Now call me Devil's Advocate

The forecast for the rest of the week makes it look like the Gloom the native Victorians speak of is about to descend upon us, so I got out with my camera today. I wanted to reassure everyone back east that the west does get its share of impressive fall foliage - just not in the large swaths we're used to. When we arrived in August the Empress was cloaked all in green. I have the feeling she was an even more glamorous sight last week when I made a mental note to come back with my camera, but it's hard to tell for sure. (The Japanese maple in our front garden was also flaming red last week, but has dropped the deeper coloured leaves and is a now more copper than crimson). Please note two of our favourite trees in front - Sam calls them dinosaur trees but they are really weeping sequoias.
I know there have been some flurries in certain parts of Canada, so I won't go on about our lovely picnic at the beach yesterday - it's sure to come back and bite me with sixty consecutive days of rain. Instead, a story of a happy Canadian, turned bitter Quebec Nationalist when provoked at a children's Halloween party. Not really. I bit my tongue. But nothing brings out the quiet separatist in me like someone comparing my compatriots to "those dreadful twenty-somethings who want to move out but still go home to raid the fridge and do their laundry". Perhaps it was my two years at the Cégep du Vieux Montréal, surrounded by all those péquistes in the height of referendum fever, but I feel something for the Quebec cause - not at all that I would like to see Quebec separate, but simply that I love Quebec, and do understand it to be something special, and that it shouldn't be dismissed as a parasite. That's all. And how bizarre - I say I just moved here from Montreal and you decide to tell me all the reasons why my home province disgusts you? Learn some etiquette. This is not our first encounter with the anti-Quebec sentiment - a man in a car yelled "frog" at Dylan (!) when he saw the license plate on Big Red. It all makes me want to start up some sort of cross Canada exchange program for students who have never travelled to other parts of the country, because I clearly remember all my hardcore separatist classmates at the Vieux coming back after a summer of bumming around BC, all much milder in their political convictions. I think it would work vice versa as well.

Food Blog Launch!

Special announcement for my foodie friends: I've just launched a new food blog called Feeding Five. Check it out! http://feedingfive.blogspot.com

Return of the New Vics

I'm back. And feeling more pressure than ever to write. Everywhere I went I heard the same refrain: "you haven't posted since SEPTEMBER 25th!". To which I replied "wasn't that just last week?" (please note my trouble telling time). Like any writer, I appreciate an audience, so it was reassuring to know that you're out there. Thank you readers! And to save you all the trouble of checking regularly when I only post sporadically, I've added the subscription gadget, which I assume will send you a message to tell you when I've updated. The trouble is, when I blog less, I get more emails and phone calls. When I blog more, you get your update but I don't get mine. So keep in touch, folks. And I'll try to be a better blogger.
I left off last month with a teaser, so to sum up: September was an exciting month here in Victoria. We all enjoyed the South Park Family Festival held at the school near our house. The highlight for the girls was meeting Queen Victoria (a parliamentary player) who made an appearance to cut the cake. Alex has a better grasp of history than Lily, so understood that this was not really the Queen. Lily however was quite taken in by the performance and I had to explain later that Queen Victoria is long gone. Still unconvinced, she continues to tell people that she's met Queen Victoria. The highlight for Sam was the painting activity on the field: some brave parent had donated their vehicle to be decorated by the children. And the highlight for Dylan was the performance by Valdy. The following day I took the kids over to Clover Point where we met up with a cégep friend now living in Vic and watched the Snowbirds together. Dylan passed ("you don't want to google air show casualties").
Things have quieted down now. The cruise ships stopped passing through as of Thanksgiving and we hardly hear the clippety clop of horse and carriages going past our house these days. The weather continues to be spectacular. On the way back through Vancouver last weekend I read an article in the paper on Severn Cullis-Suzuki in which she talks about the importance of rooting into the place where you are. I'm trying to follow her advice, and get more settled in this place. Last night I took Alex to her first Brownie meeting. One of her new friends is involved and encouraged her to join, so off we went to an old Scout Hall with wonderful murals of totem poles and canoes on the walls. She came bouncing out an hour later with her crate of Guide cookies to sell and an invitation to her enrollment ceremony. This morning I went to a yoga class at the lovely Hemma studio near the girls' school, and tonight Dylan is taking Alex to see the real Dylan live, in person! It's funny how leaving and coming back can make a place seem a bit more like home.