Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A Beautiful Day...


... for digging a hole!

One of the great things about the place I've moved to is that the back yard is just lawn. It is a blank canvas just waiting to have plants put into it and I am so excited about trying to garden in Victoria this year!

So today, I got out my shovel and started digging out a flower bed. It's in a corner of the yard where the fence is the highest. My plans are to turn it into a shade garden. I think it will be a mix of perennials and some annuals. I might add a shrub or two but I want it to have mostly perennials: some hostas and ostrich ferns and definitely some plants that I've never tried before.
I won't have as many weather-related challenges here in Victoria as I did on the prairies, and I'm going to be able to try out plants that are new to me; so basically anything higher than a zone 3. I guess a trip to a garden centre is in order!

The weather today was absolutely amazing. I hear that the prairie provinces still have snow but that is definitely not the case here in Victoria. The sun was shining and the temperature was close to 20oC. People were out mowing their lawns and the mail carrier was wearing shorts... AND I had the gardening bug! What a great day :)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Curling!


Yesterday evening, I tried out the sport of curling for the very first time. I think the sport gets a bad rap because it isn't exactly fast-paced but boy oh boy is it ever fun to play! I didn't get any pictures of myself playing, but my teammates all look like they're having fun.

First, I had to figure out how to keep my balance on some incredibly slippery ice (there's a machine that sprinkles a layer of water droplets on top which makes it even more slippery than the ice you might find in a parking lot or ice arena)!

After that, I tried to throw a 42 pound rock across the ice. The most confusing thing for me was figuring out which way to point my thumb and which way to rotate the rock when I was throwing to get a curve across the ice. I did get it in the end.

Sweeping, I'm sorry to say, came to me fairly naturally but I didn't realize how HARD you have to scrub the ice sometimes to get that stone to move! It's quite a work out!

The best thing is that while you are doing all this, you are on a team and socializing with people the whole time. I think it is a great way to get out of the house, get a little bit of exercise and a good way to meet people too. I definitely want to give it a try again sometime!

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