Caffe Artigiano ~ Vancouver Coffee Shops part 12

Yet another coffee shop, this time in Kerrisdale and right next door to Faubourg, the wonderful French bakery-cafe that creates the best croissants in the city.

Caffe Artigiano is a local chain of ten coffee shops through Metro Vancouver and four, opening soon, in Calgary of all places. They are anchored by their own roasting facility in Burnaby.

I used to be an almost-regular to their store in North Burnaby and was always impressed by their artistry, as well as the sweetness of the roast.







The coffee here is good and it certainly has that sweet aroma I recall from several years ago. There was an distinctive hint of chocolate to my espresso, and they readily make a proper cappuccino and macchiato.





Compared to the place next door, Caffe Artigiano is a more relaxed and quieter space, which is often welcome in a coffee shop. Background music was subdued and there weren't any screens that I noticed; another plus to be sure.





For pastries it is perhaps impossible to beat Faubourg, but for coffee... we might have to come again to Caffe Artigiano.

Photos by Jim Murray. 
Copyright 2014.

Canada Day and World Cup futbol

It's Canada Day and what better way to start the day than with another World Cup game at nine in the morning.





Many of my comrades would choose to go to a coffee shop or pub along Commercial Drive but I chose to walk to my club: the Langara Golf Club. And why not? It's only a fifteen minute walk from home with great views and excellent sandwiches, and it's proudly owned by the citizens of Vancouver. On a serious negative side, beer and wine cannot be served until after eleven, given our strange liquor laws. If I had known that at eight in the morning...




The golfers were certainly out on this fine holiday morning and there was no sign of coyotes on the fairway today.

The futbol crowd had not yet materialized and I had a relatively easy time picking out a table. Well, in truth, the crowd never did materialize.

In the end los Albicelestes were the better team, though the Swiss, oddly perhaps, kept the game scoreless through the regulation ninety. Finally, and only moments before the end of extra time, and the dreaded shootout, Di Maria scored after a beautiful set up by Messi. One picture says it all.




But two or three say it much better.

And so it goes. One game closer to the final victory and another smile from Lionel.

Happy Canada Day!

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014. 
Game photos from La Nacion, Buenos Aires.

Stay calm. Messi on.

Game 2. Another difficult game for the Albicelestes and another brilliant winning goal by Lionel Messi. And a rare smile too.



We can all sleep well tonight.

Photo from La Nacion.

Crows ~ in our tree

We have a family of crows living in a tree just off our balcony. We started to see them in April as they began to build their nest. Twigs, string, bits of plastic and paper have all gone into the tree to build the nest. Often a family member will perch on another tree nearby to keep lookout.

The nest can't be seen, due to dense layers of leaves, but it is in there somewhere.
























In early spring, crows build large and bulky nests, messy affairs actually. The female lays three to six or seven eggs that are incubated for about 18 days. The eggs are apparently blue with brown splotches. Once hatched, and we think our babies have hatched, the young crows remain in the nest for six to eight weeks as they grow their feathers.

Sometimes, if we listen carefully, we can hear what must be the sounds of the future fledglings. Otherwise it tends to be rather quiet around the tree, especially when considering the otherwise highly vocal and often noisy nature of crows. Sometimes one of the adults will kick up a fuss, or maybe it's a celebration, but most of the time you would never know a family of crows was in the tree. The adults slip in and out of the tree almost secretively, as though we might never notice.





Crows are very interesting members of possibly the most intelligent avian group: the Corvidae. Members include magpies, blue jays and ravens, which Sherry and I saw during our three months in Dawson City, Yukon.

Crows mate for life, have over 20 different vocalisations, are devoted to family and friends and, like Jeem, tend to eat just about everything and anything. They are also curious about what goes on around them, as are we of them and their new family, yet unseen by Sherry y Jeem.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

Crime and punishment in the Excited States

During our time in New York I heard the sirens of first responders far less often than I do at home in Vancouver. Almost raised on Hill Street Blues, I expected to see take-downs on every corner. It never happened.












New York City is an amazingly safe place to be in the Excited States. There is less crime here, of all kinds, than in most American cities. According to statistics from the FBI in 2012, the murder rate in NYC was 5.1 per 100,000 people. In Tucson the murder rate was 8.1, in Baltimore 34.9 and Detroit clocked in at an impressive 54.6 murders for every 100,000 people. In Toronto it was only 1.5 in 2012, which was actually lower than the Canadian rate of 1.8 murders for every 100,000. In Australia during the same year the murder rate was 1.2 per 100,000.

Policing makes a difference as do attitudes around punishment and class. New York's policing has changed dramatically over the past 40 years and it is often presented as a model for the rest of the nation. Serious crime in NYC is lower in almost every category when compared to other cities in the US.

Policing and a sense of community are important, but few things are better at telling us what a nation really cares about than how it spends its money, and in the Excited States, it's all about the money. By that definition, Americans like to punish.

In 2010 the US spent about $80 billion on jails and prisons, which is about $260 for every person in the country. On food stamps, something people from other nations have trouble comprehending, the budget was $227 per person.

In 2012, 2.2 million Americans were in jail or prison, which, by itself, per capita, is more than any other nation on earth. Yet another 4.6 million were under some sort of correctional supervision, for a grand total of almost 7 million.

Apart from violent crimes, to which the US excels, American crime rates are actually comparable to countries like Canada, Australia and the EU. What is different is the way the US chooses to imprison people for lesser offences. Over the past 40 years the nation has become ever more determined to punish its offenders; education, jobs, welfare and rehabilitation have all been left behind the desire to make people pay.

That push to punish has disproportionately impacted race in America as 11% of all black males between the ages of 20 and 34 are in jail or prison. Half the entire state and federal prison population is black, though African Americans make up only 12% of the population. Increasing economic inequality and the distinction of class is playing its role too. As the elite become ever more distant from the bottom 90, it's easier to be more punitive towards the poor.

Crime and punishment in the US is out of whack somehow, with the times and the rest of the world. How can this insanity be happening in such a rich and wonderful country? But then again, why can't the US do something, anything, about its gun problem?

Still, I hear more police sirens at night in Vancouver than I ever did in Manhattan. What does that tell us I wonder.
"Let's be careful out there."

Hill Street Blues image from NBC. 
Other photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.