Government House grounds March 29, 2009

It was such a nice day that we continued to the Government House grounds. Sometimes it can be a bit of a letdown after Butchart's but this time was an adventure because a whole new (new to us anyway) trail has opened up extending down to the bottom of the property. Also, the grounds had been tidied up considerably since our last visit. The "Woodlands" covers 22 acres.

At the top of the loop trail is a sign, and there are information sheets which you can take along describing the plants at numbered spots along the way. After reading the sign, I am wondering if the flowers I've been calling Easter Lilies all my life are actually White Fawn Lilies.

Part way down the path a hummingbird buzzed up not two feet from my face. Twice! Surely that must be a good sign. Or maybe it was merely trying to shoo me away.

In a recent letter to the local newspaper someone wrote, "Why bother saving the Garry Oaks? They're ugly." By that rule, I guess they might rid the world of spiders, hyenas, bulldogs and maybe even some not very attractive people. Well, the trees and their acorns are a part of my childhood school yard memories, and I like them. They are also unique to this part of the world. I read that the name comes from Nicholas Garry, deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. They are known as Oregon White Oaks in the U.S.

Surprisingly few flowers were in bloom but there were a few in the upper part of the grounds.

Butchart Gardens March 29, 2009

This is the last weekend of the indoor garden at Butchart's.

The next photo shows a magnolia taken with the Canon camcorder followed by one taken with the digital ELPH.

A bird of paradise.

We don't remember seeing flags of the world in the parking lot before.

We saw swallows! A sure sign of spring.

Stacked Applesauce Cake

When work is driving you crazy, what better thing to do than... bake a cake. This applesauce cake recipe with cinnamon whipped cream filling was on the internet.

I don't have three round pans so had to use square. The inset in the photo below shows how the cake is supposed to look.

My cakes tend to be on the dry side so I was a little worried that these shallow layers might be more so. But no, not at all. The applesauce apparently keeps it from getting dry. There is a nice spicy flavour, like a pumpkin cake. I think cutting the recipe down by a third and making only two layers would be just fine and most of the whipping cream could be omitted too. Pretty good cake.

Bread

I tried a few variations on bread making this week. First I kneaded the dough for 8 minutes instead of 5 or 6, then let it rise twice before setting it in loaf pans.

For an experiment with crusts, before baking I brushed the loaf on the left with water, which is supposed to give a crispier crust.
The funny shaped loaf on the right was brushed with milk which is supposed to give a soft crust, the same as if it was brushed with butter after baking (or just left it alone, I find).

The bread brushed with milk came out with a few tiny black spots. I don't know why. They weren't there when the dough went into the oven. Also, it stuck a bit to the pan.

The loaf shapes might not be perfect but the texture is more what I'm looking for - chewier rather than crumbly. So, it's getting closer to Mom's bread.... but was it the extra kneading or the double rising, or both?

There really is something marvelous about baking bread. Along with the wonderful smell, I love the way the dough rises and changes, like some creation erupting out of the earth. And every loaf is different.

Fun with Photoshop Elements

"M" gave me instructions on how to make circular pictures in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Would I ever have occasion to use this? Maybe not, but I learned something in doing it. Too bad they can't be turned into glass paperweights. :-)

Butchart Gardens March 19, 2009

Happiness is getting the very front parking spot right beside the rack of Butchart-supplied umbrellas. The weather was rainy but mild.

The following two pictures show a model of the carousel (with 'extra' roof to show underside construction) and the actual thing as it is being built. I wonder if they will charge extra to ride on it.

This looks like an autumn crocus (which isn't a real crocus) but it's not autumn.

The outside gardens should be perking up soon.

Crocus are still out, which seems later than usual.

Inside, I thought I'd better get a picture of the wisteria before it fades. At the end of the month "Spring Prelude" will end and I imagine the indoor garden will be turned back into a restaurant.

I'm not sure what the little blue flowers are... maybe type of Muscari?

Butterfly Gardens March 15, 2009

Sunday morning we decided to escape the horrible windy, rainy, cold weather and pretend we were in the tropics by visiting Butterfly Gardens near Butchart Gardens. I've only been there once before, many years ago.

Butterflies and Moths
I never would have dreamed that the highlight of the gardens would be a moth called the Atlas Moth. A worker at the gardens felt that they were lucky to have these moths and alerted us to their location.

Part of a sign read:
Atlas Moth (Attacus Atlas)

• This spectacular moth from South East Asia is the world's largest in overall size with a wingspan of up to 30 cm (12").
• Nocturnal in habit, these moths spend most of the day resting on branches or rocks. They live only a few days (4 or 5), long enough to mate and lay eggs.
• As members of the giant silk moth family, they do not feed as adults and don't even have any mouth parts.
• The tips of their wings are patterned to look like snake heads and thus aid in protection.
• As a survival mechanism, the Atlas Moth can remain in the cocoon for several years and emerge when climatic conditions are ideal.

Look at the shape and incredible snakelike pattern on the wings in the picture below.

There were many butterflies too, which I know nothing about so I'm only guessing at the names. At least the ones in display cases stay still when you photograph them.

But alive, it helps if they stay still on a leaf like this Crimson Mormon...

... or on a flower like this Golden Helicon.

Beautiful red butterflies and blue ones were flying about but I never saw them settle anywhere. The staff places butterflies on childrens' hands.

PlantsIt's amazing that Glenn, with his insect phobia, would even go into a place like this. He said it did remind him of the botanical gardens in Hilo. To me that would mean wonderfully tropical; to him, a bit creepy.

I love the cantaloupe colour of this Angels Trumpet flower.

Birds
There were also birds, many of which I don't have photos of. Animals have a remarkable knack for turning their heads away just as you snap the shutter.

Flamingos look like they were put together badly with Tinkertoys. The neck looks as if it was made of broken pieces, the legs are like sticks stuck together in the middle with wads of chewing gum, and then, like icing covering an imperfect cake, some jazzy plumage was added.

Here is another pink bird, which I figure is a Rosey Bourke Parakeet.

I don't think of pink as being a big colour in nature but it is in leaves as well as flowers, not to mention rocks, skies, shells... quite a few places come to think of it.

I just wanted to take this cute little bird home.

Government House

It has been a while since we visited the Government House grounds. Lots of yellow, purple and white crocus are out and finally daffodils are making an appearance.

Around town - March 11, 2009

After I got off work, Glenn and I walked all over town. It's not every day you see a dog loping along in such an area. It was a construction site on Blanshard that we passed on the way to Tim Horton's for coffee to warm ourselves up. Don't let the blue sky fool you. Arctic air is still blowing down on Victoria and it was bitterly, freezing cold.

Walking through Chinatown Glenn pointed to a second floor room (not shown below) where he used to teach.

We continued through Fan Tan Alley.

At an entrance to Market Square was this gate. I liked the shadows on the yellow wall but the photo doesn't quite make it.

Down at the harbour, the little ferries are at rest.

Here is a recent addition to "spruce up" Bastion Square. A canoe stuck in giant tulips? No, apparently those are reeds and seed pods. This looks suspiciously similar to the metal posies out at the airport. That's because they were done by the same guy.

Continuing through Bastion Square, Glenn reminisced about the time he ran into Harry Heine outside the gallery that was at the bottom of the stairs, lower right . They discussed the art shows that used to happen in Eatons, now The Bay, back centre. Who knows - I may have seen Glenn's paintings there long before I knew him.