Westsong Walkway

Always changing, always beautiful. - Fern

Landscape 5 - Highrock Park - Garry Oaks

The wonderfully gnarled branches of Garry Oaks make great studies in winter but I am even more fond of the deep green of their leaves and the rich fissured texture of the bark on their trunks, especially on crackling hot summer days like this.

Just now....

Here's a street I pass down almost every day near my home and at this time of year I always silently bless whoever decided to plan these beautiful flowering trees so many years ago. They are just starting to bloom now and will soon be covered with wonderful bunches of blooms like pink popcorn. Though there is still a nip in the air, these trees make it seem warmer. I took this photo less than an hour ago.

Winter Morning

Taken just as the sun was rising over Highrock (Cairn) Park here in Victoria West.

Rainy Night

Often what's hardest to capture at night is the color of the light. Cameras I've used generally get it wrong and one ends up spending a lot of time fiddling with white balance to get a satisfactory result. However, on my Sony DSLT the "handheld twilight" setting that I am currently exploring almost always gets the light exactly right. Though I've never worked in an office building like this, something about this photo gives me a nostalgic "after work" feeling.

More Autumn

This Vic West street is definitely dressed for autumn. The house on the left is one of Victoria's Heritage Homes and was built in 1891.

October Morning

As one gets older it seems one has ever more call on Robert Burns' consideration of "the best laid plans...." The various exciting photo-excursions I had planned for this week have been shelved in favor of recuperating from a back problem. So I trundled myself out into the backyard this morning and here is what a Victorian garden looks like on this bright and sunny day in October. We had some early morning frost earlier in the week but only a sparkling dew today.

Autumn Colors

Victoria's autumn colors tend to be a bit muted because a large number of our deciduous trees are Garry Oaks. These don't turn glorious autumn shades of red and yellow but go directly to brown. However we do have some nice stands of other trees here and there. Above are some of the trees lining the Gorge at Banfield Park showing that autumn has definitely arrived in Victoria.

Blue Skies 2

Back in June I posted a photo of these poppy plants in glorious bloom. Victoria's been having some beautiful summery weather lately but there's no turning back the clock. The leaves are starting to turn and there's a chill in the air.

Summer Sunset

Here we are already in the last week before school starts - for me the signal that summer is nearly over. And it seems like it's only just begun. It came and went much too quickly this year. I took the above photo last evening when I noticed on my way home that the sunset colors were particularly vivid. It was taken from the Westsong Walkway at the bottom of Mary Street in Vic West.

Blue Nile Rose

On a morning walk recently I noticed this lovely rose in the garden entryway of an apartment building. When I stopped to take a photo of it the caretaker came out and told me a bit about it and encouraged me to smell it. It's only one of many different types of roses he grows. He prefers those that, like this one, called "The Blue Nile", have a rich scent. I too am partial to old-fashioned roses like this.

Vic West Fest - The Colts

The annual Vic West Fest was celebrated Saturday in Banfield Park. And for those who think Victoria is only for retired folks, here's proof that there are children here too. And very talented children. These neighborhood kids, ranging in age from 7 to 11, gave a great performance at the Vic West Fest. The group is called The Colts and below are some portraits of band members. Yay Vic West!

Bass Guitar	Drums
Lead Singer	Lead Guitar

Highrock Park

Cold blustery rain in the mornings lately has been followed by clearing and brilliant blue skies. Here's what yesterday afternoon looked like on top of Highrock Park in Vic West. The brilliant blue Camas Lilies are just beginning to bloom but I'll wait until they peak in a few days before I show them here. They'll soon cover the slopes of this park with swathes of rich blue.

On the Water

Not ever having been a boat person I am amazed at how many different waterborne conveyances there are in use in the Inner Harbour. Some such as tugboats, barges and fishing boats, etc. are obviously functionally designed. Others such as large sailboats and motor yachts are designed for comfort and pleasure. Some are for specific purposes such as the dragon boats that race here yearly. Others seem to be only for the purposes of group exercise, such as those pictured above. This group of recreational paddlers were photographed offshore of the Westsong Walkway last fall.

Highrock Park Sunset

The mossy summit of Highrock Park in Victoria West catches the last rays of a winter sunset.

Arbutus Moon

222 Mary Street, Victoria West

Here's another of Victoria's fine old brick heritage homes. I pass this one nearly every morning on my way to the West Bay Walkway for my daily stroll along the shore. I like brick houses in general but I particularly like this one because of how it manages to look so staid and proper despite being an eclectic mix of architectural styles. According to "This Old House", the bible of Victoria Heritage Houses, this dwelling succeeds in uniting Classical Revival, Gothic Revival and Italianate styles in one structure. It was built sometime before 1892 and during its long life has been lived in by a remarkable cross section of Victoria's population, including a draughtsman, a carriage-maker, a merchant, a sailor, a railway conductor, an engineer, 2 painters, a labourer, a biscuit factory packer, a machinist, a blacksmith, a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman, a garbage man, and a partridge in a pear tree.... I also like the way the surrounding modern condo development mimics the style and materials of this house.

Magic Time

I had wanted to post something a little more urban and seasonal today as a change from all the fungi and lichens we've been enjoying lately. The weather, however, has not been cooperating - not just cold and damp but raining heavily enough so that I am reluctant to take my camera out of its bag - real "Vancouver" weather. Whatever the weather, sunrise is a magical time and here's a shot from a little while ago taken very early in the morning. We are getting close to the winter solstice now and soon the days will be getting longer again.

Another ASTK

In early October I posted a photo of a "paste up" by local graffiti artist ASTK. The subject was Ricky of the "Trailer Park Boys" television show. Commenter Ngawangchodron mentioned that she had posted one of Bubbles and Conky by the same artist from the same show. Since then I've been on the lookout for any more of these paste ups by ASTK and so I was happy to see a new one yesterday morning on Wilson Street in Vic West. I think this is Steve Carrell who plays office manager Michael Scott in the American version of the television series, "The Office."

Fogbank

I confess to a fondness for fog so I liked seeing this fogbank moving in from the ocean the other morning. I realize that for mariners it must pose real problems but with both feet safely on the ground and from a distance, it's lovely. A few minutes after taking the above photo (with my "new" 50mm lens) I noticed the MV Coho, the car ferry from Port Angeles, nosing her way out of the fog and took the photo below.