What a babe!

Happy, Happy Birthday Trista! Have a fantastic day, wish we were there with you.

Happy Birthday from your little brother

Love, Clayton

Victoria CRC baseball team

Came across this picture from the '90's. It was a pretty strong team, good memories.

Isn't it June next week?

This is just not right!

Shamrocks v Burnaby Lakers

Burnaby is a young team, should be a Victoria win!

Pregame warmup for the Rocks.

** Final game score: Victoria 10-5 Burnaby

When will they stop the flow?

They are staying today that the Gulf oil spill is the worst spill in US history, substantially eclipsing the Exxon Valdez spill.

Rhodo bloom

147th Victoria Highland Games and Celtic Festival

Clayton and I spent 3 1/2 hours this afternoon at the Highland Games. They had the World Heavy Events Championships (photos below), Sheep Dog demonstrations (missed), Highland Dance competitions (missed) and Piping and Drumming competitions (heard those).

"Throwing the Weights" Weights for Distance - 28 lbs. The furthest was ~90 ft.

"Throwing the Hammers" Hammers for Distance - 22 lbs. The furthest was ~115 ft.

Tossing the Caber - the caber must pass through the vertical position in order to count as a turned caber. Only one competitor managed to turn the caber.

Many good efforts went unrewarded

The final event was a demonstration of "Tossing the Keg". Look to the upper right of the picture. A good pint is as worthy as a wee dram.

The end of the raccoon story

This little guy we were told is a juvenile (born last year). He is being taken to a wildlife "hospital" to see if they can fix his leg to allow him to go back into the wild without being prey for other animals.
Jeff and his driving companion was the one who trapped it and took it away. He does this on a freelance basis. We were more than happy to contribute to his expenses.
When we asked if we could take a picture of his hawk, he went one better and asked if we wanted to hold her.
Amazing how large a bird is so light in weight. Definitely this was a highlight to our day.

A picture for today

Mens Provincial A Cup Final

Gorge FC 2 - 1 Surrey United Firefighters at Royal Athletic Park - Victoria

Gorge goes on to represent BC in the Nationals which takes place in October in PEI. Clayton's friend Quinn subbed in for the last 13 minutes of the game.

Saturday morning at the breakwater - Ogden Point

This looked a bit "James Bond'ish". What was interesting was the large freighter behind being loaded with smaller boats. Destination? Unknown.

Love the Victoria waterfront.

Poophawk

Come visit us in Victoria - Mile O.

Debra and I drove down to Ogden Point and went for a walk along the path above the shoreline. It is a beautiful place to walk and loads of people were out. We stopped for coffee at the shop by the breakwater. Later we picked up tickets to see Avatar at the Imax with some friends.

Victoria Shamrocks v Maple Ridge Burrards

Clayton and I were given tickets to all the Shamrocks home games as we will be Twittering the scores live as they happen. (www.twitter.com/_Shamrocks) It is great fun to do this with Clayton who has always been a big lacrosse fan and played when he was younger. We sit up in the Operations Booth and have a great view of the game.

This was the Shamrocks season opener and they won 11 - 7.

A visitor

Debra called me out of my office saying grab the camera. Usually when she says that it is something very worthwhile to see. Right again. This little guy has been in our neighbourhood for a while. A couple of weeks ago we spotted him in the neighbours yard going through the recycling bucket and looking for food. He has a damaged back leg so he moves fairly slowly.

Oklahoma Tornado

Niece Shannon's children with the hail from the storm that brought a Tornado 10 miles from their home in Oklahoma. "you can see the size of the hail and just imagine the sound of that crashing on the roof. Freaky stuff."*update- the back glass of the car was smashed by the hail. Holes in gutters and it appears some roof damage as well.

NHL Funnies

Translation: How to stop the oil spill

Ovechkin and Crosby are out of the playoffs courtesy of the Montreal Canadiens.

Sunny day on the water - Inner Harbour

Debra had an appointment in Vic West and just down the way is the Songhee's. This area has lots of residential condos, townhouses and highrises as well as the Ocean Pointe Resort. I did some work on my laptop and watched the planes and boats go by. Lovely 16 degrees and brilliantly sunny.

Les Canadiens. Go Habs.

Habs knock off the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in 7 games.

"Do you sense it yet? Do you feel it?

The lion has been sleeping for far too long, but the lion has awoken.

The magic of les Canadiens has returned.

Do you feel it?"

** Footnote: The Habs lost the next series by 4 games to 1 to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers advance to the Stanley Cup Finals and face the Chicago Blackhawks who defeated the San Jose Sharks in 4 straight. GO HAWKS!

However this finishes... I am happy right now!!

It is feeling pretty good.

A Mother's Day gift

This chocolate booty came from Clayton. This ought to fix Debra's cravings for a while. :)

Mother's Day on Fort Street

The four of us meandered through some antique shops on Fort Street. Debra fell in love with a 17th century wooden chest (unfortunately, it was a bit out of our price range - but it is fun to dream). After which we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory compliments of Rueben.

Go Habs.

To overly optimistic?

Early Mothers Day Lunch - Mom R, Debra and Linda

We made our way towards Nanaimo, hitting some Garage Sales along the way. Debra arranged with her sister Linda to go out for a Mother's Day lunch with Mom R. This was a surprise for Mom and as of the writing of this post they are still in there enjoying themselves.

Nanaimo Fun Fair

Beside Montana's at the Nanaimo North Shopping Centre was the Fun Fair. Lots of the usual sights, sounds and smells of a midway.