People & Places
Hobden's Canadian blog April 2008
Life's a beach for Darren Hobden because the sun's been out on Vancouver Island
The weather has been quite nice for this time of the year. We were able to sit outside and eat lunch on a number of occasions, and we've been able to walk around in t-shirts and enjoy the sunshine. But the changing season means it will soon be time for me to start work on our vegetable garden.
We live just five minutes walk away from the beach and I have made it one of my goals to try and go to the beach as often as possible, whether it is having a leisurely walk down there with our dog or just stopping quickly when driving by. From the beach we look across towards Piers Island and the Gulf Islands in the distance with Saltspring Island to the left and Deep Cove, part of the Saanich Peninsula to the right. On clear days Mount Baker is visible as well. I enjoy coming here and seeing bald eagles and a variety of different sea birds. Nearly every time I am there I watch seals swimming about and jumping around and it truly is an inspiring place. I quite often tell people that my favourite place of all is from Cherry Point Beach to Cowichan Bay and I am thankful that we are lucky enough to live here. As ever, Anja and Daniel are beating me hands down when it comes to exercise.
Anja is still busy swimming and dancing. It takes up a lot of her time as she swims once a week and dances three times a week but she enjoys doing them.
Daniel had a great month for basketball. They won the Mid-Island Championship quite convincingly and then played in the Island Championship. They got through to the semi-final where they faced another Island team called Oak Bay, who come from Victoria. Oak Bay are the provincial number one team and are favourites to win the provincial tournament coming up and they have only lost once all season. Cowichan had played them twice already this season in different tournaments and had lost both games so they were not overconfident.
The boys were pumped for the game and ended up beating them 81 – 70 and they went on to win the final and are now Island Champions for the second year running. Daniel played very well and was one of the five elected into the tournament all-star team. Next stop the Provincial Championships!
Tip Of The Week: Following on from last month about how to keep in contact with friends and relatives, here are some other options that may be useful. There are the traditional methods – writing letters, e-mails or phoning. There is also Skype, which we use, and MSN, which our children favour. We also have this blog page and a blog page on our website and have friends who use blog pages or photo websites. We have also made twice yearly 'newsletters', which can cover the main updates in your new lives and can be sent by e-mail or letter.
We are receiving lots of e-mails and it is always nice to hear from you and answer questions where we can. Please do e-mail us.
Please check out our website for information on Canada and links to specific companies that may be useful in your own emigration journey.