VCCC May Tour

I was using my CS filter to capture the flares on this hood ornament.
I have quite a few detail photos from the weekend. I was not sure how my longer shots were going to turn out. I see to have nearly a GB of photos that are mostly keepers, though. I am not sure of the name of this hood ornament. Jim Colwell has a book out. His own photography and editing. Excellent on both counts. Pat has all the volumns and if I had time I could have looked this one up in his books.
The judging field on Saturday was at the Mary Winspear theatre building (?) parking lot in Sidney. We also had our lunch there. Was a good venu. The sun was out again too, with a few clouds. I HAD TO take this photo! We are not sure what is under the blanket in the bottom right corner.
This is the Saturday venue where Pat was signaling the cars to turn. Another fine location. See the dogwood in the background? The cars are polished and gleaming. There were 188 cars so at least twice that many people. Was a good meet and tour.
Steve and Ruby's car. I would really like to do a black and white of this at some old filling station building or some older building.
On Sunday Pat was stationed on a corner again to direct traffic to turn to the left. This is a unique and interesting corner of our city. Interesting houses with great gates and gardens. VCCC? oh yeah the cars. The Vintage Car Club of Canada had held the May Tour in Victoria this year. The tours on Saturday and Sunday were splendid from all reports. The weather co-operated to give us good weather for the runs and for the judging field in Sidney, as well as the display near the Legislative Buildings on Sunday.

Election Day

The front of the legislative buildings on a cloudy, grey day. Wish I knew how to skew this so the buildings were straight. Well, wide angle lens might help?
This plaque is under this big old beech tree at the back of the legislative buildings grounds.

Today we voted for our Provincial Government members of the legislature. As at this posting, the results of the voting are not conclusive.

When I went to get my ballot the person at the desk could not accept my passport as identification, because my address was not on the passport. How silly. This passport does have my address, only I had to write it on the page. If that address did not match my voting card or if that address did not match any of the passport checks it has gone through in the last year, I would probably not be home from Russia yet. I find it entirely ridiculous that the passport of the country I live in is not sufficient identification for the poll people... whatever they are called. When I protested about this the lady... whatever her name was... said "I'm sorry but we don't make the rules". I had to stop myself from making a loud raucous guffaw! If 'we' don't make the rules, ma'am, where are they coming from? Does King Kamball hand these decrees down from his lofty position in the government house or from his Hawaiian jail cell? So be it! I handed them my BC Id card with picture and address. Oh, my, yes! This will be fine! By this time, I was nearly in stitches and trying to keep a straight face. This ID card expired in 2006. Oh my yes, I really think they failed their citizenship tests! oh wait, they were born here, they didn't need to take the test. Or need to know how precious our ability to 'make the rules' just might be, not having had to reason or use any common sense.

The woodland garden

I don't remember the name of this plant. It is very well behaved and has big green leaves. It is just at the back of the garden by the firethorn and holly trees. It has some lemon balm near it, that needs constant controlling (another invasive plant, but lovely fragrance).
As you walk along the chip path along the side of the garage the last plant before the driveway is the bleeding heart. This plant is becoming quite thick and lovely since I have been feeding it compost and more water. There are also a few other choice spring blooming plants along this little strip of woodland garden, in the shade and under the eaves of the garage. I now have the new big green compost bin by this end of the garage and we park the van right up by the green bin and the front of the garage in the side driveway. I might be the only one who gets to see this garden because of the close proximity of the van and bin.
This is the large trillium. I found it had two blossoms this year. The red one is the older one. They turn red as they age gracefully. Its nice to see my trilliums increasing. The fawn lillies are finished but, they too are growing into a nice patch with a few new ones popping up in other spots of the woodland garden, too.
This is the linaria or money plant. It self seeds and is an excellent plant with its silver seed heads all winter.
The Saskatoon berry trees are full of blooms this year. I must keep them watered and see if I get enough berries to make a pie this year. They are delicious fresh also.
As you walk along the old cement sidewalk it turns left at the end of the garage and goes long behind the garage with approximately 15 foot strip between my property and the neighbour's planted with woodland plants, a huge eucalyptus tree, an evergreen that turns a burnished brown in winter, some cedars for screening, a yew, a holly tree, a firethorn, Saskatoon berry trees, a few sumacs. On the side of the path nearest the garage there is a bed of sweet smelling evergreen ground cover (forget its name) with a special hydrangea, a large fern, a lily of the valley shrub, the compost bin, some daylilies, a multistemmed pin oak, and a rhododendron. At this point the old cement sidewalk is mossy and becomes the chip path. As you turn the corner around the garage you follow the chip path with tall cedars along one side and more woodland perennials. I have bluebell bulbs taking over... they are very invasive. I have found that if they are covered heavily with mulch they can be controlled somewhat. I have some talll german irises along this area also that will one day have to be moved. Many of the plants that no longer fit in their beds find their way into this woodland area. The honeysuckle and a little black bamboo are in the corner and will need attention. There are thistles (from birdseed fallout) and those awful perennial morning glories (very invasive) as well as black berries. I need more chips for the trail. It is still a fairly easy care area, with lots of good interest in the plants and trees in color throughout the seasons.