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Walk

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…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:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid…and that mountain is still visible (though by no means so every day!)…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThere is good, if somewhat nippy, walking to be done – in Centennial Park for instance:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidTwo of us wearing raincoats
Standing solo in the sun
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home

Lennon/MacCartney
Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe 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.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

Cheeky bu**er!

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We are most blessed here in Greater Victoria with there being so many splendid places to walk. Amongst this number are included favourites such as: Centennial Park in Saanichton, Island View Beach, Elk and Beaver Lakes, Horth Hill, Gowland Tod, Thetis Lake, Witty’s Lagoon, John Dean Park and Bear Hill.

Last weekend we visited a new spot – Francis/King Park – the which comprises 265 acres of lush rain-forest. I thought you might like to see some pictures:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

 

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…and washed the snow away.

But not before we went for a walk in a very snowy Centennial Park in Saanichton.

Just a few snaps – which were not that easy to take given that I was wearing two pairs of gloves to protect my aging hands against the icy wind-chill. Walking is fine; standing still is a mistake!

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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Lucky break

Even during the wettest autumns there usually comes the occasional bright interlude. An alternative to getting out into the garden to slog one’s way through the many outstanding tasks there is to go for a nice walk instead.

To Gowlland Tod for example:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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“Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think”

Robert Henri

The weather has finally turned warm and pleasant, having for a long time remained stubbornly overcast and chilly. It was thus clearly time to visit our nearby shoreline – Island View Beach – to breath deeply of the ocean air and to ‘think things we like to think’!

For those unable to reach the coast for the moment perhaps these images might act as an aide memoire…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid
Nature – flora and fauna – naturally abounds…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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We have been blessed of late – here at the southern end of Vancouver Island – with a spell of good weather. The sun has shone upon our gardens and the temperature during the afternoons has several times crept into the 20s C. This is not expected to continue of course – it is still only April after all – but we have been enjoying it all the same. Next week it will rain!

The Girl – having been suffering a little cabin fever – suggested last weekend that we should go out somewhere for a walk. We have done plenty of such exercise in the immediate vicinity of our home, but getting away to somewhere else completely seemed like a good idea – in the service of our mental well-being.

The Girl suggested Witty’s Lagoon – one of the many bits of Victoria that she knows of old but that I have not yet visited. We duly set out for the southern-most tip off the island on Saturday last – taking the Olympus OM-D with us so that I could share photos with you good folk.

A short walk from the main entrance to the park – as one begins one’s descent to the lagoon – one comes across an excellent waterfall – Sitting Lady Falls. I leave it to the gentle reader to muse upon how that name might have come about:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThe extensive but shallow lagoon lies behind the beach and is the point at which fresh and salt water come together. The result is a wildlife paradise:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThe beach itself is unusual for the southern end of the island in that it is sandy; many of them are pebble. As is the case with other similarly located beaches the vista is of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and beyond that the Olympic mountains in Washington State of the US:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPretty (spectacular) – ain’t it?!

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Gowlland Tod

Five years (nearly) down the line and we visit a local beauty spot (within a couple of miles of us) for the first time (well – first time for me anyway).

To be fair I have visited this particular Shangri La before – from the water-side – and have even posted photos thereof to this very journal. It is also immediately adjacent to Butchart’s Gardens, the which is a regular hunting ground, but this was my first time exploring the approach from the east – along Tod Creek.

Any-which-way… here be ‘phurthur’ photographs!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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A second walk in two days – during what I gather is now called ‘Twixtmas’… Who knew? (well – those who pointed it out to me, clearly!).

This expedition was to somewhere that we have driven within a few hundred yards of on many occasions (on the way to Costco; to the Rugby Centre of Excellence at Westhills; on our way up island) but to which we have not actually been for some considerable time (or indeed ‘ever’ in my case!).

This is Thetis Lake – and very gorgeous it is too, as I hope you will agree…

Happy Twixtmas!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Last year on Christmas Day The Girl and I took a constitutional upon Island View Beach which was blessed with pleasant sunshine and a mild temperature. This year the weather was less obliging but a visit to the same locale proved efficacious in blowing away the cobwebs that always seem to set in at around the halfway point.

As with the weather the images that I snapped are less dramatic than were those of last year, but I offer them none the less:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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“Not many those mornings trod the piling streets: an old man always, fawn-bowlered, yellow-gloved and, at this time of year, with spats of snow, would take his constitutional to the white bowling green and back, as he would take it wet or fine on Christmas day or Doomsday.”

Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas in Wales

Our Christmas Day constitutional was to Island View Beach. There was no snow and the sun broke through in a most pleasant manner…

Very lovely!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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