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.
…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.
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.
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!
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!
A beautiful day in Chinatown for New Year’s celebrations! Here are some pics from around our wonderful neighbourhood in Victoria BC. Welcome to the Year of the Snake.




















































