Victoria Summer Walk

There is nothing so lovely or enlivening as a walk around Victoria, B.C., and when it's sunny and low 70's, it is pure bliss.

The American Volkssport Association has a local group called Olympic Peninsula Explorers which I joined earlier this year.

Our annual Canadian trip was this past weekend of July 24th, and our hosts and hostesses were so gracious and welcoming, it felt like we were coming home.

As we waited for everyone to gather, we watched the boat ballet in the inner harbor.

Once everyone was together, we headed out, past the 1,100 plus restored cars that had gathered for the weekend from all over the NW.

It was reminder to me of the days when I helped my father restore the 1932 Model A Ford and later he was interested in a 1931 Buick, but it was the first experience that taught me how to take apart, and put back together, a combustion engine.

Victoria water taxi ballet...

This information has served me well with my own cars. I saw a 1949 Ford convertible, one of my cars from the past, but no 1955 Ford T-Bird. But then we didn't walk past all the cars, either.

What sort of amused me was the high level gloss paint on these restorations, when those of us who once drove some of these cars in their original condition knew the paint job was no where near what can be accomplished today.

Huge car show with restored vehicles from early years.

It was also the Busker's Festival on the other side of the harbor, but we were not able to break away from our own group before our ferry deadline, so I'm going to mark this on my calendar for next year.

City gardens featured sweet peas
along with edible kale and lettuce.

Our 'guide' from the Wanderers was well-versed in local knowledge and walked us through some well cared for neighborhoods with sweet gardens and curbside decorations to inspire us.

I particularly liked the gnome homes on Pilot Street, and the 10-foot tall holly hocks seen in a back alley cut-through all in the Jamestown area.

The Garden City Wanderers hosted the OlympicPeninsula
Explorers in the waterfront park in Victoria, BC.

This area has many Victorian homes, but is also a desirable location for those wanting to rebuild with 'green' and modern designs.

Gnome home 'base' planted at
the base of a maple tree.

Incorporating the whimsical exterior 'little folks' residences on a shady street only made our walk that much more enjoyable.

Full view of the gnome home... I intend to do this someplace.

Another view of the gnome home.

Closeup of room and entry.

Another gnome home.

Breakwater walkway has recently been completed for enjoyable walks. 

We reached the edge of Vancouver Island, near where the cruise ships come in, and then returned via Pilot Street, passing more curbside entertainment.

Another interpretation of a fairy cottage.

These flowers are called a name related to eggs, but now I've
forgotten it... sunny side up?

Brilliant lilies!!

Thistle or artichoke? Or just that
awful stinging nettle BC size?

Peach colored rose has delicate
scent... would like to find it for
my own garden.

Interesting gate...

Last of the R2AK rowers returning to Victoria?

There was plenty of gentle joking about our upcoming presidential race and warnings that if we wanted to seek asylum after November it was probably going to be causing Canada to sink into the Baltic Sea with all the folks running over the borders.

I always meet new folks and this was no exception.

The food was delicious, served as a picnic overlooking the Fisherman's Wharf area. There was a broccoli salad with raisins and grapes that was so refreshing and crisp!

3 p.m. ferry took us back to Port Angeles, WA. It was warm
until we cleared the harbor and then the gale force winds
drove most of us back inside until arrival.

My personal walking goal was the 5K, but with walking to the ferry in Port Angeles, walking around and then off the ferry in B.C. to the park, then a delightful walk past Tudor Printing (again) in the Jamestown area, I reached 16,576 steps or about 8 miles!!

I was feeling just a little worn out by the time I got home, but a hot bath and some post-exercise vitamins restored everything to normal on the morning after... such a wonderful memory!

Approaching Port Angeles; see, there's no one on deck!

Following My Bliss

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year.

As of May 14, I will have been totally retired (this time I am pretty sure it is for good, in all ways that could be interpreted) for one month.

"Follow your bliss," is a phrase I had heard but honestly, when you have to get up to go to work and it's still dark (and cold) outside, that was not ever my idea of bliss.

A glacial lake near Mt. Baker, WA, is almost perfectly still this spring day.

Now I can practice following my 'bliss' and I don't really require an alarm clock anymore, but my body seems to know that it's time to get up before it is lunch time.

I potter about making tea and ponder what I will do for the day... there is nothing on the list that HAS to be done.

Go and get eggs?

I can have oatmeal today and maybe I'll get the eggs tomorrow, provided I feel like it.

The real discipline is to stay in a state of joy.

Anything that pulls me off my high flying disc will require a 17 second re-focus... like getting a bill or hearing bad news on TV.

One way I made sure I minimized some bad news was to tell Direct TV I was going away until July... I am liking not having to do more than read a local newspaper once a week to get the essentials.

I converted this color photo to B&W because the heron
was not well colored due to camera and light angles.

The world - my world - has its parameters.

There are two cats who have intense confrontations once in awhile.

The sparrows were fighting last week about ownership of the abandoned birdhouse.

I got word that now that I no longer work full time I have to take my vested IRA account and find another place for it.

Everything is working out for me... as long as I keep my world and my parameters in focus.

Once I start paying attention to something that really has nothing to do with me, I'm back on the hard ground worrying about things I can do nothing about.

It's taken me almost a year to get to this peaceful place.

It's about as close to heaven as I want to be just now.

I'm following my bliss... and it's a great pity that most folks have to get to retirement age to fully experience it.

Children, however, when left to their own devices, are pretty good at doing this.

Emerging ferns look pretty peculiar... but interesting...

I recently listened to my daughter telling her daughter it was time to come and have dinner.

G'daughter was focused on something that was giving her pleasure and she was not interested in eating because that wasn't on the same vibration as what she was doing.

Finally the insistence of her mother's demands brought her down and she came to the table.

But it was not a willing arrival and we all got that message.

I have to say that my daughter is very good at parenting, and it is really not unreasonable that she views eating as a requirement.

And yet, while I have taught my daughter to be responsible, and as a caring parent myself, we all want our children to be well-nourished, sheltered, protected, I am asking myself have we gone too far?

Perhaps some of that nourishment has to come by allowing everyone a way to get food when they want it, water when they want it, shelter when they want it and everything else in that same way.

But dear reader, perhaps you think the world would be in chaos? What is it in now?

This is just a subject for thought... but I must leave and go to my garden... back later!

Viewing a wave through a huge tree on Dungeness Spit, Sequim, WA.