October 2021
Thanksgiving on the Island
Canadian Thanksgiving is on October and we
all desperatly wanted to get out of the house and go to Grandma's
house. We had ferry reservations for the 7pm which worked
out to be just past sunset on this particular day. The ferry
was mostly on time and we arrived in Victoria late enough that the
kids didn't need a bath, but early enough that the kids could
still get dessert.
Moss Street Market
Helen wanted to pick up some vegetables so
we picked the Moss Street Market as our Saturday morning
visit. The Market is around a school with a few distinct
sections. Fresh offerings are generally on the margin
between the road and the sidewalk. Cooked food and crafts
were sold in the school courtyard.
A big surprise to me was the what they had setup in the back
field. They had four large farm vendors selling in a COVID
friendly format. Each vendor had their own socially
distanced line and when you got to the farm tables, they would
pick your items into a basket and you only get to touch your items
when you bag them. I have never seen this format at a
market, but it makes sense even with strong COVID restrictions and
it was popular.
It occurs to me that I haven't been to a farmers market in Vancouver
since COVID started so I wonder what adaptations have take place in
the city.
Last weekend we went to
Salt Spring
Island to see the Apple Festival. Our hosts were into
rock hounding and suggested a place to go look for nice rocks.
I went, thought I found something nice and so tried to open up some
rocks in a less destructive way - angle grinder. The ceramic
disk didn't last very long, but it made clear these were not the
rocks I was looking for. A big hammer confirmed it. Oh
well, another time.
Uplands Park
Most trips to Victoria I walk over to
Outerbridge park and look for wildlife. It's close, but it's
quite "gardened" and I'm having a harder time finding new things
in this park. This trip I decided to try a few new
places. First was Uplands Park. I've visited before -
back in
April 2015 I
visited to see the spring flowers and I
visited uplands park
again in April 2019 with the kids to see the flowers
again. Spring is clearly the highlight, but I wanted to try
in the fall to see if there were any surprises. I also
wanted to explore a bit more of the park to see if there were any
other attractions.
Honestly, I hoped the oak trees would have some interesting fall
colours but I was disappointed - they were mostly boring brown
colours. With the sunrise skies, I did try and take some
"solo tree" style photos. I was hoping there might be some
fall flowers, but I didn't see much - only one blossom of
Ivy Leaved Cyclamen,
but that is invasive and hard to get to.
Almost by accident, I decided to take some photos of the plants
growing in the rocks. The lichens on the rocks were
very impressive - the closer you get, the more you appreciate the
small worlds found on the rock faces.
As I was walk back to the entrance, I noticed how badly English
Ivy is invading this park. English Ivy is brutal to fight
(Stanley Park also has a fight) so I feel sorry for this park.
Fort Rodd Hill
Back in 2018, we were in Victoria for
Remembrance day and we went to Ford Rodd Hill to see the
sights. It was a nice afternoon (after a rainy afternoon the
day before) so decided to repeat the trip! After paying
for our admission (kids are free!) we saw a historical surgical kit
on display. The kids enjoyed looking at various specialized
tools, but some, like the Rib Spreaders were rather abstract until
explained. The kids didn't notice the bone saw until near the
end. The kit was from roughly the World War 1 era.
With a bright blue sky, green grass and the
white walls you feel like a hero taking photos here. The kids
were interested in where the shells and powder were stored and why
these guns were built here.
After a few minutes, we went out to see Fisgard Lighthouse. It
used to be on a small island, but they filled in the gap with stone
and now you just walk out to it.
The lighthouse also has displays inside - some of which were
disabled to try and reduce the spread of COVID. They asked
about the lens, but they also asked why people would eat plastic
models of seafood chowder for dinner. Kids.
Once we got outside, we were surprised to see a mink run by.
We didn't have much notice so my camera settings weren't ideal, but
at least I got a few photos!
Calvert Park
Continuing the theme of "Not Outerbridge" -
I picked a random park I had never heard of and went for a morning
walk. Calvert park has a trail network and a large beaver
pond and some nice bluffs covered with moss and lichen. It
was a quiet morning so every time a duck took off, you could hear
it from anywhere around the pond.
While there is a parking lot for maybe two
cars at the side of the road, the trail network is basically a
loop between two roads. After taking the lake side part of
the loop, I went inland and explored a few of the rock
bluffs. I don't know much about the life of lichen, but I
was impressed with how well it was doing at taking over space.
I noticed on the map one more little trail to overlook a pond
connected to Maltby Lake. Again, Garry Oak trees and Arbutus
- I hope that there are wildflowers here in the spring because I
would like to visit again.
Homework, lunch, packing, ferry and we were back to the crazy that
is Vancouver. Thanks for the great weekend Mom!
Tags: Uplands Park(6), tree(3), produce(3), market(3), lighthouse(2), military(2)
People: Claira(3), Marcus(3), Nara(3)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > October 2021
Last Modified Saturday, January 28th, 2023 at 22:54:49 Edit
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