Waiting for a bit of sunshine...

Monday 13 March

Yes, I know, I finished with Monday the 13th, but... I was to tell you about my violation notice.  When we had settled in and sorted out who and what was going where I found the time to ring up about the fine and, after my explanation, which wasn't even a full explanation, a friendly lady at the other end said: "Oh well, you wanted to pay.  That's fine.  Just forget about the notice and send $6 for the extra hours.  That will do!"  Well, I wish that the people back home would be so lenient!

Anyway, that's that out of the way.

We also started regular games of pool, because you may remember there is this big pool table downstairs and it needs to be used...

Tuesday 14 March

A day at home, catching up on a few things.  Updating my blog took most of the time, because there were a lot of photographs to be sorted.  In the afternoon we did some more shopping at leisure and Wim cooked dinner.  Hooray for a brother who likes cooking (some of the time ;-)).

The weather was not very inviting, so no outdoor activities.

Wednesday 15 March

We should have gone out in the morning, because the sun was shining!!!  However, there was still a lot to do, like bookkeeping and laundry, so we were too optimistic and waited till the afternoon before making an effort to go somewhere.  Silly!

Instead we took some interest in the wildlife around the house.  I had filled the bird feeder near the kitchen window with sugar solution for the hummingbirds and the feeder down near the big tree with sunflower seeds.

Wim took the opportunity to try and photograph the birds and to our surprise we even noticed a squirrel eating from the seeds.  There were plenty of other birds and I finally could watch them through binoculars which enabled me to identify them.  They are all far from the house and small and very flighty, so there is no chance that they can be photographed.  Instead I have picked a few pictures from the internet and will post them here just to show what kind of birds we see:

American Robin (Roodborst)

Black-capped Chickadee (Glanskopmees)

Dark-eyed Junco (Familie van de gorzen)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Canadese Boomklever)

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Robijnkeelkolibrie)

Rufus-sided Towhee (Roodflanktowie - fam. van de gorzen)

Spotted Towhee (Gevlekte towie - fam. van de gorzen)

The last two are very difficult to distinguish, even when sourcing them on the internet, so I take it that it's probably one or the other or they may just be the same bird...


In the afternoon, while the sun was still out, we made for Parksville and Englishman River Falls, but we didn't get as far as we had wanted.  On the way to Parksville we could see the far away mountains lit by sunshine, but by the time we arrived at the beach (where I'd been with Donna last Sunday) the clouds and weather were closing in fast.  We looked for two geocaches, which both eluded us, and by the time we walked back to the car the rain was coming down.  No Falls today, but return to Lantzville. Where it was dry still!  So, a bit of sightseeing, looking for another elusive geocache and then homewards and time for a cuppa.

The three caches we tried were: Best Friends "Rock", Parksville Beach and T&W Island View.

As it was my turn to cook I tried out the local herb-and-apple sausages with witlof and mashed potatoes.  The sausages were nice, as were the meatballs that Wim produced the day before.

Time for a few games of pool, an update for my blog and then... bedtime...