20 May 2024 – Three days of a holiday weekend; three outings; three images for each.

Friday, Sunset Beach, English Bay Seawall

We’re walking the Seawall along English Bay toward Stanley Park and stop — as always! — to admire Berard Venet’s Vancouver Biennale sculpture” 217.5 Arc X 13.

Thirteen arcs of unpainted corten steel, each curved, as the title explains, to 217.5 degrees. Entirely static, endlessly dynamic, always welcoming.

We watch this little girl explore the sculpture…

and then follow her lead, offering those 217.5° arcs our own 360° tribute.

By now the sculpture, acquired in 2007, fully illustrates artist Venet’s point re his choice of material:

unpainted, the steel “facilitates an interaction with the natural elements.”

At their centre, the arcs form an embrace. At their tips…

a continuing dance of call and response.

Sunday, outside Engine 374 Pavilion, Roundhouse Community Centre

I learned about this event during my recent crosstown walk on Davie Street, and here I am, happy to join the anniversary celebrations. On 23 May, 1887, steam engine 374 pulled the first scheduled transcontinental train past Port Moody, following the new track extension all the way to Vancouver. “Ocean to ocean,” at last.

The rest of the year, CPR Engine 374 sits inside her protective pavilion. But! Once a year! Once a year, on the anniversary of that first arrival, she struts her stuff outdoors.

Oh, she gleams.

All black and white and powerful moving parts…

and shining brass and dates and tiny details…

and lots and lots and lots of live steam.

Monday, Waterfront Esplanade, New Westminster

A wonderful long walk along this stretch of the Fraser River, at very low tide.

The intricate world of mud flats, plus the occasional tree trunk…

and old pier stumps and scavenging crows…

and… and…

a reminder that trains are still part of this country’s lifeblood.

Leaving the Esplanade for downtown New West takes only a moment — only the moment needed to cross one street. But that moment becomes many, many moments when we all have to wait while a thumping great tri-continental freight train (from Mexico on up) claims its right of way.

Fortunately, there is artwork, to pass the time.