VICTORIA

The land of NO snow and ice...

This is a picture of the Selkirk Trestle which is virtually outside the office building I work at. The trestle is part of the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, an old rail line which has since been converted into a bike/walking path that linking Victoria to Sooke and the Ferry Terminals. It is also the bike path I take to get to work everyday. Going to work is a breeze because it is mostly downhill...going home is a different story :). I have sure developed a new fondness for the flatness of the prairies!

Swan Lake Nature House

Last weekend, Carolyn, the kids and I explored the Swan Lake Nature House. Inside, there was garter snakes, turtles, a bee hive, and fish among other cool things. In the past, the lake was considered a dumping ground, so Jeffrey and Claire are displaying a pair of glasses that were fished out of the lake. The neat thing is that this nature house is only a 10 minute walk from Carolyn's house. Around the lake there are many walking trails, including one that links the trails from Swan Lake to Christmas Hill where some of these pictures were taken.

Valentine's Day 2007

Here is a picture of my Valentine's present from Shawn. Isn't he sweet! And all I got him was a card, ugh! It was a very cute card by the way!

Candace's Update

Hello everyone!

It has been a while since I added something to Shawn and my blog. I am having a great time in Victoria (This picture was taken in Winnipeg over the hoildays.) I still can't believe I can ride my bike to work in February without having to worry about snow and ice! It is quite bizarre!

While in Victoira, I am staying with my cousin Carolyn, her husband Kevin, and their two cute kids, Jeffrey (4) and Claire (8). I sure hope that I am not driving them up the wall while I am staying in their house.

I am really enjoying my job here in Victoria. I am currently helping the Ministry of the Environment's Water Stewardship Division design (and hopefully implement) a water-related outreach strategy. What is outreach you say? Outreach can be a variety of activities such as answering questions over the phone from the general public, making presentations to a certain group, creating a web page listing easy things the general public can do to protect their water, etc. The goal is to promote voluntary compliance and to increase awareness of water-related issues around the province. So far I have also had the opportunity to travel to Nanaimo, Prince George and Surrey to meet with folks from the different provincial regions to discus outreach. Pretty cool.

On a totally unrealated note, I have been in this province for just over a month and a half, I have STILL not seen a cute and cuddly killer whale!!!!! Ah nuts! Here killer, killer, killer...whale!

IT IS GONE!!!!!!!

The Northern is gone!!! For those of you who do not understand the significance of this event, I will put it in perspective. Imagine, if you will, every single store, bank, postoffice, bank machine and gas station in Wpg burning down. I mean EVERY store (clothing, food, everything). Then you are left with only 7-11 with one gas pump. this is what the town is dealing with right now.

They had to eveacuate the whole town to the airport or the school because they were afraid that the gas tanks beside the store were going to blow. It was crazy last night but no one was hurt and almost everyone was home in their beds by 5 am.

Sailor, again!!!!!

Well here are even more pics of Sailor. These are more for Candace then anyone else. The first one is Sailor's doghouse. It is an apple box from Safeway with a pillow in the bottom. The dogs up here, well at least around the teacherages, don't like dog houses but they love cardboard boxes. The second pic is of Sailor with her bestest friend, Eh, literally chilling outside. I thought it was funny that Eh, who is bigger than Sailor gets the small box and tiny Sailor gets the big box. They have on occasion been found huddled in the same box together. The last pic is of Sailor and her second bestest friend, me!!!! She loves to play and wrestle, although she has a tendency to attack your feet after YOU are done playing. Sailor on the other hand is never done playing.