Vesuvius Bay Kids' Boat

Someone on Saltspring made this boat for some event and then left it for kids to use in Vesuvius Bay. It's designed so the kids have to keep baling water out. It is equipped with flotation devices so it doesn't sink. One young tar was baling water IN when we were there...not quite got the point! My cousin, John, took the picture.

Twice confirmed landlubber

I've really been enjoying the posts from Mark and Deanna's sailing blog but the today's post about 20' swells makes me glad I'm on terra firma! Six foot swells in the North Sea off Slieve League in Ireland were enough for me. Our guidebook suggested we take a boat to see these cliffs purportedly the highest in Europe because it was less harrowing than the road....I don't think any road could have been as harrowing as that boat trip!

Back to things a little more my speed...photos of the Pender Island Fall Fair (Not quite sure why a "Fall" fair takes place in August...same person who decided the University of Victoria has only a Fall and Spring and not Winter semester perhaps).




What's a parade without a band...wow, a pipeband as well!


Bring in the clowns....


This one is for Richard...how many times did we go on "Pirates of the Caribbean" when you were five and totally into pirates?


True love on Pender...this goat seems to be enjoying les "gros bisous" de Monique.


First prize for vegetables....it was fun to see all the things people submitted in various categories of produce, flowers, artwork, animals, etc.


I loved these "mini" flower arrangements.


Pig and lamb bar-b-q


Seems like another sunset was a good way to end the photos from Pender.

And the livin' is easy...

We're back from four wonderful days on Pender Island....great weather, super dining, and taking advantage of everything Island life has to offer. Thank you so much Monique and Walter and Rosemary!


The view from the house...sooo relaxing.


Monique was the only one with the courage to swim...is that sign language for "Help....I'm frozen!"?


Pender Island wildlife


"It's ALIVE!!!"....one day when the ocean water was quite a good temperture these horrible creatures invaded! They are called "lion's mane" according to the locals.


Best eggs on the Island...Shepherd's Croft Farm. I love the way you put the money in the chimney.


I loved this "bookstore". Didn't buy anything here but got a super biography of Hemingway for 50 cents at the Nu-to-You store.


This is one sunset photo I particularly liked...Rosemary has a super collection of them. The exposure is due West and exactly the same as the place my parents had on Gabriola.

Saltspring Spa

We had a super swim on Saltspring Sunday...thanks Carol and John for a great lunch!


Crofton to Vesuvius Bay ferry


These tandems are a great idea....means the boys can keep up with their fathers and be safer I'm sure.

Books I've been reading

"Internal Affairs" by Jill Tweedie
One of my Christmas books. A very funny novel about the politics of doing good in the third world--many great satiric passages.

"Plato Park" by Carol Rumens
Quite a well known British poet apparently but I believe this is her only novel...too bad! About a British girl and a Russian man who have a brief liaison while she accompanies her father to Russia while he is attending a conference. Later the girl and man defect to each other's countries. What they mainly have in common is "domophobia" -- a restless dissatisfaction with home. An interesting portrait of Russia in the 70's and 80's. Seems like bad choices on both parts.

"Girl from the South" by Joanna Trollope
A really very charming, light and yet thought-provoking book in a quiet way. Captures the tradition bound "old South" and "Swinging London". About contemporary people who have families and don't seem to want them and those who don't eventually wanting them and all sorts of things inbetween. Probably everyone does live "happily ever after" but not in traditional ways they thought they would.

I did love the mess and chaos of Britain contrassted with the "everything in its place" old South. The images of these small British children running loose and banging on the bulletproof glass was wonderful--all the while the parents and workers completely focused on their restoration work and painting.

A quote from Chapter 6:

"...the wife a botanical artist of extraordinary precision appeared oblivious to her house, and, largely, to her children....
the house had exploded out of control like a giant creeper."

"Gillon was expecting a professional place of business....What she found was a converted garage behind a terraced north London house from which serveral small Hopkirk children constantly emerged to stand breathing and shouting against the glass door...The glass itself was smeared with lick and fingerprints up to four feet from the ground. After a few days Gillon grew almost used to the semi-permanent frieze of flattened noses and tongues and palms against the glass. "The seventh circle of Hell, really,' Stephen said comfortably.

Children's art

This art always makes my day!

Are these animals just "Smart"?

From the Daily Telegraph:

"Lions at a safari park have been prowling after Smart cars in the belief the tiny vehicles may be prey, it has emerged.
A Smart spokesman said: "Smarts always stand out wherever they go, but this kind of animal attraction is very unusual."

Surprisingly these little cars haven't caught on in Europe but seem to be making quite a splash in North America. Locally, special small parking places are being created for such cars and some people are trying to get B.C. Ferries to charge them less...that will really make them a hit here!

Sailing Adventure

A colleague of Jim's and her husband are off on a year's sailing at the end of this month. They have created a sailing blog to record their travels and I think it will be fun to follow their progress. There are postings already and I thought their idea not to have a completely mapped out idea of where they're going is a good one....will be fun to see where they end up.

Bon voyage, Mark and Deanna!

This is the closest I'll be getting to offshore sailing....



"Carqueiranne Harbour" painted in Carqueiranne in 2002

Sunday afternoon in Oak Bay

Some scenes from the first "Bowker Creek Brush Up" ...artists painting and demonstrating their work and the 5th "Annual Oak Bay Classic Car Show"...fun events for everyone.

Uplands tree + Vic West house + Susan's garden

= hopefully an interesting painting!

I have been thinking of ideas for doing these wonderful Garry Oaks and the photo of this tree made me think that I could incorporate part of an old heritage house of Vic West and some of Susan's wonderful old English garden in Otley...two other things I've been thinking of painting.

Deer on Dewdney

A few pictures I shot of this poor old three legged deer who seems to be having more and more difficulty walking. She was enjoying our neighbour's flowers, as usual.

Recent paintings

I wanted to do at least one last painting of France so what more perfect than our favourite place...Cassis.


Cassis Harbour
18 x 24 acrylic on canvas

I've been thinking about doing something with arbutus trees for quite a while...I was very pleased with this first attempt.


Olympic view with arbutus trees
18 x 24 acrylic on canvas

Oak Bay Avenue scenes

These are a couple of things that might have potential for paintings.


Ottavio's is certainly one of the best things to happen on the Avenue!


The old Oak Bay Cinema sign that was preserved but desperately needs restoring now. It was great when this was an operating cinema.

Fisherman's Wharf

A few pictures from Fisherman's Wharf in Victoria. I was shooting pictures of local scenes today to get inspired for future paintings.


Barb's Fish and Ship's (this is actually the name now!) must be a goldmine!


I never tire of looking at the houseboats...the "Banana Boat" pictured here is relatively new I think.


Fisherman's Wharf sculpture.

And another great summer tradition...

It's always great when we hear our neighbour is on a fishing trip because we know we will be getting part of the catch, fish dinner together when the catch comes in...a super evening last night with Chris and Susan.


Part of the catch.


Chris with his 30 pounder...the biggest salmon caught in their group.

Local produce

We really are blessed in this province to have wonderful local produce. Since we came home we've been enjoying the debut of all these wonderful fruits and veg...beginning with strawberries, then raspberries, blueberries, cherries (the best ever this year), peaches. And now my favourite time of the year along with tomato season....corn from Silverrill Farm!



The first of the season picked fresh every day.

The wonderful world of Technicolor

Richard has enjoyed his first week at Technicolor and loves being able to see and work with the “dailies”, the raw footage of film that they transfer to video and log so the director can see what needs to be done for the next day of filming. They get footage of things like X Men 3 and also very bad films (one that Bert Reynolds is currently starring in), commercials, etc.

It's quite different from computer programming where you do a lot of sitting around and thinking. This job is very much "in the moment" and keeping mentally alert as you deal with the tidal wave of footage. He's on the night shift now...it's a 24/7 operation because the equipment is so expensive and cutting edge. He says it's rather surreal in that all night films arrive via taxi packaged in pizza boxes. Who knew?

His last course for his B.A. is going to be "Introduction to Poetry" and he's taking it online because of the shiftwork and overtime. One of the assignments is to write a "found poem"...he's already collecting things from his Technicolor experience!

Some books I've been reading lately

"Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I started this in France since he wrote it there and it was about the decadent society of the French Riviera of the late '20's. I found it way overwritten and stopped reading it. Picked it up again and finished it as I had forgotten I had recommended it for my bookclub and we were discussing it at my house when I came home! Book II was actually very good but the rest it not really worth it.

"Runaway" by Alice Munro
Fabulous as usual...how does she do it? I heard her interviewed about this book on CBC and she commented that she especially chose the one word title after all the hassles of people trying to remember her last title....what was that..."Friendship, Hateship, Courtship, Loveship....something else too, I think!

"What Cassanova Told Me" by Susan Swann
Really rather dismal but finished it since it was a bookclub choice. I have been wanting to read something of hers but I think she's over rated as a writer.

"Light on Snow" by Anita Shreve
I thought I would give her another chance since I didn't get into "The Pilot's Wife". This novel had something going for it but would have been better as a short story...not enough meat for a novel.

"The Wonder Spot" by Melissa Bank
A similar quality to the "Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" which I loved. Not quite as amusing but interesting atmosphere and characterization.

"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
Quite a delightful story....good writer.

Granville Island

A few pictures I took when we were at Granville Island in Vancouver...one of my favourite places in the city. I wish we had something like this in Victoria.

The fun of blogging

What is really fun about blogging is hearing from people who stumble across your blog and email you. Gilles, the fellow from Sanary who is doing a paper on Huxley in Sanary and who took us to where Huxley lived in the area, happened upon my blog recently just by chance. He suddenly thought, "I know these people!" We had a really enjoyable day with Gilles starting at his apartment in Sanary that has great views of the village. Here are some photos I took that day from his balcony.

Some photos of our old Alma Mater

My main memories of UBC are very West Coast,,,walking in from distant parking lots in the rain, listening to the old foghorns half asleep in Buchanan Building classrooms, enjoying the mountain and ocean views from the campus.

Some old haunts haven't changed:


The Grad Centre


International House

And some of the new:


I love this "pagoda inspired" building


The new library...the old "stacks" will never be the same

And "plus ça change..."


In our day it was reference to the Viet Nam war