Victoria: a change from snow and %&*$#@

I have my marching orders from Maureen:

"I'm sick of the Ottawa snow and %&*$#@. A change would be nice (pictures of flowers)".

The flowers still aren't blooming, but here are a few pics to cheer you up.

Bulbous trees.

This looks like a picnic table stuck to a tree. Maybe a picnic table for birds?

Funny signs.

Pretty houses.

Big trees.

And I did find flowers. Outside our hosts' front door.

Our first beer. Yum.

Victoria 2020 - beauty among the crisis

Fred and I have been very blessed to be here in Victoria for two months now. On Thursday, St. Joseph's feast day, we return to Ottawa almost two weeks earlier than planned. And today is St. Patrick's Day.

The Coronavirus is crippling the world. People are isolated and afraid, many are sick and dying. I am praying for all people of the world, that they may endure, that my children and grandchildren, friends and relatives, all survive the pandemic.

On this second last day here, I post pictures of beauty amid the crisis.

St. Joseph, St. Patrick, all the saints and angels in Heaven, pray for us. 

Victoria 2020 - The view from up here

I wrote this after we first arrived. Just posting it now.

Ever notice how things look different from 30,000 feet up in the air? It never fails to fascinate me.

On our Ottawa Vancouver leg our seat mate was a quiet reserved man who wasn't interested in talking. When I asked him where he was going (Vancouver), I asked if he was going on business. He said no, but for personal reasons. He was very polite, but I could tell he didn't want to talk. I felt that maybe he was going through something? Anyway I didn't want to be too nosy so I shut up. I did feel a need to say a prayer for him so I did.

Victoria - Week 8 final days

We leave Saturday to return to the land of snow, ice, and definitely no flowers. Yet. But they will come.

A few final pictures. These are from Fred. Beautiful. Especially the last one.

Jan and Knut's place where we stayed. We are in the downstairs apartment.

Victoria - Week 8

This morning we walked to Beacon Hill Drive In for breakfast. Then down to Dallas road to the sea. Back through Beacon Hill Park and Cook St for coffee. About 10 km in all.

For some reason Victoria likes to plant telephone posts in the middle of sidewalks and we've grown used to this. You will see a picture below that I took on the weekend, where they've planted trees in the middle of the sidewalk. Weird.

But the flowers are very pretty. Thank you God for that.

Victoria - Week 7 St. Paddy's Day, old people and a dog

Fred took these pictures yesterday. Lots of activity downtown Victoria for St. Paddy's Day.

As he was taking pics he passed a young couple. The guy said to his girlfriend:

"There are so many old people here. I'm not really into old people."