Introducing Marie

... the newest member of our fleet! Yes, it's true - this beautiful '79 VW Westfalia pop-top is our new home away from home.
Here she is in front of our house:



A view from the back seat:




And from the fish eye side mirror:



Some may fear that we've lost our minds, but oh life is sweet in the Westy. We came across her a couple of weeks ago... we had been on the lookout for a while and this one was the first that met our three requirements: 1) Automatic 2) Runs well and 3) Under 5K. We spotted the ad on a Tuesday - that evening Dave took her for a test drive, and the next day she was ours! We bought her from a very nice lady called Connie, who told us that the camper's name was Muriel, and that she didn't mind if we changed the name, but would prefer it if we kept her a girl. Done. After a few little trips around town, we took her on our maiden voyage last weekend; a trip to Pender Island (to coincide with a certain disc golf tournament).

Here she is at the campground:



With Dave heading off to the disc park Saturday morning, I wondered what I would do with the children all morning (and worried a bit about having to drive Marie around the hilly island myself). And then I had a flash - a memory really, from my first visit to Pender eleven years ago. I remembered that the friends who were hosting us had taken us to a piece of land that had previously been a rustic sort of seaside summer resort. Dave and I had strolled past abandoned cabins, and out along a tiny spit of land, and when we got to the end there was a bench with a spectacular view. All I remembered was that it had 'rose' in the name. I looked at a map of the island, and spotted a park called Roesland, and figured that must be it. So Saturday morning, with me in the driver's seat, we dropped the disc man off at his tourney, and headed to the other side of the island to explore.















It wasn't quite as I remembered it. For one thing, in my memory there were many more cabins to peek in. But in the time that has passed since my last visit, the park has been taken over by the Parks Canada - it is now a part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve (as is the campground we stayed at). I suspect that most of the cabins were knocked down so they wouldn't crumble on squatters (or explorers like us). The cabins that remained had signs on the top steps telling us not to go in, but we could still peer through the windows, and get glimpses of some other family's vacation memories. In one cabin I saw a carved wooden sign with the four names of the family members followed by '79-'82. Roesland closed in '92. The site now holds the Pender museum as well, but we were there too early, so we'll have to wait until our next visit to scope that out. Across Otter Bay (where we did actually spot five otters looking out at us - so satisfying when a place lives up to its name) you can now see a new vacation home development. This is another change from the last time I was there, and offers quite a contrast from the humble old log cabins tucked into the forest. After we'd had our fill we headed off to the farmer's market, where the kids played while I stocked up on Ewa's European cakes (rhubarb coffee cake -yum) and admired some hand-dyed island sheep's wool. We then loaded back into Marie, and drove back to find Dave, getting only somewhat lost along the way. Despite her lack of power steering, Marie is very nice to drive, especially if you aren't in a hurry.

Victoria Day

My first real Victoria Day, I suppose, since in Quebec we celebrated Dollard des Ormeaux Day until 2002, when Landry changed it to Journée des Patriotes (I googled DDO to get my facts straight on this, and boy are there some funny forums discussing this particular topic). Here in Vic however, the day is not just a holiday but yet another parade day! In fact, the biggest parade of the year in Victoria. It kicks off early (in my opinion), at 9 am, so we watched a bit of it on TV while we ate our french toast (down to my last can of real Quebec maple syrup so anyone coming this was soon feel free to stick a can in your luggage for us (hint hint Erin!) - I can accept a lot of change, but for some reason I still struggle with maple syrup in a plastic jug). Pardon the digression. Having attended most of the other parades that have come through town in the past nine months, I felt determined to check this one out, so we all headed out after breakfast to catch the tail end of the event.







It was great to see so many nationalities represented, as Victoria does not immediately present itself as being particularly multicultural. But what was most amazing was the number of marching bands. We heard them practicing all weekend, marching along the side streets of our neighbourhood. How is it that Victoria has so many marching bands? It doesn't. They came from Washington and even Oregon. Apparently there is some big marching band competition, and you get points for the number of parades you participate in or something.

Blossom City

The second item on my list of things I like about living in Victoria (this is a list in installments) must be the bluebells.







Those were taken yesterday evening on the way to Brownies. Something about bluebells at dusk. (Blame Merchant Ivory). I should be going on about the tree blossoms. We have had a full month of nonstop crazy beauty. In our own backyard we are treated to this:



And here's one I shot at the Inner Harbour:



It seems that we are coming to the end of the sakura (Japanese cherry blossom - that's what we were told is in our back yard), and there are great drifts of blossoms covering streets, sidewalks and gardens. (I have photos, but perhaps that's enough of that for now...)

I meant to start off with hello again! And apologies for my lengthy hiatus! What can I say, but having finished up the book, and the BA, I was a little burned out. Of writing. (Can you tell?) And computers. And then it seemed like so long, with so much to report on, that the simple task seemed daunting. But the bluebells brought me back.

So a few quick highlights from April, to bring us back up to speed:

Easter with the Vancouver cousins:



The photo credit goes to my brother-in-law Tony. It was taken in the final leg of the Easter Rabbit hunt at the Butchart gardens, just before the children's efforts were rewarded with a Roger's chocolate egg (only ceramic rabbits were hunted). We had such a lovely weekend together, we're hoping to make it a new tradition.

Strangely, the following Friday was a professional development day (making it a three day week), so Grace, Amelia and I enjoyed a walk along West Song way with our neighbours Julie, Lucy and Jonathan:



Two of the girls playing on a rather unique driftwood structure protesting the proposed mega-yacht marina. Speaking of the neighbours, I must thank Mike for restoring the title to this blog. We were invited across the street for a delicious waffle breakfast last month, and our host kindly took a few minutes (or more) to work some techno magic. We feel incredibly fortunate to have lucked out in the neighbour department again (and not just because they invite us over for splendid brunches and fix blogs).

Last but not least, we had a visit from Uncle Joe:



I'll admit, I felt some pressure being sandwiched between the Caribbean and South Africa... what could Victoria offer my globe-trotting brother? Luckily all he wanted was to hang out, which we are quite skilled at.

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!

Ode to 327

Goodbye old house. It seems a little strange to only be saying goodbye now, seven months after we moved out, but I suppose that until you sold two weeks ago there was still a little part of me thinking we might end up back within your walls at some point. The photo above was taken in December 2007. It seems such a long time away now, even though it isn't really. The kids were playing in the backyard as Dave shoveled the snow off the skating rink, Christmas lights twinkling all around. Not knowing then that it was our last winter there, I ran to the front of the house wanting to capture you as you were, glowing with so much warmth. We go a long way back, you and me. The slumber parties and summer parties I remembered from my childhood evolved into birthday barbecues and friday pizza nights for my own children. I felt so lucky when we got you, feeling we had magically been given the perfect place to raise our family. I remember the day we moved in, Mairi had left a little pair of red rubber boots in the entrance, and an orchid in a vase on the shelf by the kitchen. It was just me and my little three-month old firstborn in that almost-empty house for a short while before the movers (Dave, Al, George, Blair and assorted offspring) arrived. There were still some raspberries for the picking, and Cam found a soccer ball under the porch and started kicking it around with his cousins. You were home immediately. I would have liked to pass you on in a similar manner, scrubbed you from top to bottom, given your walls a fresh coat of paint, and left some flowers on the shelf for your new owner. But there was no time. Once we made our decision to leave it was as though we had to race to the finish line, because there were too many reasons not to go. If we had slowed down it wouldn't have happened. So all that is left is to say goodbye. Goodbye and thank you, old house.

And especially to those who made it possible for us to live there; Dave, George, and Mairi. Thank you.

What do you mean, knitting basket?

I spotted a pile of these beautiful fair trade African baskets in the window of this shop before Christmas, and dropped a few (too subtle perhaps) hints. When I went back after Christmas to have another look they were all gone. But lucky for me (and Herko) I spotted another pile in the window earlier this month. As soon as I brought it home and sat it down in the sun guess who jumped in. Dave said "You should have got one for yourself as well" (he always sides with the cats). I let Herks have his afternoon in the sun but then I reclaimed it (to be fair, the cats already have their own cozy basket right next to the wood stove) , and now it sits by my bedside, filled with balls of yarn. Now for the big confession: I have rediscovered knitting in a big way. And while usually my blogs are neglected because of work and school and everything else that fills up my days, sometimes, just sometimes, they are neglected because I am knitting in a rocking chair by the fire. There. I've admitted it. And now, I will do everything in my power to not turn this into a knitting blog (believe me, there are some really lovely ones out there in blogland already). Actually I have a little spring cleaning planned for this one. A little renovation, if you will. For starters, you may have noticed that I referred to my husband by his real name. Well, it seemed a little silly to go on with his secret identity once I linked to his website. I've grown tired of the name changes, and having spent more time in the blogosphere I am less wary of it. So as I usher in a new season with a new look I plan to abandon the old names. Stay tuned for more excitement!

Grandpa's Visit

We had a spectacular sunny spring week for my father's recent visit. (We have now returned to a cold drizzle with a chance of flurries(!) this afternoon). It was perfect weather for seeing the sights and we packed it all in, checking off almost all the items on the list the children had made of "things to do with Grandpa". Some of the activities included feeding ducks in Beacon Hill, taking Grandpa to the beach after school, ice cream at Roger's, a visit to the museum, fish and chips on the pier watching the float planes, as well as lots of time spent just hanging out on the front porch in the afternoon sun. We all had a wonderful time and hope to see Grandpa (and maybe even Gramber) back on the west coast soon. In the meantime, I've booked our summer flights back to Montreal so we have that to look forward to.