Janly's Canadian Retreat

Sticky Toffee Pudding  water taxi ! a seaplane in the harbour  papier mache  sculptures at cage gallery  The BULK BARN they even selling bulk pie filling!! and custard !!!  The weather here has been frightful but life here is quite delightful !!!!! This was my second trip to Victoria in 2 days!!!! No cultural desert for me!!! Wendy drove me to a lovely hotel on the other side the inner harbor. She dropped me off ageeing to meet at the regular place where she has her art class . The hotel was a high-end Marriott I think with a lovely view over the harbour across from the Empress Hotel, the British Columbia Museum and the streets across the water. I thought i needed to check i could just sit for coffee.  This was indeed  what the hotel offered; I did not need to be a guest there, i could just have Coffee!! The view was splendid and hopefully my video will work on here .Now it was around 1pm and I did want the coffee but i felt decided to  push the b...

  Today, my friend Wendy was going to art class in Victoria and this was my first time to visit downtown on a Saturday with more people around and more places open . Wendy very kindly dropped me at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria which was a good way from downtown central, housed in  a mansion. My first need upon arrival was to have a coffee in their cafe. No cafe !!!!! Cafe near by? about 10 minute walk back down the road i had just been driven up. So to get my steps in , because, I had  not had a drink by this time of day even the pouring rain did not dissuade me. Found a nice cafe, ordered  a scramble egg brioche and drip coffee and all was set, lunch and dinner in one.  Walked back to the museum and I was very glad I did because this was a very pleasant experience , More like a museum than a gallery in that its  focus is on short term exhibitions that focus on their collection as well as other other programs . Right now there are 3 exbibitions; Bank...

 Not much is happening here these last few days because its been raining, its been cold and i have not been doing much of use or interest.  I worked on my larger canvases in the garage one day this week and they are moving along but not ready . to share yet. Figure drawing on Tues was a good session and i got a ride home which is always helpful. I have been walking some but the weather is not conducive to the 10.000 steps that we all like to achieve. One day this week i did the round trip 4 mile walk to the grocery store because it was quicker to walk than wait for the bus. This week i have also been researching ways of getting from here back to Staunton in July. There are many and various ways of course but the trick is to make the journey  A) cost effective  or B) interesting as well as cost effective. After various approaches one thing that looks very tempting is to use a company that specialises in finding eligible drivers to make the trip in the car of some owne...

I am not very thorough about research and planning ahead for my adventures so its more " lets see what's out there " kind of thing.  Anyway today was different. Today it was raining and cold and looked singularly uninviting to be outside so i decided to look for what i might do for a few hours this afternoon.  I could hardly believe what i found as i googled "what to do  in Victoria " There at the Royal BC Museum was the National Geographic Wildlife Photography of the Year exhibition! This has been an annual event for Beth and I for several years for obvious reasons but we have always focussed on attending in London. This exhibition was here, in Victoria, just 30 minutes away and open Today!  I don't know if I wrote before about Sunday afternoons in Victoria. Yes i did because i mentioned the dragons of China and the really good sandwich at a lovely cafe. Well, Wendy brought me again today and she so kindly walked me almost all the way to the Royal British C...

  well now it's Thursday and its been a changeable week with the weather, the world and what to worry about . Weather has been some snow and lots of cold , begging me to stay indoors except for one paint session in the garage and one short session of touring the garden while tidying some edges of the drive. The paintings, all 2 of them that are being worked in tandem, are coming along as I now feel more comfortable with the technical transition of brush to canvas that does not bounce as i press  onto the surface. This is surprisingly different and changes how i approach the action of applying the paint., Not necessarily improved but different.  Another day felt like the sky most definately  was falling in and chicken Lickin was coming down with it. My phone had the new battery but suddenly I could  not make calls.! Then as i started to finalise ideas of renting a car, i needed to check on travel insurance that had recently  been renewed. This led to contact...

 "The weather continues to be below freezing" , she said as a true Brit who put the forecast above all other topics. Yesterday was a bit of a challenge but I won the day. This was the event of Valentine's weekend at the local farm and sauna. They were promoting wood fired pizza and that  was a must. I have not had pizza of any kind since Pizza Luca in Staunton and so the 30 minute walk through the woods was a definate. yes. with my red, "fur"lined gardening boots to deal with all the muddy trails I would encounter was a sensible plan. The farm was further along the road that i have walked several times but I made it up the slushy dirt lane, past all the parked cars until I  got to where the gift shop, the pizza tent and the crepe food truck were parked. Here was the field of lavender, all mounded and rounded ready for spring growth from which many products are made here,. The large barn was presenting various locally made products from leather bags to jewellery ...

 After that 6 day break, which as readers, you needed as recovery time from the concern and all the translation of weights, measures and finance regarding certain vegetables.  So today the sun is shining again as it works on fast-melt snow.  It has been below freezing here for several days and more in keeping with one's perception of Canadian winter climate. I did not venture out; I did not paint in the garage because it was too cold,; figure drawing was cancelled and so was the trip to down town Victoria. A quiet few days. However, i worked on my reading skills, watching Acorn TV (some good dramas) and making simple meals that might be repetitive and even boring but did the job. I did some work on integrating an online "yogaesque" Program into my routine but I still a long way to go.  The snow left fascinating evidence of the animal population and now i need to find info about identifying those various foot and hoof prints. Apart from that, the local buck white tail...