NOT the Coit Tower

Whilst riding around the Fairfield neighborhood the other day I decided to visit Moss Rock Park, a small rocky hilltop, also known as Fairfield Hill. Photographers are a bit like goats in wanting always to get to the highest point available. Anyway, while I was up there I noticed a very tall strange looking tower that I hadn't really noticed before. Aha, I thought, the Coit Tower! Then I remembered that the Coit Tower is in San Francisco. After leaving the Abkhazi Garden (also in Fairfield) a few days later, we decided to try to get close to this mystery tower. It's in the Rockland neighborhood, off Laurel Lane, but it's not possible to get to it since it is surrounded by private homes. It's a water tower, 128 feet tall, built in 1909. It's no longer in use though for 25 years it bore a 22 foot neon flame that celebrated the centenary of the City of Victoria. This information comes from the Rockland Neighborhood Association Heritage Walking Tour. It's an interesting structure. The photo to the left was taken from Moss Rock Park to show this tower. (Click to enlarge.) The large gray house to the left of the tower is Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

Gourmet Garden

I've posted about the Abkhazi Garden and its romantic past before but I revisited it the other day for a wonderful surprise. Not only is it a spectacular garden with hundreds of rare and beautiful plants, but it offers outstanding food. After wandering in the garden for an hour or so we decided to try the lunch menu. It's hard to find superlatives adequate to describe how good their food is. That's tomato soup on the right there, but what a soup! Garnished with spicy little (chive?) flowers, fresh goat cheese and a drizzle of basil oil...splendid is an understatement. The pasta was also superb.

Visit this place - for the flowers and other plants and for the magnificent garden in which they grow, but make sure you arrive in time for lunch. It's beyond delicious. You can read a little about the Abkhazi Garden on The Land Conservancy website, by clicking here. Other information is available here.

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The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed the bottled sparkling water above with the cute name "O de Vie." I had originally ordered Perrier but decided to try this since it was local. It's drawn from an aquifer in Vic West. Great water! Yay Vic West!

St. Ann's Academy

St. Ann's Academy was the first school in Victoria. It opened its doors When the BC gold rush was just beginning in 1858. The red roofed neo-classical section was added in 1886 to the older mansard-roofed section on the right. A few trees remain from the orchard intended to provide boarders at the school with fruit. The buildings are no longer used as a school. Much of it is now occupied by government offices and areas of historical significance are open to the public.

St. Ann's Academy is located in downtown Victoria on Humboldt Street. This street is one of the oldest in Victoria and was first called Kanaka Street because many of the residents were from the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). I suspect the name was changed to honour the explorer and scientist, Alexander von Humboldt, who was very highly regarded in the nineteenth century.

Yellow Peppers

OK, here's a confession. I don't like cloudy, cold damp weather. I know that good photographers say that bad weather is a blessing because it provides all sorts of interesting lighting and dramatic skies and discourages dilettantes, but I like sunny skies and bright colors anyway. I have to search really deeply inside me to find anything inspiring about a landscape that looks like it has had all the life and color drained out of it by forty days of drizzle. In the midst of yesterday's downpours I happened upon this bit of sidewalk sunshine, some glowing yellow peppers provided by the Ambrosio Market in Cook Street Village here in Victoria.

The photo below is what the weather was really like yesterday at the foot of Government Street, where it meets the Inner Harbour. This vicious driving rain turned sleety while being photographed.... This is March.
Those of you who are watching this blog with eagle-eyed interest may have noted that yesterday's photo ("Big sky...." below) was uploaded not by myself (Benjamin Madison) but by the "Front St Gang." The latter is my daughter, Fern Long, who has kindly agreed to contribute some of her fine photos to this blog.