Feb 27 - Another Courtenay Weekend In Which I Arrive At The Forbidden House To Find It Overflowing With Children Needing Something To Do

Foggy Malahat
gives way as we hurtle north
Four boys to Kye Bay

Feb 26 - A Bear Mountain Hang-Out With Colleen And Her Sweet Doberman Pinscher, And Never Mind That He's Prone To Biting Her In The Butt Sometimes

Loose skeds give old friends
time to hike, shop, watch long flicks
Draped in a big dog

Feb 25 - Perhaps The Final Birthday Lunch At The Bengal Lounge, Albeit Four Years And Four Months Late

We feast on curry
Then it's off to Aylard Farm
While Ms. R dozes

Feb 24 - A Visit To The Sidney Aquarium To Set Me Up For My First 90-Minute Babysitting Experience

Sticky tentacles
Don't squeeze, child -  just a soft poke
Eels slide past, intrigued

Feb 23 - A Day Of Early Shopping Shifts To Mellow Hanging-Out Time, And I'm Happy To Have Left Things So Open

Stroller walk's a bust
But pet-store fish are calming
With bird toys in hand

Feb 22 - You Know Things Are Getting Weird When You're Trying To Impress The Dog At The House Where You'll Be Staying

Stop, shop, eat baked goods
I have dinner with Dyson
He's nervous, but warms

Feb 21 - The Snow-Shoeing Doesn't Work Out Due To Bad Weather, But The Cumberland Woods Will Do Just Fine

We hike wet forests
Then eat black cod. Rosetta
enjoys her cousins

Feb 20 - Rachelle, Rosetta and I Make Our Way North For Ms. R's First Out-Of-Town Trip

Babies make you drive
with more leisure, less intent
Eating roadside fries

Feb 19 - Nothing But Bad News To Start Out With As Gary And Larry Talk Shop, So Best To Just Cycle Off In Search Of Calming Baby Presence

Car, you've let me down
But a whole day with Rosie
soothes my shattered nerves

Feb 18 - A Fairly Ludicrous Day Of Trying To Get Organized For Two Weeks Of Canadian Life, Interspersed With Lovely Moments With The New Little Ones

Nothing goes as planned
Still, I'll remember this day
Rosetta's blue gaze

Feb 17 - An Airport Day On The Way To Victoria Introduces Me To A Fellow Traveller Who's Also Unwilling To Wait For 100 Or So People To Process Their Missing-Baggage Claims

Late flights are our bond
Worn out, we share a taxi
That's what money's for

Feb 16 - One Of The Haikus That Taught Me A Painful Lesson

A haiku was here
But I should have stayed silent
This day forgotten

Feb 15 - Leaving Work A Half Hour Later Than I Should Have Wreaks Havoc With My Attempts To Get Home During "Hora Pico"

Sometimes the bus gods
turn against you, and the cabs
lock up in traffic

Feb 14 - Early-Morning Bird Walk Through The Very Dry Hills Around Laguna de Apoyo

Woke up to monkeys
A nervous trogon eyes me
Mot mots skim the woods

Feb 13 - Way, Way Down The Road At Posada La Abuela

Taxis want too much
Buses don't come. So we walk
to swim with monkeys

Feb 12 - We Talk About The Revolution, Somoza, Starving Campesinos And A Better Life For Nicaragua's Rural Poor, As Recalled By A Loyal Sandinista

Gripping war stories
remind me: Daniel is loved
He vanquished evil

Feb 11 - Drinking Gas-Station Coffee While We Wait To Head North For "Pase La Cadena"

3:30 wakeup
Now I just give into it
Take me to the cows

Feb 10 - Ash Wednesday Among Catholics Leads Us To Eat Big Bowls Of Sopa De Queso And A Truly Astounding Heap Of Fried Dough

Cheese soup for Jesus
I don't understand, but like
the deep-fried tortas

Feb 9 - The Story Of A Neglected And Ultimately Abandoned Laptop And Its Hard Journey Back To The Light

Defragmentation
Ancient Toshiba struggles
Untouched for four years

Feb 8 - My Walk-To-Work Photo Project Leads Me To Finally Introduce Myself To Some Of The People I Say Hi To Every Day

My doughnut woman:
Veronica. I forgot
to ask until now

Feb 7 - Our New Friend Shows Up And Paul Is An Overly Generous Host, Considering That We Just Did All Of This Five Days Ago

Sinclair's here again
Drinks one beer, leaves with two more
For his wife, he says

Feb 6 - Lost On The Wrong Side Of Los Robles With Nothing To Guide Us But The Worried-Looking Night Security Guy's Advice To Continue Straight Ahead And Watch Our Backs

No one wants to hear
"May God accompany you"
on dark, empty streets

Feb 5 - And It's A Wild Friday Night When You Spend Five Hours Getting A Job Application Ready

This is the love month
But my thoughts go to job search
Hire me, please. I'm smart

Feb 4 - One Of The Haikus That Taught Me A Painful Lesson

A haiku was here
But I should have stayed silent
This day forgotten

Feb 3 - Caught In A Full-On Invasion Of The Insecticide Men That Keeps Us Out On The Street For Half An Hour

Ericka screams, but
too late to halt the bug men
Poison in the air

Feb 2 - One Of The Haikus That Taught Me A Painful Lesson

A haiku was here
But I should have stayed silent
This day forgotten

Feb 1 - I Go Back To Michele's Son's Wife's Father's Place To Pick Up My $120 Progressive Lenses, Which I Suspect I'm Going To Like

First pair of glasses
I move my head up and down
Seeking the sweet spots

Jan 31 - Things I Saw On My Morning Walk To And From Roberto Huembes Market

A drunk man weeping
Piles of garbage. Raw sewage
Not pretty. But real