Oak Bay Tea Party Parade 2011

What most of us think of as "Victoria" is actually a cluster of smaller entities that are so close together that they are indistinguishable except on paper. One of these is the city of Oak Bay. Oak Bay holds an annual celebration called the Oak Bay Tea Party, unlike its more famed namesake in Boston in that it is so named in honour of the especially tea-drinking, British nature of the city and has a Mad Hatter/Alice in Wonderland theme. It's a very much more neighbourhood style of event than the Victoria Day Parade and the marching bands are local. Below is a taste of the Lambrick Park Secondary School marching band in case you missed the parade. The Tea Party is a two day event that also includes a carnival midway, an air show and bathtub races. We'll see some more of it here later this week.

Gotcha!

I see these Great Blue Herons catching their food almost every day and I am always impressed by how seldom they miss. When they make that stab into the water they usually come up with something wriggling. However, until recently I haven't had a camera that could capture video as well as still photos. The Sony a55 I am now using does both. If you want to watch a Great Blue Heron catching his breakfast in High Definition video, the clip below is only 20 seconds long. Often the waiting and watching is five or ten minutes of concentrated immobility.

Who Could Resist?

This morning, just before dawn we made our way to Willows Beach, cameras in hand. We got there just in time to witness the most beautiful sunrise so you'll have to forgive me for today's very cliche picture, but I couldn't resist. -Fern

Bu Halima Enclosure "Somewhere Saturday"

This is the gate that opens into the tomb garden of Bu Halima in the same park as Humayun's Tomb. The gateway dates from the 16th century. I don't know if the gate above is that old but it looks like it. This is in New Delhi, India, from my visit there in March of this year.

Salal (Gaultheria shallon)

Like the Mallard Duck I pictured recently, here's another local beauty I often don't pay much attention to because it is so common in this area, Salal (Gaultheria shallon). Florists prize the plant for its green foliage but I have a special fondness for its clusters of small hairy flowers.

Bastion Square Grand Prix

On Sunday while the yachts competing in the Swiftsure were racing towards the finish line, these racers were speeding around the streets encircling Bastion Square in the Bastion Square Grand Prix, one of a series of cycling races held last weekend.

Mr. Mallard

Above is probably the most common duck in this area and a year-round resident. Consequently I often ignore them because they are so tame and ubiquitous. Nevertheless Mallard Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) of both genders are very attractive ducks. Above is a head and shoulders portrait of a Mallard drake.