Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse

Before another weekend comes and goes, I wanted to post a little report on last weekend's expedition to a National Historic site. On this excursion, Dave and I were accompanied by two girls and a dragon.



The site is beautifully maintained, and admiring the view and the exhibits, I couldn't help thinking that if you were in the military in 1914 and you were posted at Fort Rodd, it must have felt like you'd won the lottery. This thought was reinforced by some of the photographs on display.



Especially this one. (Just in case it is too small to make out, there are ten children in the photo and the caption says there were four more to come!):



It's hard to read all the information available to you when you're chasing a dragon through the fortifications, but all the same, I like wandering through places that were obviously buzzing with activity at one time, and are now relatively quiet, except for the odd visitor.





The lighthouse is actually still in use, so we weren't allowed to go all the way to the top, but there was a nice display in there as well, explaining all the different technologies employed over the years.



On the drive back, the dragon fell asleep, and all was peaceful in the camper. I've taken to reading out the German instructions posted next to the passenger seat - it amuses the children. This time however, I noticed the (English) safety message printed under the propane stove. "WARNING: It is not safe to use cooking appliances for comfort heating". It struck me that this notification could have been useful on my parents' gas stove during the ice storm of '98.

We have another fun-filled weekend ahead, kicking off in a few hours with wafflerama, our neighbours' legendary breakfast event, hosted every year on the morning of the Oak Bay Tea Party parade. We were invited to the wafflerama test kitchen last Saturday morning, and this evening Grace was heard asking if there would be more asparagus waffles tomorrow. Yes. One of my children is officially a foodie. In the evening we're off to the airport to pick up our niece. The kids are all so excited to see their cousin - one of them said "I can hardly go to sleep - it feels like Christmas!"

Before I sign off, a little launch for all my literature-loving friends... I've started another blog (but, you may be wondering, isn't one neglected blog and one abandoned blog enough? Yes indeed. It should be. This new one is really just a chronicle of a strange little reading project I've taken on.) Head on over to the Prime Minister's Book Club and check it out!