Last weekend, Ken and I went on what is probably our last winter walk in Gatineau Park, run by the national capital commission. It's where we did the snowshoeing with mom in the post below. In winter, the park is a major attraction for x-country skiing, winter races, all sorts of great things. Apparently there was even a Norway Day in the Park in early March, I wish I had known!

In the summer the park is open to cars again, with over 30km of parkway and numerous look-outs. You can hike, mountain bike, and nature watch for hours. It's immaculately looked after and is a big draw for tourists and for locals. Anyone who loves being outdoor spends time in the Gats.

If you want to see their website, you can click here.

The Raccoon

Along the right-hand side of this blog is a list of favourite websites that I visit daily. One of them is a blog by Dooce. She's always writing about her family, her daughter, her dogs, adventures that she and her husband go through, her struggle with depression, with living in Salt Lake City and not being religious anymore. If you have any doubt about why this might be interesting to people to read, I'll tell you right now that not only was she able to quit her job several years ago because of this blog, but her husband was able to a year or so ago as well. Crazy, eh?

Today's post was hilarious - they had a raccoon in their chimney! The story is called Chuck's Heightened Sense of Awesome. Enjoy!

Starting Something New

So I have lived here for 5 years now. When I first decided to move, I told everyone that I'd be back. I thought it would be 2 years but now all of a sudden, it has been 5. and I'm very happy here. Even on the worst days, living in Ottawa is great. Of course I still get sad about missing Duncan, Elise and Myles going trick-or-treating, missing the ocean, missing impromptu rowdy Bruheim get-togethers. But apart from family, life is just about perfect and I feel so lucky. I've made great friends, I have a job I love and that pays well, I've tried so many new things, and of course Ken is a big part of all of this.

I think about family and friends back home often, though, and thought that maybe I would try something fancy and new - writing a blog to keep my family updated about what goes on out here. The general idea right now is that I'll update it once a week with whatever I'm doing, including pictures. You guys can all pop in at any time and read and catch up. Let me know if you like the idea or if you think it would be work at your end, instead of getting emails once in a while.

The first fun thing I'll post are some pictures from Mom's recent visit to see me for my birthday. I've been lucky, my parents have made it out here for frequent visits. Mom was only able to be here for 3 nights this time but we managed quite a bit, including seeing Judy, snowshoeing, and 3 trips to Costco in one morning (that's right).

Love you all!

Clara