Rebekah's First Snow Day

Yesterday before church I was running a little late so I decided to drive instead of walk. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground. Then I got out of church 2 hours later and there was about 4 inches on my car. Driving home some of the traffic lights were out, a bus (sideways) was taking up one road, and branches covered others. It was an adventure, but at least it wasn't that far. Then a few hours later I measured the driveway and it had 4.25 inches of snow. By about 11:30 at night, it was 6.5 inches. Then this morning it was 9.25 inches:
But in the yard it measured 11.5 inches. I tried to not measure drifts. Rebekah claims that at her house it was 14 inches.

Everything shut down just like in South Carolina! What I found most amazing about the entire thing is that classes were canceled today (obviously) making it Rebekah's first snow day ever! Despite being the furthest south she's ever lived in Canada! Here are some more pictures of the winter wonderland:





Someone is up to no good making that snowball! There are more photos here.

Goldstream Salmon

Every year from late October through early December, the salmon return from the Pacific Ocean to the freshwater streams to spawn and then die. Then in early December until early February, bald eagles migrate to the area to eat the dead salmon. Rebekah and I set out to Goldstream park on Saturday to go see the salmon. Hopefully they would be bright red like they get before they spawn. But, it seems we were both too late to see the red and too early to see the eagles. We still saw some of each though, just not tons. I thought you might enjoy some pictures.

Here is a woodpecker that we saw:
Here's a bald eagle just chilling in the tree:The same one in the tree, but posing for a fashion shot:
Rebekah found a nice waterfall:
Here are the fish in their 1/2 decayed state. They swim until they have decayed too much and die.
There are even more photos here.

The Blue Nile

Richard III started playing last week at the theatre on campus, put on by the theatre department students. It was an interesting play because of the lighting, smoke, and modern costumes. Its even better if Shakespeare is your thing. The stage was a small square with seating all around it, so the actors entered by way of the aisles. There were about 5 rows of seats on each side, so it was a nice and small atmosphere.

Rebekah had been wanting to see the play for quite some time, so we went on preview night which was over reading break. I was told that I was in charge of dinner. I found this fabulous restaurant that I would recommend to everyone in Victoria: The Blue Nile. It's kinda far out of town for those restricted to a bus though. I had never had East African food before so it sounded like a good adventure. The food was a bit spicy (for some), but will clean out your nose. Despite what the website says, they don't have a menu. They are only open 5-9pm and serve a $10.95 dinner buffet only. It's a small buffet, but quite good. Show up at 6:30 or later unless you like to be the only ones in the place. We got there at 5:30 and no one else came until 6:30. Go!

Dragon Fruit

Every time I go to the grocery store, I try to pick up something that has never been in my kitchen before. Well I was there with Rebekah a few weeks ago and I saw this marvelous looking dragon fruit. The kind we had is the one with the pink skin and white meat. It tasted a lot like kiwi and was definitely neat to try. I'd buy it more often if they weren't $2.50 each. There's Chinese writing on the bag that it comes in to tell you that it is from Vietnam and that it "promotes health, not just in old people but for every age." Pretty cool looking thing.

This gives me an idea...