Along the Watery Way....

For the past month, the windowsills of the classroom have been blossoming and little tendrils have been climbing their way up to the light. We started a few seeds, watered them, and waited breathlessly until they "hatched". We even planted some jellybeans for fun, but the kids gave up on them after a week or two. The seedlings have grown so well that we had move some into the principal's office. Then other teachers asked if they could have some too to take care of. Then some of the teachers who didn't have them in their classroom came asking for some! Pretty soon, we had a plant nursery production going on - pumpkins, sunflowers, zucchini, beans and lots of flowers! As they were threatening to take over, the local pastor luckily gave us a space in his garden plot, and we were able to transplant the majority of it. The others we gave away to friends and even strangers! Whoever was willing to take an extra pole bean or zucchini off our hands :) PS. My pictures ...

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...

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...

I was walking down the street today and hit a wall of perfume! Flowers! Growing on February 1st :) It made me love you even more, Victoria :) Actually, they started blooming on January 1st, to be more precise. You know it's Victoria when......double decker buses drop you off closer to your home just because...it's closer to your house. Flowers bloom almost all year round. You can look at the mountains of Washington across the strait and clamber onto a tall ship if they invite you on board. People play keyboard in the park or double-bass on the beach just for kicks. There is always someone more oddly dressed than you. Elizabethan homes with stained glass windows! Veggie gardens and obssessive-composting everywhere. Little mountains poke up throughout the city, shaking off the homes near the top, hard-core rock-climbers and joggers still clinging to the top. You can sit by the ocean and have a chat with an inquisitive harbor seal. It's the abode of healthy neo-hippies...