Dusk

The days are getting shorter (sigh...) but the light is so beautiful at the end of these hot August days that it's okay. - Fern

Ross Bay Cemetery - Mary Laetitia Pearse (1840-1872)

Friday's balmy weather stretched right through the long weekend and I took advantage of it to begin a project - getting to know the Ross Bay Cemetery. It's the oldest cemetery in Victoria and walking around in it is like taking a stroll through Victoria's history. I have a copy of the "Historic Guide to Ross Bay Cemetery" by John Adams that contains 13 tours of sections of the cemetery. I started with tour number one which, appropriately, begins with the oldest grave, a burial that took place in 1872, several months before the cemetery was officially opened in 1873. In the above photo it is the grave on the right. This is the same grave that was photographed in 1874 in the photo to the left. It is the grave of Mary Laetitia Pearse (1840-1872), the first wife of Benjamin William Pearse (1832-1902), who is also buried in this plot. His grave is marked by a simple stone between his first and second wives' gravestones. The inscription reads "Benjamin William Pearse of Fernwood". Fernwood at that time was not a neighbourhood; it was the name of Pearse's home, Fernwood Manor, from which the neighbourhood got its name. Pearse came to Victoria in 1851 and in 1864 became Surveyor-General of Vancouver Island. His second wife, Sarah Jane Pearse continued to live in Fernwood Manor after her husband's death in 1902. She died, aged 100, in 1954 and the house was demolished in 1969. Some of the foregoing information and the photo at the left were taken from John Adams' "Historic Guide to Ross Bay Cemetery" and some was derived from the Wikipedia entry on the Fernwood Neighbourhood. The photo on the left is originally from the Provincial Archives of BC - PABC 6808.

Sarah Jane Pearse, whose gravestone is on the left in the top photo, is pictured below left. Fernwood Manor is pictured below right. Both photos are taken from Terry Reksten's fascinating Social History of Victoria, "More English than the English", published by Orca Books.

Fernwood

All over Fernwood the community has gotten together to paint many of the telephone poles and it is so fun to walk around this neighborhood and find them. Find out more about this great project here. - Fern

More Blossoms

Can you ever have enough blossoms? I can't at this time of year. This was taken in one of my favorite neighborhoods, Fernwood. - Fern

Vic High

The massive pile of granite and brick above is Victoria High School, the oldest secondary school in Western Canada. It started out as a two room log cabin in 1876. Wikipedia has a good short history of the school you can read by clicking here.I didn't go to Vic High but I graduated from a similarly massive neo-classical style of secondary school in our neighbouring city of Vancouver. This seems to have been the favoured style for secondary schools during the first half of the last century. It's a very solid style of archictecture that places education squarely in the classical tradition. Education has changed a lot in the last 50 years and, as can be seen from the separate entrances to the left and right, so has society. With the information revolution and the internet, I would be surprised if there are any recognizable schools a hundred years hence. Buildings like the above will be little more than museums for an age that's rapidly passing.

Fernwood Square

The Belfry Theatre, subject of yesterday's post, occupies one side of Fernwood Square. On the other side is a variety of shops, restaurants and galleries, the sign for one of which, "The Green Goddess Cafe" is pictured above. It specializes in "Giant Belgian Waffles" and "edible flower organic salads" and serves all sorts of other goodies as well. Click HERE to visit their website and look at their menu. I include a photo of this side of the square to show the shops....I always like to look at Bulletin Boards when I see them - you can tell a lot about a community from what is posted there. Here are two sides of the Community Bulletin Board in Fernwood Square. Click them to read the notices.

Belfry Theatre

In an earlier post I mentioned the Belfry Theatre and here it is. What is now a theatre was formerly a church, dedicated in 1887 as the Spring Ridge Chapel and Schoolhouse (Baptist). As you can see it has been beautifully restored and is a part of the Fernwood community in a way that few theatres are. In the 1970's it was the home of Cool-Aid, a drop-in center providing services to dropped out or strung out adolescents. As the Fernwood community developed and Cool-Aid's services expanded the building became more of a cultural center and Cool-Aid moved downtown.You can find out more about the Belfry by clicking HERE.

Fernwood Evening Market

If you're a vegetarian you will know the "poor child standing with nose pressed against glass of expensive toy store" longing that typically rises when a vision such as these cupcakes appears, since they are usually made with eggs.

"These wouldn't be vegan, would they?" I asked.

"Oh yes," was the reply and the last chocolate peanut butter dream was on its way to my mouth before she was finished speaking.These magnificent cupcakes were encountered at the Fernwood Evening Market, held every Tuesday in the Fernwood community square. I haven't written much about Fernwood although it is one of my favorite parts of Victoria and I lived there for some years while I was going to university. In the 1970s it was probably the neighborhood of choice for hippies and it still has a lot of the same flavor. The evening market was delightfully relaxed and pleasant, with crafts and fresh veggies for sale as well as cupcakes, mellow music provided by a very capable trio, kids and dogs running around and people sitting around eating and chatting. The square is also home to the Belfry Theater that we will be seeing a little more of in days to come.

Urban trompe l'oeil

First, a tip of the hat to my fellow City Daily Photo Blogger from Willits, California, for drawing my attention to urban trompe l'oeil as public art through her post "Dog with Koi Pond." I suspect most cities have some instances of this style of art. The example above is on the front of a shop here in Victoria that sells mobility devices such as electric scooters and stair assists.