Spring Comes to Thetis Lake

I can never get enough of this beautiful park. - Fern

HMCS Algonquin

While out at the Fisgard Lighthouse earlier in the week I was lucky to see the Canadian Navy's HMCS Algonquin entering Esquimalt Harbour, pictured above. The Esquimalt Canadian Forces Base is the headquarters of Canada's Maritime Forces Pacific.

Fisgard Friday

I have a new camera - a Sony Alpha SLT a77 - So of course one of the first places I took it was out to the location of my favourite model, the Fisgard Lighthouse. The lighthouse was looking as beautiful as ever. And the camera? Well, so far I'm pretty pleased with its performance too.

Christmas Hill

Though Fern and I have lived in Victoria for many years we still find that there are new places to discover. The photo above is from our first visit to Christmas Hill earlier this week. Christmas Hill is part of the nature reserve of Swan Lake, which is visible in the foreground of the above photo. It offers splendid views of the city in every direction and has a wealth of wonderfully made paths and trails through a Garry Oak woodland that was carpeted on this day with rich blue-purple Camas flowers (visible on the bottom of the above photo). It's a real gem of a park with the best views of the city.

Lampson Street School

Here's one of our oldest school buildings, built in 1913. There was an earlier small building put up in 1903 but it was replaced by this building ten years later. I find it interesting how attitudes to education are reflected in school architecture. This school, Victoria High School (1914) and Camosun College (Young Building 1914) were all erected during a time when education was still in the classical mode as reflected in their neo-classical design. Learned people knew Latin and Greek and were familiar with ancient European scholars and philosophers. The genders were separated - both Lampson and Vic High (1914) still have the "Boys" and "Girls" wings to the school, identified indelibly in cement. And these schools were built during a time when popular education was a relatively new concept and a good education was still viewed as somewhat of a privilege. Below is a bit more information provided at the school.