Ice in Victoria

November 24, 2010

It had been very cold overnight. I didn't realize how cold until I saw the ice on these two fountains.

1. At the side of the Bay mall (I still want to call it Eaton's) downtown.

2. At the front of the 'parliament buildings'.

A snowfall in Victoria

November 22, 2010

Maybe weathermen knew but I had not expected to wake up to snow.

With Yaktrax-equipped snow boots I walked slip-free to the waterfront. It seemed odd to see snow on seaweed.

Why no snow on the bench?

It probably got blown off by the fierce wind.

Government House & area November 20, 2010

This tree on the front lawn at Government House has fine, copper-coloured leaves. It also has a strange trunk.

I wonder why oaks are called 'mighty' when they seem to break and fall over so much. Maybe it depends on the type of oak.

I walked around some neighbouring streets as the sunshine disappeared.

I love a good hedge.

Across the street at a Tudor house, someone tried to get creative.

While gazing upon a rather ugly topiary in the form of a big duck, I became aware of Steller's Jays making a ruckus and looked up to see this hawk overhead. Not a great picture - these dark days don't make things easy, but I am always happy to see an out-of-the-ordinary bird.

Butchart Gardens November 19, 2010

It was a cold, damp, dark day at Butchart's but I just wanted to go for a quick walk.

I must find out what type of tree this is at the beginning of the driveway.
Update: the tree is a Camperdown Elm, Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii'. I'm told "it came from a grocer in Victoria who was going to bulldoze it to make room for an expansion of his supermarket." Luckily his wife intervened and the tree was transplanted here in 1963.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Many lights are up. The lit tree trunks are pretty at night.

At this time of year you can zip along the paths because there are no crowds.

But soon the gardens will be full of people again. 'Christmas light-up' begins December 1st. Here is the this year's display in the gift shop corner window. In the background is the ice rink.

More adventures in baking

Chocolate coconut mounds

Top-centre and middle row - I saw these made on TV and got caught up in how quick and easy the recipe looked. The mounds were supposed to be either dipped in or drizzled with chocolate (bittersweet to counteract the intense sweetness) but I left the three across the middle plain. Once made, I was too horrified by all sugar to want to eat them!

Christmas shortbread

Top-outside and bottom row - I've never made terrific shortbread but this recipe from Butchart Gardens has 'a touch of rice flour' so I thought it was worth a shot. Theirs are better than mine (I may have overbaked - they're supposed to be all white), and I'd rather have them presented on a platter than have to see firsthand how much butter is involved. And anyway, does anyone make better shortbread than my friend's mother "D"? I don't think so.

Enough of what I don't want to eat. Now let's go on to what I do...

Oat bran muffins

Since I'm trying to get more fibre in my diet, a favourite recipe at the moment is for oat bran muffins. They may not be the best muffins in the world, but with enough raisins, blueberries or cranberries probably most would be edible. I like the fact that there is not as much fat or sugar as with some recipes - this uses applesauce. There is the added bonus of happy childhood memories while mixing the batter because it reminds me of the warm mash I used to mix up for the chickens! Yes, they are rather 'rustic' muffins. I use half the ingredients and make just six muffins at a time.

Italian bread

Glenn's and my favourite bread right now is this easy-to-make Italian bread. Only four ingredients are in this recipe - flour, water, yeast and salt. No loaf pans needed. There is a whole tablespoon of salt, which might be what makes it so tasty. It is especially good warm with peanut butter. Or cold. Or toasted. I haven't quite got the hang of avoiding air holes in this bread.

What a difference 6 days make

Butchart Gardens Tuesday November 2, 2010

Left: last week. Right: this week.

In the Japanese Gardens the orange foliage had really faded. So it seems that the last week of October is usually the best for colour here.

There were still some reds, much of it on the ground.

The lovely Callicarpa (Beautyberry) kind of drives me nuts. The bushes are in awkward places - and here, you can't just tramp through the flower beds for a closer look - plus the berries are quite small, making them a challenge to photograph.

I'm not sure when these potted shrubs showed up.

There were some orange colours outside of the Japanese garden.

What a difference 5 days make

Butchart Gardens Wednesday October 27, 2010

Japanese Garden

Looking in at the top of the garden...

... and looking back out.

Yes, I was too early last week. This week the colour really 'popped' down in the Japanese Garden.

Remember the bright yellow flowers in the Italian Garden in the post below? Gone. A team of gardeners was busy planting bulbs.

A small tree by the entrance.

Butchart Gardens October 22, 2010

On this damp and mostly overcast morning, gardeners were busy planting bulbs for spring.

A flower bed outside the Blue Poppy cafe.

Unknown (to me) pink & orange flowers in a pot near the entrance.

Update: The plant is Euonymus Europaeus, also known as European Spindle. Its hard wood was used to make spindles, and the fruit is poisonous.

The Italian Garden. The yellow flowers will probably turn to mush in the rain before long.

The dahlia border across the lawn is still looking good.

I still don't know the name of these intriguing little flowers with the blue and green 'pearl' pods.

Update: The plant is Clerodendrum Trichotomum, also known as Harlequin Glorybower. Some call it the Peanut Butter Bush because the leaves apparently smell like peanut butter when you crush them. I must try to do that some time.

Japanese Garden

Around this time of year the Japanese garden should be ablaze with colour.

Either I was too early or too late, or the fall foliage is not going to be as spectacular as 2 or 3 years ago.

This shows a difference in colour between the two cameras - our little old Canon Elph on the left and the Canon Vixia camcorder on the right. I prefer the Elph for fall foliage since it seems to handle oranges better.

Government House October 18, 2010

Or the title could be: More plants I don't know.

This is a springtime-looking flower for October.

I see these tiny red & white flowers around a fair bit still don't know what they are.

This plant was taller than me and I have no idea what it is either.

Finally, something I know - a rose. It too looks quite fresh for this time of year.

I was puzzled by this tree with the strange-looking fruit. From a distance they resembled small pears, more for the colour than the shape, but this is a Medlar tree. I learned about something else called bletting which "refers to the fact that some fruit must be allowed to fully ripen and start the decaying process before they are ready to eat." All in all, this fruit doesn't look or sound very appealing.