At Grouse Mountain



We went up Grouse Mountain at sunset. Edy was excited about maybe seeing a a bear, and we saw one: Grinder, the smaller of the two grizzlies that live in a special habitat on top of the mountain. We also saw a beautiful white wolf and a stellar's jay, which Edy called "The Blue Parrot." While we were on the mountain there was a slide on the Grouse Grind and the trail was closed.



Going up the gondola at sunset gives you a breathtaking view.



Sunset wasn't too bad for romance, either.

Some Pics from Dani and Edy's Washington/Oregon Coast Road Trip, August 2005

Edy at the Olympia "Sand in the City" Sandcastle Festival. They provided chalk and let kids (ie., Edy) draw all over the streets.

Remember the Depeche Mode song? No? Me either. I wasn't an eighties teenager but someone else I know was...

Here we are on the Monorail in Seattle. We are sitting in the very front and the driver let me blow the horn before we started to drive...it was frickin' loud.

At the Space Needle, Seattle.

A little lovin' on top of the Space Needle.

Congratulations Riley!


Riley McCormick, diving phenom (and family friend: his Mom and Pop were Alex and I's best grown-up buds as kids), is one step closer to the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008! Riley and his diving partner, Wegadesk Gorup-Paul, finished 11th in the men's synchronized 10-metre platform dive event at the World Aquatics Championships this weekend in Montreal. Riley, at 13, was the youngest competitor in the championships. What an accomplishment. At 13 I was playing girl's C-team softball and hanging out at the mall. Way to go, Riley, the Lemons (and I'm sure all of Victoria) are rooting for ya!


For more on Riley and his amazing accomplishments see:
http://www.rileymccormick.ca

Back to B.C.

I've been back in British Columbia for a week now, and I'm living in a no-man's-land of suitcases and boxes, in my room at my parents' house, waiting to move to Vancouver on the 1st of August. It's strange to feel settled and not-settled at the same time.

I arrived home last Sunday and we were on the first ferry to Vancouver on the Monday to find me an apartment; the housing market is pretty grim mid-month on the Lower Mainland, but I managed to snag an apartment that feels like me, in the West End, near English Bay. I had an agonizing wait for a week to see if I would get the suite, but all's well that ends well, it's mine, and my brother and I will take a truck of my stuff over next weekend.

So for the meantime I am working on my dissertation, trying to get used to sleeping when it's so darn quiet (where is the traffic?!), and enjoying the Canadian dollar and all it has to offer. Below are some photos of my first week back; I am going to try to continue to post as much as I can...it might not be as exciting as reading about London and Rome, etc, but I'm doing it mostly to make a statement to myself (and to whoever still bothers to read) that life in B.C. can offer as much, if vastly different, blog-worthy material as London. Because for what it's worth, I'm a Left Coast girl, and it's good to be home.

Sarah Harmer in Centennial Plaza

Mike took me and his girlfriend Kate to see Sarah Harmer play an outdoor concert in Centennial Square this weekend. Mike and I both missed the other 2 times she's come to Victoria: in late 2000 (I think) we decided to stay home to watch Dubya get elected (kind of) for the first time, and she came back this fall when I was in London and he was in Tokyo. She is just one of those great Canadian voices that I missed so much when I was away...the world doesn't know what it's missing. Hooray for Canadian content rules.

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Family Day at Camp

It was Family Day at Al's camp in Metchosin this weekend, and I always go out to help (even though they don't really need my help)...this lovely "cosmetic" addition of the canoe-slash-signpost is just one of the many "upgrades" they've made since I volunteered out here as a teenager...we didn't have buildings then, let alone signposts. It's amazing what they've done with the property. 

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