Dog of the Day

We would like to include a very special Dog of the Day.
Her name was Leica, a standard schnauzer, and she was our funny and feisty rambling companion for thirteen years. After moving to Victoria, and despite old age and declining health, she enjoyed three more months happily exploring our new neighbourhood. She was always eager to accompany us on our daily walks particularly if we included a visit to the beach to fetch sticks or simply stand in the shallow water to cool her paws.
Our Leica's spirit continues to walk along beside us wherever we go.

A Tribute in the Cathedral

While the Christ Church Cathedral was under construction in the 1920s, a determined little bird decided to build her nest near the capital of the southeastern pillar of the Nave. Building operations at that point were suspended until her family had been successfully launched into the world.
"Robin Pillar" is fourth from the left at the center of this photo:
As a tribute to her determination, a stone model of the bird and nest marks the spot atop the capital near the top of the pillar:

Dog of the day

"Saxon" is quite mature enough to take himself for a walk in the park along Dallas Road.

A smile for the Universe

The Climenhaga Observatory Ash Dome at the University of Victoria sports a 0.5-m F/10.5 Cassegrain telescope...and a smiley face.

Campus Lepus

To some, the fluffy creatures are the unofficial mascot of the University of Victoria.
Most of the feral rabbits at UVic are descended from European rabbits and are unwanted pets or descendants of unspayed or unneutered pets abandoned on campus by members of the community. An informal official count put the number of rabbits at over 250, however, many estimates put the figure at closer to 1,000 hoppers.
To learn more, visit HERE.

Hopscotch on steroids

Possibly a Guinness world record for longest hopscotch course - spotted on Hampshire Road, Oak Bay, BC (click on pic to enlarge).

Fence extension

This homeowner appears to have been so taken by their fence that they just had to extend the idea around the telephone pole in front of their home.

Shock as croc spotted in Gonzales Bay!

"If I hadn't seen it myself I wouldn't have believed it" whispered local resident Ms. Sandy Divan."I immediately called the Victoria Animal Control Services – but discovered that Officers do not respond to wildlife matters unless a domestic animal is involved" she said. Luckily the Mainland news media happened to be at the Animal Control offices doing a story on pet adoption, so they decided to investigate the situation at the Bay themselves (croc in circled area).The public had to keep their distance. However this photo clearly reveals the uninvited beach visitor:"Brutus" is credited with being the first to bravely bark a warning.The news team called the Victoria Animal Control back and this time mentioned the mental trauma endured by Brutus as a result of his encounter with the croc. Fortunately the call was put in after 9:00 AM and before 5:00 PM which fell within their mandate for investigating nuisance matters. And since they were now aware that a local canine citizen was involved they were obliged to respond.Unfortunately, by the time Animal Control Services arrived, the morose beast had slipped away into the waters of the Bay. One of the attending officers (who wishes to remain anonymous) thinks that it may have been someone's pet, likely from one of the houses that surround the Bay, that had gotten loose. "Sadly, this sort of thing happens all the time. Home owners too busy enjoying their views to pay proper attention to where their pets are at. It's not going to be easy on it though" he said. "These waters are pretty cold at this time of year...well, most times of the year actually."

The vertical Canada/U.S. border in Oak Bay B.C.

Sometimes when exploring Gonzales Hill or Anderson Hill Park in Oak Bay our cellphones give out a discrete "beep" and message welcoming us to the U.S.A. It's indeed a dizzying feeling to have one's head in the U.S. whilst one's feet are still firmly planted on Canadian soil.

A difficult winter

Winter can be quite a hardship for our wild birds. Many people will provide a bird feeder in their backyard to help. However, in this case, a Good Samaritan has extended their assistance in the form of a bird feeder in a public park.

FAN•TA•SEA•ISLE

FAN•TA•SEA•ISLE is a wonderful piece of driftwood art created by folk artist Rich Rico that is located in Esquimalt in Greater Victoria's westside. Rich met up with some american visitors who posted a video of him on YouTube which can be seen HERE.

Dog of St. Patrick's Day

Sadie, a nine year old Irish Wolfhound, decked out in her St. Patrick's Day greenery and quietly watching the passing parade.

At first shy to have her photograph taken,
she eventually became quite interested in my camera.
I admit to a weakness for terriers.

The aluminum tree

We Westcoasters harbour a great appreciation for our forests and trees, so, it's understandable why we might immortalize a tree in aluminum –right down to the detail of the woodsman's chop near its base.

Dog of the day

"Echo" a Border Collie, has a unique stick trick which is only used when he has an audience. He doesn't bury it, he doesn't fetch it, instead he creates Expressive Reverse Sand Calligraphy. In this example he began on the far right and wrote his way backwards to the far left. Though not quite finished, we wondered what his message was.

Esquimalt shines a light – 3 ways

This lamplight along the public shoreline walkway in Esquimalt (a westside community in Victoria BC) is powered by wind, solar, and mains energy. This is the only example we've seen of a lamplight that will not fail.

Considerations

On our daily rambles we often see a mitt, glove, scarf or some other found item carefully placed in a prominent spot. This is done by a passerby in the hope that the owner will likely retrace their footsteps and the lost item will be reunited with its mate.
The fact that someone has decided to stop and and take the time to perform this small but important gesture contributes to the enjoyment of our walks. It creates an atmosphere of thoughtfulness and consideration.
And they are fun to find.

The Swallowed Anchor

Is the name of this mariner's dream on Victoria's west side. Likely a haven for Long John Silver or Captain Jack Sparrow. Avast ye swabs!!

Considerations

Graffiti "artists" typically don't appear to have any consideration for where they create their "art" – except, perhaps in this case. Here, Graffitists have restricted their work to the anti-graffiti notice on the pristine canvas of the public washrooms in the Oak Bay Municipal Hall building. How considerate!

Dog of the day

This is "Elvis." 50% Hound dog, 50% Unknown, and 90% Fur!

House of Flags

When the wind blows (which is just about every day), the sound of festive, patriotic, flags can be heard for several blocks around this house on Victoria Ave. in Oak Bay. Note to our American friends – the flying of a flag, let alone many flags, on private property is quite unusual here in Canada.

Drainspotting

Many cities that border on bodies of water will remind citizens about where street drains will eventually lead. In Victoria BC, those drains are identified with a small badge featuring a purple starfish and the potentially misunderstood text "City of Victoria Drains To Ocean":Vancouver BC, on the other hand, uses a somewhat graffitish approach with an iconic yellow salmon silhouette leaving the viewer to extract the meaning - "Yellow fish live in here" perhaps?:San Francisco CA, takes a much more direct, no-nonsense, approach with a stern "No Dumping" warning, moderated by a dash of poetry "Only Rain Down The Drain" and, if all that has failed, finishing off with a crab invoking the reader to rat out an offender with a: "Report Pollution 695-2020":

Sidewalk Scrabble

Beginning in 1907 and continuing up until 1937 , the city of Victoria installed buff blue ceramic tiles (made in Zanesville Ohio) to spell out the names of streets. In part the idea was to thwart hooligans from stealing street-name signs from utility poles. Some tiles, in high pedestrian foot traffic areas, became damaged or vandalized.In the past they were often destroyed during sidewalk reconstruction. However some, like this example on Clare St., found preservation and, in this case, a new life in a walkway.Nowadays when the city does sidewalk reconstruction the street-name tiles are cut out with the surrounding concrete and embedded in the new cement as was done at this intersection:Today there are only 62 left in the city.

Oak Bay alarm cluck

Oak Bay is an upscale municipality of fine homes flanking the east side of the city of Victoria, BC. While wandering around this lovely neighbourhood, in addition to the cawing of crows, screeches of seagulls, and twittering of English Sparrows you may be surprised to hear the crowing of this fine rooster (press the "play" triangle):


Click arrow to play video
Your ears may not deceiving you. Instead, you might simply be near this enclosure at the corner of Hawes Rd. and Redfern St. (behind the house at 923 Cowichan St.)Note the owner's consideration in providing a seat for viewers to enjoy the morning's cackle.

Considerations

On our daily rambles we often see examples of what we refer to as "considerations" (we also see examples of inconsiderations but prefer to remain positive). These examples take many forms and some cannot be illustrated with a drawing or a photograph – for example, walking single file when passing oncoming walkers, picking up after your dog, taking your trash to the nearest receptacle – but we will document the ones that we can, and will be posting them from time to time in this blog. In our first photograph we have chosen a lost pair of leather gloves, left in an Oak Bay Avenue hardware store. They were placed in the store's window, with a note saying "Help, I'm Lost! Looking For my Owner" so that perhaps the owner might see them in the window and claim them. Now that is considerate.[Update. Today, Feb 10, we noticed that the gloves are no longer in the store's window. Happily, their owner has retrieved them.]

Watch the skies!

In our first year in Victoria, during a walk along the Ross Bay shore, a somewhat agitated fellow came up to us and, pointing to the sky said: "Do you see that? They've started up again. It ain't right our government letting the Americans do weather experiments, right here, over our heads."
That was our first introduction to the world of chemtrail conspiracy theories. We've heard the story again, on several occasions, mostly whenever overhead clouds seemed to look not quite "right." Paul, at the corner of Fort and Douglas Streets is determined to bring the message to all who are willing to hear it.Airplane contrails...or...chemtrails?"Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!" (last line spoken from the movie: The Thing from Another World 1951.)

What's in a name?

We often get stopped by tourists who think they've lost their way because the street name that they were told to follow has mysteriously changed names. Are they still on the same road or have they accidently made a wrong turn?
Usually, it's just a question of the road remaining the same but the name itself that keeps changing. Here is a typical example. We traced the street name changes going along one road, keeping the water to the right and not making any turns off the road. We arbitrarily started at the intersection of Belleville St and Government St. in downtown Victoria and headed east along a popular tourist route.
Belleville St. becomes Pendray St. which becomes Quebec St. which becomes Montreal St. which becomes Kingston St. which becomes St. Lawrence St. which becomes Dallas Rd. which becomes Hollywood Crescent which becomes Robertson St. which becomes Crescent Rd. which becomes King George Terrace which becomes Beach Dr. which becomes Cadboro Bay Rd.
It's an "English" thing we've been told.

Dog of the day

"Fetch stick!" – a command which Chomley enthusiastically obeys.