On our usual walk along Dallas Road, just below Beacon Hill Park, on a grey but perfect spring day we saw this lovely view looking toward Washington State. Too bad the ship was not under sail!
Perfect silhouette on the horizon.
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My lovely sister was in town last weekend. We took a break from organizing family paperwork to hike at one of Victoria and area’s beautiful Regional Parks, Witty’s Lagoon in Metchosin. I’ve been visiting this park since I was very small; it’s a wonderful place to hike. At this time of year, there are a lot of small streams and the Sitting Lady Falls was magnificent.
The first stream we came across, pouring and pooling over the rocky outcrops in the forest.
Sunbeams and spiderwebs.
Skunk cabbage pushing its way through the winter debris.
The trickle of streams through the forest.
A tiny forest fairy door.
Stream running beside the path.
Sitting Lady Falls.
Magnificent spring greens.
A twisty Arbutus tree.
A large growth of skunk cabbage at the edge of the mud flats.
Shorebirds, possibly Greater Yellowlegs.
Another twisty tree.
…and it represents my jewellery and GJ’s art! Just across the street is the lovely Dragon Alley which has 12 live/work town homes, most of which currently have shops or services in their ground floors. Arrogant Pirate is the newest of these. Opened by our friend Maelynn, the boutique has unique, one-of-a-kind art, jewellery, antiques and oddities. Steven Mehle, whose shop and studio is in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, has his jewellery represented as well as mine. In a later post, I will showcase more of the shops and services in this unique tiny alley in Victoria BC.
Our journey with Arrogant Pirate began when GJ was asked to create the boutique sign.
The lights are low to capture the light cast by GJ’s newest sculpture, “Trip to the Moon,” a lamp and kinetic sculpture.
GJ’s “Little Sister” sculpture among some of his paintings and drawings.
One of GJ’s hand-cranked flying machines atop one of the locally-made showcases.
A close-up of GJ’s latest piece, “Trip to the Moon.”
We enjoyed a pleasant spring day walk yesterday along the Galloping Goose Trail and through Banfield Park to Craigflower Road. There is a small bank of shops at the corner of Raynor which includes an old-fashioned barber shop, bakery, children’s clothing shop, hair dresser, hemp clothing store and cafe. Our main destination was The Spiral Cafe to see paintings by Philip Willey. The Spiral hosts a lot of live music and makes great coffee. We also picked up some yummy bread and other treats at Fry’s Red Wheat Bread. The frangipani in their almond croissant was amazing.
Must have hot chocolate everywhere I go! This one was great and GJ says his coffee was excellent.
An accidental shot in the Spiral; sort of cool.
The Spiral Cafe: a great venue for local music and art.
A great group of local businesses.
One of the newer artisan bakeries in Victoria.
We walked home along the Westsong Walkway, enjoying the beautiful view of the Inner Harbour.
Another busy week: I completed five new Firehorse Designs pieces to go over to Arrogant Pirate, a new shop carrying my, GJ and other artist’s work. I’m still having fun with pearls, braided thread and reclaimed or cast elements.
Pink, peach and champagne coloured pearls with a few moonstones and a hint of rose quartz. Completed with brushed silver drops.
Reclaimed elements – brushed silver drops and moonstones on silver chain – are the focal point of this one.
Rich dark brown pearls with semi precious stones, silver chain and a heart pendant by GJ Pearson.
I love the hearts GJ cast a few years ago in lead-free pewter. I wear one just on a simple cord.
Dark blue-purple pearls of various sizes, moonstones, amethyst and iolite beads and a reclaimed silver cross pendant.
This is another reclaimed pendant, possibly from India. It is silver, inlaid with moonstones and either iolite or amethyst.
Pink, peach, white and purple/grey freshwater pearls with a mother-of-pearl dragon pendant and an accent of cherry quartz.
As the Arrogant Pirate is in Dragon Alley, I thought the dragon-carved mother of pearl pendant was perfect.
Another long piece with knotted freshwater pearls in silver, grey and gold colours. The pendant is reclaimed from another older piece which I disassembled.
A close up of the engraved pendant. It may be silver or pewter.
Close up of the back of the pendant.
Glorious sunshine and a biting, but refreshing, wind for today’s walk. Lots to see – flowers, birds, waves, dogs – all our favourites! Here are some pics:
The air is heavy with the scent of cherry and plum blossoms.
It’s definitely the height of daffodil season; they are everywhere and abundant this year!
A trio of darling Hooded Mergansers.
A Great Blue Heron waits patiently for a meal.
Big waves and the water was a magnificent colour. A tiny bit of Ogden Point and the Sooke Hills in the background.
A big brown dog enjoys the beach with his human. Lots of frolicking canines of all shapes and sizes in the off-leash area too.
A dark grey day walking home from friends was brightened when we entered Summit Park and saw the meadows full of crocus and other spring offerings.
One of my favourite Victoria coffee establishments is Habit. Their newer location in the Atrium Building is nice and always busy, but I still love their original shop, just a couple blocks from us, on Pandora Avenue: great coffee and snacks, beautiful art on the walls, awesome selection of magazines to read and purchase, cozy windows seats from which to watch the city. Both locations offer an authentic local experience and dedication to their craft.
Habit Coffee, 552 Pandora Avenue, Victoria BC
The hot chocolates and triple chocolate cookie are obvious in their deliciousness, but don’t be fooled by the plain look of that muffin: lemon, lavender and wild blueberry – just divine!
Seems like it was just Christmas, but spring is definitely in the air. One of the sure signs is when the festivals at Centennial Square begin. This weekend is Le Festival de la Francophonie de Victoria. They had a great couple days friday and yesterday in the sunshine; music, food, balloons, all the ingredients for a fun time in the square!
One of the great musical acts from yesterday. Where there is outdoor music, there will be small children dancing!
First balloons of spring.
The sky cleared a bit yesterday so we took the opportunity to enjoy our usual harbour-front walk. Here are a few of the sights we enjoyed.
This is Gemma. We couldn’t resist crossing the street to meet her. She was so sweet, soft and wiggly!
Oyster catchers! It had been a wile since we had seen any of these cool birds.
Gulls and waves, looking east.
There were so many gulls hovering around this area. We were trying to see what was attracting them. It wasn’t until we got a ways beyond this point that we saw someone was sitting just below this spot feeding them.
Looking west toward Ogden Point and the Sooke Hills.
We found this little path of crocus last year in Beacon Hill Park. It’s a bit bigger this year!
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