It's a beautiful day here in Victoria. This is the view of the sky from my deck. I call it the Ponderosa sky. I love this view.

Week 2 done at the new job(s). I have 5 more to go, unless they send me to another department, which they could do. One of the benefits of working for BC Transit is an unlimited bus pass. So Saturday, Diane and I took the bus into downtown. She had an appointment and I went shopping. We met up for lunch shopped a bit more and then took the bus back to the Langford park and ride. It is so much easier to take the bus versus find parking downtown.

And there is no stress to get back to your meter before it requires another loonie.

I have no news on the Vegas house yet. There is an open house today so we are holding positive thoughts about today being 'the day'.

Finally, we have tomato's on our vines. It just has not been warm enough until now. We planted an heirloom beefsteak-type tomato and it looks like little pumpkins all over the branches instead of tomatoes. i guess we will probably be able to pick the fruit in about a month.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I think by next week, I will have some big news to announce as far as Diane's job goes. There have been some major developments over the past week. So I will just throw that out there as a teaser. . .

Stay tuned!

One week down at my new job. I am being shared between 2 different departments. Training & Safety, dealing mostly with the accident reports that the bus drivers or patrons submit. I only have worked there one day so far. Most of the week, I spent in the garage doing payroll. This is the kind of work I really love! The BC Transit has its own drama’s and politics (I never worked anywhere that doesn’t), but overall I’m in my element with the timesheet entry. It’s a little archaic (BC Transit admits) compared to the system I worked with in the states. Here you have to manually enter all the time sheets for the Mechanics by hand. Human error and all, it can be challenging. Especially, when several of the workers came into the office on Friday disputing their paychecks. Glad I didn’t do the time for that pay period. Although I am sure I will get my own fair share of questions/complaints.
Tomorrow, I am back to Training and Safety. This is a great way to check out an organization to see if there is any interest in working there fulltime. Part of me would still like a part-time job working in a wine makers shop. Our wine maker lost an employee this week. They are thinking of making it two 20 hour a week jobs instead of one 40 hour. I have a contract through the end of August, so I can’t jump ship and go work for much less hours and much less money. Aside from the fact Diane would not approve,. It just is not the right timing.
This weekend we went to Moss Street artists Paint-In. The great part is the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria offered free admission to the Rodin exhibit. It was a great exhibit on loan from B. Gerald Cantor collection. I’m currently wearing my souvenir t-shirt that says “I have seen the gates of hell . . .”
The Luminara took place later last night and we opted out of it because of the rain.
It’s raining outside right now. Yesterday, we had lunch at Spinnakers Pub. As we sat looking out the window at the fog and seal lions in the harbor, I realized that every other time in my life I have seen fog or sea lions, I have been on holiday. We keep having to pinch ourselves and we keep reminding each other, we really live here.

Hello bloggers, happy Friday the 13th! This week Victoria felt like Las Vegas when we had the highest temperatures on record. It was 104 degrees on Wednesday. Luckily we have air conditioning. Our friends here in Victoria are convinced that we brought this weather with us. We have guests visiting from Las Vegas this week and we are officially blaming it on them.

No new news on the Las Vegas house selling. This is one of our last hurdles to overcome. Once it is sold, life will be looking pretty peachy.

This weekend we plan to take the ferry to Salt Spring Island and walk through the market. It is a great way to spend a Saturday. This time, I think we will stop at The Garry Oaks Winery on the way back to the ferry. They have a great wine called ‘Fetish’ which is worth it for the name alone.

I start a new job on Monday with the BC Transit doing payroll/timesheet management. It is a full-time temporary position. The good thing about temporary is if we don’t like each other, it’s only six weeks. The bad thing about temporary is if we really love each other it’s going to end before we would like. I hope it is the later. So I’m really excited about my first job here in Canada. I work for a temp agency that I really like. The people who manage the agency are fantastic and have very positive attitudes. I don’t feel invisible there. I’ll let you know how it goes after the first week. Another great thing is it is very close to where Diane works so we will car pool for the next 6 weeks. I have a parking lot at my job and she does not so I will drop her off and pick her up. She usually takes the bus.

Now if the house could sell this week . . .

A tiny slice of Gay Pride in Victoria BC

Independence Day-after thoughts.

We had a great Canada Day bar-b-que. The little dogs got to enjoy their yard and frolic in the high of 82 degrees. I cooked most of the day and then didn’t feel like eating when all was said and done.
My birthday was great. We went to Oyster the 13th down at the harbor. It is a wine and oyster extravaganza. The wine tasting was from all the BC wineries. Oyster shucked, raw, bar-b-qued and grilled. We will go again next year.

We also went out to a farm and picked a flat of strawberries. That was great fun. I had to end up freezing some of them and they will eventually find a home in strawberry margaritas.

Diane bought me a Celtic design necklace from a downtown jeweler. It is beautiful. She also brought me home a lovely cake.

I went to a headhunter last week and took a barrage of tests. I scored very well. The good new is I have an interview this week for an office administrator with firm here on the west shore. So I will be brushing up on my answers to the most commonly asked questions.

We have a lot planned next weekend. We have a wedding, wine bottling and gay pride in Victoria. I will try to take video but definitely pictures.

I hope everyone is having a safe and happy Canada Day!