Just a few short months away.

I love this time of year.
Not for the presents or the holiday 'cheer', but because I know that from now on, each day will stretch out just a little bit further and the light will last a little bit longer.

Soon spring will arrive and the flowers will come out of the dark, cold earth.

Hurry, Spring, I miss you!

(Oh, and while I'm here, I do hope everyone had a delightful holiday, no matter what the occasion!)

On storms and small rocks.

I went for a drive around the extreme southern coast of Vancouver Island yesterday...it was such a bright and sunny Sunday that I couldn't resist going through a tank of gas.

I stopped at a number of places along the way.
One of the first places I stopped was at Whiffen Spit near the very famous Sooke Harbour House (which I'm to lazy to link to). It's considered a prime international destination (EnRoute voted it the best 'country inn' in the world this year) due in large part to both it's specatular views, as well as it's food offerings.

I continued further along the tip of the Island and went into a lovely meadery along the way. Called the "Tugwell Creek Meadery", it's a lovely 'vinyard' specializing in honey and fruit based wines. They are very good and rather unusual.



I found this gargoyle nestled in the garden at the front gate.





And they had a Medieval declaration on how to care for bees posted by the wine cellar:



"Thou must not be given to surfeiting and drunkenesse."

I think I've got the surfeiting under control, anyway!





But as lovely as this adventure was, it was amazing and scary to see the evidence of the beating the south coast and Vancouver Island took in the aftermath of the recent storms that crashed through here.
It was a mess all along the road; huge trees the size of vehicles smashed down, homes crushed and telephones lines down everywhere.

I saw at least 7 crews working (on a Sunday!) to try to restore power and clear lines. I think it's lucky no one was killed by this storm, by the looks of it.

Comments anyone?

I suspect I'm not alone in this, but I'd like to add my complaint.

There are so many blogs I can't leave comments on! I've tried several times a day over several days with no luck.

Believe me...I've got things to say; I just don't seem to be able to!

Anyone else have this problem? Is there anything I can do or is it simply a 'blogger issue' that has yet to be resolved?

----------------

In other news, I have a new job!
Since moving to Victoria, I've been looking and looking and wasn't having much luck until now.
My new job is a block from my home and pays more for less work hours than my last job. Not to bad!
What will I be doing?
Well. Uh. I'll be...and then, um.

Yeah.

Not sure.

Executive assistant for a bunch of managers for the Ministry of Health by the sounds of it. Possibly making travel arrangements?
It's all a little vague.
BUT it's only for two months.
And that it's with the government means I'll have my foot in the door for other (hopefully!) cushy government jobs in the future.
As long as, you know, I don't burn the place down trying to make coffee or something.

I start Monday. And I'm rather nervous. But I'm sure I'll be fine. After all, I don't have a clue what I'm doing!

What's WRONG with me?!?

Weird things. A list of them.
But...what?

If I suffered from OCD, I could put something interesting down like, "count how many starlings (and only starlings) on my way home from the corner store" or "twist my left pinky 11 times when starting the laundry".
But I don't have even the slightest trace of OCD.

I don't care which way the toilet paper faces, and I'm not particular about how many wipes it takes to dry a bowl as opposed to a plate.

I don't NEED my clothes to be hung in a certain way, or my shoes to be pointing out.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm normal. I mean, everyone else has endearing little quirks that they need to see them through the day.

What do I do that could be contrived of as 'weird'.

The only thing that may qualify (and it's not something that I 'do' exactly), are my dreams.

Sounds pretty normal, yes? Everyone dreams.
But I defy anyone to hear any one of my dreams and find any kind of normalcy amongst them.

Full-blown, techni-colour 'lights-sounds-smells' dramas of epic proportions.

I've woken myself up during a particularly loud AC/DC contest.
I believe the contender playing 'Hells Bells' won, but as I said it woke me up.

I have dreams in which I die, only to be propped up in front of a mirror to watch myself decay; flying dreams and lucid dreams.
Dreams that spread themselves out over several days in the telling. Did I mention I can smell in my dreams, too?

I realize that everyone dreams, but I seriously think that my dreams can be easily defined as 'weird', even by weird dream standards.

What else?

I don't like cold leftovers but I hardly think that counts.

I always condition my hair after I shampoo. Definitely not weird.

Even when I smoked, I didn't have any habits like turning the first cigarette upside down and smoking it last for luck or tapping my cigarette a required number of times before lighting it.

Perhaps being an RPG'er might be constituted as strange in some circles, but the crowd I run with are all gamers, so it's normal/expected. It's nothing I can include in a list of "6 weird things about me".

Maybe I could include that I don't love shopping. That might just be a weird thing.

I was SURE I would have lots of things to make up a list with. With bowed head I must admit defeat.
Guess I'm not as weird as I once prided myself.
What a shame!
All these years I thought I was strange and it turns out that I'm really very normal.
How strange!

How December 6th looks in Victoria, BC

I walked all over Victoria today, enjoying the sunshine and balmy weather.


It's such a beautiful city, and Victoria loves to play up it's British heritage by keeping a close eye on how buildings downtown are renovated and maintained.
I read in a travel book once that Victoria is more English than England...and even if that isn't true, there is certainly effort made towards that claim!

Victoria's a really visually interesting city; it's range of architecture and style is wide and colourful.
I love these buildings...such bright colours are a boon to downtown design. Quite a lot of the buildings that comprise the core of Victoria are painted cheerfully. (But with complimentary colours of course. Needn't have anything clashing!)




















Of course, here's a Public House, "The Penny Farthing". Doesn't get more English than that, I suspect!

















I put this tree picture in just because the seed pods looked so soft and furry. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but the white fluff stood out so clearly against the black of the branch and the blue of the sky it simply had to be photographed.







Victoria was also a very important Chinese immigration point at the turn of the century and even further back.

It's now a large and vibrant Asian community that remains a valuable part of this city.

The 'Chinatown' stands side by side the beautiful old cathedrals and nestles comfortably amongst the the tartan shops and Irish pubs.

For a small city, Victoria certainly has a variety of cultural influence.

I'm ALIVE!

Hi all...sorry 'bout the blogfree week I've had.
I blame the 'flu entirely.

I'm just about fully recovered, and with a little bit of luck, will have an interesting and informative post for you kind readers in the next day or two.

And if I don't, I feel confident that someone else will!