Spring Continues

 After a week of unseasonably warm and windless days in April that lulled us into a false sense of impending summer, reality reasserted itself and the typical cool, windy and ever-changing spring weather is here.  Nevertheless, everywhere you go, everything is blooming. 

Some new members of the pepper plantation family

The aji lemon continues to flower

And produce fruit

Meanwhile, the red habañero is starting to fruit

And the orange habañero is fruiting as well

An elaborately decorated stick found at the beach

Spring for sure

 Yes, it truly is spring and there's no prettier place to be than Victoria in the spring.  

It's spring in the indoor pepper plantation too.

New fruit on the aji lemon (lemon drop pepper)

And more habañeros

Another quirky neighbourhood "attraction" is what I call the Barbie yard.  The first time I saw it, it was predominantly "adapted" Barbie figures but has now morphed into a  strange conglomeration of doll parts.

 

I'd love to meet the creator of this little display some time.  I think......
 

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.