Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Itinerary
Itinerary is from 1432, from L.L. itinerarium “account of a journey,” from noun use of neut. of itinerarius “of a journey,” from L. itineris.
— From the Online Etymology Dictionary
Ithyphallic:
1614, “poem in ithyphallic meter,” from Gk. ithys “straight” + phallos “erect penis” (see phallus). The meter was that of the Bacchic hymns, which were sung in the rites during which such phalluses were carried. Thus, in Victorian times, the word also meant “grossly indecent” (1864).
— also from the Online Etymology Dictionary, on the same page as “itinerary.” Included in this post for no other reason than it made me grin.
***
On July 4, we’re flying to Seattle, where we’ll be staying at the Embassy Suites near the airport. If all goes well, we’ll be dining out with protected static and his gang.
On July 5, we’ll drive up to Vancouver. I’m not sure whether my family will want to do anything in Seattle first; we went to the aquarium last year and had a great time, but it may be too soon to repeat. Similarly, I have an unquenchable desire for Pike’s Place Market, but I think I’m the only one.
So, yeah, right. Vancouver. I’ve decided we’ll stay at the Sylvia Hotel. If we drive up early, we should be able to hit Science World or the Vancouver Aquarium. Dinner in Chinatown sounds nice . . . it’s been an age since we had authentic Chinese cuisine.
Cool slide show I liberated from the Vancouver Aquarium website:
On Friday, July 6, we’ll do more of the Vancouver thing, and then we’ll be meeting with Dean and SxKitten for dinner. From there, a ferry ride to Mayne Island and SxKitten’s parents’ cabin!
From July 6 until our departure on July 8, I anticipate much merriment and endangerment of small children. I’m told that if I want to cook for my hosts, I’ll have to import the necessities from Vancouver. Since my best dish requires a pasta maker, I’ll need to do some hard thinking to figure out my second-best dish. Hey, SxKitten, do they sell phyllo dough on Mayne Island?
Then it’s back to Vancouver the evening of the 8th, back to Seattle on the 9th, and back home on the 10th. Back to work on the 11th — boooo! hisssssss!
I’ll be Blackberrying it all the way, of course. This will be somewhat easier than usual thanks to my Father’s Day present, a detachable Blackberry keyboard. But no pix, sorry to say, until we get home.
Wish us luck!
D.
You take all the fun out of stalking!! You’re supposed to play hard to get. Geez, Doug – C’mon!
I hope you and the Fam have a super time and you should take lots of pictures and share.
Big hugs to all, hope you’ve had a great weekend!
Have a great trip. I’m trying not to be offended that you didn’t think of visiting me. 🙁
Just for that, I won’t be here when you get back. Not that I would be anyway, but it’s the principle of the thing. We’ll be leaving for Italy on the 9th.
i’m so jealous. it sounds like a lot of fun. grph.
Good luck! Oh, wait… I’m supposed to be part of those plans, too… (I’ll shoot you an email this afternoon.)
Maybe it’s the aquatic slide show, but I keep parsing ‘Ithyphallic’ as ‘Icthyphallic’ – not the same thing at all.
Phyllo, huh? I’d say that’s a definite maybe. I can pick some up here and bring it with us, just to be safe. Ditto any spices beyond salt & pepper – we probably have most everything you need at home, so if you give me a list, I’ll bring it along. Or you could check out Granville Island Market on Friday – Vancouver’s version of Pike Place and walking distance from the Sylvia (www.granvilleisland.com).
Oh, and I should probably warn you that there’s no internet at the cabin, and the cell reception is spotty – I think if you lean out the upstairs bedroom window, while standing on one foot on the bed, you can get a signal when the tide is high. Otherwise, you have to hike up to the garage.
OK, walking distance might be a little optimistic, depending on perspective. It’s probably a 20-minute walk. A lovely walk along the beach, but still …
Ichthyphallic? Hmm. Reminds me of testimony from Middle Ages’ witch trials, wherein witnesses claimed to have been ‘known’ by Satan’s icy cold ‘member.’
Alternatively, it reminded me of what we used to call breaded rectangles of fish, back in childhood — you know, fish sticks? Except it always came out, “fish dicks.”
sxK: I was about to say, “A Pike Place-type market walking distance from the Sylvia? OMFG!” but then you had to kill my buzz with that 20 minute walk 🙂
As for the phyllo, won’t it thaw during the ferry ride? I was thinking a nice bstila would hit the spot. Except Jake hates phyllo, grrrr . . .
The lack of internet only means I’ll have to remember how to do things without benefit of a recipe!
Well, there’s the Robson Street Market – http://www.robsonpublicmarket.com/ – which is only a few blocks from the Sylvia. Granville Island is bigger, cooler and older, though.
We have a cooler bag that will keep stuff frozen long enough to get it to the cabin. Alternatively, and I don’t know why this has just occurred to me, I could call my mom and ask her to check if the local store has phyllo. Why don’t I just do that …
Okay, just to live up to the stereotype that programmers can’t finish anything under a deadline, the email promised for yesterday has been sent.