Thank you

Poppies, stonework on East Boulevard

Inner-city kids would love this Shaughnessy tree-house

 What fun to open my email Sunday morning to find appreciative messages about this new little enterprise of mine. I loved them all, but especially one from my Auntie Eve in Montreal, who is recovering from a nasty fall at her home just before Christmas. Her husband, my mother's youngest brother, died last year as well, so it has been a sad time. She wrote that my blog was just what she needed to brighten up her "grey Sunday," which was a "rainy and rather cool day." And as a lifetime book-lover, she was interested in my comments on Jane Eyre. She thought she just might head to the library and look again at one of the favourite books from her youth! So thanks to my cousin-in-law Janice, a 14-year blogger herself, for sternly insisting that I  get on with writing a blog, and to my good friend Linda, who said it is something I definitely should do.

I want to include some pretty pictures in my blog, as I know from reading Janice's that they can be a cheerful antidote to some of life's negatives. On a grey morning, why not look at sunshine and beautiful blossoms? So here are a couple of photos from a Sunday walk in Shaughnessy, the place where the rich folks traditionally lived in Vancouver. Like most of the city, it is facing development pressures, but so far, it is still hanging onto much of its beautiful treed charm.