Witchy Wonders

We live on Vancouver Island and we’re surrounded by temperate rain forests. So, you can expect that it rains a lot. Our winters are typically green rather than white, in fact. Which is great if you like to stay active outdoors throughout the year. When we lived in Edmonton, it was a real chore to get ready to go cross country skiing, layering up for -30C weather without getting overheated from exertion or getting frostbite on any exposed skin.

But out here on the Pacific coast of Canada, we could go bike riding on Solstice, Dec 21, marking 1) the shortest day of the year, 2) the start of winter, and 3) that days are starting to lengthen again.

My girls are born and raised here, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that when we want to go for a long hike, that you dress for the wet rather than the cold. But as soon as we got to East Sooke Park, within less than 5 minutes, both of our daughters got booters.

We kept the hike on the short side so the kids wouldn’t get hypothermia from having wet feet with exposure to Pacific winds, but we did have a lovely hike to see a petroglyph (which means “rock carving”) of a seal.

Along the way, we got to see some beautiful sights.

So now to dry those soaked shoes in preparation for the next grand hiking adventure.

Which is a small price to pay for getting to live in a rain forest, and not where it gets to -30C in winter. Besides, Santa’s sleigh seems to land just fine on our moss covered roof, where the reindeer can feast on lichen while Santa drinks eggnog and eats cookies.