Spring!

After my last posting I received some concerned feedback, so to reassure those of you who worried that I may be wallowing in nostalgia I've decided to introduce a random list of things I like about living in Victoria. Of course I still miss Montreal. Sometimes it just seems ridiculous to be this far away from so many loved ones, especially when I am so bad at staying in touch properly (apologies to almost all my friends and family). But the purpose of this exercise was to focus on the positive, so... Number 1: I like that 90% of people riding public transit say thank you to the bus driver as they get off the bus, even if they are getting off at the back (they yell). And I don't care if people think Victoria is putting on airs - I still like riding on the top of double decker buses.



Last week was spring break for the children. It was a cloudy week, but in one of the brief bursts of sunshine we made it out to Swan Lake, a nature sanctuary home to many birds and a Garry oak ecosystem. We hiked through the Garry oaks to the lake, where we saw ducks, Canada geese, Western grebes, an American coot and a bald eagle. (No swans!) Back at our home we noticed a new bird at the feeder. I think we were all almost equally excited about this - in addition to the house sparrows, Northern juncos and purple finches, we now see the red breasted nuthatch (photo below).



We also accomplished a little spring cleaning last week. We moved the sideboard in front of the windows which opened up a space for the sofa. It really feels like a living room now - I don't know why we didn't do it earlier. (For anyone wondering, the contraption over the wood stove is our energy efficient drying rack. Assembled with hockey sticks and duct tape, this Red Green inspired creation is a great conversation piece.) On the topic of spring cleaning, you may have noticed my stunted attempts to revamp the new vics. Unfortunately, I am lacking the technical savvy to get the title where I want it on my new banner (if anyone has advice please help!) Along with a list of my favorite ways to procrastinate, I have also added a flickr badge, which you can click on if you'd like to see the photos that don't make it onto the blog. Last but not least, I figured out how to allow everyone (not just Blogger members) to leave comments. Hope to hear from you! Happy Spring!