May Day(s)!!

The first weekend in May was pretty packed with awesomeness. I actually got to sleep in on the Saturday, a luxury! After having some people over for dinner that night, I met Willem and Jason downtown to catch the start of a Funktapus show, with Mike Edel, who I met through Willem, opening the show. Seriously, check out that Mike Edel video, all filming done in beautific Victoria (and I know a few people who are in it :)) accompanied by a lilting melody. From there I went to meet a bunch of people at a cinema to watch Wolverine, which I have to say although it was entertaining, it could have been better. I did love Gambit, though. Some of the crowd came back to the Stank (as our home is appropriately labelled) afterward for a bonfire and s'mores, and music, of course.

Sunday was fairly typical (church, lunch, etc.) until, down at the Tailgate Grill (a group of us go downtown, parking outside Streetlink, and feed hamburgers to... well, anyone who wants one - mostly people staying on the streets or in the shelter) I met a couple of guys from Paisley! Go figure. That was pretty stochastic; it made my night. Nothing too notable happened that first week of May, except things like walking at Willow's Beach with Emily (I am the blur of gypsy wind in the picture), Mom having her birthday and Aunt Mary and Uncle Dwight having their anniversary, and Aunt Tess having surgery. You know, nothing too crazy. But seriously, there has been a lot of praying going on, and as so far God's taken good care of us, I figure we can keep trusting. :)

Friday night Alex finally came back from Summerland, so I picked her up from the airport, then joined the already assembled group of people at The Stank for a birthday party of sorts (at least there was cake and ice cream) for Jason, as he was heading to Guatemela the next day so would be out of the country for his actual birthday...


For the long weekend, Emily and I headed to the mainland to visit Anica and Jonathan, Anica in White Rock/Surrey (works for A Rocha), and Jon in Abbotsford. The whole weekend was pretty much amazing!! I love the mainland scenery and atmosphere, which is more like Ontario than the island, and it was also great to spend some time in the country, helping out on a farm. :D And yeah, seeing Anica and Jon again was spectacular, as they are two of my favourite people... we had some sweet times, going out for breakfast, visiting Westminster Abbey in Mission, checking out Fort Langley. "There were moments of gold and there were flashes of light." On Sunday night we ended up (sans Jon) going to dinner chez Steve, who works for A Rocha. It was a delicious French-style dinner, where many different types of cheese and meat, with some crackers and bread, were provided, and it was up to you to fry your own meat and melt your own cheese on a device that sat on the table. I liked it. I also liked the number of djembes sitting around Steve's house, and the steel drum. We had a couple of primitive group jamming sessions. :)

It's been pretty typically lovely (aka warm and sunny) here this month, which is awesome, because we can spend lot of work time outdoors, something the kids love. It also means I can bike to work more. Even our Bible study is taking advantage, as next Wednesday's is going to be outdoors, something that will hopefully become routine. And bonfires and barbecues are always fun, too.

Random pondering: I know a ton (possibly a literal tonne) of people born in May.

April showers?

April was a month of splendor here in Victoria, B.C.! The first of the month was a great day, replete with work, sports, a dinner with friends, and then brought to a close by laughing my head off playing Jabberwocky with some of my best friends. "The game that lets your imagination run wild!" Jabberwocky is probably my favourite board game; it's extremely fun (and I don't say that lightly)!

I played in a hockey tournament the first weekend of April, subbing as an out player (played wing) for Team Xtreme, which was sweet. They are a pretty good team, with many skilled players. I only played 2 games, as they were full for the others. I also bought my first wetsuit that weekend, an exciting purchase! Thanks Dad, for the late Christmas present :D



Over Easter weekend, as I mentioned, I took a roadtrip with 4 friends to San Diego. We left Thursday night, 4 of us catching the 7pm ferry across to Tsawwassen, and picking up the 5th member of the crew just North of the ferry dock. We made it into the US pretty quickly that evening, no line ups. The rest of the driving was lovely, especially when I got to drive from Oregon into California amidst a flurry! Spectacular!! :D Honorable mention to the pillow fight 3 of us had as we drove by LA at 9pm Friday night ... the 46 hours we got to spend in Carlsbad and San Diego were such a blessing, spending a lot of time outdoors and on the beach, and also getting to check out Body Worlds. We went to an Easter Sunrise service on Sunday morning, as I mentioned, and there's nothing like watching a sun rise to help one reflect on how God's mercy and grace really has given each of us new life. We made it back safe and happy, albeit sunburnt and somewhat sleepy, after only 24 hours of driving. We managed to catch the last ferry back to the island and there said our tearful (well, maybe not quite) good-byes, after a few parting shots (ie. pictures) ...















I played in another hockey tournament during the last weekend of April, playing goal for the Spitfires, my usual team. Our record was 3-2, but unfortunately one of the games we lost was a semi-final (under auspicious circumstances). Ah well, it was a well-put together tournament, I won an MVP award for one game, and it was a fun way to end out the girls' hockey season.