The Imperceptible Immigrant

Centennial Park

February 3, 2016 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

To Centennial Park in Saanichton the other day for a most pleasant stroll. The park has a deceptively ‘Tardis’ like quality about it and I have driven past it many a time without having the slightest notion of the manifold delights that lie within. On arrival the sky was dark and rain was threatening, so I decided that the Fuji x10 would not be needed and left it in the car. These images were captured instead on the Galaxy S6 – demonstrating quite how rubbish my judgement proved to be on this occasion.

Tags: Photo, Victoria

Rowena’s Inn on the River

January 4, 2016 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

We broke our Boxing Day journey up to snowy Kamloops (where the temperatures continue to be a bracing minus ten celsius!) at Harrison Mills, the which is situated toward the top of the broader part of the Fraser Valley between Mission and Hope (fabulous – no?) before one hits the mountains and takes to the canyon or to the high passes.

We spent a lovely night at Rowena’s Inn on the River which I cannot recommend highly enough to travellers in these parts. This beautiful old lodge is still owned by the Pretty family who built it (their history being revealed in photos throughout the house) and who now run it as a boutique B & B with a really rather good restaurant alongside to boot. Apart from anything else the place is clearly a twitchers’ paradise (see below)!

As ever – here be some photos…

Tags: British Columbia, Fuji x10, Photo, winter

Season’s greetings…

December 24, 2015 in Life as we know it, Photos | Permalink

…to friends, acquaintances and gentle readers…

from the Kickass Canada Girl and the Imperceptible Immigrant.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a splendid Hogmany!

Tags: Celebration, Christmas, Fuji x10, Photo

Cheers!

December 18, 2015 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

Here follows an extract from an article on the website ‘thedrinksbusiness.com‘ dating from October 2014:

“Luc Heymans was so shocked by the price of wine in Ireland that he opened up Europe’s first craft wine-making shop in Kells, County Meath, reported the Irish Examiner.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Heymans explained his rationale: “When I lived in Europe, I used to enjoy a glass of wine with my dinner, but when I moved to Ireland I couldn’t believe the price of a bottle of wine. I started making my own wine and then I decided to open the shop. There are thousands of similar stores in Canada but this is the first in Europe,” Heymans said.

Unlike similar offerings in the UK, the wines are made with kits rather than on demand from a winery and customers can buy the kits and take them home to make the wine or leave them in the shop throughout the process.

Heymans said: “The wine takes between four and eight weeks to ferment, depending on the quality you choose and, when it’s ready, the customer comes back into the shop to bottle and cork it and add personalised labels.”

“They then take the wine home and leave it to rest for a few months and each kit makes between 28 and 30 bottles,” he said.”

Since being introduced a decade ago (by the Kickass Canada Girl, naturally) to the splendid wines from the Okanagan Valley and elsewhere in BC, I have become a massive fan of Canadian wines. I had no idea – however – that Canadians were also as enthusiastic about making their own wines, whether from kits (which bear absolutely no resemblance to the ‘Boots the Chemist’ home wine kits that I remember from my youth) or from their own produce.

Shortly after our arrival in the province we were introduced to a local winemaker – the wonderful ‘Flying Fish Winery‘ in Saanichton. I was immediately knocked out both by the cost of the wines per bottle (a little over £3 in English money!) and the amazing quality of the product. We instantly ordered four different half kits – a Sauvignon Blanc, a Gewurztraminer, an Amarone and a Carménère – and a couple of weeks ago were told that they were ready for bottling.

You might – incidentally – recognise the symbol on our labels. Yes – it is the Luckenbooth!

With regard to the bottling process I think these pictures tell their own story:

Tags: Fuji x10, Photo, Wine

Holy moley!

December 12, 2015 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

Having spent a laborious portion of the day yesterday clearing up the coniferous detritus left in the garden (yard) by the last high winds I was none too pleased this morning to find that it was once again blowing half a gale. I had occasion to venture into Sidney by the Sea this morning and took these snaps – from inside the Lexus – on the Galaxy S6.

The seas on this side of the peninsula are usually pretty flat calm, as you might have seen from previous photos. We are on the lee side of the island and well protected by the Gulf Islands.

Today was different. These pictures might not really capture the intensity of the winds but you should know that the logs that you can see littering the shore in a number of them were being tossed about like matchsticks. I was not for one moment impelled to leave the safety of our chunky 4×4…

…nor would I have liked to have been aboard that ferry!

When I returned home the power was out again.

Hey ho! West coast winter living!

Tags: Photo, Victoria, Weather, winter

Winter warmer 2

December 1, 2015 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

The weekend was cold but clear with the bright sun low in the sky during the day and the very recently full moon illuminating the heavens at night. A walk with our dear friends’ young sons around Swan Lake – a lovely nature reserve on the edge of town – provided a brisk but beautiful introduction to a part of Victoria that was new to me. On this occasion the Galaxy S6 had to stand in for the Fuji x10 – the presence of energetic youngsters having curtailed my pre-outing preparations.

A little further north – and later that same day – I was in Sidney by the Sea, which is preparing for the advent season by donning its Christmas apparel.

Tags: Photo, Victoria, winter

Winter warmer

November 27, 2015 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

I have previously made mention in these meanderings of my antipathy toward this particular time of the year – which I have always found induces in me a degree of melancholy. Though that is still true on this side of the pond Victoria does have a massive advantage over London in that – even when the temperature in both locations hovers around the same mark – the air here seems to lack that raw damp chill that is a feature of November in the UK. On relatively windless days it feels almost balmy. Time to take a stroll down to the seashore.

On the way to the ocean I passed this strange but rather delightful “Pop-up Sculpture Garden”, which occupies a corner of the road pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

And here is Mount Baker again – looking suitably epic!

Tags: Fuji x10, Photo, Victoria, winter

A room with a view

November 2, 2015 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

I really do hope that I am not going to turn into a massive bore about this, but one of the most splendid features of our new North Saanich home is the view from the reception rooms and the master bedroom of the sea and the mountains. Just to clarify with regard to our location – we are on the east side of the Saanich peninsula – facing east. Our view is of Bazan Bay and of the most southerly of the Gulf Islands, and thence on to the American coast beyond the Georgia Strait.

The garden is well screened by trees and mature shrubs which gives the property a blissfully private feel, but there are also two significant openings through which the vistas are revealed. Through the southern of these can be seen Mount Baker – more than 70 miles away on the American mainland. If – when I get up in the morning – the sun is showcasing the mountain in glorious silhouette it is virtually impossible not to want to take yet another picture of it…

The northern opening looks out over Bazan Bay, with Sidney to one side and Sidney Spit to the other. This view is also extremely pretty in the morning light, but also regularly features the Anacortes ferry – threading its way from Sidney out through the islands to the American coast – and flotillas of yachts of a wide variety of sizes enjoying the sunshine and the peaceful waters.