Boxing day and the snow keeps falling. Yesterday we got a break from it, and we were able to travel into Vancouver to celebrate Christmas with family. On the way, the ferry was a veritable floating party and I found myself wishing that the journey would take an hour, just so I could catch up.

Brad Ovenell-Carter reported that the snow fell Christmas Eve at the rate of an inch per hour, and all told, I'm pretty sure we took 18 inches or about 50cms of snow. This morning it is falling heavily again, although today or tomorrow we expect it to start turning to rain.

Power is still out on the west side of the island, and they have been in the cold and dark for a couple of days. Other friends at Xenia are at the end of a private road that has two feet of snow on it, so they are only going somewhere with snowshoes.

In the early morning quiet, there are lots of birds around - towhees, juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, and bigger birds like ravens and a lone eagle which spends its mornings down by the water. There are glaucous-winged gulls, crows, Canada gees and mallards on the bay and occaisional sightings of common mergansers and grebes at the lagoon.