Shawnigan Lake

Debra and I went for a drive on Friday afternoon to Mill Bay (thrift store shopping :)) We returned via Shawnigan Lake. It was a beautiful sunny warm day and the lake looked very inviting.

Lunch swim at Beaver Lake

I normally swim at Saanich Commonwealth Pool during lunch time. Today I thought, why not go to the beach? As opposed to swimming laps, I just floated on my back paddled around and soaked up the nice weather for an hour. I may do this again.

Ok, we didn't sign up for this.....

"They" say that this was the peak hot day. It certainly broke records and if it is to get cooler from here on, I will have a happy household.

Karma trying to beat the heat?

She seems to like the warmth of the patio slabs (in 32 degree weather)!

"Once-in-a-lifetime heat wave"

“We’re looking at a once-in-a-lifetime heat wave,” Environment Canada meteorologist David Jones said. “Five consecutive days with temperatures over 32 C . . . . We’re going to do that this week. That’s only happened three times since 1880.”
Source: Vancouver Sun

Yowzers.....getting warm, 30 degrees and counting!

Wild weather (Saturday night)

This image is taken from a cottage on the north tip of Bowen Island on July 25, 2009. Using a tripod and a 15-second shutter speed he managed to capture a multi-tentacled display of fork lightning that hit the waters of Howe Sound just east of Gambier Island. - Vancouver Sun

Sights around the city

Point Hope Shipyard chopping up an old barge

The southern most Legislative Building. The statutes on the top are all famous founding fathers of British Columbia. There is a plaque that lists them all, but the photo did not come out legible.

Dead barge (see above)

On the Selkirk Waterfront. Still very much a working harbour.

Behind the Legislature Buildings.

I spent a few hours walking and driving around the city today. During that time I picked up tickets to see Whales and then Star Trek at the Imax. Trista and I are going tonight. The Whales film starts at 7 pm and then we can stay in the theatre, get better seats if required, and watch Star Trek.

The weather has been wonderfully warm and we are going to head into the 30's this week if the weather forecast is to be believed. Ontario......... eat your heart out!

I wish I was a kid again...

Our neighbours daughter turned 2 today. Her Daddy bought this "Castle" for his girls and the birthday party today. Needless to say the girls are ecstatic.

Victoria Luminara Lantern Festival

Celebrating its 10th anniversary

Beautiful evening sky which bodes well for tomorrow.

One of the many interesting lanterns.

The rain started around 8:30 pm. We saw lightning and heard fairly loud thunder (for Victoria). It started to rain harder and when it was getting dark Debra and I headed for home.

Do you think it's dry in the woods?

Picked up Clayton from camp

This is just a random picture of part of the camp. Clayton enjoyed himself immensely. (He was a bit tired when we picked him up) :)

Evening walk along the Gorge waterway

Very nice sky as Debra and I took a late evening walk along the waterway.

This tree is in front of the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club. Same sky, but the camera had nice natural lighting for this picture. (actually brighter than I expected)

Just turning the camera a bit gives a different colour to the sky.

Kelowna fires

Friends of ours rented a house for 10 days on the lake. This is their view from the opposite side of the fire.

They wrote: "just a note about our view of the devastating Kelowna fire. Around 3 yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, while sitting on the front porch, we saw a small plume of smoke over the trees across the lake. Within minutes we could see flames shooting high above the trees - very scary. With binoculars we could see emergency vehicles going back and forth and then helicopters and planes dumping water. The whole fire was an awesome but scary sight. The winds were high and it was very stormy on the lake - it was about 34 degrees out. I am forwarding a few pictures we took. We watched the news about the fire while the smoke fumes were all around us."

First there were orcas...

....then bears and now eagles. They will be auctioned off in the spring of 2010. Trista, Rueben and I went to the showing of Grand Canyon at the Imax.

Note: change of author. Trista has now hijacked the laptop from her father due to his inability to write entertaining birthday wishes to himself. So she gets to write unentertaining ones, instead.

Happy birthday to Dad, from all of us! Much love and all that jazz. And may that song now be stuck in your head. Ha!

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon

Clayton and Lauren go to camp

Clayton and his good friend Lauren left this morning for Nanoose Bay Teen Camp. It runs from July 18 - 25th and we will pick him up next Saturday in Nanoose Bay. Clayton was last there in 2007 and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Click this link.

0 - 100 in 4 seconds

Lamborghini Gallardo

I went for a ride in this car (one of our project partners owns it) and it is a blast!

On the side of an office/residential building in Vic West

It is a great sound with all of the water falling.

Quite a big water feature and nice gardens as well.

Espresso Explosion

The dame was dead. The killer behind bars. I went to the kitchen to put my feet up and congratulate myself with a nightcap... and saw that my night had only just begun. Another murder, another case. It was gruesome. Coffee grains scattered across the scene like so many golf balls across a course. Golf. What kind of sick person thinks up a sport like that? But I digress. I knew the culprit, looking down at that sad coffee pot with a smug look... or as smug as another coffee pot can look. I'd always thought it would come down to the pot and the kettle... but I guess you don't know people (or inanimate objects) as well as you think you do.

By the way, I've been watching too much CSI, and I'm tired. Insert the rest of a clever anecdote here. I was in my room. I heard a loud noise. Coffee pot go boom. See kitchen. See coffee grains all over entire kitchen.

See Mom and I sigh heavily and proceed to clean EVERYTHING.

This? Is why I drink tea.

Japan's emperor and empress leaving Government House in Victoria

We happened to be driving around in Oak Bay when we were stopped by this police officer on Rockland Avenue right in front of Government House.

The Emperor Akihito of Japan last visited Government House in 1953 en route to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. It was the first night he ever spent outside of Japan. He and his wife are in this car. The entire cavalcade of vehicles was probably 15.

Now were talking!

Shamrocks answer call, stay atop WLA

It was just like old times when the Victoria Shamrocks and Coquitlam Adanacs met last night at Bear Mountain Arena — thrills and skill, with a little bloodshed thrown in for good measure.
Article here.

Sooke

Loads of fishing boats out on the water.

We left Victoria at around 10 am heading for Port Renfrew and the Scenic "Circle Route".

Port Renfrew Harbour

It is a working harbour for commercial fishing and charters.

From Port Renfrew we headed inland towards Lake Cowichan. Up until just a few weeks ago, there was still a 5 km stretch of road that was unpaved and only navigable by SUV.

Duncan Train Station - est. 1912

We travelled through Lake Cowichan and then drove into the old part of Duncan before heading back to Victoria. It was a very nice drive which took us all told about 6 hours and we covered over 250 km.

Canoeing on Matheson Lake - Metchosin

Debra signing our waiver to participate in the mornings activities. This was a three hour beginners canoe session and was more about exploring the lake than canoe lessons. We may look into joining the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club which is very close to our house on the Gorge Waterway.

Doing circles warming up and practicing our strokes.
One our our first stops. Not only were we practicing our canoeing, but also learning about the lake and the various nature going ons.
Nice watercover. There were loads of redwinged blackbirds.
Water lilies

Another stop and the chance to eat part of the bullrush stalk which tastes like cucumber.

It was actually quite good.

Lots of submerged logs in the lake. Also known as deadheads.

This girl just never stops having fun. I had to reminder her we WERE in a canoe.

No shore really close by, which makes this picture even more interesting.