Enjoying the signs

 We've had some beautiful signs popping up in our neighbourhood. Lovely lettering done in colourful chalks, all of them important, positive reminders. As I take my private strolls, I encounter them on the sidewalk, and no matter how many times I see them, they make me smile.

Small actions such as these are one of the reasons I am smiling today.

Of course, there's another sweet circumstance that always comes to mind for me on this particular date, April 10th.

It was another sign, and long ago, that made a child ask her mother, "What's Aprilioth?" The pair had been driving past the community centre, and an ad posted on the outdoor signboard was announcing an event scheduled to take place on April 10th. To the girl, the plain font, all in caps, meant the date looked more like a word than any specific day.

That child was author Eileen Kernaghan's daughter, and the question led to the setting of one of Kernaghan's wonderfully engaging fantasy novels, Journey to Aprilioth.

The signs are everywhere. We just have to be alert to them. Like they used to say at the end of every episode of Dead Dog Cafe: "Stay calm! Be brave! Wait for the signs!"

Superb Owl, the annual quest

Yesterday, while many were hunkering down in front of the tv for some overhyped football game, I was walking the trails at nearby Boundary Bay. My quest, the visiting snowy owls, a species that fits my definition of superb.

Although I didn’t succeed in spotting the visiting owl (it turns out, I went to the wrong arm of the bay) I had a great walk and saw many other birds – ducks, gulls, herons and the always-magnificent-looking eagles. And, as is so often the case at the shoreline, the clouds were the ones putting on the best show of the day.

As for superb owl, there’s always next year. And who knows, maybe later this week I’ll make the time to head out that way again.