These pics are from my street and the Ogden Point cruise ship terminal on the other side of the street.
... city/war-zone. There is no avoiding construction in my here-and-now. But, we are still greener & warmer than most of Canada, and I can comfortably walk in hoody over a t-shirt! These pics are from my street and the Ogden Point cruise ship terminal on the other side of the street.
0 Comments
The day started off leisurely, driving up to Sidney by the Sea on the way to drop Fran at the airport. A couple of people were on the pier, cutting up the remains of a flatfish to use as bait for their crab-pots. After going home for lunch I walked downtown. Among the continuing signs of spring are construction projects everywhere - roads, buildings, piers, marinas, land reclamation, as well as the war-zone that is the Dallas Road sewer pipe installation. The new connector to the mainland, the V2V, was docked and getting ready to leave on its afternoon trip to Vancouver. As i was taking pictures of The Flying Otter, a river otter showed up to see if he could supplement lunch with scraps from the restaurant. I got some good video clips of the action! We started off on a little drive to show Fran wild daffodils and blooming cherry trees, but we wound up just driving to Beacon Hill Park & walking around for an hour. Cheery trees. Pink magnolia tree (HUGE!). Fountain Lake. Daffies. Nesting great blue herons (don't stand under their trees or you might find out why the ground is white - and, no, it's not snow!). Gnarly bare Gary Oak trees and lots of daffodils. The white fawn lily season is just getting started. One slightly out of place cormorant. A pair of sleeping mallard ducks. A variety of GB Herons in high trees. Squirrel (both sides now). Turtles on turtle log. But wait, there's more - other turtles on another log! The last still is a big white magnolia tree - not in BHPark, but still in my cute neighborhood, in my pretty little city! Had to take Fran to the Ladysmith bakery to sample the cinnamon rolls.
Bonus time - Green Leaf Bistro has opened a Duncan location! Took a bit of the (more) scenic route home. Stopped at the edge of Cowichan Bay for a look-see. But wait! There's more... Just a little sunset drive around the inner harbour. The staff at Victoria Butterfly Gardens and Insectarium have done a marvelous job of getting ready for the hordes of younglings that visit during the 2 weeks of spring break in British Columbia. I have never been here when there are this many very active butterflies. The displays of stick insects and big beetles were also prime. Oh, the last 2 pictures were from Quality Foods - a new morning special (breakfast pizza for only $3.50!) , and some cute packaging for dryer balls. Table for 3 at Green Leaf Bistro. 5 star food!
Visited the ent (Driftwood Creations) on the causeway at Esquimalt Lagoon. Our morning started with moon-set & sunrise views from our balcony.
How not to park your catamaran in the Oak Bay! An out-of-place lump in a tree turned out to be a great blue heron with a nest twig in its beak. There are somewhere around a hundred deer in the Oak Bay area. Some of them have been fitted with collars & GPS trackers. Teacher Fran is escaping the cold & snow of the Prairies and will spend her week of Spring Break with us. We wasted no time getting her to RnR for a taste of superb diner fare. We stopped a few times on the way home. Coastal. Green. No Snow! Warm enough for Jan to go sock-less! Metal puzzles from pre-cyber days. Now in my shop/man-cave since Jan emptied my former wooden chest toy-box in the living room.
Also trying to puzzle out the features of the new camera. Way more functionality than I will likely use! Also playing with camera: wind vane bicycle as viewed from my computer desk. The temperature soared up to about 13 C by noon, so we picked up an order of traditional poutine from La Belle Patat and took it to the waterfront park to eat.
I drive. I walk. I drive, then walk. I don't use a pedometer or a fit-bit, but I reckon my walk up Dallas to Cook & around Beacon Hill was between 8 and 10 km. The bald eagle was over at MacAulay Point boat ramp. The summer snow melt over at the Olympic Mountain range does not seem to have started, yet. Highlights of my neighborhood walk included an otter diving repeatedly for lunch at Fonyo Beach, hummingbirds in the shrubberies and waterfowl in the ocean. The blackened strip of cliff-side is the result of an accidental brush fire a couple of days ago. I think it will just invigorate the Scotch broom and blackberry briar patches! Cherry, plum, & apple trees continue to gain blossoms, and in just 2 days the buds on the big magnolia in BHP have opened! |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2019
Categories |