So, today I went to Salt Spring Island with my friend, and work colleague, Sue and her daughter Isla (leaving the hubbies behind) to Helleborganza at Fraser Thimble Farms, introduced to me by Sue last year at this time.  Last year it was drizzly and cold, so no pictures were taken, but this year the weather was incredible!  Couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful February 28th Saturday!!  So, here are some highlights!

The ferry trip out (and an early Rhodo with bee…)

The Treehouse lunch and elf house

Nature (and a cool movie house)

Helleborganza!

Heading back

A lovely day was had by all, and 6 new Hellebores will find their way into my garden very soon!!  Thanks Sue and Isla for a wonderful outing!

In response to the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/last-words/

You have the chance to write one last post on your blog before you stop blogging forever. Write it.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

In response to the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/fight-or-flight/

Write about your strongest memory of heart-pounding, belly-twisting nervousness: what caused the adrenaline? Was it justified? How did you respond?

Wow.  Do many people have heart-pounding, belly-twisting nervousness with what sounds like tons of adrenaline pulsing through the body?  Could that ever not be justified?  Who are these people?  Heart-pounding, eh?  AND belly-twisting?

Well, I’ve been nervous for solo musical performances, job interviews, mutant spider attacks, and Paranormal Activity (but only the first one), but I don’t think I would have classified any of those cases of nerves at defcon 1.   Except maybe for my Master’s Thesis defense.  Think about it.  Sitting in a room at a boardroom table with 8 older mostly white men asking questions that would make no sense to anyone else in any other normal circumstances – only in the context of whatever academic topic you had been approved to spend 4 years of your life researching and writing about.  It was enough to make anyone’s belly twist.  Knowing that if I didn’t pass, well there goes 4 years of my life.  And if I DID pass, there goes the next 7 years of my life as I moved on to your PhD because, let’s face it, what else will you do with a Master’s degree?  Oh god, the horror!

Let’s close our eyes for a moment…ah, that’s better!

Oh, and BTW, never DID get that PhD.  Just as well.  Don’t think my belly could take any more of that twisting…

In response to the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/three-perfect-shots/

Take a subject you’re familiar with and imagine it as three photos in a sequence. Tackle the subject by describing those three shots.

Ok, now I had a couple of ideas what this prompt was about based on the title “Three Perfect Shots”, but none of them matched with the actual prompt description.  It’s kind of like being sucked in by a headline in an article, but then finding out that the article wasn’t really about the headline at all.  Even if the article is interesting, you feel a little ripped off.

Anyway, three shots.  Of a subject I’m familiar with.  Ok.

First Elliot was tired, so he fell asleep on the loveseat.

Then he got tired again and fell asleep on the chair.

Finally, he was sleepy once more and laid himself out on the couch.

It was the perfect kitty day.

Looking mighty comfy there, Dexter!

In response to the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/daily-prompt-7/

When was the last time you felt really, truly lonely?

Lonely?  It’s hard being lonely with 4 clingy kitties and 1 (also kind of clingy) hubby.  And there is always something to do.  Between general housework (it’s a BIG house), the random reno work I sometimes get around to, getting out in the beautiful weather to run or walk and take photos, working on the yard, blogging and reading blogs, hanging with my parents or friends.  Then, of course, there is work. I do have a job!

I’m not one of those people who needs to be around other people all the time to feel “un-lonely” (being, essentially, and introvert).  It’s nice to have the quiet times to myself to work around the house and yard, or to run along the ocean, or just to read a good book.

Now, to go back to pictures, here are some from the other night when Kevin and I walked up along the breakwater (Ogden Point, where the cruise ships dock during tourist season).  All taken with the trusty emPhone, in pitch blackness, mind you.

Heading to the lighthouse at the end of the breakwater:

Kevin in the darkness

The lighthouse

The breakwater art

In response to the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/local-flavor/

Write a piece about a typically “local” experience from where you come from as though it’s an entry in a travel guide.

Ok, first of all I don’t know what an entry in a travel guide is supposed to read like.  Or look like.  Whatever.  But, Kevin tells me I should “stretch” myself and actually try one (or probably more) of the Daily Posts rather than ignoring them and posting what I want to.  So, I guess I will give it a whirl.

Now, the first poser is to choose a typically “local” experience from where I come from.  Well, I come from Saskatchewan (although I, thankfully at this time of year, live in Victoria).  So, at this time of year, a fairly typical local experience is shoveling a million tons of snow before trying to get to work.  Let’s see if I can remember how it goes.

Ah, there is nothing more bracing that Regina, Saskatchewan in the dead of winter.  And by dead of winter, I mean anytime from mid-October (or sometimes September) to the end of May, or June, sometimes (but not very often July). I mean, just look out of that window!  What a beautiful, pristine sight.  Oh wait, you say you have to go to work today?  Because they never have snow days in Regina?  Well, then get out there and enjoy!

And what better way to get a great workout than to pull out your shovel (a SNOW shovel, not a spade, just to clarify) and make a path through 10 feet of snow that just appeared overnight from your door to your car.  Oh, and once you’re there, to make a path from your car to the street (hoping that the City hasn’t completely shoveled the street snow all around your car if you were unfortunate enough to have parked there the one day they shoveled your side street which they never do except when you have parked there.)

And now you are ready to brave the streets of snow, and ice, and ruts made of snow and ice that have slowly built up over the weeks of “Ok today it’s -40 and everything is frozen, but it’s ok because it’s been cold for 2 weeks and all the snow is nicely packed down for driving”, to “Ok now it’s +1 – great!  Everything is melting (and snowing again) – crap, I know what’s coming next” to what came next: “And now it’s -40 again and all that melting stuff is freezing into lumps of ice on the streets.  Excellent!”.  What a diverse climate they have there!  An adventure every day!

So, get your butt down to Saskatchewan for the endless horizon, the best sunsets in the world, and weather that just won’t quit, no matter how much you pray for spring – BTW, spring doesn’t exist there…only winter and summer.  So, two less seasons to worry about!

There are days when I miss Saskatchewan (seriously – the best sunsets in the world!), but today is not one of those days!

In response to the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/a-plot-of-earth/

You’re given a plot of land and have the financial resources to do what you please. What’s the plan?

Given a plot of land?  Where is this land?  How big is it?  And just who gave this land to me?  And I have the financial resources to do what I please?  With the land?  Or in general?  What’s the plan?  How can I know what the plan is without seeing this so-called plot of land in said unknown location?  Once more, there seem to be a lot of unanswered questions that need answering before I can make these kinds of decisions.

Quite frankly, if I were to have these mysterious financial resources, I think I would use them to finish fixing up our house first rather than working on a random plot of land.   But thanks for the offer!

Speaking of plots of land, here is some in our backyard we are slowly working on.  Still lots to do, but there are plants (purposefully planted last year) starting to come up (Yay!  They survived the “winter”) and you can expect lots of close-ups of the yard and the changes it will be undergoing over the course of the year.

(this is the before)

In response to the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/tourist-trap/

What’s your dream tourist destination — either a place you’ve been and loved, or a place you’d love to visit? What about it speaks to you?

Ok, tourist trap or tourist destination?  A “trap” or a place I’ve been and loved/a place I’d love to visit?   You can’t draw me in expecting one thing (let’s face it, “tourist trap” sounded like a prompt I could have some fun with) but giving me something that makes me want to run away screaming from the happy rainbows and unicorns prompt.

Let’s be clear.  I don’t want to go to a “tourist trap” at all.  We kind of live in one, if Canadians have one (well, when I think about it, Banff is probably THE  Tourist Trap of Canada – I was there last summer.  I don’t want to go back any time soon).  But back to where we live.

I guess Victoria is not really all tourist “trap”, although it can look a bit like one in the summer.  May to October.  That’s “tourist” season here.  I was just thinking about that the other day, wondering when the cruise ships would start coming in again, and when the streets in our neighbourhood will begin to fill up with crowds of horses and carriages (and crowds of people in general).  Oh, and of course, the occasional Zombie Response Unit bus.

Don’t get me wrong – I love it here (especially at this time of year as you can see by the pictures below I took last week).  But I am going to enjoy the quiet while we have it.