"The Birds are back."
"Pardon." I said to the strange, dog-walking lady.
She pointed ominously up into the skeletal trees and said simply, "Look."
With a sense of dread and foreboding, I slowly turned and looked in the direction she was pointing.
In the City of Vancouver, there is a cluster of eight trees or so that serve as a seasonal home to hundreds of Great Blue Herons.
Stanley Park is the oldest urban forest and park area in Vancouver. Many great photo-ops, like this beautiful swan, along the walk.
Me, "If we move to Den Haag, you will be able to go surfing in the North Sea. There's a surf school there."
Liam, "I'm not going surfing where there are sharks."
Me, "There are no sharks in the North Sea."
Liam, "You're trying to tell me that in the 94,000 miles of water that is the North Sea, there isn't one single shark."
Note to self: he is obviously on the Internet at this point in the conversation so I had better get my facts straight.
Me, "Well, only if someone dropped one in there."
Liam, "So, it could happen."
Me, "No."
Liam, "Well, how big does an Atlantic Cod get."
Me, "Not big enough to be a threat."
Liam, "What's a porpoise?"
Me, "It's like a dolphin." (My apologies to the marine zoologists out there.)
Liam, "With teeth."
Me, "I think they all have teeth."
Liam, "Might as well be a shark then. I'm not surfing. Can I go to the hockey game?"
Seriously, I don't know what it is. I'm waiting to hear back from Cornell University. I'm sure I'm really high on their priority list.
"Hi, this is Kim.... there's this bird in my tree...." Went well.
Vancouver in December.
After having three Vancouver flights canceled due to inclement weather, it was very cool to see this in the rear view mirror.
Here in Fruitvale, we received a HUGE dump of snow. Now, after gracefully exiting the little World of Me, I have watched the news and discovered that this phenomenon is not isolated to my little valley. There are crazy meteorological happenings everywhere!
Just look at this! Crazy!
"No, the menagerie is not looking for new members."
Liam and I found this guy just outside of Marmora, Ontario. And, he's still there. I was strong.
A most excellent excuse to go walking instead of running.
Here I sit in a Vancouver hotel room. I plan to go to sleep early tonight and set my alarm clock for 3:30 am.
At that time, it will be my responsibility to go out to the street, bang my wine bottle against my aluminum Chinese food container and yell towards the sky to effectively chase off the voracious monster that will be attempting to consume the moon.
My efforts will likely go unnoticed in this part of town; commonly witnessed behaviour, I suppose. In fact, I may get a date.
