From my yard...

Although it may be a "postage-stamp" sized yard within the city limits, we are surrounded by nature. In many ways more so than any other house we have lived in (except the one we rented for a year between Crofton and Duncan - but about equal to that!).

From my yard I have seen several moose, elk, deer (they were IN my yard), fox, Michael saw a wolf (eek!), squirrels, loads of birds... The only thing my tiny yard is lacking is the privacy and seclusion from neighbours... but I am working on that. I have trees and gardens growing to hopefully help bring some on my much loved privacy. And today is a beautiful day (around 23 degrees!) and a good day to be working outside... so that is where I will be!

Sandals and Snow

Spring is definitely upon us here... about two months earlier than last year, although there is still a very good chance that we will see snow again before summer arrives, it isn't likely to last.

I have flowers blooming (and yet unidentified - I need to download the pics from my camera) and tulips, iris' and dahlias coming. My trees are budding and my grass is growing! Today we are expected to reach 24 degrees, and it is beautiful outside! While dropping the kids off at school the people are all in the mood for warm weather... shorts and t-shirts and sandals on almost everyone... including me. Yet, I still have snow in my back yard! Only a little bit, the remainder of the snow-slide Hubby built for the kids and it is in the shade... but it seems strange to be wearing sandals and to be able to kick snow!

Home...

We are home after a rather long time away. It was spring break and therefore time for my son's annual check-up with his doctor in Victoria. We take advantage of the fact that we will be on the Island to visit with all the people that we love and miss during the rest of the year. This year we were there even longer than planned as hubbies grand-father passed away just before spring break so we went down early for the funeral as well.


It is almost shocking, going down to the Coast and the Island now. It is so moist and so very green... almost suffocatingly so at times. The damp is everywhere and I never noticed it at all for the first 34 years of my life! It is beautiful and stunning to look at, but also rotten and decaying at the same time... The rain that used to seem so normal is now overwhelming and seemingly, constant. It is not home, anymore. It makes me sad to admit that, and I do know that if we were to move back I would soon adjust, but it is true. I have grown out of the bonds that held me to the coast.

I still love the ocean and the gardens and the green... I love the clean. Everything is scrubbed clean down there by the frequent rain, unlike the dust and dirt that coat everything up here. More than anything though, I miss the people that I love, both family and friends. However, I am not yearning to move back, as I once was.

Now we are settled, happy where we are. My kids have so many friends and such a fabulous school. The town seems to be getting smaller to me, which I assume means that I am now part of it... I can barely go downtown these days without stopping and chatting with someone I know. Not to mention the wonderful job that hubby has, which allows him to be home enjoying his family more than any other job I have ever heard of. The big sky is fascinating and full of beauty, the rivers we still have to explore... The fossils that seem to be all over, if you have the patience to look for them and the wildlife that is everywhere.

Yet we are not certain that we will remain here forever either... I think the one thing we are certain of, is that we are uncertain what our future holds. There is something exciting about that... so many options and possibilities it is up to us to find the path which is right for us.

Bugs...

I have never liked bugs. Everyone who knows me knows this and they also know that I have a particular loathing (some might say phobia) of spiders. So knowing these facts people also couldn't help but taunt me, when they learned that we were moving up North, about ALL the bugs they have up there! I heard plenty of...

"They have two seasons up there, winter and bug season!"

"Well you can't go outside in the summer, the mosquitoes are so big they will carry you away!"

... and many other pearls of wisdom like that.

So right now we are still in winter so it isn't bug season... but by that it means there are NO bugs... AT ALL! Every time I turn the light on in the basement bathroom, I cringe. Waiting to see the scurrying away of a spider or some other basement dwelling yuck but there aren't any and there haven't been for months. Even in the summer we only had small spiders in the basement and not that many. As for the mosquitoes and other flying bugs... yes they are around in the summer, especially if you are anywhere near a beaver pond. But all in all I have never experienced the quantity and size of the bug life that is on the Island... Holy crap!



The spider in this picture is on the ledge of my bathtub in Duncan... it almost takes up the whole ledge!! I thought it was a toy spider when I first saw it, and this is just a house spider - those bloody jumping spiders that infested my house in Ladysmith where terrifyingly aggressive and fast and big... and then those ones that were really long but so thin you practically couldn't see them (they looked like balls of hair) and that isn't even touching on the wood bugs, centipedes, earwigs, and all the other nasty things.

So as far as bugs go, I prefer the ones up here!

We have been having an amazing winter this year. We had a couple weeks of the very cold weather and then a couple weeks of snow and for the last while we have been sitting between -10 and +2 and this week has had the sunshine as well... it is beautiful. I can hear birds singing, the icicles were huge from the melting during the day and freezing at night although ours are almost gone now. We still have a fair bit of snow but if this weather keeps up... who knows maybe by the time spring break is here, it will already be spring?!

Winter Wonderland

We have been having a wonderful winter... this year has had its cold spells, for certain, but over-all has been much milder and therefore we have been getting out in it! We have been out pulling the kids in the tube behind the quad, in our alley behind the house and out on some trails. We have been out tobogganing of course, and some friends took us snowmobiling on Charlie Lake where we also got to go tubing behind those machines and go ice fishing, while having a campfire, hot chocolate and marshmallows! Michael went to Tumbler Ridge and went snowmobiling up the mountains there, and had a fabulous time and the kids and I went to the High on Ice Festival again this year which was awesome. (and will get it's own post when I get the pictures onto the computer!)

We have seen many, many deer. In fact they come to our yard every night and see what they might find to eat... we have also seen quite a few moose, including some just in the park next to our house! We have also manged to see the Northern Lights several times.

All in all we have been having a wonderful winter, and now we just have to live through about 4 more months of it!! We are planning our escape from winter during spring break though when we will head back down to the Island for Allan's annual cardio check-up... Hope to see everyone then!

Changes Are Coming...

I have been at odds with myself lately and not able to figure out why. I am enjoying the town, I am enjoying the women that I am getting to know better. The kids are at such a fun age and they have so much joy in everything right now. Hubby and I are good and the job is still amazing... So eventually I figured it must be these things creeping around in the back of my brain telling me my time was coming...

I have had the good fortune and pleasure of staying home with my kids. My youngest is in kindergarten this year and to be honest I barely drop him off in the mornings and it is time to pick him up again... but next year, it will be 6 hours per day. It is time to do something with my time. Hubby and I have talked this subject to death and we haven't gotten very far with it. I will need to do SOMETHING or I will go crazy... I really don't think there is any way around that. Yet my pride won't let me take a "token" or "hobby" job, I have amazing qualification and if I should decide to work, it will be a good job. BUT that good job doesn't allow me the freedom to be there after school for my kids or there when they are sick or have Pro-D days... Not to mention the fact that Hubby's job is so very good that we would actually earn less money if he has to turn down an overtime shift because I am at work and he has to pick up the kids that day...

So, what I have decided (and putting it here cements it so there is no turning back) is that I am going to go back to college, part time for now, to work towards my Bachelors degree... I am kicking myself for not finishing it when I had the chance way too long ago now! However, hindsight... it is ok though because I don't think I could possibly do any more business or management classes... I think it is time for some deep thinking and liberal arts. I will continue to help out at the school whenever I can and I want to increase my volunteer work beyond the school... to other parts of the community, but some of the time will be strictly for me and my school. That is the plan anyways.

The Northern Lights

My little guy was up in the middle of the night last night (again!) and since it was a clear night I thought it was worth a look... and there they were. This is the third time I have seen the northern lights since living up here... there were none last year, that I noticed. This fall has been trying to make up for it though. Still no colours other than the bluish green, but last night was a big, unmistakable swath of them up in the sky. The one thing I have noticed with them is that they don't sway, as I expected them to, they shift. One moment it will be shaped like 'this' and the next moment, it is shaped slightly different... but you don't see it changing. I showed Allan before putting him back to bed, but he had the same reaction as Maria had... "Oh... can I go back to bed?"