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!

The Garden

Skye and I have been busy little bunnies when it comes to the garden. We have made all kinds of changes to accommodate the new deck and taken on a new direction with out gardening interests. The main thrust has been that we have been wanting to grow some veggies and so we have had to set up lots of new beds with good soil. Working towards having a small kitchen garden has been a very creative and fun time -- we have been stealing time whenever we can to keep working on our ideas. So here are some pictures to keep you all in the loop on developments here behind the tweed curtain.
Take care
Until next time
R

Easter Weekend with Bay

We were recently blessed with Bay's lovely presence for the two weeks over Easter. Over the years, Bay has always made an effort to come down for this holiday and "plug in" (as we like to say). We are like little moles emerging from winter and always enjoy having some additional energy in the home to get us inspired for spring time activities. Bay is all about rolling up her sleeves and helping out -- we are really appreciate these injections of granny love.
As you can see Bay felt inspired and made some delicious hot cross buns... They were scrumptious!
The other visitor to our home was the Easter Bunny. Like previous years, Kai and Pippin were well adorned with many tasty treats. There was such abundance that even the adults managed to find some chocolate eggs to gobble up. Good quality chocolate eggs to boot! Only the best for us over here Behind the Tweed Curtain!
This year the Easter Bunny came on the same night as the Tooth Fairy -- Kai had lost another molar on the night before Easter. I guess the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny had to duel it out on our home turf!


Until next time...

Late March in Victoria -- Gardening Heaven!

Our time away from Victoria meant that we had to give up a year without much gardening and so we have come back with new energy and inspiration. It took some additional energy to clean up from a year without much gardening but we really have come to a place now where things are looking superb. We have made number of new beds because we really want to blend a kitchen garden into our existing yard. Our time away inspired us a lot -- seeing all those productive people all over the world taking their little lots and supplementing their kitchens with gorgeous fresh produce. We live in a very temperate place here which is ideal for growing quite a variety of food. So no more excuses! We have always loved gardening so why not build a skill set around food production.
What follows is series of pictures showing the new garden beds with the lovely rich soil we recently added. Pippin was kind enough to work with her Papa and showcase all our hard work. We also recently replaced the back porch -- with a stairway that now leads directly into the yard. It is a vast improvement making the yard and the house feel that much more connected. It is better Feng Shui as some would say...
The last picture is of Kai yesterday out at a farm we visited... Kai is becoming quite the colourful dresser these days!