Changing Times

In the new year, Roger headed back to Arizona for 3 months to work on a drilling project.  I decided it was high time that I find a volunteer gig, and was thrilled when I was accepted to help in a downtown Soup Kitchen.

Each Tuesday morning, I help serve up to 175 diners and in almost every interaction, I'm met with grace, appreciation and humour.  The clients range in age from 6 months to late 80s, and many of my own misconceptions have been blown out of the water.  There are many who fall into the "working poor" group; there are those who live in shelters, rooming houses, low cost housing, with a much smaller group who are living outside. From what I've seen, I believe those who choose living rough are the minority and that mental health and addictions change people's paths. No doubt the high cost of living also forces diners to come and get a good hot meal.  I've become quite attached to many of the people and wonderful volunteers and I really look forward to Tuesdays.

Another cause near and dear to me is helping new immigrants to Canada.  I have first hand knowledge of what it is like to live in countries with different languages and cultures - and how isolating and sometimes frightening it can be.

With that in mind, I signed up to help in Conversational English classes at the IntraCultural Association of Victoria.   Each week I help immigrants from Rwanda, Korea, the Philippines, China, Mexico, Eritrea and Uganda.  The students are motivated, many are already working in Victoria, and they are enthusiastic to become assimilated into Canadian culture. Some are homesick, all mention the high cost of living, but they also say how kind people are and how it helps them adjust to their new home.

As Roger told me years ago, "We can't change the world, but we can help change our part in it".  He's a pretty smart guy and I've remembered those words and taken them to heart.

I was getting pretty cocky about the green grass and cherry blossoms in January and February and gleefully sent pictures to friends in Alberta suffering from snow and frigid temperatures.  Karma took a bite out of that!

View from the condo February 3rd

10 days later -- snow that shut everything down for a few days.  The snow lasted about 10 days which is 10 days too long - but it eventually left and the cherry blossoms returned!

In March I went to Arizona for 10 days to see Roger.  He was working 12+ hours a day, so didn't see him that much, but I did make sure he had good meals to come home to.

Arizona definitely gets some stunning sunsets

Loved the sign at a store in Tombstone, Arizona!

While Roger was home in January, we went to the Vancouver Boat Show and ended up buying a new 23' Campion Allante.  The dealer was kind enough to bring it over so that when Roger returned, it was there for him to start putting all the electronics on it.

The boat is small enough to be able to take Magnus tubing, but big enough for fishing and cruising around the Gulf and San Juan Islands.  It has a small cuddy and toilet so we can even do overnight trips when the weather is warm.

Brad popped up to Victoria for a quick trip and we went to our favourite restaurant, Il Terrazzo.

Obi spent 3 weeks with us while Brad, Anette and Magnus went on their annual trip to Hawaii.  I'm sure she preferred her times in Idaho, but she got used to condo living!

We went to Kenmore for Easter, and to return Obi to her family.  For something different, we gave Magnus "coupons" for his Easter present.  I made coupons for everything from "Nana to do one of your chores" (he loved that one) to A Game of Mini Golf, Extra Bedtime Story, Lunch at Restaurant of Magnus' choice, Movie and Popcorn, etc.  He happily "cashed" in 4 coupons and no doubt on our next trip he will be ready to do more!

Mini Golfing Coupon was a big hit!

Ice Cream at Molly Moons Coupon --- delish!

A trip to Magnus' favourite park coupon - cashed in quickly!

Magnus picked this bouquet of flowers for me.....awwwww....

In August we moved to Victoria to try out the south part of Vancouver Island.  We really enjoyed the small furnished condo we rented and the close proximity to great restaurants and the Inner Harbour.  The down side was it was too small to have visitors stay with us, had limited parking, and we had everything in storage units in Parksville and Sidney.  So, I decided to try and find something bigger to rent while we wait out the housing slump and figure out if we want to continue renting, or buy something.  I get a twitch when thinking about getting into another strata, so we will see.

We moved into a 3 bedroom townhouse in Brentwood Bay a few weeks ago, and we're enjoying the area.  It's 15 minutes to the boat, ferries and airport and 20 minutes to Victoria. We unpacked once more, and it's always fun unwrapping treasures that have been packed away. 

Guest room and ensuite

Den with Roger's rower

Master bedroom

We planted a combo of flowers, herbs and vegs in this garden bed

After weeks of working on the boat, it was finally ready for it's maiden voyage.  Roger installed radar, GPS, VHF radio, and mounts for down riggers so he can go fishing.  When the radar arrived in a huge box, the instructions said it was a 3 person job.  Of course, Roger did it on his own.

Fishing (not catching) on a beautiful May day

The boat has lots of power, and rides like a dream

We were thrilled to welcome our first house guests, Bev and Stu Shaw from Qualicum Beach.  We started their weekend off with a gin tasting at Victoria Distillers in Sidney.  The distillery is a true success story, especially with the development of their award winning gin, and my personal favourite, Empress 1908 gin.

After the tour, we sat down to some cocktails.  Bev and I had the Empress 1908 gin and tonic -- the gin gets its color from butterfly pea flower.  It turns from indigo to a soft pink when you add tonic water.  Definitely worth buying if you like gin!

Bev and Stu were also our first guests on the boat, and despite choppy waters, they enjoyed the cruise to Montague Harbour on Galiano Island.

Smiling despite the bumpy ride!

Montague Harbour is one of our favourite spots; we walked to the other side of the bay
where turquoise waters made us feel we were in the Caribbean!

I'm happy that Roger's happy --- it's a great boat, and we will get a lot of use out of it.

Settled again, we're looking forward to spending time with friends and family.  We don't know how long we'll be here, but while we are, we will enjoy all that it has to offer.  Change is now a part of our collective DNA.  We've made friends everywhere we've lived, and our lives are richer for it.

Some people shake their heads and laugh when I tell them we moved again. "Why?" "How do you keep doing it?" "Are you crazy?"

All I can say is:

"Life is about change.  Sometimes painful. Sometimes its beautiful. But most of the time, it's both."
                                     
                                                                                               Lana Lang