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.

Abkhazi Garden

"The story of the garden really begins in 1920s Paris when the young Marjorie (Peggy) Pemberton-Carter met the exiled Georgian Prince Nicholas Abkhazi...." (excerpt from The Land Conservancy's information pamphlet about the garden.) After turbulent lives, including internments in prison camps during World War II (Germany for him and Shanghai for her), the couple eventually re-united, settled in Victoria and spent much of the remainder of their lives developing the beautiful garden now known as the Abkhazi Garden. I photographed the Calla or Arum Lilies there on a recent visit. It is a spectacular garden and I will be posting more photos of it in days to come.

Royal Roads

Within the Greater Victoria area, travelling along the coast south and west, one passes Esquimalt Harbour and then Esquimalt Lagoon. This photograph is taken from the spit that marks the outer edge of the lagoon looking towards Metchosin. Royal Roads was the name given to the anchorage to the left. The snowy mountains in the background are across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Olympic Peninsula, in neighbouring Washington State, USA.

The Corner Store at Dawn

June 1st is theme day and this month's City Daily Photo Blogs theme is "My Corner Local Shop." Above is where I do my emergency shopping when it's not worthwhile to run down to the supermarket. It's a friendly store and they almost always have what I need, although they are not open at dawn, when this photo was taken. You can see other participating blogs' favorite corner stores around the world by clicking HERE.

Blacktail Doe

Well, today I kept my camera around my neck as I cycled through the forest near Fort Rodd Hill and there she was again, a beautiful Blacktail doe.

Cricket

After yesterday's foray into the local fauna I thought it might be appropriate to post something more civilized today. And what could be more civilized than a game of cricket? Above is a small sample of a game that was played today at the cricket oval in Beacon Hill Park.

Animals

Today I cycled out to Esquimalt Lagoon because I wanted to photograph some deer and I saw one near there when I was out at Fisgard Lighthouse a little while ago. Esquimalt Lagoon has an odd history: At the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago a big chunk of ice about 100 meters thick was left by a receding glacier. Sand and gravel piled up around its edges and when it melted it left a depression that is now the lagoon. The lagoon is also the site of the first European landing in this area. Spanish explorer Don Manuel Quimper anchored here in 1790. The birds in the photo above are the indigenous Great Blue Heron and...a Mute Swan. The latter is not indigenous but is native to the UK and has naturalized itself here and in a few other nearby coastal locations after escaping from Beacon Hill Park in Victoria. However, what first attracted my attention to the lagoon was the little fellow below.I thought it was a Sea Otter and had visions of how I could ramble on about the history of the fur trade but when I checked it out, I realize it must be a River Otter, which species often inhabits coastal areas and is a known resident of the lagoon. He was very shy and I had to follow him along the shoreline for some time before I could get close enough to snap the above shot. That was when I saw the other swan, below.Deer - yes, on the way back from the lagoon, there she was posing beautifully by the roadside and my camera in its bag. Pull up, peacefully assemble apparatus, and catch a last glimpse as she disappears into the bush. Ah well, still a splendid morning on the outskirts of Victoria.