December - a very busy month

On Friday, the 9th, we walked on to the Coho to go to Port Angeles and on to visit Dan and Irene.  They have been back home for about a month, after their four month trip in their Airstream motorhome.  This is the inner harbour as we left at about 4:00 pm.

 This photo was taken with flash and looked terrible, until I took it to the RAW converter in photoshop.

Bruce asked Pat for a few photos of Dan's stuff.  So, I had a good excuse to spend a lot of time practicing with my dslr-- that is fairly new to me.  I am loading them to a gallery on my Megashot account that is for Pat's car stuff.  I cannot seem to make the galleries password protected yet.  Oh well, not many people go to that account.  I just send them the link to the gallery or photostream and it saves all the download time in their email.  I can send them individual photos or even prints if they want them.  Irene was speaking of making her photos into hard copy albums.  She is very creative and I am sure these photo albums, when she starts making them, will be treasures for them to keep.  She will be welcome to any of mine she wants.  Thanks Dan and Irene for a lovely week end.

On Thursday, before we left, I raked and mowed the leaves in the front; to get a lawn mower bag of mulched leaves that I put onto woodland area.  The vegetable garden has a good cover of leaf mulch for the winter with fertilizer added to it.

Last night we were out to the Casino.  The dining area does not have an extensive menu.  I had an ok cheff's salad.  After all the fine dining on the week end, I seem to have gained one pound.  I shall have to fast for days, if I am going to lose those three pounds this month!  We actually came home with about a hundred more dollars than we took into the casino, so that was rewarding.  :)

We had Wayne the handyman guy fix the peeling paint in the small bathroom.  Pat put up the new shower rod and stuff yesterday.  So, that is finished.  Next thing on my agenda is to do a good cleaning of the house and get some baking done for Christmas.

September Gardening

I have finally found some time to get out in my garden.  These are photos of arum seeds, Irish heather and the grapes.  We are eating yellow plums, little tomatoes that grow on the deck, and we have the first fig in the house ready for eating.  I picked the red currants, put them through the juicer, and got about half cup of juice.  In cleaning up the bowls and juicer I added about another cup of water.  I added a cup of sugar and boiled this mix for about 3 minutes.  I now have two small jars of yummy red currant jelly.  This is labor intensive, but there is a lot of satisfaction in using your own produce. 

I mowed the grass paths and the back.  I clipped back the fig off the paths.  That thing grows madly.  It seems I should be watering my deck stuff everyday.  Oh well, its not doing too badly with its weekly watering. The path I renovated in the back, by adding stepping stones is looking good and is much better for walking on.  The stones were too uneven to use in this spot.  The pond is doing okay.  I like the covering of duck weed.  Its a nice refreshing green.  The whole garden needs watering and more weeding, of course.  The weather predictions are for another week of good weather, but cooler at nite.  The days are getting shorter quickly.

This is a photo from our 10 day trip to Barkerville, the gold rush town.  I have changed this to a sepia to make it look like the 1860s.  The trip was quite an adventure.  We drove up to Port Hardy and caught the ferry to Bella Coola.  We had to spend the night on the parking lot at Bear Cove terminal, as there were high seas and we could not leave on schedule.  We got on the next day at 5:00 pm.  Since we were behind schedule we did not get to spend any time ashore at the communities where the ferry stops.  We spent the next night in the camper van, on the ferry, though we were not suppose to be down there.  The weather was overcast and rainy so all the beautiful scenery was a wash out.  After getting off the fairy we found a wonderful campsite at the Gnome's Home just out of Bella Coola.  The next day we drove 'over the hill' which is a narrow, winding gravel road over the mountains.  I was scared skinny. The rest of the trip up to Barkerville was good, with good food, good campsites, fine scenery.  Barkerville was interesting, and we spent to half days there.  On the way home we took the Duffy Lake Road back over the mountains.  Another winding road over the mountains.  This one was paved with good shoulders and some turn outs.  But it had 11% downgrades with 20 km hairpin turns.  Our brakes were smokin'.  The scenery was spectacular!  We got back on Sunday the 28th.  I have been catching up on home and garden, and my rest. 

I have been spending a bit of time on Megashot.  Its always fun.  I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I want to do!

The Rock and Alpine Garden Club Sprring Show

This is a fine alpine plant shown at the Rock and Alpine Garden Club's Spring Show of a previous year.
This year the show is on April 15th and 16th at the Cadboro Bay United Church, 2625 Arbutus Drive.  There are  door prizes and sale of alpines, as well as a very good display of the show plants that have been  judged.  I have room for a few more little plants.  The ones that are growing in  partial shade (under a deciduous tree) and in gravel over clay seem to be thriving.  All the wrong growing things for alpines.  On my specially made little rockery at the back, I have a terrible time getting the plants to survive and grow.  My primulas are doing well in  the winter wet conditions in  clay at the back too.  Its been threatening rain the last few days and I have had my income tax return to prepare.  So, that is  finished.  Tomorrow I get my new computer.  So, there will  be another few days of a 'learning' hill to climb.  But if the sun is out... I  will be out in  the garden... the computer can wait!
I have my photos from our trip to view and sort.  Then I have been thinking about getting some of my old web page finished.  I need albums done for the Gardening  page.  When I finish these albums, I want to make a sub page that will show the highlights and changes each year in the garden. One of the gardening albums I finished last year is the paths and garden art, and I rather like this one.  The water garden album is also finished in  three  parts. Click on the thumbnail photos to take you to each of the albums and navigate back with the menu at the bottom of the albums.     The Travel page is now 6 years in arrears for its albums. I am especially happy with the Danube River cruise we took in 2005.  A very special one.   I have bits of each year done up, but I need to organize them into the albums and create each one.  The travel notes take a bit of time to do.  My town page is still  totally in  the planning stage.  I make the albums with  Photoshop and rework every page of each album, of course.  There is music on the page so it might load slower and some  people may not be able to get the music either.  There is a control to turn off the music if you do not want it.

Our Megashot, huge portal for photo uploads, and networking; with critique forum, ecommerce, customization of your own  page, communities, contests and much more is  going into version 2 and should soon be made.  Cyrus is working almost 24/7.  I have no idea how he gets all the stuff  done.  Our membership is growing steadily, too.  I need to spend time on the site, also.

More Hatley Castle in November

More photos from the Japanese / Woodland garden at Hatley castle in November, showing good autumn colors.
I managed to get quite a lot of things done today.  I was busy all day.  I moved the potting soil and a bag of compost up to the deck.  These steps are really treacherous right now, in the wet weather.  I used this soil and a bit of bone meal in the 7 pots where I transplanted the orange trees. I grew these trees from pits and have been meaning to move them out of the big flower pot for years, it seems.  Now I have them in pots that I can keep in the house and hopefully they will grow and produce oranges.  I repotted two of the orchids and cleaned up one of the shelves.  I hope these orange trees thrive. Between the pots and the trays, I have $10.00 invested in each one of them, not to count the cost of soil and time to do this.
I moved several clumps of Sicilian Mint from the stepping stones at the back to the stone path at the front.  Hopefully the mint will spread.  A year ago I cleaned up this path at the front and so the little clover and other weeds should find it even more difficult to grow between the stone, when the mint is established. 
I cleaned the kitchen window so as to get better photos of birds hopefully.  When I was out in the garden in the morning there were more birds... fox sparrows, alaska robins,  the juncos and humming birds, robins, saagulls and crows, of course.  I have heard flickers and caught a glimpse of a downey woodpecker at the suet feeder. 
Megashot is growing like crazy.  I must get some commenting done tonite. 

Hatley Castle and garden dressed for Autumn

The bridge in the Japanese Garden at Hatley Castle

Hatley Castle that is now Royal Roads University, dressed in Autumn colors.

One of the peacocks in the garden.  Motion blur on the feathers. 

More Autumn colors in the Japanese Garden

A window in the outside wall that looks out over the Japanese garden. 

On Sunday, we took a deli salad out to the lower parking lot of Hatley Castle.  It was a fine, sunny day with some occasional cloud cover.  I caught the Autumn colors just about right!  This is a very picturesque place.  They want us to go through the gift shop and pay an entrance fee to the gardens, now.  There are locks everywhere and high fences.  On the great lawn at the water side of the castle the geese roam freely.  Its a terrible mess.  I guess the fences keep them out of the gardens. 
After getting home from this fine afternoon we got news that an old buddy had passed away... age 65... just a young fellow yet.  He had not been having any health problems.  It was a shock to all.  We feel fortunate to have had some visiting time with him and his wife a couple of days previous.  It was a massive heart attack and he did not suffer.  RIP Don... you will be sorely missed.
Our Premier Campbell has resigned.  The polls are showing a huge decline in the popularity of the Liberal Party and in Campbell in particular.  He has been in office for 3 terms, and has implemented many changes that have not been well received over the years.  Not the least of which was the recent HST tax grab.  A former Premier had launched a rally and was getting signatures on the protest to have this tax law scrapped.  It seems to be a long process.  The Liberals changing horses in mid stream should not save them, this time.

Around town

a couple of days ago, we took a lunch out to Beaver Lake in the Dodge Lodge and then walked part way around the lake and back, in search of the elusive Western Painted Turtles.  Benjamin Madison found one at Swan Lake earlier this year and posted it to his blog.  Now, I must find one!  This is an Island in Beaver Lake.

 As we sat out on the deck at Seahorses Cafe by the Brentwood Bay ferry dock, I could see this heron in the shallows, fishing.  The bird seemed to have a wound on its upper wing and so it did not fly away.  It may have become used to people pointing cameras at it. 
I have been getting a few things done around the house today.  I made a pot of soup with one of my jars of chicken stock and vegetables, and now have 2 jars ready for serving. 
We have a Food and Drink community on Megashot.net,  with an assignment running in that community.  I never thought to shoot my soup for it though.
I understand we have water restrictions in town!  Good grief that is so silly, with all the water we have had and now we can't water unless its in the dead of night.  These 'rules' are made by bureaucrats from the CRD who are not even elected officials.  I know NOT where they get the authorization to make these laws and enforce them.  Apparently, a lawyer was caught out watering his new lawn, by hand -- no less, outside of the time limits for watering.  He is taking this question to court for judgement!  This should bring the matter into the public view, and get some of these questions that I am sure we all have, answered.  I hope the press get on this and make a very big deal about it!  From coffee clatch scuttlebutt, I understand that we have been using so little water that the city had to raise the water rates for us to use the utility.  Now I sure would like to know if this is really true, too.  I hope this comes out in the trial of the lawyer doing his dire criminal act of watering his new lawn.  My garden is drying up because I don't dare go out and water and I cannot see to connect sprinklers, etc. in the dead of night! 
My garden needs watering and weeding and dead heading.  We have had lovely weather and I should be out there. 

Green Festival at Glendale Gardens

On Sunday I spent a few hours at Glendale Gardens, in the afternoon.  Its was very hot with bright sun, so the time for photography was less than opportune.   The Green Festival was on, with a few kiosks to advertise alternate energy, and local foods, hemp clothing, and numerous other current eco friendly things.  I talked to a people at a booth with pictures of our western painted turtles and they said I might find some at Beaver Lake.  So, today, we will go out there in the camper van for lunch and to search for turtles.  I must look at the Victoria Daily blog ... I think he found some of these turtles and posted to his blog a few weeks ago.
Yesterday, I spent a few hours watering the garden by hand and looking over the plants.  When I was out at Glendale Gardens I was taking pictures and observing some of the paths, especially the woodland ones.  In my woodland the tall plants are looking pretty good...wild, but I like them.  The lace cap hydrangea  looks really good after it got a bit of water.  There are weeds, but not too bad.  The corsican mint is filling in beautifully around the round stepping stones in the back.  I shall need more delephiniums and maybe a veronica or two.  The lavatera is full of blooms. 
Megashot is getting very very busy!  We have a new Food and Drink community that should be a lot of fun.  Come join us.  Free accounts right now.

The Wharf

 I spent some time looking around Capital Iron.  We then went to the wharf and walked.  There are house boats and yachts.  There were kids feeding the harbour seals fish.  It was a lovely day.  We had lunch across the street at the Mocha Coffee house.  Was nice, ok food.  The food places that are on the dock seem to be closed for the season. 

Views from the Coho

The photos are taken from the deck of the Coho as it returned to Victoria from Port Angeles. We walked on so I had a view of the Inner Harbor that I don't see when we drive onto the ferry.

We went to Port Angeles on Friday. Dan and Irene picked us up at the ferry and we went to their home for dinner. Early the next morning we went out to a big breakfast at the Oak Table. Then we carried on to the Bremerton Swap Meet. On the way we had to wait at the Hood Canal bridge, as it was retracted to allow boats to pass through. It was pouring rain at the swap meet, of course. We did not find any real memorable items to bring home. We left the swap and went to the Red Lobster in Silverdale for scrumptious seafood. We were all in need of a nap when we got back to their house. I managed to stay awake until 8:30 and had to crash. Irene made us a big brunch next morning including using her own home grown Yukon Gold Potatoes. Was very good. Thanks Dan and Irene for all. We arrived home about 4:00 on Sunday.

The rain gauge had 1.5 inches in it when I emptied it yesterday. Today, I cleaned up the filter in the pond again.

Cattle Point

On June 22nd we picked up a lunch from the Deli at Mr. Grocer's (not great) and headed over to Willows Beach in the Dodge Lodge. The Victoria Grid for June contains Willow Beach. When we arrived there we did not see any spot that was very inviting to park and have our lunch, so we continued on to Cattle Point.

It was a beautiful sun/cloudy day with the ever present breeze from the ocean. After lunch I put my ND filter on my camera and went out to shoot around Cattle Point. This is a very photogenic spot! After these photos plus a few more we went back to Willows Beach and the grid area. I could not seem to get anything that I liked within the grid. When looking at the grid pool photos, it seemed that anything I had taken was already loaded to the group, and many of them better than anything I got in the grid. No need to duplicate things. I am so glad I have my Cattle Point photos though.

I bought 6 more small sarosa goldfish for the pond as well as 4 more perennials. I have another corsican mint to add to the front rock path, as well as another Scleranthus Biflorus which is a very elegant little green mound. It says that it can be a greass substitute. My corisican mint is growing and expanding in the back around the cement stepping stones and along the stone path. It is gorgeous and smell heavenly. They say it is the mint that makes creme de menth. I bought a red rockrose and a small potentilla ground cover, with yellow flowers, of course. I must see if it likes a bit of shade, then it can go on the other side of the bench from the Vancouver Jade broom, perhaps, or in the back with the yellow flowering plants.

I watered the front for a total of 5 hours, with the sprinkler set in 3 different spots to give the garden a fairly good soaking. Now, I need to add compost to the beds, and some fine bark mulch, and the front beds, the back garden rooms, are all ready for enjoyment and just maintenance. The side driveway strip, the woodland and under the deck will have to wait for next year, or the Fall. My ideas for these areas need to 'jell' yet, anyway. This will take some studying of the light conditions, and consideration of availability of water, etc., before I start the renovations.

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.

Gorge Park

It was a lovely day last Tuesday. We took the Dodge Lodge, picked up a couple of Nanwiches and went to the Gorge Park for lunch. The tulips, forsythia, currant bushes, and many other flowers and bushes are in bloom. The air is full of pollen! The Japanese Takata Gardens were once in this location, but went into decline during and after WWII and all that entailed. The Takata Gardens are now rebuilt out at Glendale Gardens and had the opening ceremonies last summer. At the Gorge Park they seem to be slowly restoring some of the ponds and plantings. Otherwise, the park has a long walkway along the Gorge waterway, lined with benches donated by people in memory of loved ones.

I have moved the perennials from the back of the little lewisia rockery and now have another 2 feet by about 10 feet of rockery space. I have found some rocks to add along with my new tufa rock. None of the rocks are big, I will partially bury them to make them look like a mountain range in minature, with all the angles running the same way. I need more sand to mix with topsoil to put over top of the layer of ordinary garden soil that covers a few bits of pot shards and small stones for proper drainage. I will also need more pea gravel for top dressing. The lewisias, a campanula (lost its name), a primula marginata, a small green hebe (bush like but minature), and one other tiny draba (from last year's planting) along with the strawberry jar, and the Jackie Cooper's faery plaque that has broken up and become an artifact; make up the little rockery now. I will add the cyclamen coum and perhaps the new daphe. The creeping phlox will go out in the front rockery. I will be renovating that front rockery too, just adding more grit and topsoil. There is room for a few tiny plants there as well. I want to try to transplant a piece of the best rockery plant in my garden that sits by the west coast planter, growing in clay and gravel, making an every bigger evergreen mound. It grows over rocks. Its a lovely thing. I hope I can get some of it to grow in the lewisia rockery at the back. I might get more thrifts for the front and for the area by the fig tree.

I have dill, cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds, and a few vegetabe seeds that I want to get planted in the vegtable garden next to the little rockery. I will want to get tomatoe plants for the other side and perhaps some peas and beans can go in that area.

I topped up the pond with water. It looks really quite good. I want to get the paving blocks raised a bit higher. The Japanese area needs the violets and dandilions removed and the moss encouraged to grow. Also need to clean the little dry stream and top up its pea gravel. I have no idea what happens to these little stones, but they seem to disappear. I saw three of the new little fish on the surface, so some of them are still in there. Hopefully, all of them.

The fawn lillies are spreading in the woodland area. The big trillium is in bloom and I see the small one showing, at last. I thought I may have lost it. There are sooo many of those blue bell things ... very invasive. I am not sure which is worse.. the violets, the bluebells or the dandilions. I see that the new fawn lilly (ethronium) in the new bed by the little spruce and curly hazelnut tree, is showing leaves. So, with the trilliums, the fawn little, the shooting star, and the anemone hepactica, I think that little area is going to be a success. It has top dressing of cedar duff. Also in that area the Sanguinaria Canadensis (double) is blooming and slowly spreading.

Yesterday was cold after the great hot day before. I went shopping and caught the bus there and back. I found the Tabi t-shirts! Now, I will need some good leather sandals and white dress shoes. I like all the open toed shoes this year! I need more gardening and less eating before I can feel comfortable shopping for clothes, now!

I am impossibly behind in commenting my friends and contacts on Flickr. The new site is looking so good that I like to check in there and see how much Cyrus and his guys have got finished. It is gonna be great! Flickr seems like such a chore to navigate recently. It is so slow and sooo glaring white!

Neil and Andrea who have been staying with Tara and Andy downstairs have both got jobs, and will be into their own suite in a house in a couple of weeks. We have offered them our hide a bed and they seem to think it will be ok to have. They have a few other donations from people to furnish their place. Its marvelous how they both are adapting in so little time. They are doing very well!