Oak Bay Village

I've mentioned before that greater Victoria is made up of several smaller entities, one of which is the City of Oak Bay, on Victoria's eastern shores. And while I've often featured photos of Willows Beach and other parts of Oak Bay, I've not before posted a photo of Oak Bay Village. It's a very comfortable shopping area with lots of small book stores, art galleries and specialty shops, very pleasant and relaxed.

Oak Bay Panorama

Last week after enjoying the Oak Bay Tea Party parade I rode along the beach front past the Oak Bay Marina and I had to stop when I looked out over the water and saw this panorama. I realized that it was the perfect time to try out the panorama feature of my new camera. This is the result. If you click the photo above you will be taken to the half size original which, 6400 pixels wide, is still pretty big. You may have to click it again to see it full size since it may be larger than your screen. I'm pretty pleased with this feature. It's easy to use (just pan the camera with the shutter release held down) and the stitching between frames is invisible. That perfect snowy peak in the distance is Mount Baker, an extinct volcano about 80 km east in the USA.

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As visitor Paul in Powell River points out, Mount Baker is NOT an extinct volcano but is in fact the second most active volcano in this area, the most active being Mount Saint Helens. My thanks to Paul for this correction. See this entry in Wikipedia for more information about Mount Baker. If you want to see some beautiful photos of the Sunshine Coast, take a look at Paul's photoblog, A Powell River Photo Blog. I am particularly fond of his header photo of some Harlequin Ducks in flight.

Willows Beach Sunrise

I've been thinking that I might get some better sunrise shots if I rode over to the eastern side of the city so I did that this morning. Though the mornings are getting chilly, it was well worth the trip. Here is the first of a series of photos of sunrise at Willows Beach in Oak Bay. Here we are looking towards Oak Bay, facing southwest.

Garden City

Victoria prides itself on being a "garden city" and has some famous gardens such as the Abkhazi Garden and Butchart's but one of the aspects of the city that makes it a pleasure to live here and to move around in the neighbourhoods is the wealth of small private gardens in the yards of individual residences. Victoria is well known for its high percentage of retired people and this may account for the many splendid gardens in the city. Whatever the reason, today's photo is my salute to the many gardeners of the city whose work we can all enjoy. The house and garden in the above photo is just opposite Willows Beach in Oak Bay and is one that I often stop to admire when I am passing.

Oak Bay Twilight

I happened to be in Oak Bay last night and was amazed to see Mount Baker in Washington State catching the last rays of the setting sun. Mt. Baker is often visible but seldom so clearly. It is about 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) distant.

Attention!

It's nice to see a sense of humor from the City of Oak Bay Recreation Department. This sign is posted on the entrance to the beach at MacNeil Bay. This beach is usually nearly deserted - it's really only a narrow strip of rocks and sand below the esplanade. Earlier this year MacNeil Bay hosted a visiting Gray Whale thoughtfully recorded by N. Wemyss and posted to YouTube by NorthOlbo.

Oak Bay Marina

Visitors to this blog will have noticed that many of the photos include boats of all shapes and sizes, not surprising for a coastal city on an island. Some people live on their boats but most boat owners must find places to moor them while they live and work elsewhere. This is one of the largest marinas in the greater Victoria area, called the Oak Bay Marina. This photo was taken about a week ago before our atmosphere became polluted with smoke. Much of the province of British Columbia is experiencing forest fires right now due to extremely hot dry weather. The smoke from these fires now lies over this area like a dense smog.

Summer Day

Victoria's summer has finally arrived. It's nice and hot. I like it but I'll bet there were a lot of sunburned backs last night. Here's a photo of Victoria's favorite place to lie in the sun and dip in the Pacific - Willows Beach in Oak Bay.

Saturday Morning Bubbles...

...in Oak Bay.

Willows Beach

Summer finally arrived this last week and Victorians have been reveling in bona fide HOT summer days. And that, of course, includes beach time. While Victoria is surrounded by the ocean it doesn't have that many sandy beaches that are suitable for swimming and lolling in the sun. Willows Beach in Oak Bay is one that has everything a beach should have and here's how Victorians were enjoying it this week.

Clown

A classic feature of any parade or fair is a clown. In this part of the world, clowns are most often provided by the Shrine Temple, a voluntary organization that supports children's charities. The clown above, who appeared in the Oak Bay Tea Party parade was, according to the International Shrine Clown Association, an "Auguste" type of clown:

His is the most comic face. His make-up is a flesh color (pink or reddish or tan) instead of white. His features (usually red or black) are exaggerated in size. The mouth is usually thickly outlined with white, which is often also used around the eyes. Outlining is very important. Gradual shading of colors is often used. He will usually have a ball nose, but there are many exceptions.

Clowns have been around for a long time. According to the International Clown Hall of Fame:

First known clown was a pygmy presiding as a court fool at the court of Pharaoh Dadkeri-Assi, Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty. In 1818 BC, one of China’s rulers, neglecting ancient religious rites, filled the court with clowns. His successors restored the rites, but also kept the clowns. One of China’s jesters, Yu Sze, is remembered as a national hero because he saved the lives of thousands of laborers when he kidded the Emperor Shih Huang–Ti out of having the enemy side of the Great Wall whitewashed in 300 BC.