I have arrived in the land of the seals and all is well.  The seals are mewing for food outside my window, my young enthusiastic room-mate from Edmonton, Alberta is teaching me about chinchillas and crickets, and I work my first shift tomorrow at noon.

I brought you all a few pics to accompany my first entry.  On the top is the one wonderful sunflower to answer my plea that some yellow be shown before I leave my house's gorgeous gardens.  My house-mate planted those giant sunflowers about 4 months ago and I have been hoping and praying all along that I would get to see a bloom before leaving.  Come the day of my departure, one appeared:)

The middle photo is simply the expansive BC sky captured from my blistery front row seat aboard the ferry.  I sailed towards Salt Spring on the sunset ship appropriately named "Seal" and my new local friend, Mike, and I chatted over tea and wind as we left the mainland behind.

Last, but not least, the seals.  My friends, that mess of color and light is the quarantined seal pup quad.  I have decided to call it the red light district as eery red heat lamps hang above the mewing patients and glow throughout the forest that is now my home.  The seals get fed four times every 24 hours and they beg all of the time in between by making these weird mewing/moaning/almost barking sounds.   They are disgustingly cute...as expected and I have already gotten to touch one.  He really did feel and look like a stuffed animal, even up close.  This year all incoming seals are getting named after cities around the world so we have everyone from Jaipur to Dubai and I may get to name the next.  (I guess that I will be learning geography as well as seal care.)

Anyway, I know some of you are dying to see where the heck I took off to, so here is your sneak peek.  I hope that you enjoy and more is to come.  First shift tomorrow at noon- seal feeding.