Spring has Sprung!

What a perfect day to welcome spring!  And what better way to celebrate its arrival than with a walk.  Rain is forecast for tomorrow so I hope you all take advantage of this fine weather – and if you’re so inclined, share a map of your wanders on Mapping Memories.  Sadly I have to work today so there is no walk in my immediate future, apart from taking my compost to the community garden.

However, I did go on a delightful walk Thursday evening!  A friend took me out to Trail 7 at Pacific Spirit Park where we played with cattails, frolicked by the ocean at Wreck Beach and were at one point almost a bit too curious for our own good.  Beach + rainboots + curiosity led to me trying to free my friend’s lost boot from the intense suction of the muddy shoreline.  All the while laughing uncontrollably and balancing said friend on one foot.  Luckily we handled it with grace and only one of us ended up with a mud-covered hand from a near fall.  Ocean, laughter, mountains in the background and the beginnings of a sunset, I welcomed spring early!

If you’re interested in other ways to explore and map the city I highly recommend the following:

“The Water Beneath Our Feet” is a community mapping project organized by local artists and Historian Bruce Macdonald to map the False Creek Watershed.  A series of walks, talks and educational workshops will take place between March and May, beginning today!

Jane’s Walks began in Toronto in 2007 and have since spread to over 46 cities in North America.  These educational and exploratory walks are led by people who live, work and play in the city – often sharing insider knowledge of a particular neighbourhood, other times inviting participants to share their memories and stories as a collective learning experience.  The walks happen on the first weekend in May.

I plan to host a Jane’s Walk or two this year.  I will lead one of them on my own and hopefully a second with my friend’s grandfather, an architect who engages children in community visioning projects and can teach us a lot about how to read a neighbourhood.