The Spirit of Haida Gwai - Bill Reid

Modern international airports, as gateways to their respective countries, are generally decorated with works of art representative of their history and culture. But no airport that I've ever seen can match this magnificent work by Haida artist Bill Reid. It graces the Vancouver International Airport. Another casting is in the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. When both these buildings are long gone and we are all dust in the wind people will still marvel at this superb creation. It is called "The Spirit of Haida Gwai" and you can read about it on the Bill Reid Foundation website by clicking HERE.

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For those of you who may be wondering what this has to do with Victoria, this blog now features on Saturdays photos I've taken in other parts of the world - "Somewhere Saturdays."

Highrock Park

Cold blustery rain in the mornings lately has been followed by clearing and brilliant blue skies. Here's what yesterday afternoon looked like on top of Highrock Park in Vic West. The brilliant blue Camas Lilies are just beginning to bloom but I'll wait until they peak in a few days before I show them here. They'll soon cover the slopes of this park with swathes of rich blue.

The Elusive Harlequin

Here are the latest fruits of my pursuit of the shy Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) that have been occasionally hanging out along the shoreline of the West Bay Walkway. Generally as soon as they see me coming they start paddling away from the shore into deeper water. On this particular morning I was armed with a mid-range telephoto (Minolta 100-200mm zoom) and used a digital zoom feature on my Sony to double the magnification to the equivalent of 400mm. The result is a little fuzzy and dark (handheld and shooting into the sun) but is my best capture to date of these wonderfully colored and patterned little ducks. On the left is another characteristic of these sea ducks that makes them challenging to photograph. They spend a lot of time cruising with their heads under the water like snorkelers, just raising their heads for a second or two to take a breath from time to time and diving whenever they see something worth investigating more closely.

Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria affinis)

Whenever I go up Mount Douglas in the spring I always keep a sharp lookout for Chocolate Lilies (Fritillaria affinis). The reason is that I always expect to see some since there is one plant, pictured above, that comes up every year very close to the summit. Yet every year it is the only one I see. The cold weather this spring has delayed blooming for many wildflowers and this one is no exception so, since I know of but one and the weather has been cold, all we get to see this year is the buds of this lovely little brown flower. (If any of my fellow Victorians know where I can see more of these, please let me know. Lewis J. Clark [Wild Flowers of British Columbia] says there a very vigorous variety at the mouth of the Goldstream River but I don't know that I will be able to get there this year.)

Here Comes the Sun

Saturday was a beautiful warm and sunny spring day and just as the forest floor is being carpeted with wildflowers, Victoria's Inner Harbour Causeway is blossoming with the performers and artists that make it such an interesting and entertaining place to visit. Victorians and visitors alike were strolling there on Saturday enjoying the music of Victoria's own famed one man band, Dave Harris (above), as well as other performers and displays by craftspeople and artists. It's the best place in the city for sitting back and watching the world pass by.

Mud

Whenever my Dad and I go out into the woods with our cameras, I always find it intriguing how two people, in the same place can end up taking such different pictures. His photo, "A Million Lilies" was taken at Mt. Doug Park and so was this one! We had headed off the trail into a boggy area where the skunk cabbage was blooming and the mud was thick, thick thick.

Good bye Victoria

On a blustery day last week we threw caution to the wind and boarded the Coho ferry to Port Angeles. From the cafeteria I would run out onto the deck, snap a few pictures and then scurry back inside to my hot tea. This was taken from the starboard quarter (thank you Google) looking back at Victoria.