Slightly Bridget Jones

I'm a temp worker. Phew. Feels good to get that out there.
Anyway, this current position is two months of playing receptionist for an investment brokerage in White Rock, a very quiet retirement town by the beach. The average age there is about 40 years higher than anywhere else in the province, excepting maybe the geriatric ward at VGH. It's an easy but pretty boring job. All I have to do is show up, look presentable, answer the phone (which rings maybe 20 times a day), greet the occasional elderly client, and load the dishwasher at the end of the day. The biggest excitement is when mustachioed GLENN HILMLINGER, whose name requires capitals, stops by to remark that I am wearing pink. Yes GLENN, I am wearing pink. Oh, that's nice. Yes, isn't it. Have a maltball, Pink. Thank you, GLENN.
Until one day last week. I was passing the time by staring out the window at the parking lot and counting veterans' license plates as is my wont around mid-morning, when somebody walked in through the door. Somebody tall. And dark-haired. And good-looking. In a suit. A pinstripe suit, no less, that fit very well. If he'd been wearing a fedora, I don't think I could have held myself back.
Sitting up a little straighter and casually taking off my glasses, I asked whether I could be of any help (back rub?). "Yes," he said. "I'm here to see Rob." "Oh," I said, "I'll just ring him in his office. Could I have (take?) your name, please?" "It's Darcy," he said.
Could it GET any better?
The answer is yes, it could have, if he'd decided to chuck his meeting with Rob in favour of taking me out for lunch in some cozy bistro on the strand, followed by a proposal to sweep me off to the south of France for a few years and tell my parents later, but no such luck. So here I am, back to the reception desk and reality...

Scheduling My Hip Replacements Already

Yesterday, standing under the uglifying fluorescent lights of the office bathroom*, realizing that, much though I love the new super-short haircut, it does at certain times whisper insinuatingly of Barry Manilow and not Audrey Hepburn, I received a shock.
I found my first grey hair.
It was actually more white than grey.
I've inherited my dad's man-hands and man-feet, concave ribcage, filthy temper, and inability to act normal in public, but not his lastingly youthful hair. Dammit.
Now, there's nothing wrong with a little grey hair, although personally I think premature greying looks better on the menfolk. Some women can carry it off gracefully - Stacy from TLC's What Not To Wear, for instance, with that grey streak dramatically framing her face. But me? No no, my first grey is this bright little wire of a hair standing in glorious prominence at the top center of my head. If that hair had life, instead of being only a chain of dead cells, it would have been be jumping up and down making "Sproing! Sproing!" sounds in between maniacal chuckles and muttered gibberish.
Needless to say, I leaned closer to the mirror, took aim, and yanked it out.
Problem solved - for now.


*the ladies' room that Scott and Tony use because they're too lazy to take the extra five steps needed to reach the men's.

SATURDAY NIGHT (Drive to Whistler)

Shannon Falls

Closeup

View from the roadside lookout

View down the valley

SATURDAY (A.K.A. Spirit of the Voyageurs)

(Deep Cove Again)
(Did I mention Deep Cove is one of my favourite places on God's green earth?)

It's classified rainforest for a reason

No we didn't crash

If you click on the photo and look closely, you will see that this family is actually playing Kayak Soccer. Only in Vancouver...

Approaching the beach/Belcarra Park

I look at this photo and think, "I have terrible posture."

FRIDAY NIGHT

The Opening Act

Matt Costa

Cherry Trees by Night

Not Ready (at the Lennox)

OK, Ready.

FRIDAY DAY (Part 2 - More Deep Cove)

Glossy Holly-like Plant with Yellow Bobbly Things

Ugly Feet, Pretty Colours

Sumptious Cove

Still Life Pink Magnolia Closeup

Man Is A Social Animal...

...which is why I can't even begin to say how happy I was about Sumptious D's visit this weekend. We fit a lot into those two and a half days, and it was a lot of fun. Thank you thank you thank you, D...

And now for the pics. I don't feel like writing about the weekend, probably because I'm lazy and more than a little sleep-deprived, so I'm just going to post photos. Lots of photos. Gosh I love cameras. Luckily for my readers, this area is pretty phenomenally photogenic.

FRIDAY DAY (Part 1 - Deep Cove)

Coffee and Cigarettes

Long Left Arm

Cove and Magnolias

Ego Me Mei Mihi Me
Magnolia Closeup