Paul Cipywnyk's Blog

Korean War Monument in Burnaby’s Central Park

Yumi and I have been getting out cycling more. Today we went from our place in SE Burnaby to Central Park. We did several trails in the park and then returned home. While we were in the park I wanted to visit the relatively new Korean War Monument, which I had not been to yet. The Korean War was my Mom's generation - as I recall she knew young men who fought and died. She was about 17 when Canada entered the war as part of the UN forces.

I also noticed that one of the names on the memorial was that of "Takeuchi Takachi," as sh0wn below. That struck me as odd, because I spent over a decade in Japan, and the name just did not ring right.

I naturally turned to Google, and quickly found the site of the 2RCHA, or Canadian Horse Artillery. Under the Regimental History link, there is a section called "Off to Korea" where the name is spelled Gunner Takashi Takeuchi, which makes more sense (at least in the Western order of given name, followed by family name). I hope this can be rectified, for this is one of those strange confluences in history. There was no love lost between Japanese and Koreans for centuries. To have a Japanese-Canadian die in the Korean War on the side of freedom and democracy has a certain poignancy to it. . .

Long Weekend Bicycle Ride Around Burnaby

We did a four-hour bicycle ride on this holiday Monday from our home in SE Burnaby near Edmonds Skytrain Station, all the way over to Cariboo and the Central Valley Greenway around Burnaby Lake. We took a break at Piper Spit and watched some wildlife, then headed over to Kensington and eventually huffed and puffed our way up Royal Oak and back to the BC Parkway and home. Whew!

There's a great cycling map available online here.

A few shots from Piper Spit:

And me with bicycle helmet hair:

Developing Thunder Thighs. . .

I spent over four hours on my new bicycle today, and my thighs are aching to prove it. This was only my third ride of the year, and perhaps my enthusiasm carried me away too much.

I cycled from home to Burnaby City Hall to pay our property taxes. Needless to say, going downhill was thrilling, chugging back up the considerable and lengthy slope from the Deer Lake valley to the top of the Kingsway ridge was another matter. But I recovered, and went on to check out the trail all the way to the New Westminster Quay and back to our home in the Edmonds neighbourhood in south Burnaby. By this time I was being routinely passed by svelte young female gazelles as my 50-ish body began to realize its (current!) limits :-).

The lovely new overpass that gets you over the traffic and
down to the New Westminster Quay area.

It truly was a gorgeous day. A view of the mighty Fraser River.