Burrito West Blog

I may have won another contest recently.

It may have been for more craft supplies.

You'll have to go to the craft blog to find out.

http://baremaked.blogspot.com/2011/10/winning.html

Since I can't foster or adopt any more animals, I've been trying to think of other ways I can help animal rescue groups with their work.  One way was roping my friend and talented photographer into the pet portrait business. And by business, I mean he does it for free. He seems to be enjoying it too, which is great and I'm gleefully working to book us more photo shoots with other rescue groups (I'm the helper - I wiggle the cat toys/treats).  He's also offering to do personal pet portraits for people in exchange for a promise of a donation to the BC SPCA - which is AWESOME*.

Anyway, that's one thing.  The other thing I'm also excited about because it's going so much better than I hoped. My team at work moved into new offices recently, on the 7th floor.  The nearest food is down in the cafeteria in the basement or across the street in the mall. So if you need a snack, it's easily a 10-15 minute journey to get it. And people in my office are BUSY. So busy that they may not be able to squeeze in a 15 min break, no matter how much they've got the munchies. Sometimes you want a snack but don't want to break out of the mental space you're in by going on a journey.

So I cribbed an idea I saw in another office I work in - a snack basket for charity.  I supply snack items, charge higher than retail prices and all the profits go to charity. My co-workers get snacks close at hand, and we raise money for good causes!  The basket is located in a locked file cabinet where anyone can access it and it operates on the honour system. In the first month of operation, the basket made $40 in profit!!  It's not a huge number but for an office as small as ours, it's a lot!  And it's money that will go to charity that otherwise wouldn't have - and no one felt like they were hit up for charitable donations, they bought stuff they wanted to buy anyway. 

The only complaint I've had is that I've made it too easy and convenient to get chocolate bars! (I have healthier options in there too but we all go for the chocolate bars.)  My plan is to let a few months of profit stack up and then donate to Katie's Place Animal Shelter, then the next few months of profit will go to another animal rescue, etc.

I'm super happy to have found a few ways to help, though I still wish I could do more. To be honest, I wish I could be a foster home for kittens... *sigh* adorable, little rascally kittens who just need a home for a few months.  Maybe one day.

*If anyone in Vancouver wants to book him for a portrait, send me an email and I'll put you in touch. You should totally do this. One friend is booking him for a sneak photo shoot of someone else's dog as a Christmas present for them; money to charity + christmas present = double win.

One of the side effects of being a sustainability nut, especially one who researches/talks about waste diversion and recycling stuff much of the day, is that it's kind of hard to get rid of stuff. Like, you can't just toss stuff out. It's more like trips to the recycling depot and the computer reuse place and the charity shops. It's not hard work, just more time-consuming than a trip to the dumpster in the alley.

Peter and I booked off part of Saturday to make a bunch of these trips which were long overdue and at each stop we practically high fived each other with the excitement of finally being rid of STUFF, stuff that's been sitting around waiting for us to deal with it for ages.  Dropped off a computer and some laptops at the place that wipes and rebuilds them to be used by those in need? SWEET. Trip to the thrift shop to unload some clothes and other miscellaneous stuff: AWESOME. Trip to the cleaners with the pillows and bedding and drycleaning: FANTASTIC.

In the end, it didn't actually take us that long at all - we should have done it months ago. And it felt good to know that none of the stuff is headed to the landfill.  Even the one item we put next to our dumpster got taken away by someone within 5 minutes (which is why we put it next to, rather than in the dumpster).

Let this be your PSA to make the effort to recycle/donate your unwanted goods, since throwing our stuff in a hole in the ground and burying it, is not really dealing with our waste in a very responsible manner.

One of the other benefits to having fantastic urban plazas all over the place is that it makes for great places for festivals and markets. 

It so happened that the day Peter and I flew out of Riga, we went for one last walk around Old Town and discovered a large carrot festival going on - complete with a huge market.  There was live music, carrot sculptures, beer gardens, food (including spiral potatoes on a stick), bunnies and goats for the kids to pet. 

It was generally pretty awesome.   These photos show one plaza where the live music and beer was. The potato spiral was very tasty. There was a whole other square with the enormous market and another music stage.


A video for you - keep your eye out for the dancing carrot!

Tired of Riga photos yet?

Hope not, since I'm having great fun going through them and pulling out one at a time to share.

This one is a view from up top of the church tower which shows the many elements of old European city centres that I love (and am sad that can't be built into modern cities).  Like - covered markets, beer gardens/cafes, narrow windy streets that lead to surprises, beautifully restored buildings.  Streets for people instead of cars (cars are allowed, but the street isn't designed for them and if feels more comfortable as a result). I love that medieval builders didn't seem to care about straight lines - buildings curve and angle strangely for no apparent reason.


I spent a fair bit of time in Riga just sitting in public spaces. That's my favorite thing to do when I travel (at home too, but our public spaces aren't as nice).  I took this video from my spot on a bench in a lovely park, happened to catch a bunch of segway riders. Live music was an accordion player and a trumpet player just on the other side of the bridge, it was quite lovely. I get wistful just watching the video. Wish I could be a lady of leisure!

Riga has some amazing amazing architecture. Particularly if you're into Art Nouveau style architecture, which you should be because it's stunning and such a contrast to the way we design buildings today. Riga has more buildings of this style than anywhere in Europe.  I'm a sucker for this stuff, which may explain why I've fallen in love with Riga so quickly.


Also - it's easy to love a place when you can sit in a cafe, have some cake and look at this charming streetscape (a pub and a bakery, what more do you need?):

One of my favorite photos of Riga - old crumbly building, cobblestone street, and a cat stalking pigeons.