Along the Merry Way....

It's been a year since I picked up and moved out West. At first I thought it was going to be for only 4 months, and then I fell in love with Victoria :) It has been quite a set of adventures, building life up almost from complete scratch again. Everything may be unknown in life, but anything is possible! I'm grateful for the ocean and the mountains of Washington in the distance, beer on the beach, and swing-dancing in just about every physically possible place in the city. Living with addicts and lunatics (the boarding house) and learning how to handspring over other human beings :) Living in a creepy house with echoing wooden floors. Not so nice, but a great place for a temporary dance studio. From having one suit-case and nothing, I now have a job in a community of dear, sweet folk with quirky, endlessly entertaining students; finally, a cozy little home in Fernwood with a room-mate who is wise, positive, and adventurous (and a popcorn addict like myself). Finally, dear...

One is a real nest. The other is edible. Can you guess which is which?

I found this receipe online , and it was too much fun not to try. It made my little cousin and her step-siblings pretty happy over Easter. You bite inside these rainbow productions and see the hidden color inside. All you need is a white cake mix, neon food coloring, and cupcake trays. Mix the colors in different dishes (I used my room-mate's pottery mugs and bowls because they were the perfect size).   Add different spoonfuls of each color into the muffin tins:   The finished product:   Disguise these in white icing, and let the kids bite inside and count the different colors. They loved it.

Poor little Tony has been told and teased multiple times that he looks like a piglet. Unfortunately, this has sunk very deeply into his impressionable little pysche. Anyways, the boys had been studying falcons and other birds of prey, so Jane decided to take them to a local birds-of-prey sanctuary, where they could watch the falcons and bald eagles swooping around. When they arrived, Louis, the smaller of the two boys, was ecstatic. He is naturally very curious and spent hours investigating the critters in the pond out back, drawing birds, and voraciously learning as much as he could about local wildlife. Tony, however, was petrified. He had read that bald eagles eat small animals, which includes small rodents, which probably includes little-boys-who-closely-resemble-piglets. Tony is small and round and very cute, and his nose is slightly upturned, but he very definitely looks human, and eagles are smart enough to tell the difference between piglets and cute little boys. Nevertheless, ...

I moved from house-sitting in a creepy old house with a sordid history of crime and a high-tech alarm system (another story), to a cozy apartment on the edge of Fernwood, the funky village within Victoria. Fernwood, as I mentioned before, is the hang-out spot for artists, musicians, and Bohemians. Community gardens are a source of food for the people who live here, and the musical gather in the gardens to play together on Sundays. I've moved in with a potter - a wonderful, adventure-loving, and peaceful girl. Our place is filled with clay mugs, pie-plates, plates, vases, jugs and anything else that can be whipped up on a potter's wheel. Here are some pictures of the "pink snowstorm" or "cotton candy trees" in Victoria: This is for you Mary and Will - the street is right next to my home: The Fernwood Inn: The Belfry Theatre in Fernwood: Funky Victoria architecture: Craigdarroch Castle (a little fairy-tale castle on a nearby hill): A...

“Think that it's fun, that you're guided, and that all is well. Think that there's time, that life is easy, and that the best is yet to come. Think that the reasons that elude you will one day catch up, that the lessons that have stumped you will one day bring joy, and that the sorrows that have crippled you will soon give you wings. Think that you're important, that you cannot fail, and that happiness always returns. And think that you're beautiful.” ― Mike Dooley

Last year at this time, my former fiancé and I had recently gone separate ways. Feeling pretty grief-stricken, I decided to do something constructive: Operation Spread the Love . I made valentines and gave them out to strangers - street bums, lonely-looking people, and anyone who appeared sad in downtown Ottawa. It was so much fun, that I decided to do it all over again here in the new and lovely city of Victoria on Valentine’s Day this year. It's a lot easier on the laid-back West Coast! I gave out almost two dozen of them within a very short time, and people glowed and laughed and thanked me! One lady was a bit defensive at first, thinking I was targeting only lonely-looking people, but she thawed a bit when I said they were for anyone! Another couple chased me down afterwards and asked me why ? So I explained that it was a tradition to Spread the Love a little bit. Another ricketty old man, sitting alone, was really happy to get one, but only after I assured him that there was...