Little Vignettes in the garden
Vancouver Day trip
NEW YORK CITY - ARCHITECTURE TOUR, May 7th, 2019
On our second day of our art tour with the Vancouver Island School of Art, we had an architecture tour of midtown Manhattan.
This first group of photos were taken walking to meet up with our tour guide. We left our hotel at 8th Ave and 51st Street, walking south to 42nd Street and then along to 1st Avenue, where we met Katherine our tour guide, across from the United Nations Building.
This second set of photos are taken from the UN building, Tudor City and all along 42nd Street.
NEW YORK CITY ART TOUR MAY 6-12, 2019
Paul and I were part of the New York City Art Tour with the Vancouver School of Art. We had a spectacular time. New York City is clean, safe, fun, filled with friendly people everywhere and something to see in every square inch. We were part of an architecture tour, we experienced Times Square at night; Museum of Modern Art, The Highline, The Hudsons Yards, The Whitney Museum of Art, a boat tour around the island of Manhattan, The Drawing Centre; a private photography walk-through for Paul and me in SOHO and China Town with local photographer James Maher; “Smoke Jazz and Supper Club” especially to hear jazz musician, Mike LaDonne, a jazz pianist and B-3 organist; he is one of Paul’s favorite jazz musicians. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chelsea art district, Chelsea Market, The Museum of Art and Design. It was an action packed 7 days, walking 10 miles each day and one day we topped it at 15 miles. Some of those days, we even took the subway.
Eastward bound over the Rockies - heading to New York City.
TIMES SQUARE
We arrived at our hotel in the theatre district in NYC about 5:30 on May 6th. Later in the evening around 8:30, Paul and I walked a few blocks past all of the theatres to Times Square. What an experience, so many lights from all the billboards, at times it almost felt like daylight surrounded us, and yet there was black sky over head - very different feeling. Lots of people and of course a real buzz. Walking through Times Square in the daylight is just not the same as a night-time experience.
I will be posting more photos from the trip.
COWICHAN GARRY OAK PRESERVE
The Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve on southern Vancouver Island holds the secret to one of the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s best restoration success stories. Once overrun by invasive plants and agricultural grasses, the preserve now boasts a vibrant community of native species, including many species at risk that rely on the globally rare Garry oak habitat found here. Less than 10 per cent of this ecosystem is left in the world, and yet these woodlands and meadows support the highest biodiversity of plants in coastal British Columbia.
OPEN ONE DAY A YEAR
Access by special permission only. Preserve is opened to the public one day each spring for the In Bloom Wildflower Festival. Visitors can enjoy a short interpretive boardwalk off of Maple Bay Road that juts into the preserve and offers a view of this rare and special habitat.
Cowichan Bay
This is our view out the window while having breakfast at “The Vine”, a Belgian inspired restaurant in Cowichan Bay, B.C. This local restaurant is our favorite place of ours, the service is crazy good and the food is a 10/10.That is Salt Spring Island in the background. The two brown buildings are part of the The Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre and The Cowichan Wooden Boat Society, which is a non-profit organization founded to preserve, exhibit and demonstrate maritime heritage, especially that of wooden boats.
BUTCHART GARDENS
We had another visit to Butchart Gardens. Fabulous spring gardens.
Dramatic Clouds on the Breakwater at Dallas Road
It was a very dramatic cloud-scape on the breakwater at Dallas Road. What a wonderful walk to see these dramatic clouds and blue blue sky.
On our drive home to Cobble Hill from Victoria, the huge clouds were everywhere and we passed by a double rainbow.; the most colourful rainbow I have ever witnessed.
Here you see the rainbow making a huge semi-circle.
China Town, Victoria, BC Canada
Butchart Gardens April 15, 2019
Fabulous spring-time at Butchart, Gardens near Victoria, BC Canada.
Rose Carousel at Butchart Gardens
I am having fun playing around with the 360 Panorama app on my iPhone. Paul and I were at the Butchart Gardens (Victoria, BC Canada). We were watching the Rose Carousel go around.
A MENAGERIE CAROUSEL
A menagerie of 30 hand-carved wooden animals and chariots, the carousel was brought to life by Jennie Butchart’s great-granddaughter and current owner of The Gardens, Robin-Lee Clarke, in 2009. Loved by children and adults alike, the domed Children’s Pavilion and Rose Carousel house events year-round—and welcome kids of all ages for a ride!
INDIGENOUS NORTHWEST COAST COLLECTION
After viewing “Marking the Infinite at the Museum of Anthropology we enjoyed looking at the Indigenous Northwest Coast collection in the Great Hall.
"MARKING THE INFINITE"
On a recent day trip to Vancouver, we saw the exhibit “Marking the Infinite” -a show by contemporary women artists from Aboriginal Australia at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.
I was really moved by the work in this exhibition. The work had an energy and movement, that felt like a heartbeat. The colour and pattern seemed to radiate and vibrate an inner life source. Without doubt this is the best work I have seen in a long long time.
“Aboriginal women have been redrawing the boundaries of the contemporary Aboriginal art scene in Australia since the late 1980s, redefining a movement that continues today.
Marking the Infinite features the work of nine Aboriginal women—Nonggirrnga Marawili, Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati, Angelina Pwerle, Carlene West, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Lena Yarinkura, Gulumbu Yunupingu and Nyapanyapa Yunupingu—each from different remote regions of Australia. They are revered matriarchs and celebrated artists who are represented in the collections of the Australian National Gallery. Most of them make their Canadian debut at MOA with this breathtaking exhibition.
The artists bring their ancient cultural knowledge into their contemporary artistic practice, and continue to create art to ensure their languages, land and knowledge survive in an increasingly digital world. Their works are steeped in the traditions of their communities and yet speak to the universal themes of our shared existence, revealing the continued relevance of Indigenous knowledge in understanding our time and place in this world.” (quote from MOA)
RECENT TRIP TO VANCOUVER
After what seemed like a long winter and a snowfall on February 10th that was still hanging around on March 10 —- and it seemed to last forever before it melted all away from the yard mid-March — it was great to have a day trip to Vancouver in sunny warm weather. The morning ferry ride was beautiful.
Snow storm hit Cowichan Bay on Feb 10, 2018
Snow still hanging around on March 10, 2018 and didn’t melt entirely until March 15.
GENOA BAY, BC
We had a wonderful lunch at the Genoa Bay Cafe and Marina.
View of the marina from the Genoa Bay Cafe deck.
To view a live satellite view map of Genoa Bay here
One of the best things to do after lunch is to walk along the docks and the boat houses.
