2023 Hug Zones

a sidewalk chalk drawing in four colours - circles within circles - with text that reads, "Prime Hugs Zone"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.

A large multi-coloured chalk drawing with an outer circle and two counter-rotating spirals into the center. Outside the circle the text reads, "Spiral Into Hugs"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.

A large chalk art circle in four colours. Inside the circle are two sets of footprints, facing each other. Outside the circle, the text reads, "Hug Here."#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!!

A chalk art drawing of a flower within a circle. Outside the circle the text reads, "Hug Your Mother"

Our Hugging Tree

Hi Folks:

If you’ve been following our Free Hugs adventures, you’ll know that we’ve done (almost) all of them at the Homecoming Memorial by Ship Point in downtown Victoria. Part of the reason for that was that we could stand away from the sidewalk (we offered, but people had to come to us). Part of the reason for that is the statue in the Memorial itself:

Homecoming Statue
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Happy International Free Hugs Day!!

Hi Folks:

As you all know, the first Saturday in July (today!) is International Free Hugs Day!! Normally (what does that even mean anymore?) that would mean we’d be downtown, by our Hugging Tree, sharing hugs, smiles, waves, handshakes, fist bumps and conversations with locals and tourists alike. Not last year, however, and not today… but soon! The world is starting to re-open, slowly. In the meantime, to paraphrase the song:

If you can’t share hugs with the ones you love, hug the ones you’re with!!

Hugging a Chinese lion, 2019

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. We have a late entry in this year’s Creampuff Derby: our granddaughter, who was born this morning. A most auspicious day!!

Share Virtual Hugs With Loved Ones…

Hi Folks:

Free Hugs, March 1, 2020

As we mentioned in our last Free Hugs post, this is our 11th calendar year of sharing hugs with locals and visitors to our fair city. However, as the world closed down we – reluctantly – put our posters away, at least for now. In a given hugs session we have the privilege of meeting and interacting with people from up to a dozen countries, but that’s obviously not appropriate at the moment. After our last Free Hugs session we did our self-isolation bit for 14 days. We’re fine; hugs are great medicine. 🙂 Continue Reading →

Happy Random Acts of Kindness Week!!

Hi Folks:

This is Day 3 of Random Acts of Kindness Week! Monday, being Family Day, of course we went out hugging. As mentioned in a previous post, 2020 marks our 11th calendar year of hugging locals and tourists alike – our 11th year begins officially on June 9, 2020 😉

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Hugging 2020: Bringing Vision

Hi Folks:

We’ve had so much rain this January that yesterday was our first opportunity to go out hugging this year. We’re not complaining – we’ll appreciate the water supply come summer – but it has put a damper (so to speak) on our hugging activities! Marcia has designated 2020 as a year of vision for her, and 2020 begins our 11th calendar year of sharing hugs with both locals and visitors to our fair city. So far we’ve shared hugs with people from (at least) 88 countries, and just yesterday we got to meet and share hugs with people from Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, Slovakia, U.S. and Venezuela! All of this within the space of an hour. It continues to amaze and delight us. We also had our first vehicle passenger hug for 2020, where a car pulls over, a passenger gets out, runs over for a hug, then dashes back to the car!

Many thanks for all of the smiles, waves, vehicle honks and special thanks to those who took a few moments out of their lives to share them with us. We offer but people have to come to us. We really appreciate it when you do!!

Hugs,
M&M

More Firsts…

Hi Folks:

This is our 10th year of hugging Victoria residents and tourists alike, and even though October’s weather has become a little drizzly, this has been our busiest year ever! We’ve had so many amazing moments during our hugging sessions – many already recorded in various posts, but we still have new ones all the time. Thought we should gather a few together and share them with you: Continue Reading →

It’s Tomorrow!!

Hi Folks:

As we’re sure you’re all aware, tomorrow is International Free Hugs Day! Grab your markers, find a piece of cardboard and go out and hug someone!! As for us, we’ll be at our usual spot at the Homecoming Memorial by Ship Point tomorrow afternoon at some point. If you’re in the neighbourhood, stop by for a hug!

Hugs,
M&M

10 Years of Hugging

10 Years of Hugging

Anniversaries!!

Hi Folks:

Yesterday we celebrated three anniversaries important to us, two of which are personal. On a larger scale, yesterday marked the 11th Anniversary of UN World Oceans Day! Our front door is about 300m from the ocean, and as such we’re aware of her various moods and cycles – at least on a small scale. While we subdivide and demarcate the world’s oceans, the truth is that there’s only one global ocean and that the ocean is the biggest single driver of the health of the planet. As the saying goes, “Love your Mother. Good planets are hard to find!”

Much closer to home, yesterday marked the the 17th Anniversary of Marcia’s proposal. We say “Yes!!” to each other every day. 💗

And third, yesterday marked the 9th Anniversary of our first Free Hugs session down at Victoria’s Inner Harbour. Our first session was chronicled here: Marcia’s Meanderings – Ladybugs and FREE HUGS! We both remember that day very well … first of all because we were absolutely terrified. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, and our very first Free Hug ever came from a little girl who saw our posters and came running over to us. That broke the ice for us, and who knows where we’d be without her courage and generosity?!?! We went out hugging again yesterday (our 11th session of 2019 🙂 ) so we’re now officially into our 10th year. When Adam Sawatsky and Wells Gaetz of CTV News VI did a profile on us last year they estimated we’ve shared hugs with 40,000 people. That number is beyond our comprehension, and even a quarter of that is staggering for us to consider. We do know two things: one is that we’ve shared hugs with Ambassadors from (at least) 84 countries; the second is that each hug is unique and special to us. For example, yesterday we shared hugs with Ambassadors from (to name a few) Brazil, Canada, Columbia, England, Germany, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico and the US within a two-hour period. We had the opportunity to celebrate one person’s 50th birthday, and when one gentleman indicated he couldn’t understand our posters we gave him a demonstration by hugging each other – then shared hugs with him and his family! Over the years we’ve shared hugs with many different people, a number of dogs, two bearded dragons, a hitchhiking robot, a Storm Trooper, a velociraptor and a Frost Princess… so far! Kindness is a simple gift that we can all share with each other. It costs nothing and doubles with each sharing. Remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

9th Anniversary of Free Hugs

Sharing Kindness for Mother’s Day

Hi Folks:

As last Sunday was Mother’s Day, after a wonderful brunch with family we went out hugging (of course). It continues to amaze us that in one day we can meet and share hugs with people from as close as Victoria and as far as Australia, France, Iran, Italy and Uruguay (to name a few). We’ve already shared hugs with Ambassadors from 22 countries this year (at least 83 countries in total, so far) and we’re only just getting started! We also hugged our very first Frost Princess!! (She gives wonderfully warm hugs).

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