29 December 2024 – Also pandas & moo-cows & more, as I have yet to discover. All I know, before I set out, is that it is positively heaving down out there.

But I go out anyway, because, delightful as holiday sloth has been, it’s time to move my body.

Dripping tree against a sodden sky…

but happy ferns, in this front yard…

and happy winter moss on this tree, plus a cheerful ornament hung by some passing pedestrian.

The Vancouver Special is hunkered down, properly stoic — as it ought to be, here in its own native eco-system…

while the vintage green lampshade next door rises to the occasion, knowing it looks better in rain than sunshine.

Out on Main Street, a trio of pandas advertise dim sum…

a solitary cat advertises records…

three dogs advertise their very own bakery…

and an exceptionally silly cow (through this butcher’s doorway, left) advertises which succulent cuts come from which bits of her anatomy.

What is more dejected than a construction site in the rain? Not yet able to advertise the condo delights to come.

But this trio of guitars is warm & dry & a good advertisement for the magic of music…

especially Mr. Heavy Metal in the middle, whose tiny lettered plaque reads:

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”

It’s all very swell, wonderfully diverting.

Nonetheless, I wish to point out that, after all this walking… it is still heaving down out here.

So I go home.

As I bring my dripping self through the door I envy, not for the first time, dogs’ ability to shake themselves dry.

Just look at that spiral shake!

But alas, we humans are not built like that.

So I do the next best thing.

I make myself a mug of spicy Mesoamerican hot chocolate.

(Recipes abound. Mine is 1 c. milk simmered with 1/2 tbsp honey, and a pinch each of ground ginger, cloves & cayenne; and then a generous 1/8 c unsweetened cocoa and bit of vanilla extract whisked in at the end.)

While I’m enjoying the drink — and wiggling my toes to extract maximum flavour — I read more about the long history of cacao & chocolate in Mayan and Aztec cultures.

Oh look, it is still raining. But I no longer care.