Happy Mother’s Day today to all of the strong, beautiful women who are mothers, to those who are chosen moms, surrogate moms, step-moms, adoptive moms, and to the men who are also mothers.
Special thanks to all those who love and support them.
Hugs,
M&M
Anyone else needing a nice warm hug? As explained in our We Have Huggers!! post in May last year, we came across a short video on Instagram showing someone who had created a Free Hugs zone in sidewalk chalk outside their house – and the various people who had taken advantage of the situation. Always willing to contribute to more acts of kindness, we created our own first attempt. We were so inspired by the effect that we created 11 different hug zone patterns in 2022 (12, if you include the one we created at our old Free Hugs spot at the Homecoming Memorial at Ship Point).
Well, we started earlier this year as we seem to have a break in the rain for a bit. We’ll take all of the healthy rain we can get as Victoria has a tendency toward hot, dry summers, but the rain does wreak havoc on our chalk art.
So here’s our first contribution to the Free Hugs movement for this year. If you’re wandering by James Bay and want to stop for a moment you’re more than welcome! And if you’re nowhere near here, feel free to create your own Hug Zone!!
Remember to hug someone you love today, even if it’s you!!
M&M
P.S. Many thanks to the two sisters who were the first (after us) to try out our hugging spot! We’re pretty sure they were the first people last year, too!!
Update:
April 2023:
#2 Our second design for this year. Spring rains wiped out the first one.
May 2023
This is our old hugging zone at Ship Point. In 11 years we shared hugs here with thousands of people from (at least) 88 countries. For the nonce, we’re encouraging people to share hugs with each other.
#3 Our Mother’s Day hug zone in front of our house. A new interpretation of Marcia’s design from last year. Stay tuned for more!!
Hi Folks:
In the James Bay neighbourhood of Victoria, just behind the Legislative buildings, is a roughly six-acre site that is partly parking lot and partly occupied by a combination of heritage houses and unused/underutilized mid-century modern steel office buildings. On the southwest corner is the Michigan Street Community Garden, an icon in the community since 1999.
The landscape of this area, bordered by Menzies, Superior, Government and Michigan Streets will soon be changing dramatically with the beginning of the Capital Park Victoria project. Two of the heritage houses will remain on their existing sites, three others will be moved to new locations on site and the building containing the Queen’s Printer will remain. The rest will be replaced by a mix of business and residential units, courtyards and pedestrian walkways. The developers are seeking LEED Gold or better in all new construction, and hopefully the builders will do their best to reuse/recycle as much of the existing material as possible. Continue Reading →