Saturday, December 8, 2012

Lookin' A Lot Like Christmas

Lights from our tree shine in the living room, presents hide in our closets and Butchart Gardens looks magical.  I can no longer deny that the Christmas season has arrived!

Biking around the tree


Carousel at Butchart Gardens
Our Tree

Feeling the effects of the season!



Tuesday, November 13, 2012

More Bookish Thoughts...


The second volume in Ken Follett’s "Century Trilogy" begins in 1933. Hitler has rapidly risen to power and Germans are pondering how to react. The English-born Berliner, Maud von Ulrich, chillingly asks, “what would life be like for our children if Germany became a Fascist state?”  For the next 940 pages, Follett answers this question with a no-nonsense style, an impressively firm grasp of history and an ability to juggle multiple, attention-grabbing story strands.  

In this panoramic, 16-year epic, diverse characters from around the globe become embroiled in historical dramas. From protests in German streets to the London Blitz to the Manhattan Project’s inner workings, the five families from the first book – Welsh, English, Russian, German, and American – and, to a greater extent, the next generation, get even further entangled. 

Each character fights literal and figurative battles; Carla von Ulrich does her courageous utmost to halt Nazi atrocities, Lloyd Williams, the Cambridge-educated illegitimate son of a housemaid-turned-MP, heads to Spain during its civil war to combat fascism, not expecting to fight communists too, and Daisy Peshkov awakens from her rich, empty existence to establish a meaningful life.

"Winter of the World" includes nearly every type of Second World War story, drawing together scenes of country house drama, suspenseful front-line action, Soviet espionage, daring resistance, generational conflict and even interracial romance. Most impressively, rather than a patchwork of disparate segments, Follett has produced another seamlessly woven and enjoyably readable work, one which honours the individual acts of bravery that shifted history’s course. At its heart, this mammoth saga highlights the importance of connections. Follett clearly explains the links among the political and social movements during this darkest of times.


Sunday, November 11, 2012

More Bookish Thoughts...


Each story in Emma Donoghue’s new collection has roots in fact: the trouble caused by a paranoid settler in 17th-century Cape Cod; the gruelling Yukon winter of 1896, which broke the spirits of so many prospectors; the enduring love between two women artists in a 1960s Ontario care-home.  Readers first meet a London zookeeper in 1882, distraught over the transfer of his favourite elephant to America.  We later read the love-letters of a young mother, sailing from Ireland to Canada to meet her husband, who will be dead of cholera before she arrives. In 1860s Texas, a slave plans a reckless break for freedom and takes his master’s wife with him. In New Jersey City, a decade later, a destitute girl gives up her baby for adoption, as we are told a quarter of a million hungry American families had to do.

Every tale elaborates a physical or emotional departure from an unliveable life. Donoghue ingeniously ends each story not with a pivotal incident from her vivid fiction, but rather with an authorial postscript detailing the facts of the matter. An informative and witty Afterword further details Donoghue's research and bears reading even before beginning the collection.  

Ultimately, "Astray" does present hope. It shows the talent of a writer for whom every life has its shining moments despite the dark truths told alongside them.


Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happy Hallowe'en!

I think my little Ducky enjoyed yesterday's festivities despite not really understanding why everyone had on such ridiculous outfits!  I took him trick-or-treating through Oak Bay Village in the afternoon (where he hauled in the loot!) and Mama J brought him around to the neighbours' after dinner.  Now the tough question: which candy are Moms allowed to eat?

Lets go get us some candy!

Short breather between outings

Off with Mama J



Monday, October 22, 2012

Terrific Twos

Despite the three hour power outage, we had a great time celebrating Eliot's second birthday on Saturday.  The afternoon was filled with good friends, new toys and the arrival of Eliot's first bike.  The ice cream cake even stayed frozen!  A huge thank you to everyone who made the day so memorable and especially to Grandad who rescued us with a box of Starbucks coffee!

Still to come: a birthday dinner tonight with Auntie Marna complete with leftover cake!

I can't believe that, two years ago, I paced the halls of VGH rocking my infant son in a fog of exhaustion, wonder and love.  Happy Birthday, dear Eliot; you are more amazing than you know.

Make a wish

Thomas Train

Farm Lego set

WOW Camper

Fisher Price Garage

First wheels!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Creative Juices

Evening art has become one of Eliot's favourite pre-bedtime rituals.  I guess play dough, markers and chalk all have a soothing quality!

Roll and shape and roll and shape...
Eat your heart out, Picasso!

We interrupt this art session for a quick hug.


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Our Favourite Park

Eliot and I never tire of exploring Anderson Hill; we always revel in the beautiful views and countless rocks.  Mama J joined us on an extra-special Thanksgiving walk yesterday and Eliot showed off his climbing skills under more warm sunshine.

Up, up, up...

Hello, mountain goat!

Phew - made it!