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.
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.

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.
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.
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!
Was only supposed to be one piece, but there were enough goodies for two.

It only looked like enough for one. I did have add some smaller grey pearls to complete the second piece.
Plus, it’s too stormy out for adventuring. You can see more of Steven’s and GJ’s work on their websites. GJ also has a Tumblr blog.

































