{"id":939,"date":"2008-09-18T21:46:43","date_gmt":"2008-09-18T12:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-09-18\/939"},"modified":"2008-09-18T21:46:43","modified_gmt":"2008-09-18T12:46:43","slug":"visiting-joan-in-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-09-18\/939","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Joan in Vancouver"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/10, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFumie, Joan, and Me<\/span>\nphoto by Anthony<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The main reason for our summer trip to Vancouver<\/a> was to\nmeet Joan, Fumie's host mother on Fumie's first trip outside Japan, about\n12 years ago. Fumie spent a month<\/span> in Vancouver, studying English, in 1996,\nand hadn't seen her since just before we were married, in 1998. Anthony and I had<\/span> never met her.<\/p>\n\n

Joan has lived in Vancouver for 91 years, so knows her way around. She picked<\/span> us up at our downtown hotel<\/a>, and amid an occasional light rain,\ndrove us up to Queen Elizabeth Park<\/a> and treated us to a wonderful<\/span> meal\nat its restaurant, Seasons in the Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Anthony liked the fountains...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/10, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

He was less interested in the wonderful flowers everywhere...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

... or in the view...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDowntown Vancouver<\/span>\nfrom Queen Elizabeth Park\n<\/div>\n\n

The restaurant shared the nice view, but at least for Anthony, it also had food...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n(our table is in the curl of the long banister, at right)\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nIn the Seasons in the Park<\/i> Restaurant<\/span>\nQueen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC, Canada\nphoto by some waiter guy<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

If Joan had been like most host mothers, in her 30s or 40s or 50s, there\nwould be no need to mention that she was a completely<\/span> lucid, strong,\nindependent, self-thinking, self-doing, fully-functional member of society,\nbut since she's 91 years old, I will go<\/span> out of my way to mention that the\nword “frail” has no place in any conversation about her. Not about<\/span> her\nphysical stamina, her coordination, her hearing, her intellect, her speech,\nnor her wit.<\/p>\n\n

She's like 40 years old, except with the wit and wisdom of someone who has been around 51 extra years.<\/p>\n\n

I'm 42, and I aspire to be like her when I'm 43. We had a<\/span>\nwonderful<\/i> time chatting with her for hours. She's got kids,\ngrandkids, and great grandkids. She's got the years under her belt for an\nendless repertoire of stories, but the lucidity and wisdom to pick only the\nbest or most pertinent. One of her<\/span> kids was running a computer<\/span>-related\nbusiness in the mid 1960s (when I was<\/span> born), and it was fascinating to hear\nabout (at least for me; perhaps less so for Fumie and Anthony :-)).<\/p>\n\n

After the meal, we headed back to her place. Trying to be a gentleman,<\/span> I asked<\/span> whether she'd like me to drive, to which she replied “Well, I'm fine,\nbut if my driving scares you, go ahead and be my guest.”   She drove.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

To the chagrin of five-year-old Anthony, we chatted endlessly at her\nplace. Fumie had a few<\/span> little gifts from Japan for her, and it was time to go....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a> Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17<\/span>-55mm f\/2.8 @ 18\nmm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8,\nISO 1250 — full\nexif<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 500 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

We walked to a nearby bus stop, retracing the steps Fumie took every weekday 12 years ago, and took a bus<\/span> back to downtown,\njust as Fumie took a bus<\/span> on her way to her English school.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It was a highly nostalgic day for Fumie, and a truly<\/span> wonderful day for\nme.<\/p>\n\n

We'll definitely be back to visit her again... perhaps in a few<\/span> years\nwhen she turns 100. (If I'm not fully senile yet.)<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The main reason for our summer trip to Vancouver was to meet Joan, Fumie's host mother on Fumie's first trip outside Japan, about 12 years ago. Fumie spent a month in Vancouver, studying English, in 1996, and hadn't seen her since just before we were married, in 1998. Anthony and I had never met her.<\/p>

Joan has lived in Vancouver for 91 years, so knows her way around. She picked us up at our downtown hotel, and amid an occasional light rain, drove us up to Queen Elizabeth Park and treated us to a wonderful meal at its restaurant, Seasons [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}