Still unpacking

I never imagined it would take us so long to get unpacked! We've been in here a month and still have about 10 boxes left to unpack. It's all the stuff that goes into the entertainment centre, for which Atlas is giving us a measly $600 to replace only the part that broke. Except the part is no longer to be had from IKEA. So we've been trying to figure out how to replace this convenient and attractive piece of furniture with something affordable. Friday I hit on the idea of replacing the centre TV stand with something narrower while keeping the two side units. Then I dove into Used Victoria and found something that looks like a possibility. We will go take a look at it tomorrow morning and if it works, we should be unpacked by next weekend, I hope!

The wall bed was installed Friday and it looks great and has enough space for all my knitting and sewing stuff, plus Mal's toys. No one has slept on it yet – how remiss of us! Our friend Audrey was here yesterday but arranged to stay elsewhere in case the wall bed didn't get installed on schedule. But at least we can offer comfortable accommodation to guests now.

The living room still looks like a tip. It's full of the stuff we have no room for, so it's a blessing our sofa and chair won't be ready until September! I have a bunch of stuff listed on Used Victoria; some has sold already and I hope to get rid of some more of it early next week.

The garden looks wonderful and it is truly the main beauty of this apartment. Visible through wide sliding glass doors from every room, it makes this place feel much bigger than it really is. I've put in lots of herbs, a tomato plant (an experiment, don't know if there is really enough light for this), a few annuals. there is a pretty yellow creeping plant in flower along the borders of the raised bed right now and the tiger lilies are about to burst forth. I'm going to have to learn the proper names of all these plants that are new to me! Last week we did a big clean up out there, got rid of a lot of dead foliage, especially from the ferns, and it looks even better than before.

Friday our friend Jenny was here for a few hours from Vancouver and we took our first walk through Beacon Hill Park with her. Within a block of our front door is an amazing water park, which Mal is going to love.

A short walk further is a petting zoo. The park is full of wildlife. Well, some of it is rather tame wildlife (but not all!). Ducks are everywhere and they are quite tame because people feed them duck food  they buy from the pet store.

Herons are nesting high in the trees. We saw an eagle at the top of one of the trees. He was probably watching for a chance to nab a baby heron. I noticed there are no visible ducklings; he probably got them already.

Wednesday or Thursday night we walked out on the breakwater at Ogden Point, which is about a 10-minute walk from here. It's about 1 km to the end, where there is a small lighthouse. Yesterday we tried the restaurant at Ogden Point with our friend Audrey. It's cafeteria style, but good food, reasonable prices, and a great view.

Today is Pride, but I've had a bit of an upset stomach, so I didn't go to the parade. Anyway, someone had to stay behind because the Shaw guy is coming between 2:00 and 4:00. We've been having problems with the Internet going up and down. Now that my online course at RRU has started this is more than inconvenient because I have students who expect to be able to reach me. Hoping this gets resolved today!