We have roughly seven weeks left in Vancouver. They will be jam-packed, literally, with packing, cleaning, teaching and homeschooling ... administrative work galore. Lots to do when changing and purchasing a home. I have also promised Minime that we would take lots of breaks on the sunnier days to explore Vancouver and the places around, before we leave the Big Smoke for the Big Skies of Northern Alberta.

The skies on the west coast can be pretty impressive at times too with the odd surprise offered up from our proximity to nature. The bald eagle below was nonchalantly chilling on a pole at the tip of Canada Place, causing a scene without ruffling a feather.

The spring blooms are starting to brave the crisp March air, but I am still making do mostly with supermarket floral massacres. These cut roses are courtesy of No-Frills if I remember correctly.

The soil is still jealousy guarding its winter-bare facade but a look up and out offers some airbrushed and frosted beauty. The North Shore mountain from a vantage point out at Horse Shoe Bay was stunning. Horse Shoe Bay is a quaint community that is worth a day trip even you have no plans to catch a ferry, set sail, and go the island way.

All things nautical continue to take up space in our consciousness. We have worked our way through the Age of Discovery sea Explorers and made it to China and Zheng He, a lesser known pirate/admiral of the day.