the tree and make sure it was done right so when the volunteer checks your work the tree doesn't come out.
Done. Gravenstein now added to our list of apples to try. :)

Once we collected our bag of tricks we were on our way!

Another way of earning bonus points during the race was to capture a team member within a photo from a list of ideas they provided. The list included things like 'holding a reusable mug/drink container'. Have you ever seen this done with such pizazz?

Sasha earned us some extra funky points for poses like this one. ;)

We also captured 'using a cloth bag' and 'examples of recycling and garbage containers'. Yes, I actually had a reason to take pictures of these things this time! (unlike all the pics I've acquired over the years just because waste management and its various containers is a fascination of mine)

Our first clue was related to the number of goals in the Greenest City 2020 Action plan for Vancouver which I have read a bunch of times. If I had trusted my gut we could have saved a half hour of time getting to the destination pretty quick. However, once I second guessed myself we called for help and hearing conflicting info we took the Canada Line up to King Edward instead.

Another back up call ended up confirming my original instinct to the answer, and then we walked up Cambie back to where we should have been while enjoying the beautiful day and taking pics for bonus points as we strolled.

We found a coffee shop where we could get a pic of Sasha holding some 'fair trade coffee beans'  (sorry Kirsten! we didn't find any Cafe Etico while we raced around!)

More funky funk poses from Sasha with another garbage bin (I love these Big Belly solar compactors!), with an electric car power up station, and the food garden outside City Hall.

 

With this herb garden from the Green Streets program finally found, our next clue informed us we were up for a challenge on the lawn of City Hall. I wish I had a picture to show you from the water race we completed together as it was a lot of fun! Sasha and I first used our 4 hands to carry the bucket of water to the half way point of the field marked by flags to show the distances we had to travel. Once to the first flag I hopped on one foot with the bucket to the 2nd flag. Mark then ran around a tree with the bucket before all 3 of us ran back to the starting point.

(Update: my wish was granted by Evergreen who sent me pics of our family racing! yay! So here is your action shot!) 

Surprisingly, we barely lost any water and also earned a few points for funk and team spirit. Then they stamped our point collection sheet and gave us our next clue number. Our next clue took us to the Baxter House, a heritage house built in 1913 as the home for Truman S Baxter who was the mayor of Vancouver at that time.

This was when we ended up calling the hint line for help as we were having a difficult time finding the "sign of inspiration in the laneway" next to the heritage house that our clue eluded to. It didn't help that there was a garage sale going on before this door, as well as a construction fence. If we had walked further down the lane we eventually would have found this sign which says "Be the change you want to see in the world".(We did find it after we were told it was on a door a few garages in...oh. there it is!)

After a snack, some hydration and a few deep breaths to re-energize and get back into race mode we were on to solve the next clue which I figured would be found at the Neighbourhood Energy Utility serving Southeast False Creek down at the base of the Cambie Bridge.

As we made our way north it was awesome to stumble across a random flash mob practise by the latest artist installation by the Canada Line at Broadway.

The clue to find the energy station would have been tricky if I wasn't one of those people that actually explores the city web site in my spare time. (the site honestly has lots of interesting things to discover!) Especially around the time of the Olympics I was following development around Southeast False Creek (aka Olympic Village) so the energy plant was another thing I already investigated, and even visited on one of my walks along the sea wall. The little garden wasn't there when I check it out last time, and was a nice addition to the area.

 

Nearby we got this pic of Sasha pointing at an example of 'illegal dumping' off in the distance.

Here are 2 more of my fave bonus point photos we collected on our travels to the site of our next clue: 'gesture of thanks to a transit worker' and the 'random act of green kindness' we stumbled upon. Glad we were able to sign the petition from Youth for Climate Justice Now to stop the expansion of oil development on the coast, which is something we support completely.

Our next destination was the MOBY garden which I have been a fan of for years. Passing this garden once during a wave of negative emotion at the end of the civic strike (that had both Mark and I on the picket line for 3 months) re-inspired my hope that things can get better...even when it doesn't always feel like it. Genuine positive change is a generational struggle that will continue til we get it right, or we don't. Garden projects like MOBY are proof anything is possible when community organizes together, and provides plenty of reason for hope. And it has a cob building! C'mon. What's not to love about this place?

After the garden the next clue was to find out what kind of fruit Bandidas Taqueria has stopped serving because of its unsustainable food miles. I've yet to sample the food at this restaurant but have had it on my list of places to try for a long while as it is one of those places that emphasizes  local, organic, fair trade and every other ethical consideration we value when it comes to our food. And they support community groups and artists to boot. If you are curious about which fruit got the chop off their menu it is pineapple.

From there we were unable to decipher the next clue to find the spot for our last challenge of the race. Part of the clue we figured out was Germany with the help of two phone back ups (the question was to do with which country had the highest rate of solar energy per capita at 43%). But not even our super skilled librarian or community info staff contacts were able to figure out where in Vancouver we could find a plaza with connections to Germany and  'foursquare' based on the wording of the clue.

Thankfully for our intellectual egos, we found out at the end of the race that we were not the only ones who struggled with that one! Google really does work differently for everyone after all.

As it turns out there is a lovely garden by 29th Ave station called the German-Canadian Heritage Garden. One day we'll go check that out now that I know it exists. :)

So there was one clue and one challenge we didn't get done, but Mark quickly determined the solution to the final clue in our bag was the Woodwards building.

Back on the Skytrain and away we go to the finish line!

...and a final couple of bonus photos before we check in. "find a public water fountain' and 'leave a thank you note on the handlebar of a bicycle'. check and check. (Our note said "Thank you for riding your bicycle! Cheers to a greener world :D")

The Whittams Greens were not the first team in, but we also weren't the last!! Haza! Prizes were given for the team that brought the most funk to the race - undeniably the Loraxettes (we speak for the trees!)  and for the top 2 teams which scored insanely high points overall and mastered the race in every way.  I loved that the trophies were repurposed trinkets from thrift stores, while the prize gifts were things like eco spa packages. Quality where it matters ;)

After 3 1/2 hours as Green City Racers we were exhilerated and exhausted. The journey was intense yet totally wonder-full!! Our goal when we began was to simply enjoy the challenge, see how many clues we could solve before time was up, explore and learn some cool things about green initiatives in our great city. This mission was completed with gusto! We got to play in a friendly competition with passionate keen-to-be-green folks, put our critical thinking skills to work, visit some of the spots we already love, find many new things we didn't know about, got a dose of history and a dose of a visionary green future...and plenty of sunshine and exercise!

We learned more about how we work together as a team and are more aware of our strengths and weaknesses. (you'd think after all our years together that we would have figured out how to avoid getting cranky with each other under pressure...but we sure have gotten better at getting over it quickly, lol) Next year we will have a smart phone with us for sure, as I found there were a few things I could have easily found with internet at my fingertips. We are full of gratitude for all the help we did get by phone as it was nice of people to share their time to help the Whittam Greens make it to the next level of the race. (Sandy and Kia, you rock ladies!) It broadened our team and added to the overall race experience.

At the end of it all, the best part for Sasha was that they awarded her a small trophy for being the youngest racer (the only child actually) to complete the Green City Race! She was totally overjoyed! While waiting for the bus home she says "mommy please take a picture of me loving my trophy". ummm, ok.

 

We are totally looking forward to racing around town again next year in the 2nd Annual Green City Race, and hope you will join us for the fun. Gotta warn you though...the Whittam Greens will be upping the funk factor, and if we have our own smart phone (like everyone else)  we know we've actually got what it takes to win it next time! Win or not, it has proven to be a fabulous family fun adventure indeed! :D

Many thanks to all the great staff and volunteers at Evergreen for their hard work pulling off a terrific event! Cheers to all of you from the

school daze

This was taken last September on Sasha's first day of kindergarten as we walked to school with a couple of our friendly neighbours. Orion is her bestie, and I'm happy his mom Keely is a friend of mine as well. At this point, he is also the boy she wants to marry. When she's not declaring she's done with him.  ;)

A lot has changed since my last post just before her 4th birthday, while many things have stayed the same. I have started many posts but never finished any of them. They may start appearing as tales buried in the past, and only those of you who really want to find the hidden treasure will.

But honestly, there are so many things to share from the past 2 years I will likely never get around to that. I'm focusing on the future and all that lays ahead now that Sasha has begun her public school experience. I have a whole post worth of thoughts to share on her time at Mt Pleasant Elementary so far, but for now I want you to know that we couldn't have found a better teacher for her if we tried, and all the parents and staff we have met have been great! It is really an awesome neighbourhood school. :)

I need to pinch myself every day when I get overwhelmed by my gratitude for the uber community we have been able to find within our co-op, her school and beyond. You can tell when I start gushing that I'm full of things to say...so I'll leave it with - I'm thankful.

If you ever want to hear about the year I worked a wig shop, the Tourism Challenge epic urban hikes and family adventures of 2010 and 2011, our Circle Farm tours around the lower mainland every summer, adventures with Oma, and life in general over this lost time period with our Whittam clan...well, give me a call, drop me a line, invite us for a meal, and we can regale each other with stories galore.

This year is another bound to be full of adventure, and I'm also back into writing mode with many hats to share perspectives from. This blog is for all my rants, raves and ponderings that don't fit into my writing for the Educate Me Documentary Project (launching our new social media campaign soon) and my new role as the Britannia Green Team Co-ordinator. Still juggling some auxilary hours as cashier/clerical staff and at the museum so there is never a dull moment in my work life with every day holding something different.

Education and all things green continue to consume my thinking and therefore these thoughts are likely to make frequent guest appearances here. Just part of who I am. But this blog is mainly for reflections on family adventures, community a plenty, creative tangents. We are a family that loves to explore our local world and that introduces us to many things that get me thinking...so I have lots of things I want to write about that simply don't fit elsewhere.

Katmar Baby is really about entertaining the friends and family who love us warts and all (well, we don't actually have any warts at this point, but we certainly aren't perfect...nor do we want to be). Some of you have pestered me to come back to this creative writing outlet because you miss my written ramblings.

I hope you handful of fabulous encouraging folks (and mom, of course) enjoy. ;)

new decade begins

A pretty positive start to the new year overall...and its spring already! how did that happen??

I really am trying to get in the habit of writing a bit more frequently so my updates don't turn into long summaries of our whirlwind life in retrospect...but I had a wee bit of writers block in all areas of life when this year began. Now that the mental wall has come down I'm back in the writing zone and catching up on things.

The end of my stable hours at the Info Centre, and adjusting to a whole new weekly changing work schedule had me feeling quite anxious for a while. Not as nice working mostly nights and weekends as I am now back to taking whatever hours I can get and that is usually what I'm offered. Feast or famine auxiliary life has its stresses, but the flexibility has worked for us so far. And up to this point I've been getting enough hours at Britannia (between the Info Centre & the pool) and the MOV for us to stay afloat just fine. This has helped me relax a bit more lately. :)

Some tales from the beginning of this new decade were worthy of their own posts, like the Olympic ramblings, farewell to ravishing beasts, spring potlucks and a moving adventure, and the rest I will recap as best I can here.

The adorable pic of Sasha above was the night she had her first hair cut a la mommy. Trimmed her bangs and the longest of the curls at the back. She's not much for barrettes or ponytails,  so we needed to cut the hair in front so she could see ;)


Mark and I had a couple of date nites to start the year off. The first was dinner and a hockey game as we enjoyed his tix I got him for Christmas. Super fun night, and a bonus that the Canucks actually won that night too! yay

Our other night out was to see my buddy Matt in his theatre show "Hobson's Choice" (vid clip) How's that for a balance? Sports and theatre in one month. :D




After our food and drink the night of the game, we began a family cleanse and started the Wild Rose meal plan for 12 days. Basically, we cut out flour, sugar and dairy which turned out to be a lot less challenging than we expected. Cheese, bread and wine were a touch difficult to live without, but we don't eat very many processed foods, so we approached it as an opportunity to simply try a bunch of new recipes, and I was determined to conquer my fear of beets. I love to eat them but always worried about the mess of them so never prepared them myself. You can ask Mark sometime just how far I've come with my culinary skills and trying new things in the kitchen since we met. He still doesn't like to watch me use a knife (though he's the one who keeps cutting himself...not me, hehe) but my prep skills have come along way too and I have mastered many yummy meals! And the beets weren't so scary after all, lol.

The best part of our time of cleanse was the way Sasha eagerly jumped into it and loved it. We had to pack a special lunch and snacks for her throughout the cleanse, and she would carry her lunch bag every day excited to show everybody what she got to have. I was worried it might be tricky for her to eat different things than everyone else, but it was only hard one day when they had a snack that Sasha is a particularly big fan of. Other than that the whole menu change was fairly easy for us all.

Well, aside from the caffeine headaches Mark and I suffered the first couple of days. We didn't have to cut out coffee, but without milk and sugar I don't enjoy it as much, so I switched to herbal teas...and we were pretty darn cranky for a day or two there.

Anyways, we did actually feel better at the end of the cleanse and decided we would like to do it again in the fall. The 6 pills a day that you have to take as herbal supplements during the cleanse are a bit hard to swallow (aha), but we did achieve the goal of learning a bunch of great new recipes to add to our menu mix.

Another goal to achieve has been getting us all on track with the dentist. I realized last fall that it was time to consider taking Sasha for her first exam of her teeth. Before getting her started it was time for Mark and I to get to have a little dental catch-up ourselves. Here's an embarassing little secret: I had not been to the dentist since I moved to Vancouver in 1997. I know, I know. And we didn't even have a really good excuse since we have his dental plan and everything. 2 procrastinators = neglected dental appointments. Time to change that!!

I'm happy to say that for me, it took one 'new patient' appointment, 2 cleanings - one for each side of my mouth, and 2 fillings...and my teeth are all caught up. Seems I take pretty good care of them which was nice to hear! Mark is a different story, but he too will be caught up soon...and let's see which role model the kids choose to follow when it comes to brushing, hehe.

Sasha will have her first dentist appointment after her bday...which is at the end of this month! I can't say my 3 year old anymore because Sasha is gonna be 4 years old very soon! I will have a post dedicated to all of the thoughts I have to share about that later. For now I'm back to the day to day focus, and doesn't time move slowly living in the now?  Full of great moments of help and play around the house. I love that Sasha is really into board games which has opened a whole new level of family play time :)






Before the olympics we noticed something new on our walks to and from daycare (and on my walks to Britannia) Back then it was usually getting dark when we picked her up at the end of the day, so she first noticed it because it was a bright new light in the distance. From the top of the hill at China Creek park you can see this giant piece of public art which is called the Monument for East Vancouver by artist Ken Lum and is based on a symbol that has a long history and has become a common tattoo even. The piece reminds me too much of a neon sign for some kind of chapel, but it certainly makes for interesting conversation with people from East Van, and Sasha loves it. She can read all the letters, and she likes to declare now that she is "so happy I live in our neighbourhood of East Van" which was something she didn't know before this was put in place. What do you think?


Another interesting conversation piece I've enjoyed is the Aquaponics experiment that has been going on in the Britannia Info Centre. Our food security coordinator Ian Marcus, along with some Brit Secondary students who are doing science projects on different ways to grow food, are now enjoying the greens of their labours (well, mostly Ian's labour! what a stress adventure learning how to get this thing to work!) I love seeing food growing in the office, and its fascinating that the fish poop can feed the plants! They continue to grown even more since my last 'after' pic here.

I feel it is an exciting time to be a part of Britannia as there is a new focus on the future of the centre. Not to simply get on the next capital plan for some small (and much needed larger) problems can be fixed, but to create a master plan that is bold and sustainable in its vision. Britannia has an amazing history and is a unique model for a hub of community services. Right now is a great time to share your own ideas at somethingishappening@britanniacentre.org or fill in the survey at britanniacentre.org (link is on the front page) if you'd like to have your say. I found the open house that was held recently featuring a few different ways of gathering community input to the next level of planning, was a really fascinating process. And the skill of the people who can just draw everything you imagine and tell them about is crazy impressive!

The ultimate balance for us in crazy times is a healthy dose of friendship time. Mark has the boys over fairly often, and I'm lucky to have play time out of the home! Like a matinee movie date with Ali (love her facial reaction to "what do you think of all that pretty fencing around the olympic village below?") where we saw Avatar and ate her dreamy crepes in the theatre, hehe; also had a fun nite out with Victoria where I finally got to try Cafe Katmandu. Both of these dates included nice long walks which goes so well with great conversation and good food digestion :)


There are many staff I work with at the pool that have become solid friends over the years, and I was thrilled that Erinn held a fabulous feast (a full on carribean fest of delicious food!!) in her home and a chance for Mark and Sasha to finally meet a few more members of the fabu pool crew! Only managed a few worthy pics tho:



A live music night with friends at Cafe Deux Soleils with a few pitchers of sangria - you know I was in heaven! ;)


A great treat was time with our island friends before they moved back to the city and welcomed baby Maia to the world!

Our co-op was approved for all of the grant and loan money we need to start the renovations to all of the exterior. More info to come as the process begins to move forward, but the first investment was a new appliance contract so we all have new fridges and stoves! First sign of all the changes to come - wheeee!

A family adventure one day had us walking around town and ending up at Kalamata greek restaurant before going home. On the way we had to stop at the Canada Line station at Broadway, where for some reason they have a few cute little cow statues. Not sure why...

I'm sure that I have missed something, but I feel you are pretty well up to date on us wacky folks by this point. Time for you to send me a quick note with what is new with you!

We have a lot to look forward to in the year to come, so there will continue to be much to read about! I'm off to Montreal in May and also get to try the Tourism Challenge again this month (what stamps will we adventure for this year?), our 10th wedding anniversary is in June, and family camping adventure this summer - yeeeepa!

Here is a last little something to put a smile on your face: Sasha's last version of "Oh Canada"