James Bay

Friends from out of town are staying at the lovely Oswego Hotel on the seventh floor and have this beautiful view looking out toward the Olympic Mountains. -fern

Into the mist....

This photo makes me think of death - it's like a visual metaphor of the unknown we all must face sooner or later. The photo was taken by my daughter, Fern Long, on the Ogden Point Breakwater earlier this year. I think it's a good one to end the old year on and to usher in the New Year.

Ogden Point

Another rainy, gray day today so here's a slightly archival photo from a few days ago. This is Ogden Point Breakwater. The large gray building is the cruise ship terminal. I have no idea what they do in there since most cruise passengers only get off to look around for a few hours and then get back on the ship. Oh well, another of life's little mysteries.

Sunny Day

Today the clouds blew away and we had a bright and balmy afternoon so I went along to my favorite spot on Dallas Road and photographed the scene above (again! - you can see a November shot of the same place HERE.)

Holland Point November

In case you're wondering if you've seen this before, you have. Several times. It's my favorite spot to photograph. It's Holland Point on Dallas Road and I love the way it changes with the seasons and weather.

May

August

September

Holland Point September

I spent a delightful day at a community corn roast here in my neighborhood of Vic West and took a lot of photos. As soon as I decide which ones I want to use I'll post them. In the meantime, here's a shot I took this evening of my favorite bit of coastline, Holland Point. I earlier posted a photo of it taken in August from just about the same spot and one taken in May from further back. If I didn't have photographic proof I would hardly believe that the landscape could change so dramatically.

....

Here's a photo that was deleted to the trash because the colors were so washed out and I was shooting almost directly into the sun. But the image kept sneaking back into my mind so I retrieved it from the trash and put aside my obsessions with color and blue skies.

CAFE D'ART

A few days ago I posted a photo of the BC Legislative Assembly Buildings that generated some interesting comments around the topic of bilateral symmetry that I, unfortunately, do not have time properly to reply to now. As a bit of a response, however, I submit this photo of the garden patio at the Cafe d'Art, which is in James Bay on Superior Street, only a few blocks from where I took the photo of the Legislative Assembly Building, and which strikes me as one artist's answer to the question of why we are here and what we are doing.

Dallas Road August

Here we are on Dallas Road again, re-visiting a small headland I photograph almost obsessively though I've only posted on it once before. Anyway, this view is taken with a polarizing filter attached to the lens and it has a wonderful effect on the water and sky - deepening the colors of both so they look more like what is seen with the naked eye. The water here is often this color but this warm-looking aquamarine color is deceptive. The water is icy.

...on the dock of the bay

...watchin' the tide roll away....

Gulls N' Roses

Famed supergroup caught relaxing by the pool recently at the Coast Harbourside Hotel on Kingston Street. That's Axl on the right....

Juan Francisco Bodega y Quadra

On Belleville Street overlooking the Inner Harbour just west of the Legislative Assembly Buildings is a small park called Quadra Park. It commemorates the Spanish-American explorer and administrator whose bust is pictured above, Juan Francicsco Bodega y Quadra. The park and bust are a recognition that this island when first named by Europeans (Vancouver and Quadra, in agreement) was called Quadra's and Vancouver's Island. As British power and presence in the area increased and Spanish influence lessened the name became shortened to Vancouver Island. The Nuu-chah-nulth, long-time inhabitants of the area of greatest concern to Europeans at the time, Nootka Sound, don't appear to have been consulted.

Quadra is pictured above because he explored the western coastline of Vancouver Island in 1775, several years before the voyages of Captains Cook and Vancouver. He is thus one of the earliest captains of a tall-masted sailing ship to visit these shores and brings us one step closer to the Tall Ships Festival, coming to Victoria and this blog during the next week.

UPDATE: Jean Bedard
Yesterday when I was down at Fisherman's Wharf searching for some nautical subjects I met again Jean Bedard, who was featured earlier this year on this blog when he was auditioning for a license to busk in Victoria. He now performs regularly on Fisherman's Wharf. With his sound system set up he is now even more of a pleasure to listen to than when he was auditioning. He tells me that there is a CD in preparation so I may soon be able to share a little more of his song stylings with visitors to this blog.

Beacon Drive-In

What are all these people lining up for? Is the food really that good? Anyone who grew up here will recognize this Victorian institution, the Beacon Drive-in, and today is the 50th anniversary of their opening. Food vendors are not allowed in Beacon Hill Park across the road and this place is the nearest fast food available. And yes, if you like burgers, fries, shakes and cones, it's good. I often stop here for a quick snack when I'm cycling around Victoria. Great chips! And you can't beat today's special anniversary prices. I had fries and a small shake today for $2. I had to take a picture of this menu since I haven't seen prices like these for about 50 years.

Prevailing Wind

Much of the vegetation that lines Dallas Road has been sculpted by the wind. This Horse Chestnut tree is a favourite of mine.

Dallas Road

Dallas Road follows the oceanfront around most of Victoria. It is much enjoyed by joggers, walkers, cyclists and, because of the nearly constant ocean breezes, kite flyers and riders. I photograph some part of it several times each week since the ever-varying combinations of sky, cloud and water colors make for a different photo every time.

Retirement

A very hot afternoon (at 7 pm just now it is still 26 degrees C - about 80 degrees F) and I took a long bike ride along Dallas Road, which follows the coastline all around Victoria. The ocean is just behind and below the trees in the background. This peaceful scene, on Dallas Road a few minutes from downtown, suggests all that is best about retirement.

And you all thought it was in Colorado

It's not - the real South Park Elementary is in James Bay, Victoria. I waited around to see if I could get Eric, Kyle, Stan and Kenny to pose for this but they were busy.

James Bay - Emily Carr House

Emily Carr is one of Victoria's more famous personages both as an artist and as a writer. The house where she was born in 1871 and where she spent much of her life is in James Bay and is open to the public. Many of her paintings, including the two below, are in the collection of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.

James Bay - Summer's coming

I have to post this now because the trees are greening up so fast that these cherry tree photos will be out of date soon. I have mentioned Victoria's benign climate and we are chortling complacently today reading about our Canadian neighbours in Calgary who got 25 centimeters of snow yesterday (that's almost 10 inches).

This photo was taken in a part of Victoria known as James Bay. It is the oldest residential neighbourhood of the city and is home to many fine heritage houses.

Xanadu

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !
A savage place ! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover !
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced :
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war !
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves ;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

("Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)