Walked over to Fairfield today and back into town past Beacon Hill Park. Here are some of the things we saw:
Stumbled on this beautiful ceramic mosaic at Sir James Douglas school.
Detail and lovely quote from Winnie The Pooh.
The artist's signature.
Lovely daffodils. In the tree in the background, there were a couple dozen little yellow birds; I think they were American goldfinch. So beautiful!
Just at the edge of the park, a meadow of lilies and daffodils.
Oh the beautiful fawn lilies!
Last weekend we were fortunate enough to have tickets to an amazing troupe from Quebec performing an incredible show: L’orchestre D’Hommes – Orchestres: joue à Tom Waits. Truly an experience I will never forget! For some awesome local Victoria Theatre, check out these, among others:
http://www.atomicvaudeville.com/
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/
http://langhamcourttheatre.bc.ca/
The cherry blossom spring is in full swing in our little west coast town. All the early cherry and plum trees are open, and the fluffy showy large blossom ones should be blessing us soon. Happy days.
Some pretty blossoms near our home.
Last year I made a bunch of needle-felted wool blossoms to adorn some bare branches; bringing the spring in! They were eventually turned into hair clips.
Gorgeous spring day yesterday so we set out to walk the Westsong Walkway. We weren’t far along when I was hit full in the head by a seagull’s well-aimed ordure, good luck maybe? Thanks to a kind stranger with a handful of paper napkins, we were soon on our way. A lot of people were also out enjoying the day and the beautiful scenery. I love to be able to walk far away from traffic and we are blessed to have this among many beautiful places to do so in our little city.
About half way along, this ever evolving sculpture by Rich Rico delights passers by.
Near the beginning, this little pug came charging up the path.
Westsong Walkway, not far from Westbay Marina.
We love to eat out, especially breakfast. We have our local favourites, but today we sampled a new place, Clay Pigeon, which just opened yesterday, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food was delicious and the atmosphere inviting in this small bistro on Blanshard at Broughten, kitty-corner to the Royal Theatre, in downtown Victoria. The menu was well stocked, and with not-the-usual breakfast fare. GJ had a Ratatouille with poached eggs and I had the Kale Florentine with caramelized onions and crispy potatoes also topped with eggs. I was torn between several dishes and almost went for the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, which will likely be what I order the next time we are there. Thanks to our hosts for a delightful meal!
A new Victoria eatery, Clay Pigeon
A nice job transforming the space.
Ratatouille
Kale Florentine
The baking of cake has always been a challenge for me. Pie, no problem; cookies, awesome! Almost every year in the yule-tide season I make fruit cake, my Grandmother’s recipe, but with all organic fruit which has soaked in rum for months ahead. It always turns out perfect and delicious, but at a cost. This year I dropped a glass canister which I had just filled with organic flour on the floor, smash! Last year, the basket on the front of my bicycle fell off as I was hauling the bike up the stairs to our building: bottle of rum, smash! And so it goes. However, I endure. Last weekend was our dear friend Connor’s birthday. I know he loves carrot cake and I have always wanted to make one. So I turned to the Rebar Cookbook, published by a local Victoria restaurant, as I knew their cake was very good. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result! It was beautiful and delicious!
Found this blog while looking for links to the cookbook: http://rebar.cookthebook.ca/
The cookbook is available at the restaurant and it’s sister bakeries Cascadia downtown and Pure Vanilla in Oak Bay, at local Victoria book shops and at Amazon.
Rich moist carrot cake with white chocolate cream cheese icing, YUM!
I love coffee art, that extra bit of care and pride taken to present someone with something beautiful as well as delicious. A few days ago this was my Peppermint Hot Chocolate from Bean Around the World in Chinatown:
Yum! I love the two levels of decoration.
It’s really coming together now! It will be a chandelier and so much more. I’m including here a better picture of the bit which started it all: the little air ship mansion in a walnut shell.
The main section is now hanging up to receive the next phase of work.
The globe portion in progress.
Flying ship.
TC curled up on the fancy silk pillow.
Went for our usual wander yesterday. It was threatening rain when we left, but soon the sun was peeking through and it was a lovely day. After a snack at Tre Fantastico, Parkside we headed into Beacon Hill Park. There had been quite a wind storm on Monday and it’s destruction was evident there. However, the daffodils abound and buds of new life were everywhere: spring is truly here! The tide was low, so once we made it to the beach we were able to walk almost all the way to the breakwater along the sand and over the rocks. On the way home we ended up at Dales Gallery for a visit with the owner. There’s a nice show of photos by Dag Goering on right now. Wouldn’t you know it, snow flakes began to fall!
So sad to see such a beautiful tree fallen.
Quite a noise I bet!
Magnificent daffodils!
One of three strangely uniform patches of crocus; very pretty!
Found this little art on the top of a concrete wall on the beach.
Many shades of gray; sand, stone, concrete.
An old concrete stairwell leads from the beach to Dallas Drive not far from the breakwater.
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