BTDU

This morning we awoke to a clearer sky and more snow on the North Shore Mountains..

On our first day here Rob, a mandolin player of some standing in the Bluegrass community, told me the tale of how a local Luthier, Michael Dunn  – ifwho has a very interesting backstory….

.had presented him with a “Special” gift.

This was designed and crafted by Michael to reflect both Rob’s love of the classic Gibson F style mandolin…

and Michael’s disdain for an instrument he didn’t consider as “Real”….you decide if he got the balance right🤔

Having done a wee bit of research into Michael’s career you can imagine how delighted we were when Rob told us he only lived 10 mins away and he had arranged for us to meet him at 10.30😊

We didn’t need to leave for our 6.30 pm flight to Heathrow until 3.300pm, so, after our final Canadian/Scottish style breakfast…

…Rob drove us round to Michael’s classical Vancouver heritage home (built c.1910) he shares with his partner Eleanor in eager anticipation…

…and we were immediately welcomed in and felt very privileged to meet them both and to be allowed to take as many photos as we liked.

The first thing we were shown were the stained glass windows a fellow craftsman had gifted Michael to recognise his talent as a guitar maker extraordinaire…

…and then some stunning examples of Michael’s high quality craftsmanship from a range of instruments hanging on the walls…

Michael is a very accomplished jazz guitarist and the one he is holding here was made as a tribute to one of his heros, the Belgian jazz composer/guitarist Django Reinhardt…

…and after explaining, in some great technical detail, how it was built, he willingly agreed to play us “a wee tune’ at our request…

…and our “wee tune” was a whole jazz classic played note perfect…and all from a man who turned 80 last year – Chapeau Michael👏🏽

We were then invited to see his basement workshop…

…which included an instrument none of us 3 had ever seen before, a kora, that Michael travelled to Gambia to buy …. and learn how to make, of course 😉

…but not play as it’s technically a harp!

Feeling very fortunate we said our goodbyes, but not before Michael explained how he had paid just £2 at Portobello Market, London for this last item and how the plant holder was another tribute crafted by a friend…

On our way back to Basecamp we were struck by how many more examples of heritage homes there were in the neighbourhood…

…plus we managed to get one last shot of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge…

After lunch we also captured our final views of the North Shore Mountains, as seen from L & R’s lounge and deck…

Hardly believing that 14 days had passed here so quickly we said our Au Revoirs and Rob taxied us to Vancouver Airport…

Our flight left on time as we speculated as to how many films we would be able to stay awake for on this 9 hour flight…🤔