Maybe spring?

The days are getting warmer and longer.  Blossoms abound.  Looking like spring is on the way here in Victoria and there's no place more beautiful at this time of year.  

The herons have been arriving for the last few weeks and are busily nesting in the park across the street.  They don't usually all fly around in a flock like this but, a couple of times lately they have suddenly all taken to the air at once and fly around for a couple of minutes before settling down again.  Sometimes they do this when there is a predator around, like an eagle but this hasn't been the case. 

Garry oaks are found on the west coast of North America from California to British Columbia and they flourish here on southern Vancouver Island.  I love their shapes before they get their summer leaf growth.

 

Keeping you Posted

Hello again.  It's been a while since I've blogged with you.  Not nearly so much to blog about as there is in Mexico.  Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.  In any case, despite what seems to me to be an increasing wacky world, life is uneventful here.  Covid cases are relatively few, restaurants are open, some museums so I continue to have a social life albeit modified.  I'm not adjusting well to winter and the cold but resigned to it for this year. 

My little pepper pepper plantation thinks it's spring.

More lemon drop peppers coming on (aji lemon)

 

To the chagrin of many Victorian grinches, people without homes continue to camp in the parks.  As with most cities, Covid saw the closure of homeless shelters in Victoria but, to their credit, our city government has supported camping in parks while undertaking frantic measures to find homes for people.  With the recent winter storms, this takes on particular urgency

An unusual sight in Victoria.  An arctic outflow met warm Pacific air and we got dumped on as a result.  With the wind chill, it was down to -15C.  Not a good time to be without a home. 

A whimsical display of rock art in the neighbourhood

 

 

 

I guess you could say the Mary Barker really rocks.

 Off into the sunset

A New Year

 Normally I would be happily ensconced in my digs in Mexico City right about now but these are not normal times so I'm making do here in Victoria.  There are worse places to ride out a pandemic.  These are a bunch of random photos from my perambulations. 

A hike up Mt Douglas on a lovely winter day.

 

What would a post be without a pepper plantation update.  Hard to believe I'm still getting little peppers from one of the plants.  

 

There was a photo of this in an earlier post and here it was again.  I just learned that it's a new business, "Canada's First Hot Tub on the Water" Hot Tub Boat Canada.  Built in the Netherlands, it's full of fresh water kept hot by a little stove.

The garden looking sad in the snow.  However, I'm harvesting delicious carrots!

Across the street in Beacon Hill Park there are some blossoms.  A hopeful sign.

There is a huge variety of trees in the park.  This is a rather unusual one. 

Looks like the pot of gold missed the Parliament Buildings again.

Coopers Hawk - urbanized wildlife

The sun rises on another year.  I don't know about you but so far, I'm not impressed with 2021.  I suppose time will tell. 

The Pepper Pages

 In my last post I mentioned my little habañero pepper plantation in my bedroom.  For some reason they seem to thrive in this unlikely north facing outlook.  It's bright in the windows though with reflected light from the building across the way.  

This one that I thought was a chocolate habañero is looking like a regular orange one except for the strange appendages.  The few peppers on this one plant are assuming strange and diverse shapes. 

A red habañero to be........I hope

Some redness emerging

And a few weeks later, fully reddened

 

The little aji lemon (lemon drop) gave me some nice peppers and is now resting.

 Autumn leaves

 

 

The ever changing landscape outside my window  

 

 

 

 

Veggies and Pepper porn

Much of the outdoor garden reached the end of it's life and was hauled away last weekend: the basil, the zucchini (after popping out one last nice big fruit) and patti pan, artichoke whacked right down to the ground, cilantro and beans all pulled out.  There are still some tomatillos ripening and I continue to have hopes that the peppers will ripen a bit more. 

jalapeños on the way

A green and a ripe cherry bomb pepper

Two more poblanos on the way

This year, since I'm going to be around, I planted some winter crops: 

Winter cauliflower

carrots, purple sprouting broccoli

Brussels sprouts just forming there where the stalks branch off from the stem - exciting!

spinach and scallions

 

chard

 This is an aji limon, lemon drop pepper.  A new one to me.

 Popular in Peru, it's a hot pepper with a lemony flavour  It's a little plant and was just in the process of fruiting in the garden but as it's getting late in the season I thought I'd bring it indoors and see how it does joining the pepper plantation in my apartment.  I used one of those little peppers in my dinner tonight and they definitely pack a punch and have a nice citrus flavour.  I'll be saving the seeds!

A new red habañero forming

 

Leek blossom