We interrupt this blog for a special announcement....

... Someone (known to readers of this blog as Dylan) has a new website! Please visit http://davehogg.ca and leave your comments in the guest book.

This will be brief, as it is late here in Victoria, but I've been meaning to share a few photos from the Chinese New Year celebrations for the past two weeks. Lily's class had a field trip to Chinatown just before Year of the Ox rolled in, and she came home bubbling over with all sorts of information; how red is lucky, the number 4 is not... She even pulled out her carefully preserved fortune from the cookie she had been given ("Pay close attention to your business interests in upcoming weeks"). So when I saw in the paper that there was a lion dance happening that Sunday, I asked if the children wished to go, and the answer was a resounding yes. Following Lily's instructions we dressed in any red clothes we could find, then met up with some friends and walked down to the gates at Government and Fisgard. There was loud drumming and a sea of people - we stood on tippy toes to catch glimpses of lions and dragons peeking up over the heads. We got a much better view of the events after we went in to a little bakery to warm up- we came out just as a lion was approaching to perform the dance:



Going for the lettuce...



Got it!



Sam: "He didn't eat all his lettuce".

We had seen merchants hanging up lettuce and money outside their businesses in preparation, and as the afternoon wore on, the lions danced from establishment to establishment (we watched from Bakery to Tattoo Parlour), munching up the lettuce and money, and then setting off a few noisy firecrackers on the threshold. From what I understand this is a kind of recession-proofing ritual. As you can imagine, we were enthralled as we stood watching, eating our warm honey buns.