Scenes from today

It's almost Halloween, yet the weather here isn't like halloween weather that I'm used to. Here's a few pictures from the harbour near my house, and the rose garden.

Stroll by the waterside

So I woke up today and decided that I just couldn't go to work. Instead, I took my camera and went for a walk. I ended up at one of the main cemetaries near the ocean. Death is an interesting thing - everyone knows it happens but few people really think about it or consider it. Why do we have cemetaries? To provide a history? Respect for our ansestors? Or to also remind us that life doesn't last forever. Escpecailly in the fall, where the leaevs fall and decompose on the ground and over the graves. Time goes on but the graves last forever registering each change in season.




After contemplating the cemetary, I wandered down to the beach beside it. There's something calming about the waves. Another constant that remains the same while everything around it changes.









This is the view looking across the strait to the Olympic Mountains. You can't see the mountains in this picture, but I know they're there. I thought this picture conveys well the vastness of the ocean, and the mountains keep the ocean from continuing on forever here. There's somthing daunting about an ocean that extends forever. Makes me feel very small.












After the beach, I took a drive and found this place. Until now, I didn't know that it existed. Victoria is famous for it's hidden gardens and places to enjoy the granduer of the scenery. This is government house, where apparently pumpkins have been on display all this week. To think I didn't know it existed - anyway, I will be going back to this place. Its one of the few places in Victoria that preserves the Garry Oak Meadow ecosystem.

Weekend at Lake Cowichan

Twas a weekend like I haven't had in a long time...say since high school. Going up to a cabin on a lake with 18 people for a pirate party. And yes, as an outdoor club trip, we actually did some hiking too :-) Plus I got the chance to play with my new camera and macro lens that I absolutely love!

A stroll through Beacon Hill Park

The moon, craters and all

Now starts the photojournal, at least a little bit. Here's what the moon looked like tonight :-)

the past weekend

This weekend was a crazy adventure to hippy Saltspring Island. 14 people at a group campsite right on the water. It poured friday night, but we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise on saturday morning. Visited the market at ganges where we ate breakfast (samples of goat cheese, jellies, chutney and vegetables); played some disc golf in the forest and a whole lot of camp fires. If you want to see some pictures, go to www.uvicoutdoors.ca and click on the photo index. It's the most recent Saltspring trip. There are pictures from lots of other trips too, so you can see just how beautiful this island is!

This province of mine.....

So i did it. I didn't mean to do it but I did. I crossed picket lines. :-( I've always lived in provinical capital cities, and that tends to be where the action is. In Alberta, not much happens. There was the rally for tuition, but that's about all. But BC.....is a political mess. Teachers in this province have not had a contract for the last 5 years, and apparently strikes were common when other students were growing up. The government passed a legislation telling teachers that they weren't allowed to strike, even before they did. So of course, last week the teachers went on strike. As a result, a judge denied them strike pay. Today, all unions on Vancouver Island are participating in a walk-out. That should include me, as a CUPE member of a local for UVic teaching assistants. Buses aren't running, post offices, recreation centres, universities, etc. As my office is downtown, I thought it would be okay to go. But......somehow I failed to remember that we are a government office. Now our office is home to the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroluem Resources, as well as a few others...but not Education. That doesn't seem to matter, as Foresty and Health buildings are also being picketed. Do I support the protest? I don't know. I support the teachers attempt to lower classroom sizes. But a 15% raise over 3 years? Nobody gets that. Besides, there's either money for hiring more teachers or paying teachers more - not both. As for this general walk-out today - I've never heard of it happening before. All I know is that is island has more unions than I ever thought possible. Everyone supports everyone in the strike against the legislation. It's not even about the teachers today - just the right to negotiate. With the political spins on everything, I'm not sure what I think. But I'm currently sitting in a government office with about half the people at work today, feeling pretty guilty for showing up. Can't a person just get some work done?

Research ! A mere excuse for idleness; it has never achieved, and willnever achieve any results of the slightest value. -- Benjamin Jowett(1817-93), British theologian.

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.-- Alfred D. Souza

take time to notice

I went for a walk tonight, and as always, my mind drifts. Tonight I couldn't help but wonder about Victoria and why it is how it is. This is what I love about it:

-instead of killing trees, they build the sidewalks around them
-you can see mountains in every direction
-some streets turn into 5 other streets, while some streets with just one name have 5 different directions that they go in.
-half an hour in most directions and you'll be at the ocean or a hiking trail of some sort
-most houses are really big and colorful. There is no such thing as suburbia here.
-it's almost the middle of october and everything is still green.
-people are friendly. It's the most active place I've been in and everyone is always out walking around.

Do you notice what's around you? Appreciate what you see or simply ignore it and keep on with life as usual? It's time for the changing of seasons. More subtle here than elsewhere. But a leaf on the ground, a chill in the air, last berries on a blackberry bush, gloves, hats, a hurried pace outside. Times changing and slipping away before our eyes.

Thanksgiving

This was the first thanksgiving where I haven't been surrounded by family. I wanted to go home, but the flights didn't work out. But as it turned out, none of my roommates were going home. Not wanting to be without celebrations on the holiday, we decided to host a thanksgiving dinner. It's not quite the same as being at home, but I think that there's more satisfaction in the end. We're growing up, can't pretend we're not, and it's time for us to carry on the traditions now.

We had 9 people in total, 7 girls and two guys. I apologize again to the guys, for they were the target most of the night. It really is best to stay quiet and 'safe', but not nearly as much fun for everyone else. It was interesting, because out of the 9 people, we were all single. Should we be as surprised as we were? Maybe not, but it does seem pretty rare to find an entire group of people who aren't in a relationship. I'm used to being surrounded by couples all the time. So we're going to use your idea Jessica, and host a bitter and single girls night sometime soon. We have to take advantage of the situation while we still have it.

As for our dinner, I have to tell you because we really out-did our selves. We had: turkey (Lets take a toast to Maurice for sacrificing his life to us), excellent stuffing, homemade buns, homemade apple pie, cranberry sauce, 2 salads, vegetables, cheesecake and 8 bottles of wine......for 9 people.

So we're capable of being adults. Kinda of scary, though we are all hiding from the real world by staying in school at the moment. Oh, and playing the game of life yesterday, I was a policeman (yes man) with 2 kids and a house in the suburbs - I know that's reality for a lot of people, but it just seems so removed from the life I lead now.

Preparations are made...

So this past week:

Sunday: Formal dinner at our house. All the roommates invited three people, for a formal potluck. Debated using our table for the first time ever but decided to save that for this weekend instead. I made baked brie and camambert which was a hit. We also had brownies, watermelon, clam chowder, sheperds pie, bruchetta and apple cake.
Thursday: Had to TA crystallography. Don't think that I confused them that much. However, I might not have to TA anymore, because there's a good chance that our union will tell us to walk out in support of the BC teachers strike. Hope it doesn't come to that, because the kids don't need that.
Friday: roommate gathering, watched pretty woman. Proved to ourselves that we don't need to go out on a friday night to be cool.
Saturday: that's today :-) Prepared pie crust and apples for thanksgiving tomorrow. So very full right now. I made the waffles, and Sean bought whipping cream, chocolate sauce, strawberries and pineapple.....we decided we like our new roommate and he's allowed to stay. Going neon bowling tonight, because we hear that's the thing to do in Victoria on saturday nights.

And yes, I know there's a little bit missing for the last week....but I can't remember what happened so its obviously not worth mentioning. Hope everyone has a really good thanksgiving!

most expensive purchase ever

I just bought the most expensive thing I've ever bought before! EOS Digital Rebel 350D SLR! WIth a whole bunch of other stuff....

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Canon-EOS-Digital-REBEL-XT-350D-SLR-Camera-3000-PKG_W0QQitemZ7549721532QQcategoryZ107909QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Now lets just hope this internet buying thing isn't a scam....

So excited!

The past week.....

So this updating is going well....lets try a quick recap

Sunday: Hike to East Sooke Park, awesome trail along the coast. Made a bull kelp ochastra, saw a sea lion swim, turned into wood nymphs for a bit...usual west coast style
Monday: Climbing at Crag-X.....haven't climbed in a while and was very excited to get back into it
Tueday: Played, umm, three whole holes of disc golf. Then jumped down and twisted knee. End disc golf and walking still a bit of a challenge.
Wednesday: Stayed home from work, 'resting'. Excersised domestic abilities, making gingerbread and brownies.
Thursday: Mineralogy lab. Second week went a bit better. Have not yet convinced them that I am geology goddess. Figure that plan will fall through cracks next week when have to teach crystallography and symmetry....
Friday: Attended wine and cheese, consumed wine and cheese. Hosted by a house full of geology/oceanography students and surprisingly filled for the night by same type of students.
Saturday: Went to a grocery store three time. That's it. My excitement for the day. Yeah me!