firemen to the rescue

we were out biking around in the city today, riding on the sidewalks and terrorizing pedestrians in the downtown core. it's ok - i can break my own "what the hell are you doing on the sidewalks you psychopathic bikers don't you know it's illegal" rules since i have the baby strapped to the back and the streets are patently dangerous. cole and i usually stick to the seawall, since it takes us everywhere we really want to go together, but today we had some wide-spread errands to run and the fastest, easiest, least sweaty way (well, as sweaty, but faster!) was to take the bike.

we stopped at the library to return some things and pick up some new things. i probably should have done this stop first, in retrospect. instead, we locked the bike up outside the library and walked to iga, about a block away.

you see, i needed some certo to make jam. i am determined to make pear jam this year. for the last two years at least i've been trying to make some and each year i've been thwarted. when i was pregnant we ran out of pears while i was making it, and then i realized we didn't have the right kind of pectin... at the time we lived in coal harbour and the closet grocery store was urban fare which, although it will have fiddleheads out of season and seventy kinds of expensive sea salt, did not carry old lady supplies like pectin... in the long run i gave up that year. and then last year apparently i was hoping to make some but the pears got all bashed up on the ferry and i never did make any. so this year, jam... anyway, we now live near science world and of course the closest grocery store is, again, urban fare. well, i have learned to go the route of most likely success, hence the trip to the iga on robson...

cole amused himself at the store by pulling large canisters of folgers off the shelves and then ramshackling all the carefully aligned bottles of juice. it took a long time to get through the line and then when we were waylaid by some refreshing-looking free iced tea samples on our way out. the iced tea samples lady was w.e.i.r.d and she kept telling me more about iced tea even though i was backing away awkwardly with a writhing baby in my arms... she welcomed cole to earth, and that was our cue to shake a leg.

we wandered back up to the library, and cole was distracted well enough by the interesting characters sleeping on the steps and the pigeons that surrounded them. inside though? i just went in to pick up the things i had waiting on hold, and then electronic check-out refused to serve me electronically since i owe the library money, and the library is serious if you owe them money - no more books for you! cole had been occupying himself with trying to push and pull a shopping basket while i fiddled with the machine, and wouldn't let it go so we could line up to pay our fines. so we walked, at toddler speed, barely avoiding tumbles down stairs and nearly taking out a lady with not one but two canes, towards the line. and we waited. and waited. and waited. cole became less enthralled with his basket but wanted to sit in it, and then didn't want to sit in it, and then wanted me to push him a little and then seriously would have none of me pushing him in it. and wanted a cracker but then wanted to throw the cracker on the floor and fuss. folks in the line behind us started out all "oh, so cute" and by the end were avoiding making eye contact... so by the time we paid our fines i was about as irritable and sweaty as if i'd pulled myself there hand over hand up a rope.

after a wrestle down the stairs to go the bathroom and a wrestle back up and a quick game of distraction when we saw a sample table of vitamin water (cole likes cups and colourful things, i think vitamin water is at best hooey and at worst kind of poisonous and what is it today with liquid samples?) we were back at the bike. i was prepared to ride quickly over to the park for some mandatory fun on account of it being so sunny but we couldn't resist stopping when we saw the firemen outside washing the firetrucks. cole of course made his firetruck noise and i stopped so we could watch, like weirdos.

turns out, apparently kids stop and look all the time. the firemen were so nice - they offered cole a chance to sit in the truck and brought him a swell hat and sticker and even took a photo of us together. thanks dudes!

that really perked us up... cole settled down enough to stop kicking my legs while i pedaled and we even made the trip to the park, where cole insisted on wearing his new hat, despite the fact that the wind blew it off every 1.4 seconds. very cute.

ps - upon getting home i realized we need lemon juice for the jam. i guess we'd better go get some after supper.