The For Sale sign is up.  In nine days we are leaving Mission, BC for Ottawa, Ontario.

Just typing that gave me the dry heaves.  What are we doing moving across country like this?

I know my younger self would be very disappointed in me; at one point I disliked Canada’s most populous province so much that if a fortune teller told me I would move there one day, I probably would have rented a time machine for the sole purpose of telling me not to do it.  (which would actually explain the whispers of ‘you’ll regret it’ I hear every night while falling asleep.)

But we are doing it, and to be completely honest, I’m kind of excited.  We’ll have a whole new city to explore, with lots of old buildings and gargoyles.  And I’ll be able to eat poutine!  In Quebec!  Made by real Quebecers!

The only thing worries me is the cold.  Here in Mission, it rarely falls below 0 degrees. (Celsius, for all those wondering)  Ottawa on the other hand, well, lets just say people are running around in t-shirts and shorts when the temperature hits -7…

Oh, it’s probably not fair busting out the ellipsis like that.  There’s nearly two million people living in the Greater Ottawa region, and they survive the winter just fine. (albeit with horribly chapped lips and staticky hair) And the cold there is a drier kind of cold, whatever that means.

And however low the temperature drops, it has to be better than the weather in BC.  Did you know we haven’t had a sunny day since September 28th, 2011?  And I don’t expect there will be one until mid May.

No, it’s a good thing we’re getting out of here.  Being the sensitive artist type, the rain is slowly killing me.

Guess what?  My fantasy novel, Escaping Entry, is free today.  I bet you haven’t been this excited since they announced cheese sauce might actually be good for you. (in small amounts, of course)  If you’re at all curious to see just how heavy a novel containing a thousand foot giant feels, mosey on over to amazon and give it a download.  It’s lighter than you think.  Or is it heavier?

I’m thinking of writing a children’s book.  It’s about a little boy named Sam who adopts a rabbit.  But because of global warming, the rabbit turns out to be a carnivore.  At first, Sam feeds the rabbit ground beef from the local butcher.  Meat, though, is expensive, and to save money, he feeds his family to the rabbit, beginning with his little brother, Louie.

Having two little girls of my own, I know stories should not only be fun, they should contain lessons as well.  So, Sam is environmentally conscious, burying his rabbit’s leftovers in biodegradable garbage bags, and walking to school instead of taking the bus.  Also, because both his parents are eaten, he is forced to become more self-reliant.

I’ve never written a children’s book before.  It’s kind of exciting.

Happened across this photo of American actor, Edwin Booth.  Can you believe it’s 140 years old?

Surreal.

I wonder, while posing, if he ever thought people would be still looking at him so far into the future? (him posing, not me posing. I’m slouching)

It’s things like this that start me thinking.  I mean, everyone alive in the world at the moment that photograph was taken is dead now.  Even the babies.  Makes me ask, 140 years from now, when everyone I know is long buried, will people be looking at images of me?

(btw, his brother’s the man what shot Abraham Lincoln)