Summer evenings

Another photo blog without many words required...
Victoria is blessed with what I think is perfect summer weather: not too hot, lots of sunshine, virtually no rain, and low humidity. Given that we are  an outdoor-sy population with no weather issues to plan for, there is an endless array of festivals, markets, patios, and picnic spots to take in. Here are a few happy evening excursions.

Leslie at The Muse winery for outdoor dinner and theatre

picnic at Agate Beach

an actual cloud, and a beauty at that

one of many cruise ships (230?), this one a Disney

another picnic at Rainbow Park

Oak Bay night market (over at 8pm, so typical of Oak Bay!)

Benign Neglect

Back in the dark ages of my young adulthood I had a lot of houseplants. It was the fashion of the era and it was less expensive to fill a space with plants than with furniture. The first house I owned, at age 22, was a 4500 square foot Victorian structure, circa 1875. After a couple of moves and general lack of attention from me the house plants disappeared, a slow attrition rather than deliberate discard.  A few days ago Jim and I went to one of Butchart Gardens’ evening concerts and I noticed a full display of tropical plants, houseplants to us, in the cafeteria. I could name every one of them and at some point have owned all but one.

I’ve learned that I just don’t tend to indoor plants while I pick, fertilize, and water garden plants with some enthusiasm. Although we do manage an amaryllis some Christmases we generally don’t have any houseplants. None. Except right now. My delightful Brazilian relatives were here for Christmas 2011 (why would anyone leave Rio for Victoria in December you might well ask?) and knowing our “only consumable gifts” policy they gave us a splendid orchid. I promised them it would never re-bloom under my gentle hand and we enjoyed it for at least three months. After the blooms finally fell, I occasionally watered it and one day, when it was in my way, moved it onto the kitchen window sill. And lo, unto us was born (it was a Christmas present after all), new beauty. This plant is either anxious to please or in its final death throes and trying to reproduce; and in the meantime it’s gorgeous again! Here's to benign neglect.

Canada Day 2012

This time last year we had not taken possession of the townhouse where we now live. It was imminent but still four days off. We had just returned from 3 weeks in the Maritimes, and were feeling anxious about how to make the transition from big house to not too small condo. Jim was gearing up for the massive renovation and I was already tired thinking about getting us moved. We managed to squeeze in a final Canada Day party to say goodbye to the garden and then got down to serious work.

And now it is a year later and we had the first Canada Day party in the new space. And it worked pretty well. It was a windy evening and not very warm but with sunshine on the balcony and heaters in the patio we were comfortable. Set up for these 'first' events takes a little thought but we are getting the hang of it. We were 25 for this one. Cousin Barb has a folding table and extra chairs that we will probably uses as much as she does.
"Catered by Costco" is my new favourite way to entertain since there is no pretense that I went through days of preparation. 

We've had a lot of CD parties over the years. When we don't it's because we've gone downtown, are out of town, or are attending someone else's party. It just seems right to mark the day somehow. Sure, Canada isn't perfect. But aside from a tropical paradise with staff (and no humidity, bugs, snakes, or other critters; not too hot either) it's a good life. Really. Where would you live? Arizona in the summer? Florida in the summer? Europe in the summer or winter? Greece at any time?

Our politics are relatively transparent and honest, our banks are relatively stable, as a nation we are relatively tolerant and affluent. It's a Goldilocks kind of place: not too hot, not too cold, not too big, not too small. We live in a comfortable middle-of-the-road kind of place. Complacent and smug you could say. And for me, that's enough reason to celebrate.

More on cars...

We are thinking about cars again. We're doing okay with the one-car plan and, really, the amount that even one is used makes it hard to justify two. I still refer to the Tribeca as Jim's car though and it still is a big burly car for day-to-day usage. It's a nice car to travel in but it's a bit of overkill for what we need. The current "issue" is that it is tall, about 5'6", my height, and 6 inches taller than the beloved Outback was. Add the roof racks and the kayak Thules and we're getting way up there for loading the boat on and off. The kayak always travelled on the Outback and in fact everything did: plywood, furniture, etc. Six inches is a lot of difference. You may remember that I have a wonky shoulder too which means Jim does most of the lifting and that isn't a viable option except occasionally. Not that the kayak is heavy at 60 pounds but overhead and trying not to scrape the car it's not easy. We did get the boat loaded and had a nice paddle on Elk Lake on a beautiful evening this week but we have to devise a different method.

So we are researching cars again. We know we want a wagon type, something smaller but comfortable and with good load capacity. Better fuel efficiency would be nice because the Tribeca is a bit of a hog with 6 cylinders and all-wheel drive. We love Subarus but the models have gotten really big so we would look at an Impreza, maybe. I've created a spread-sheet with the exterior dimensions and fuel consumption of a bunch of vehicles and we'll start looking at them some day. No hurry. I'm sure you're fascinated!

Another BC Safari

Our last BC Safari was already two years ago in the Kootenays. We've been other places since but we sure enjoy wandering around BC.

It’s great to have visitors because it shakes us out of our usual complacent rut. Pat and Ed drop in every second year or so and we sometimes use them as an excuse to explore. They were supposed to join us in Arizona in February and when that didn’t work out they came here. In lieu of the Grand Canyon we did gardens, art, and the wild coast. I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Pat gets the trouper award (do I mean trooper? I’m never sure of the nuance) for allowing us to drag her out whale watching. She’s not that keen on water and we were out for 3 hours in a zodiac, literally sitting on the water going really fast. 

Sumo Suits

Humpback whale

Thank goodness we saw whales or she might not have forgiven us and even so I don’t think it was a highlight for her. Interesting to us was that we saw Minke, Humpback, and Gray whales, but no orca which is what we expect. Our guide (Prince of Whales) was feeling a bit desperate so we went way down Puget Sound to Whidby Island which meant getting back in one very long and very fast run; forty knots an hour which is about 80kph. It was a stunning day, 19C and very calm, but at 40 knots it was bitterly cold. We warmed up at the Bard and Banker Pub!

Port Alberni

A couple of days later we headed out to the west coast. Yes, we are on the west coast, but not really really really.  For us the west coast is Pacific Rim National Park, where there is nothing between us and Japan. 

Wickaninnish Beach

We stopped at Cathedral Grove and somewhere west of Port Alberni 

just browsing

saw a good sized bear browsing along the road side. Jim & Ed had the windows down to get a photo and I kept telling them to keep a finger on the power button, ‘cuz those suckers can be very fast. You know how you know your partner? At one point there was a slight shift in the force and I said, “Jim, don’t even think about opening that door”. And sure enough he was thinking how much better he would be able to see with the door open! 

In between times we went to an open house at Maarten Schaddelee’s studio, some gorgeous gardens, and ate and drank too much as usual. It was great.

Maarten Schaddelee's house/studio

UVic's Finnerty Gardens

rhodo in our courtyard

Ode to Trees

We ‘do’ trees here on the west coast and generally they grow much bigger and faster than gardening books predict. If you read that a corkscrew willow should be 20 feet tall in 10 years, we assume it will be that height in 4 to 5 years. We planted one, in innocence, to fill a small space near a fence and cut it down after two years; one of the growth rings was almost 2 inches wide. Eucalyptus the same, although they take a couple of years to develop their root system. Once the roots are established you need to get out of the way or get run over. Trees are a constant source of discussion, amazement and sometimes friction. We show off our flowering ornamentals in January when the rest of Canada is shivering. We scoff at scrubby little survivor spruce trees on the east coast. We sometimes chain ourselves to trees that are being cut down for bad reasons. We fight with neighbours who have planted trees that impede the view. We complain about drifts of pine pollen and brag about drifts of cherry blossoms. It’s complicated.

What isn’t complicated is the grandeur of Cathedral Grove on highway 4 just east of Port Alberni. It is a gift to have trees like this anywhere, but it is a miracle that they are so accessible to any of us who want to see them.

Jim, hardly visible in ratio

How anyone could even think about cutting or vandalizing one of these ancients is absolutely beyond my understanding. Just last week someone removed an 800 year old tree http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/05/18/bc-800-year-tree.html and speculation is that it will be turned into cedar shakes. Really?

Perfect Weekend

I suppose I post too often about the weather but considering how it affects my mood It's not surprising. For instance today is supposed to be showery but it's been a pretty steady rain and I find I'm a bit crabby about it. However, the previous 4 days were just about perfect and for this time of year something of a miracle.
We puttered in the garden, went for a walk on the beach and reveled in the 20 degree sunshine.

In fact, on Sunday evening we had our first-of-the-season outdoor dinners and sat out on the balcony until 8:30 without even turning on the gas heater. At the height of the summer it will be too hot on this side of the house but for now we are enjoying it.