Thank You TCM

For unearthing and sharing this lovely time capsule: travel bumf for Victoria and Vancouver from 1936 -- almost 75 years ago!!

Mother-daughter day

Last night, we tried to highlight Kiddo's hair with Kool-Aid™ homebrew dye; unfortunately, her hair is a bit too dark so there was very little effect. You can see some red highlights in the sunshine but only if you are looking for them. Oh well. Next time: henna rinse.

This morning, we finished the zine! Bümfmag, issue 1 is now available -- I will be shipping out the giveaway issues Monday. There's still a couple more spaces if you want to get a freebie, otherwise the zine is for sale on Etsy:

Best thing? Kiddo is already planning what goes in issue #2.

Around noon, we went to the museum, in part to see the visiting exhibit from the British Museum. Unlike other visiting exhibits, this one does not seem to be drawing the crowds. The tickets were supposed to be timed but there was no lineup and no crowd. In fact, only the IMAX seemed slightly busy today. The exhibit itself was interesting -- a few key pieces especially so -- but I think it lacked the focus that others have brought (e.g. Titanic, Da Vinci).

After the museum, we met my Mom and my Mother in Law at the Gatsby Mansion for Afternoon Tea. Not bad, but not fantastic either -- great location, nice to not be rushed, but the food was just acceptable. The search continues for the best tea in Victoria; apparently, I am picky about afternoon tea.

All in all a lovely day

The day started well; hubby randomly made crepes and filled them with fresh peaches and cherries. YUM!

After breakfast my Mom, Kiddo and I went out to Glendale Gardens for the Art & Music in the Gardens event. I was impressed with the size and scope of the gardens (definitely worth another visit) and really enjoyed the range of art. I even bought a mosaic stepping stone; it was only $35 which I decided was a bargain for the amount of fiddling it would take me to do the same thing. It's by Bruce Kellow and Kelly Zozula (well that's the name of the displaying artists; Kelly told me her daughter actually did the one I bought). Kiddo also got some photos of Bruce at work.

After the gardens, we picked up Hubby and went to the White Heather tea room; his Mom also met us there. Aside from losing our reservation (they cancelled the wrong one!!) the tea was very tasty -- a proper afternoon tea with scones, sandwiches and sweets plus pots of tea all around.

After all that, I managed to accomplish a whole lot this evening: sorting, rearranging and tidying the many, many stacks of boxes and other stuff in the basement office. I think it is a much more useable space now.

Seeing new things in the city

I completely forgot to mention what we did last weekend -- we popped out to Sidney to check out the new Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre. It is very much what we've been missing in the region: a decent ocean-themed attraction, well-designed and executed. Kiddo loved it. There's a review on the Victoria Guide if you want to see more.

This weekend, we will be checking out two new things (new to us, anyway) the plan is to tour Glendale Gardens (they have the Art & Music in the Gardens event this weekend) and have afternoon tea at White Heather in Oak Bay for my Mom's birthday. Both will be part of larger articles on the region's gardens and tea rooms, respectively.

And speaking of articles, the deadline to vote in the Win OTTO contest is quickly approaching (if you missed it, I have a story in the running) -- the voting closes at 5 pm Pacific time Friday August 7th.

Social time, family time, and some accomplishments.

I have no idea how I coaxed what seemed like an extra day out of the weekend, but I managed to crowd in a lot of stuff.

I knocked another item off the Big List o' Unfinished projects by installing (with hubby's help) and configuring e-commerce on one of our Drupal sites (the store is live but not quite ready for promotion yet... ) plus I bound another dozen Coffee Haiku minibooks (and prepped the remaining 15). Plus I tidied up a few things, including, with help again, putting away the remaining Christmas decorations.

We also took time to go to the RBC Museum yesterday (they are having an "admission by donation" promotion that runs until the 9th) and to the Sidney Museum and Mineral World/Scratch Patch today. Both outings afforded plenty of opportunity to test the new cameras.

I really feel like I got lots done this weekend which, while rare, is a great way to kick off the new year.

Recap....

1. Butchart Gardens is still an underwhelming experience. The weirdest thing was that the grounds were eerily sterile; I saw almost no insects... no butterflies... no bees... very weird. I did get plenty of photos, but I stand by my review that it just isn't worth the long drive and the high entrance cost. Visitors can see just as much by going to other gardens in town (I'd start by recommending the Abkhazi gardens and the Government House grounds.)

2. Stardust is thoroughly entertaining. I recommend seeing it on the big screen.

3. Another one of my photos has been chosen for the UVic homepage this week. (This isn't quite as prestigious as it sounds... the photo is thumbnail sized at the bottom of the page... you have to scroll to see it. Still... I am pleased about it.)

... see, down there in the lower right...



... here's the photo...

The things you learn....

You know, I've never actually been to Bamberton. Friends of ours regularly camp there and kiddo is headed there for a field trip tomorrow, so I was checking it out. In the course of reading about the park and the programs and everything else, I stumbled on the fact that you can purchase an anual parking pass for unlimited day parking at 40 BC parks. Coolness.

Basically, if you plan to make more than 8 day trips in a year (one year from date of purchase), it's worth buying a pass for $25. Naturally, I added the tip to FrugalVictoria, in time for summer family getaways. I expect to buy and make use of one this year; I'll let you know how it works out.

Move Over, Undersea Gardens....

... Oceanic Discovery wants in. From their front page:

SeaScaping is a Victoria, B.C. company formed by a consortium of locally owned companies that want to bring a bit of the tourism flair and excellence to aquatic developments in whatever shape and form they may be in. With focus on conveying conservation messages in a dynamic exciting "edventure" for all targetted guests visiting these structures.

Our lead project is Oceanic Discovery Center, an unique aquarium/event center designed for downtown Victoria, B.C. This structure will revitalize the tourism industry and rejuvenate the City as a leader tourist attraction as it once was.

What? Where did this come from? After ignoring the bad grammar in that press release/bumf, it looks like these people are trying to promote waterworld on land. Lemme tell ya what this reminds me of... years ago, we did a play for the Fringe Festival. It was about politics, and featured plans for "LawnLand: a complete lawn activity centre" with indoor lawn bowling, lawn darts, putting greens, picnic area, and so on. The only differences I can see here is that we chose "lawn" over "ocean" and we were kidding.

There's a poll over there... I encourage y'all to take it.

Hoarding, Headache, Happenstance, Horror, and Hometown.

Went out shopping this morning -- did the Langford thing: Glenwood Meats (I cannot say enough good things about the service and the high quality of meats here), Costco (big boxes, big portions, big billlz), Market on Millstream/Michaels, and Harveys Burgers in the Home Depot for lunch. Mmmmm

Problem was, even before getting home, I had a headache. It just kept getting worse... and making me grouchy. I tried napping but I wasn't tired -- just miserable.

After dinner, I curled up in bed** and discovered to my amusement that AMC was running the Independent Spirit Awards (yay!). I'm pretty sure some of the winners were wearing sneakers -- one was wearing jeans under a swanky dress -- and where else could you hear Minnie Driver singing "I blew a giant frog to smithereens; I've got his golden key" to the tune of Brand New Key?

After the Spirit Awards wrapped, the next movie happened to be The Exorcist -- which I've never seen but am watching now; on the heels of having watched Child's Play (another iconic horror film not previously seen) last night. I'm watching the Exorcist while at my computer and with all the lights on -- and this is the way I watch most horror movies, otherwise I get sucked into the tension just a bit too easily... and I have to say, the effects at the end of Child's Play were lots of fun... the Exorcist a whole lot more creepy and I'm not even at the halfway mark.

Of course, since they are playing on AMC, there are also frequent (really frequent), repetitive interruptions -- including far too many repititions featuring Andrew W. Marlowe, writer of some serious Box Office crapola -- which lessens the tension greatly.

***

Later in the week, I am looking forward to taking in the 35th annual Be A Tourist in Your Own Hometown event... I've been to this event many, many times... it's changed a lot over the years and I stopped going at some point but now I have my own kid to take, it is more appealing.


**p.s. A big thanks to hubby for letting me curl up and hide when I needed it.
:)

Maritime Detour

Among the many levees out there today, there was an ad for a levee at the Maritime Museum of BC -- with free admission to the museum. After going out for dim sum this morning, we all headed over to check it out. I was expecting a long line, but not only was there no lineup, there was also ample nearby parking!

For the 6 of us to normally go in to the museum, it would have cost $34 (kids under 6 are free, apparently), so I haven't gone in for years and years; kiddo and hubby had never been. Needless to say, the displays have seen some upgrades in the past dozen years or so, and I was most impressed by the small ship deck for kids to explore -- including a telescope, cannon, and rigging going up to a crowsnest with a pirate flag. There's plenty crammed into the two floors of displays; early exploration, naval history, BC Ferries, steamship and cruiseship travel, yachting, and marine safety. There's a whole room devoted to model making, too.

Even the gift shop proved to be amusing with a wide array of pirate-themed goods and a sizeable book selection.

The building itself is a heritage site; it was originally the courthouse for the city and the courtroom is still in tact on the third floor. Years ago, one of my janitorial jobs was to clean the museum, which meant I got to run the birdcage elevator -- the longest continuously running elevator in North America. I declined to ride in it today, taking the stairs instead.
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