CELEBRATE PAGE'S BIRTHDAY!!!

A wonderful day spent together - celebrating Page style. (o=

visitors to 119 - come and go.

Christy and Ken (Christy and I went through the interpreter program in Seattle together) graced our home with friendly love and clementines from Dec. 10-12. While Page's dad, Tom, visited on Dec 19. We had a GREAT time with all involved. Having Christy and Ken over was a blast ... we gave them the house tour and all the project plans. We went to Milestone's (yum) and walked into Cook Street Village ... lounged around on our only piece of community furniture (our new watermelon colored couch) and we enjoyed delicious food prepared lovingly by Page (= .... and we rented Tommy Boy for some good old school laughs!

Professor Rossiter was good fun too .... we kept him busy on his first trip to Victoria. We brought Tom to The Sticky Wicket for dinner when he landed. Another meal was enjoyed at Milestone's on the water. We tootled around town in and out of the shops, we made our way to Butchart Gardens to see there display of lights, and had lunch at The Empress Hotel (not all in one day - he was here for a week=).

We also enjoyed home cooked meals and some classic movies at home - East of Eden and High Society. And before we shipped him off we enjoyed a decadent day at the Delta Ocean Point Spa here in town, massages for everyone!! We look forward to seeing more of Tom in 2007!

2007 welcomes more visitors as well !!!

Lee Rossiter ( Page's mom ). She arrives from San Diego, by way of Bellingham, on January 22 - it will be her first trip to lovely Victoria as well.

Tentatively - Tracy, Conner and Lucy are headed this way for a quick weekend getaway just after Lee departs.

Also, well-loved author and good buddy, Ms Julie Hunt, from SD is looking to visit in the VERY near future.

blogs on delay ... solstice right on time (=

hello hello

i am drafting up blogs as things are happening .... AND it is a bummer that i cannot upload the pictures that are fitting to the blog! INSTEAD of putting them on hold ... i will post them and when i upload all my pictures next month i will post those also (=

for those of you who check in just to see the pictures .... try not to let the text bore you. LOL

HOPEFULLY you all are still checking the blog for updates. Pictures will arrive mid-Feb.

happy holidays ... today is winter solstice.... enjoy!! each and every day will shine a bit more light your way til summer (=

happy in victoria

We took this photo on the front lawn of the Empress Hotel after Sarah & Joe's wedding in June of 2004. It was that visit that prompted our desire to live in Victoria. Today, nearly 2 1/2 years later, we received our visas, a nearly complete immigration process!

Early next year we will retrieve our belongings from San Diego and upon entry to Canada we will intitiate the "landing" process. Within a month of that entry date we will receive our "permanent resident" cards, which are valid for a five year period.

It is hard to believe we are really here ... it has been 5 weeks already!!

The lower level of the deck railings were removed today, I chopped a bunch of wood (to be used in the wood stove next year) and yesterday the newly reinforced compost bin was erected. Plans are underway for our remodel projects. Next week I need to get some drawings, as well as information for a building permit, at the city.

Christy and Ken head our way tomorrow ... we are super excited for their visit!

OH ... I nearly forgot ... we strung up our first string of seasonal lights tonight ... they look great!

one week later ... still a wee bit white (=

well ... it has been a week since the snowstorm hit .. and the street sides are now filled with piles of dirty snow ... a bit of white here and there due to just a couple days of above freezing tempatures ... as long as we have no more white stuff falling in the coming days ... all the white should be gone....

more snow!

another day ... another white day i should say.

snow fell for several hours today as we made our way into town ... most of the roads have been plowed and mounds of snow still exist on every street corner.

my paper route went smoothly this morning ... on the cooler side ( 26 degrees ) ... and it went well .. no falls!

the boys enjoyed watching the snow flurries from the front window ... and the gusty winds blowing the powdery stuff off the neighbours rooftop added to the mystery of it all.

i am sad to say i am not able to publish pictures from my digital camera as we are here in BC with only our laptop and my desktop houses all of my digital downloading software ... so pics that are posted are from our archive or from someone else's camera.

BUMMER ... got some great shots of Ms Page in her new cape today out in the snow )=

will add it when i can (=

dressed in white

well they say it doesn't snow on Vancouver Island ... yet 10 inches of the white stuff on my porch railing begs to differ.

it has been below freezing for 2 days now in Victoria and we are a scene of white.

no school, no garbage man, not alot of anything but shoveling happening here.

our new home

we arrived on Halloween .... and in a few short weeks we have: pulled up old carpet, stripped walls and walls of wall paper, ordered (and received) a new couch, chair, ottoman, TV and bed.

and the projects have only just begun ...

the cats are adjusting ... and as long as i am within 6 feet from Smudge he is in good spirits!

i took on a local paper route, twice a week, just 66 houses in all. so i get out a bit, meet the neighbours and climb a few dozen of stairs (=

page has taken up knitting and now has plenty to do inside on the stormy winter days.

she has also been on several outings ... researching a new health club as well as the best grocery stores in town.

December will bring our first house guests .... Christy and ken, from Ellensburg, will be visiting the 10-12th and page's dad, from Boston, will be in town for a week through winter solstice.

after that we roll up our sleeves and are "full steam ahead" .... our intention is for the remodeling projects to go smoothly and for them to be complete within our one year anniversary here.

as of now, our plan is to: gut the basement, tear up the remainder of the floors to install radiant floor heating throughout the house, add a few photovoltaic panels (if we find them feasible) (=, tear down the existing back decks and rebuild, add on a laundry room and office downstairs and unless i can figure out another way for an excavator to get out back, we will probably move the entire workshop and of course we will need to add a hot tub to the backyard.... and then there is the rest of the inside of the house (=

thanks to the neighbours for all their support ... Jan loans us just about anything ..... and Hilary welcomed us with some grub baked goods!! YUM!

STAY TUNED TO MY BLOG FOR MORE INFO!