Can you find the grouse?

First time posting a photo.  These two lovely moose have been hanging around my yard for a couple of days, browsing the brush and relaxing.  I congratulate them for having survived hunting season and like to think they know they are safe here.  It's entertaining to watch them and contemplate the radically contrasting  environment that will soon be my home.  The house is growing emptier by the day and the box in the corner where anything Rwanda bound gets put is beginning to look full.  I have  lately been the recipient of an overwhelmingly generous amount of loving support from friends and family and feel like a very lucky girl. 
Stay tuned for what I hope will be fascinating tales of travel and adventure.
Happy holidays!

Six weeks and counting

This may come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, but believe it.  A blog!
What might not come as a surprise is that I'm in the throes of preparing to leave Canada in January for a two year volunteer posting in Rwanda with CUSO-VSO.  I'll be working as a teacher trainer in a village called Zaza in the Ngoma district in Eastern Rwanda, not far from the Tanzanian border.  The decision to do this has been a long time coming.  I am honored and delighted to have this opportunity to learn and share what I know in the hope that it will help a little to level the playing field for people living with the effects of poverty. 
It all seems a tad surreal at the moment as I pack up my household, distribute my animals (sad!), and shovel snow.   By the way, if anyone would like to care for my two lovely cats until next September, please get in touch. 
Stay tuned folks for increasingly frantic postings as departure time approaches.