…this year – for which my humble apologies:
…to friends, acquaintances and gentle readers…
…from the Kickass Canada Girl and the Imperceptible Immigrant…
we wish you a safe and peaceful Christmas and a Happy Hogmany!
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Tags: Celebration, Christmas, Photo
…Holy Moley – I can’t feel my face degrees!
The winter weather is doing its bit to make the run in to Christmas something of a challenge! Notice that I didn’t qualify that with: “Here on the west coast of Canada“. I am well aware that we are not alone in experiencing exceptional climatic conditions. We have had quite a lot to do of late (as of course have many people at this time of year) and needing to keep a constant eye on the weather only makes things more exacting.
Here are some ‘highlights’ – complete with pictures:
Last weekend we made a overnight trip up island to Nanaimo – for a Christmas visit with The Girl’s mum – stopping on the way back on the Sunday for lunch with a dear friend in Duncan. As ever we took the Mill Bay ferry to avoid traversing the Malahat (always a good idea when there is snow in the air).
We figured that the snow would start to fall at some point during this trip and sure enough it did – whilst we were in Nanaimo. We stayed overnight in the Coast Bastion hotel overlooking Nanaimo harbour – with which we are very familiar from previous visits.
We had a lovely visit with both family and friends – dined splendidly at the Nanaimo Golf Club, the Minnoz restaurant at the Coast Bastion – and, of course, with our lovely friend in Duncan. Happy Christmas to you all.
Once back in Victoria the winter storm really swept in and soon everything disappeared under about a foot of snow. This was the view from my studio window by Tuesday.
The Girl had taken most of the week off as well-earned pre-Christmas break, but the weather put paid to any notions of a relaxing run in to the festival itself. The Volunteer Agency of which The Girl is one of the mainstays delivers meals to elderly folk every week – with teams of volunteers driving routes around Greater Victoria to make deliveries to more than seventy locations. Given the weather it would have been totally unreasonable to expect these excellent volunteers – many of them elderly themselves – to be out on the roads in such treacherous conditions. It fell to a number of us folk with 4x4s equipped with snow tyres to get the food parcels out to the elderly in time for Christmas. This is – of course – is just the sort of thing at which Lorelei excels and she did not let us down. Here we are en route…
I guess the big question now is – will we get a white Christmas? Today is the 23rd and temperatures are starting to rise – though to this point they have only reached the ‘freezing rain on top of compacted snow‘ phase – so today we are going nowhere! We will see how things pan out tomorrow.
…from a lost season (see previous post).
Whatever I personally feel about this time of year (and of the month of November in particular) there is no denying that there are some pretty images to be captured. Being a sharing kind of guy I always like to pass such things on to the gentle reader (or viewer!).
These are quite seasonal:
…and that mountain is still visible (though by no means so every day!)…
There is good, if somewhat nippy, walking to be done – in Centennial Park for instance:
“Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing solo in the sun
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home”
Lennon/MacCartney
The other day I was in Sidney, engaged upon the purchase of some comestibles. On returning to the Lexus – the which I had parked under a small tree at the far extent of the car park – I observed that a murder was in progress. A murder of crows, that is…
No sooner than I had mounted the vehicle and fired up the big V8 than one of their number flapped lazily down and took up residence on the bonnet (hood!). He looked me in the eye as a sort of challenge and let it be known that he felt disinclined to move even when I revved the engine a little. Had I not started to reverse gently out of the parking bay I think he might well just have stayed there.
Cheeky bu**er!
“London is a riddle, Paris is an explanation.”
G.K. Chesterton
High time to put to bed – once and for all – the trickle of images that I have been slowly posting of our trip across the pond back in July.
On our last full day in Paris we visited the Musée de Montmartre, the which is located – as you might expect – in Montmartre, a little to the north of the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur. The museum was founded in 1960 and was classified as a “Museum of France” in 2003. The buildings in which it is housed were formerly the home of several famous artists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Suzanne Valadon.
Here are some photographs of our day:
In the late 19th century, the lower section of Montmartre was home to many cabarets, such as le Chat Noir, le Lapin Agile and le Moulin Rouge. Many posters, stage designs and the reknown Shadow Theatre at le Chat Noir were created by the artists who lived in this Bohemian quarter of the city.
I have been completely remiss in leaving unfinished my posting of images from our wanderings abroad during the summer – for which I heartily apologise. I shall remedy immediately…
Whilst in Paris we took a day trip to Fontainebleau to visit the Château, a residence for French monarchs from Louis VII to Napoleon III. Neither I nor The Girl had previously visited Fontainebleau but – given that I have a long-standing interest with Bonaparte – we were both very pleased to be able to rectify that situation. The palace is spectacular!
Anyway – here be pictures:
“Paris is always a good idea.”
Audrey Hepburn
Though it seems a long time ago now our trip to Europe back in July culminated in a few busy days in Paris, soaking up the culture and – as it turns out – catching COVID! These last few travel related posts will showcase some photos of the “City of Light” – starting with a miscellany of odd images…
Enjoy!
We celebrated our anniversary a few days early (it is on the last day of July) so that we had an excuse to sample another Michelin-starred Parisian restaurant; in this case the very wonderful Maison Rostang – billed on their website as “a mythical place”. Who are we to argue?!
Tags: Culture, food and drink, Holiday, Paris, Photo, Travel
We were lucky enough – on our recent visit to ‘abroad’ – to spend a couple of days in Bath, a city that long-time followers of these amusements will know has always been a particular favourite of ours. A quick search for ‘Bath’ in the archives of this journal will reveal plenty of photographs taken on previous such visits, but that need not (and indeed will not) stop me posting a bunch more from this most recent sojourn.
Tags: Bath, Holiday, Photo, Travel, United Kingdom
On our first visit to the old country in three years (and not knowing when we might be back) there were certain things that we wanted to be sure to do and to see. One such was to visit an English stately home. These properties – many now in the hands of the National Trust or English Heritage (and thus preserved for the nation) – are not only somehow quintessentially English but also play an important role in the cultural life of the nation.
After some consideration we agreed to spend a morning at Hatchlands Park in Surrey, the which we had not previously visited in spite of its relative proximity to places that we know well. Wikipedia can, as ever, provide useful information about the estate.
Herewith some photographs from our sojourn there:
I am not sure why it should be so, but there is something about an old fashioned beech wood that just whispers ‘England! to me:
Tags: Holiday, Photo, Travel, United Kingdom
“Where did I learn to understand sculpture? In the woods by looking at the trees, along roads by observing the formation of clouds, in the studio by studying the model, everywhere except in the schools.”
Auguste Rodin
The second splendid day out on our recent expedition to the heat-scorched shores of our former home was again courtesy of those with whom we were visiting – and an inspired choice it was. I did not know that such things as ‘sculpture gardens’ existed, nor that there was a splendid one in Churt- in Surrey. A most magical and bonkers-ly (is that a word…? it is now!) inspirational collection of all different shades of the sculptors art – displayed (and indeed for sale) in a beautiful and peaceful garden.
Best – frankly – if I just let the pictures tell the story:
Tags: Art, Old friends, Photo, Travel, United Kingdom
Looking back at our recent trip across the Atlantic the thing that strikes us more than anything was just how much we were able to pack in to a relatively brief visit. The reason that we were able so to do is because all of those good and dear folk that we were able to see went out of their way to ensure that we were not only able to catch up with them (worth the price of admission in its own right) but also to visit – or indeed re-visit – places that we miss through living on a distant continent. We thank these folk most gratefully for going out of their way to facilitate this.
These next few posts will contain images from our first few busy days; the first visit being to the motor and air museum at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey.
Hmmm! Nice blower Bentley there if I am not mistaken!
Now, if you know nothing at all about Brooklands (the world’s first purpose-built banked motor racing circuit and later home to Britain’s largest aircraft manufacturing facility and the Wellington bomber) you might care to let Wikipedia enlighten you a little. My ‘connection’ with the old circuit comes from growing up about a mile away. As young teenagers we would on occasion play on the concrete struts of the bridge that carried the old circuit (which had closed before the second world war) over the river Wey – in spite of the notices informing us that such activity was strictly verboten, not to mention dangerous.
Much of the circuit had been swept away by then, to be replaced by the British Aerospace factory at which Vickers VC10s were built. The runway at Brooklands was famously too short for the VC10 to take off fully fitted, so the aircraft were flown out with no seats aboard to nearby Wisley aerodrome, where they could be finished off.
On many summer weekend afternoons we would hear all too clearly the VC10 engines being tested. Later my oldest friend’s father – who worked for BA – arranged a visit to the works for the scout troop of which I was a member – and we were able to admire the parts of the prototype Concorde on which they were then working.
Now, here is the potential next F1 world champion receiving some team orders before heading out onto the circuit for some ‘hot’ laps. In spite of nearly mowing down a steward, bouncing off the paddock wall and turning the wrong way onto the members’ banking she still came within an ace of setting a new lap record!!
The girl may be dangerous but she’s got some talent…!
Tags: Brooklands, Holiday, Photo, Travel, United Kingdom
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