St.David's Academy of Holy Vaginas

OK - so you probably are wondering what the "St.David's Academy of Holy Vaginas" refers to...
Well, our friend Dave has just spent the last year in Australia on a teacher exchange and he had the rather humorous pleasure of teaching at an all girls Catholic school. There was a significant amount of humour in this because he is about as far as is humanly possible from being a good Catholic boy.
So we decided that the ultimate theme for his surprise 40th Birthday party would be for us all to dress up as Catholic school girls. It was great because everyone who came got into the spirit of the occasion and dressed up.
Boy oh boy -- he was definitely surprised.
What follows is a series of photographs of the night's frivolities. A good time was had by all!

Comox Weekend Away

We just had the May long weekend here in Victoria. The public holiday commemorates Queen Victoria's birthday. We still love the British Royalty here in Canada.
This is the weekend where everyone feels it is safe to plant out all their veggie plants and annuals for the summer ahead because the chances of cool weather is significantly diminished. We are now in full blown spring and the days are very long. The sun goes down after 9pm every evening and we are thoroughly enjoying the nice long days. We come home after work and school and can all still enjoy good times in the garden.
This weekend we went up to Comox (three hours north of Victoria on the east side of Vancouver island). Our friends Dave and Heather returned from Australia not that long ago -- so it was time for a visit. We had a number of friends join us since we threw a surprise 40th Birthday party for our friend Dave...
The next blog will share some of those Birthday details...

Spider Nest

The other day Pippin and I were heading out the door when we noticed this amazing clump of activity on a Camilla leaf just outside our door. On closer inspection we noticed that it was a nest of spiders - several hundred tiny little baby spiders!
Over the next few days the spiders traveled with the wind and spread out far and wide throughout the front yard.
By late summer we will have a garden filled with big juicy spiders with webs designed to catch flies and other unsuspecting critters.
It has been a great sight to take in!

Skye on her Birthday

Time for me to catch up on a few blog posts...
A few weeks ago on May 11th, Skye turned 41. We took in the day with some close friends and had a lovely time.
It was hard not to be reminded of the fact that one year ago we all had just arrived in Provence to fields and fields of the most stunning spring flowers. John, Bay and Nancy were there waiting for us.
The South of France has been flooding into our minds constantly for the last few weeks ... Skye's birthday will always be washed with those incredible memories.
What a gift!