Random Bullets of Vancouver

• We tried not to mention to MG that today was July 4th, lest she be provoked to tears over missing the fireworks in Seattle: "The BEST fireworks! The best in the world! We HAVE to see them, we just have to!"

• Never mind that we had a great view of the Canada Day fireworks on Sunday night (tip for Vancouverites from the friend we're house-sitting for: drive all the way to the North end of Main, past Chinatown, past Junkie Central, to the park and the beach near the loading docks. There's lots of room--we even found parking right as the fireworks were starting! And we could see great!).

• Despite her constant declarations that she wants to go home and misses Seattle, MG is having a fabulous time at circus camp. This morning she insisted on wearing her sparkly white leotard with the little skirt. I left her amid a crowd of little girls who had gathered around her and were saying, "Oooh, I love your outfit!"

• She is vague about most of what actually happens at circus camp, though apparently she and another girl are practicing an aerial act together on the hoops for Friday's performance.

• We are charging the video camera battery in anticipation.

• We looked at a rental yesterday, but are pretty sure we didn't get it, which is a bummer. We see For Sale signs everywhere, but few rental signs. We may have to head further into the southern hinterlands than we'd thought.

• However, I did score a library card today, on the strength of one letter addressed to me (at the house-sit) and my Permanent Resident visa sticker.

• I also got proposed to by the (cute, nose-pierced) library clerk who issued me my new card. "Wanna same-sex marry me so I can go to Hawaii?" she asked, upon seeing my passport. When I said I was already same-sex married, she told me all about St. Louis, where spent some time. My very favorite quote all week: "The patriarchy really sucks down there, eh?"

• Truth be told, she might not have actually said "eh." Even without it, that encounter alone pretty much made my day.