Malaspina Galleries 4
Still more rocks by the Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola Island, these adorned by the many colours of lichen.
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by Marja-Leena by Marja-Leena a silver quarter
I give you a brief break from Gabriola rocks to tell you about curiosity and an unusual looking Canadian silver quarter which I found in the pile of change on husband’s dresser. On one side it has three figures that look like native petroglyphs, dated February 1999 Fevrier… and you know my love of petroglyphs.
Wikipedia tells me it is one of the Millenium quarters. This one is designed by Lonnie Springer and called ‘Etched in Stone”. No image was given there but I found one here and have borrowed it above. (My scan was lousy.)
This supposed-to-be-just-a-quick search then sent me looking into my archives for my posts about Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in Alberta where we’d seen a few petroglyphs similar to these on the coin. I still want to go back there and see the others we missed!
See how I can get distracted and “waste time”? Not this time, I say, for I love these sudden little finds and connections, and how I’m reminded again about looking very closely even at supposedly ordinary coins. No, I’m not a coin collector though I’ve occasionally saved the odd special one, now including this one.
Back to spring cleaning – company’s coming!
by Marja-Leena Malaspina Galleries 3
Some exciting-to-me details of the rocks near the Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola. Did I mention that I shot hundreds of photos on this island, mostly of rocks? Such a rich abundance of Nature’s amazing creations….
by Marja-Leena Malaspina Galleries 2
As we move further out to the point away from the most striking ‘wave’ rocks of the Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola Island, we continue to see and admire amazing formations and textures and colours. Nature’s art work worthy of belonging in a gallery….
by Marja-Leena Gabriola’s Malaspina Galleries
(photo by FVR)
(photo by FVR)
(photo by FVR)
As mentioned in my last post, we recently visited Gabriola Island and its noteworthy limestone formations called the Malaspina Galleries. We were told that they have eroded a great deal, to the point that they are very dangerous to stand under. The ledge under ‘the wave’ is very narrow with a dangerous drop to the sea. With my fear of such, I’m glad my braver husband went closer for some nice shots with the SLR camera.
Our photos cannot compare to some incredible ones of them that I’ve seen here and there (search if you like) by more professional photographers who have taken the time to wait for the best light and tidal conditions. Also, somehow I’d expected them to be much larger. We continued to enjoy a wander out to the point and the other side, capturing many more fascinating images of unusually weathered rocks, so watch for more photos to come.
by Marja-Leena island getaway
As some readers may have suspected, we’ve been away on a week’s getaway to a couple of islands. The day after our disastrous federal election, we took a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, then a small ferry over to nearby Gabriola, one of the Gulf Islands. This was our first visit to this island, one that has been on my wish list for some time because of its noted rock formations and petroglyphs. We stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast for three nights and were lucky with perfect weather in which to explore and take numerous photos.
I’ll write more later, including about the rest of our trip on Vancouver Island itself. We made it home Monday evening, happy and pleasantly tired. Amazing how much there is back home to catch up on, I could just turn around and go back to the lazy life on ‘island time’. With hundreds of photos to still sort to post here and many blogs to catch up on, I will just leave a couple of scenic shots here to say I’m home.
by Marja-Leena orchids, art, election results
Ah, what a busy and lovely weekend we’ve had here. Our eldest daughter arrived Friday evening for a visit from the interior of BC. We’d last seen her at Christmas which we’d spent with her and her partner. For a change our weather was glorious, sunny and warm most of the weekend and thank goodness for that, as today it’s back to more cold and ‘liquid sunshine’ as we say in these parts!
Anita treated us to a visit on Saturday to the wonderful Queen Elizabeth Park gardens. Of course, the gardens are at their spring best with flowering magnolias, cherry trees, tulips, daffodils, heavenly scented hyacinths and many spring flowering perennials. We toured the smaller quarry gardens in the morning, then went into the Bloedel Conservatory with its tropical plants and trees, a waterfall and birds galore and the featured Orchid Show. Wonderful display and information, just wish I had the room to grow more of them but hopefully I will now take better care of the ones I do have.
Time for a break – a tasty lunch in the restaurant (you can see a corner of it in the second photo above). Then another stroll (who can walk fast here?), this time around the even more stunning larger quarry gardens. There is always at least one wedding party having photos taken here but this time there was actually a small intimate wedding being performed in a quiet area.
Unfortunately I forgot to recharge our camera batteries and ran out of juice in the middle of the orchids! Anita and Erika made up for it with their cameras, so I hope they will blog some of their photos. The above photo showing the conservatory on top of the hill is one of Anita’s. Thanks for a fantastic day, Anita!
Sunday had us out on a little tour of my very much more modest garden, selecting divisions of a few perennial flowers for her to take home to add to her still-developing garden.
After Anita left in the afternoon, we went to Roger Fidler’s exhibition opening at the Havana Gallery. Though I’ve seen about half of the works before, it was wonderful to see them with his unfamiliar-to-me works, attractively framed and hung around the room. The first piece that caught my eye as we entered was a photo collage of the gardens in the Bloedel Conservatory! Of course, all the work was new and very interesting for my husband. Congratulations, Roger!
This evening will be an anxious time for us as we await results of our federal election in front of the news reports. We hope a great number of voters are making their voices heard today. Polls close at 7 pm and the numbers from the east start coming in, moving across the country to the west, until all BC’s final poll counts come in. It’s predicted to be a nail biter!
by Marja-Leena pond reflections
While organizing this year’s photos into albums, I came across these almost forgotten images which instantly transported me to that delightful discovery of a wonderful walk around the creeks and ponds of a local public golf course. A rare and brilliantly sunny day in early March with the warmth on our backs and feasts for our eyes. No golfers and flying golfballs to worry about, just the quiet shared with a few other walkers, groundskeepers and ducks.
by Marja-Leena Easter, Earth, Elections
Today is Good Friday, Earth Day and the first of several Advance Voting Days for our Canadian national elections on May 2nd.
Husband was visiting his sister on Vancouver Island for a couple of days this week (by bike, Canada Line, bus and ferry of course). It was timely for him – being in Green Party leader Elizabeth May‘s riding, he was able to join his sister in attending a lively all-candidate’s meeting one evening. May is a most amazing, intelligent and energetic woman, many heads above the other party leaders and the incumbent there. We fervently hope this time she wins a much-needed seat in Ottawa! Unfortunately, in our own riding, with our unfair first-past-the-post electoral system, we are having to vote strategically instead of with our hearts in order to try to keep out Harper! I don’t think I’ve ever felt this anxious and worried about an election before.
It’s a lovely sunny day so we are going for a walk then will putter around outdoors, enjoying it while it lasts, for Easter Sunday may be rainy. No Easter egg hunts in the garden this year without our granddaughters. Daughter Erika was happy to have had an advance one with them when she was visiting them in England recently, accompanied by a visiting wild bunny rabbit in the garden!
Have a happy long Easter weekend! Hauskaa Pääsiästä!
by Marja-Leena a little ennui
May I blame our cold, wet late spring for a little blog and personal ennui? I have many things I’ve wished to write but haven’t felt the energy. The recent sunnier days have given me incentive to get outdoors to make a tiny dent into the always daunting list of spring garden jobs but to the neglect of this blog. Photos are a copout in those times so here are a few shots taken over a week ago, on a cloudy but dry day. It feels good to add some colour to these pages. The pale pink is the first of my several camellia shrubs to bloom, usually in January, but this year about two months late and now leaving a carpet beneath. Then comes the white (also finishing), the medium pink is opening, and last is the red, yet to come.
Well, sunshine beckons me outdoors, I need some colour on my cheeks too! I hope for an easing of the cold winds coming off the snow topped mountains which have been continuing to get more snow and even reopened for spring skiing. It is the week leading up to Easter, also late this year. May yours be sunny, warm and bright.