This year, we seem to be experiencing a "normal" Vancouver Island winter. It's all right, because it seems that "normal" means that my spring bulbs are popping up before the New Year is rung in. Who knew that was possible within a Canadian winter?!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
First signs of spring... before ringing in the New Year
It's an interesting phenomenon, winter on Vancouver Island. The six weeks of wet, heavy, slippery snow we experienced last year was "unusual" (or so everyone told me). My two inaugural winters here were both snowy and I was starting to wonder if Jeff's pre-engagement promise of a nearly snow-free life was a strategy to lure me westward.
This year, we seem to be experiencing a "normal" Vancouver Island winter. It's all right, because it seems that "normal" means that my spring bulbs are popping up before the New Year is rung in. Who knew that was possible within a Canadian winter?!
This year, we seem to be experiencing a "normal" Vancouver Island winter. It's all right, because it seems that "normal" means that my spring bulbs are popping up before the New Year is rung in. Who knew that was possible within a Canadian winter?!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Christmas Greetings
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Anniversary
This week, Jeff and I celebrated our second anniversary. Two years... already! We still look at each other sometimes with expressions of complete puzzlement and ask, "Hey- did you know that we are MARRIED?!?!"
To celebrate, we had dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant and chatted about work, Christmas, Doctor Who, where we'll be in 48 years and all that has happened over the past two. We were digging into our coconut green curry when Jeff let out a peal of spontaneous laughter. Of course, I asked about what had tickled his funny bone and he reminded me of some of the many obscure and absurd suggestions we received while planning our wedding. He is still wonderfully entertained by the octopus wedding dress,
mechanical wedding cake,
and high-heeled flippers.
Thanks to all of you who made those suggestions- you know who you are!
My relocation for marriage was by far, the most difficult thing I have done in life. I can't really sugar coat that one. In the same breath, I can honestly say that marriage really has contained much laughter in the midst of experiences at both ends of the emotional spectrum. Looking back, I really wouldn't have it any other way.
I am so very thankful to find myself even happier and hopeful today
than I was on this very fine day.
To celebrate, we had dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant and chatted about work, Christmas, Doctor Who, where we'll be in 48 years and all that has happened over the past two. We were digging into our coconut green curry when Jeff let out a peal of spontaneous laughter. Of course, I asked about what had tickled his funny bone and he reminded me of some of the many obscure and absurd suggestions we received while planning our wedding. He is still wonderfully entertained by the octopus wedding dress,
mechanical wedding cake,
and high-heeled flippers.
Thanks to all of you who made those suggestions- you know who you are!
My relocation for marriage was by far, the most difficult thing I have done in life. I can't really sugar coat that one. In the same breath, I can honestly say that marriage really has contained much laughter in the midst of experiences at both ends of the emotional spectrum. Looking back, I really wouldn't have it any other way.
I am so very thankful to find myself even happier and hopeful today
than I was on this very fine day.
Friday, December 11, 2009
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....
Over the past few weeks, I have been steadily decorating for Christmas. The main tree in the living room has been up for a while and last night, I finally
decorated the apartment-sized tree in the basement (to the strains of Jeff watching Superman 2). It must be a hereditary thing because like my mom, I love having the tree(s) up.A few weeks ago, I went to Jeff's parent's house to give their fir and cedar trees a trim.
A bucket of boughs went from thisto a wonderfully-smelling this.
On Monday night, it briefly looked as Christmassy outside as it does inside. I
t's surprising what even two centimeters of snow can do to create some Christmas spirit. It was mostly gone by the next day, but here was that particularly festive view out our front door.
Christmas Alert
December 1st arrived quietly, silently transitioning from a rainy November into a quiet, 
sunny but unusually cold December. I realized one morning that Christmas was sneaking up, not from the calendar but from my cactus. How exactly does it remember every year?!
sunny but unusually cold December. I realized one morning that Christmas was sneaking up, not from the calendar but from my cactus. How exactly does it remember every year?!
Same old, same old
There has not been much to post over the past 4 weeks as life has continued in its busy routine. Jeff has been very busy with work and my highlights have been tackling the much needed "clean out the basement" project and completing a community cooking day with the women in our
small group that left me with a freezer full of ready made meals (a very good thing). I chopped vegetables for about 6 hours but it is SO worth it.
Jeff's dad had a birthday that required another creative cake.....
Jeff continued building a linen/shoe/mudroom closet
.....
and we did this all fueled by caffeine.
And, I read a book that has had such a profound impact on me that I find myself recommending it to everyone I know. One of my favourite authors, Barbara Kingsolver,
chronicles her family's year-long commitment to growing their own food and limiting almost all of their food purchases to locally grown items.
Like me, you probably won't rush out to join a crop share association or completley swear off CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) meats but you will be effected by what you learn. I certainly was.
My plan for 2010? Integrate vegetables into my flower garden (if you've seen my flower garden, you will know this is no small task) and hit the local farmers market each week. Small things, maybe, but increasingly important things to me. I guess I am a farm girl at heart, after all.
small group that left me with a freezer full of ready made meals (a very good thing). I chopped vegetables for about 6 hours but it is SO worth it.Jeff's dad had a birthday that required another creative cake.....
Jeff continued building a linen/shoe/mudroom closet
.....and we did this all fueled by caffeine.
And, I read a book that has had such a profound impact on me that I find myself recommending it to everyone I know. One of my favourite authors, Barbara Kingsolver,
chronicles her family's year-long commitment to growing their own food and limiting almost all of their food purchases to locally grown items.Like me, you probably won't rush out to join a crop share association or completley swear off CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) meats but you will be effected by what you learn. I certainly was.
My plan for 2010? Integrate vegetables into my flower garden (if you've seen my flower garden, you will know this is no small task) and hit the local farmers market each week. Small things, maybe, but increasingly important things to me. I guess I am a farm girl at heart, after all.
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