Our House in the Middle of Our Street

  View somewhere on Whistler or Blackcomb Mountain Canadian Geographic Dec/Jan issue - I really enjoyed the most recent issue, and loved the cover articles - on owls and also the grasslands of Canada, and the health of that ecosystem over the last 200 years.  New Kid by Jerry Craft - This was a fun and easy comic I finished in about two days. It's about a ...yes...new kid to a new school and the friend group he makes. The pictures are done well, and the story has a really nice flow. I don't even know if I've ever read comic books before this year, but it's quickly becoming a fun 'beach read' for me when I need a break. YA Comic Book I can finish in 2 hours? Why not!? Especially when this one won the 2020 Newberry Medal.  The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo - This book was created in little niche that I love, also-books in verse (poetry). This book won the 2018 National Book Award in Young People's Literature, and it's well deserved. The poetry is engaging...

  a private property landscape after beaver-proofing saplings with A Rocha Canadian Geographic Sept/Oct issue - Although this issue was interesting, the only thing I really remember from it was the article on how the soundscapes of nature are changing due to constant industrialization and development. You can read that article online HERE .  This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel - This was the book I chose to lead with my book club, because I knew it would be a great conversation starter. This book is about a boy who transitions into becoming a girl at a very young age, and about the family as a whole with how to deal with that situation, along with the aftermath of friends 'finding out' after years of knowing the child as a girl. I will say, I found some of this book was trite and unappealing, but the general theme of the story was a fast way to have a controversial conversation-something I love! A Man with a Rake by Ted Kooser - Although I love Ted Kooser, this is the...

  view from along the Pitt River dyke I'm on Christmas Vacation (ahem) and am finally getting to the last 3 sections of book reviews. Sadly, because  this was so long ago, I don't remember much about these particular books or magazines except the Rembrandt one, but here goes!  Canadian Geographic: July/August issue - The magazine I read cover to cover every other month, this issue did not disappoint. It included information on the Atlantic cod referendum, along with an article about a female scientist who studied a large (now fast disappearing) glacier over 100 years ago. The photos were staggering to see the difference in just one century.  The Carrying by Ada Limon - Although I don't remember specifics about this book of poetry (or the next), I'm pretty sure I found both of them via Padraig O'Tuama from Poetry Unbound podcast . I remember really enjoying this book of poetry, and that it was reflective both of America has been in the last few years, but also sear...

 Although this mini-vacation for our family was near 6 months ago, I'm catching up on my blogging over Christmas break, and hope to reach back into two years (wince) of vacations as I'd like to document them here, for my own purposes. I'm setting the publishing date to the day after we returned. It'll be our little secret.  The pictures aren't in any particular order.  a short and easy hike: Hidden Grove in Sechelt Day 1: After dropping off our dog at the kennel in Aldergrove, hopping on the ferry and finding our airbnb, we rode our bikes around Kinnikinnick park twice and then around the neighbourhood for the only off-road biking (the good stuff was too hard for 3 out of 4 of us). We hung out at Sechelt Pier before eating at PKLS Burgers.  Best unique milkshakes:  PKLS  Burgers. The long list is a bit daunting but every single one was absolutely worth the exorbitant cost.  view from the Soames Hill hike lookout, an easy hike with final steep incl...

 Finally, I'm sharing just a few photos and bits about our 2021 family vacation to Sooke, BC (only 18 months later!). Sooke is on Vancouver Island; near the southern most tip. It is about an hour's drive to Victoria, the biggest city on the island, and about an hour's north-westerern drive to Port Renfrew, which touches the tip of the Carmana Walbran Provincial Park .  We stayed at this wonderful little house (fawns! quail chicks! hummingbirds! in the morning) right outside and it had a great ocean view and was so tranquil on a bit of property. Because we found this listing last-minute and it was brand-new, they had offered it at a discount and we scored big. I think we paid roughly 100$/day. It's now quite a bit more, but if you have the budget, it's a beautiful house.  an orca skeleton at the Royal BC Museum Orcas: Our Shared Adventure exhibit was at the Royal BC Museum, and the first section was all about the science of the whales, and the second part was about...

This is nearly 6 months after the fact, but better late than never. I wanted to write about our Cumberland vacation in July because I wanted to share this wonderful little town (and larger Comox Valley) with anyone interested in an outdoor-focused, local(ish) vacation.  We travel light, and expect most of our activities to be somewhat free (hiking, biking, swimming) with our money mostly going to a nicer Airbnb rental and a few treats/meals out in the week. We mostly make all our food, and that helps keep our costs low. This was a really affordable trip for our family of 4, and frankly, the majority of our money went to our lodging and the ferry ride (oof), our splurge was surf + boogie board, wetsuit rentals.  We found so many of these great spots from friends who had been in the area, or had previously lived within a 20 mile radius. Always ask a local!  With our large Europe trip cancelled because of Covid, I wanted to go to the Island because it would feel like we "wen...

a lavender cart using the honor system  My friend Susie and I tooled around a new-to-us place, Vashon Island in Puget Sound, this past weekend for a very quick (but very full!) girls' trip. Susie comes stateside once a year and I'm lucky to live close to her husband's family, so I often get a visit, too, though she's usually with her family in Nebraska. We had both heard about Vashon Island but had never been, and found really cheap accommodations through airbnb.com. I read this article and this one in preparation and rented a car, while she communicated with our hostess. It worked out brilliantly. We headed down to the Faunterloy ferry in West Seattle and got there around noon, and although we had a bit of a wait going out, the price was so cheap! Something like $20 for the two of us and our car roundtrip . We had reservations at The Hardware Store for dinner that night and very little expectations for the rest of the time. Lighthouse on Point Robinson ...

 snapped out front of Rook & Rose , in Victoria Early every year I love to make a goal list that I can slowly work through as opportunities present themselves. Sometimes they're big, sometimes small, and this one was home-centered: get more greenery in for our small basement suite. My sister-in-law does plants so well , and that has inspired me to get a few more plants to spruce up the place {see what I did there?}.  Stefan has liked this goal because he would have a house full of green if our budget allowed it!  My ZZ plant and broad leaf succulent from R&R When I went to Victoria with my friend Emily, we found this beautiful plant boutique (is that even a thing?!) and I bought two beautiful plants that were extremely well priced, and had a healthy gloss to them. The two plants above are from Rook & Rose , and if you're ever in Victoria and you have plant goals, go see them. They had an air plant that was nearly $100 (it was huge, most are ...

This was something brand new we did early in the Spring (yikes! I've neglected this blog for a long time...) around our town, Ft. Langley, BC . There was a 2-3 week period where nearly every house in Ft. Langley, which is home to so many beautifully landscaped properties, had a 'blooming bush' in their yard. The kids and I made up an activity--go on a "blooming bush bike tour" and take photos of all the gorgeous blooms.  Most of these photos were snapped by the kids, and people, we didn't even get farther than 4 city blocks before we were done because we had taken over 50+ photos! Here are a few of our favorites, and I tried to get a good array of colors presented.  If you know which flower/bush it is, leave it for me in the comments (and describe the photo/color of flower so we can know which is which).