You guys are just the best. No, seriously. Yesterday as I sat for literally two hours staring at a blank page (or computer screen) I decided to put it out there and posted on my Facebook page that I was at a loss as to what I should write about today.
 
So here we go – some of your ideas. And thanks! I don’t often run out of ideas and, when I do, sometimes the actual physical act of putting my fingers on the keyboard helps. Muscle memory? Reflexology? I don’t really know. But yesterday…nope. I think it’s a hangover from the sadness of Sunday, to be honest. But we power through and you helped a lot.
 
Spring came up in several suggestions. I don’t write about the weather out here in Victoria because it’s been so wintry in Ontario (where many of this journal’s readers are) and so darned pleasant here. Last week when I was sitting in the car getting chocolate all over my lap, the temperature on the MINI readout was 28C. I’m not kidding. (It was actually in the low 20s once we got out of the sunny parking lot.)
 
So that’s why I don’t tell you that the daffodils and pansies are out and that the trees are a riotous mix of pinks and whites. I wouldn’t dream of including a picture like this, taken near “our” bench on Sunday! Oh, no I would not. (I just heard Keith Morrison’s Dateline voice there, did you?
 

 
Baseball for the Blue Jays begins tomorrow afternoon versus the Detroit Tigers. How I miss those heady years, even as recently as 2015, when we had post season hopes. Of course, nothing’s impossible, but…we’ll see how it goes. And no John Gibbons this year, either, huh? I always thought he had a bit of a Brad Pitt look to him….
 
I’m so glad that the Jays are “Canada’s Team.” Last week when I was tweeting about the Leafs, someone from a western broadcast site said, “You’re still cheering for the Leafs?” and I couldn’t help but think that there’s no way I’m giving up on them now! We are in a better spot than we’ve been since the early 90s. Our Stanley Cup memories are in black and white. Why would we give ‘em up now, right? And Rob still puts on his Leafs jammie pants when they play, as he will this afternoon.
 
Fortunately, there are no superstitions about washing them, etc.. And yes, I said afternoon: they usually hit the ice at 4 pm our time. I LOVE that we can watch a game and still have the evening to watch other stuff. The west coast time zone ROCKS. In fact, that afternoon baseball game tomorrow is going to happen in our lunch hour.
 
That’s just one of the great things about having made this move. Sheila asked me to write about the best things. Well, by far, it’s been a chance to start fresh, to look out at the ocean every day and see sails and gulls and mountains and a view that is ever-changing.
 
One of the best parts has been to be around my favourite young cousin and her husband and two children, but that’s about to change. Tonight, we’ll go to dinner in nearby Langford and say good-bye to Karen, Joe, Regan and Owen, as they get set to leave Vancouver Island and move to Calgary. What’s great news is that Karen’s two siblings already live in the Stampede City, and the children will get to know their cousins. It’s a terrific career move for Joe, who is truly one of the brightest people I’ve ever met.
 
We love this little family and, as hard as it is emotionally on Karen’s parents (who live here and were a big reason we set our sights on Victoria to begin with), we know that it’s for the best for Karen and Joe. We wish them love and luck and will sorely miss having little people in our lives. But that’s life, right? Like the old song goes, somebody’s always saying good-bye.
 
I’ll come back to many of your ideas as the weeks and months go on, but thank you for chiming in and lending a hand to help me move a great big block.
 
Hugs,