Travelling in winter

( blogger light box sometimes doesn't work when clicking on photos so you must go back after click)

winter crossing though the gulf island in the strait of Georgia from Victoria to Vancouver on the mainland

Next to Vancouver Island my next favourite place just happens to be where my brother lives in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, between the two lakes, embraced by the mountains and the meeting place of the winds.
They actually enjoy winter there and it was lovely to get away from the damp fog of the west coast with it's rainy storms and head into the interior of BC where they have fog too in winter (because of the lakes) but it is a frosty fog!!

morning fog lamp

and so we headed off on a misty morning to the mountains close by, passing fields and sleeping orchards, cows and horses grazing as the sun shone through the fog illuminating the landscape,  and onward, down graceful roads until

we come to The red bridge
and finally we see snow!!!

Kato's spirit runs free here through the trees
and along the creek

Apex Mountain!!!
but  no fresh snowfall as it has been warm this winter.  The lodge is a great place to have lunch and a pint. As you watch the skiers and snowboarders in graceful glide down the course it has a zen feeling of peace through motion.

The beautiful ice skating path

I post processed this photo to look like an illustration from a fairy tale but it looked like that anyway!!

An afternoon at Fort Rodd Hill

which way to the Java Sea?

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  Oh very young by Cat Stevens (Jusuf Islam)

This is a beautiful song by Cat Stevens and as I watched the girls explore every nook and cranny, the tunnels and the hills with such enthusiasm I remembered what it was like when everything was an adventure.  Then we become older and bogged down with the mundane, the cares of struggling to keep an identity in a technological age and in the burdens of our own self importance, forgetting who we once were - pure beings dancing through the music of our encounters..  I may not  be able to run up the hill with quite as much wild abandon but I pray I haven't been so tamed that my mind has not lost the wonder of reaching the summit in triumphant wave of the deed to those below..

So "very young" thank you for letting us dance awhile with you through this historic landmark of Fort Rodd!!

Fort Rodd was established in 1896 as part of the Esquimalt Naval Base located at the mouth of Esquimalt harbour.  The Fisgard Lighthouse had been already standing since 1860 and it became the beacon for the Royal Navy as well as many a sailing ship in it's day.
The west coast of Vancouver Island had treacherous rocks and tides and many ships went down in what was known to sailors of the day  as "the graveyard of the Pacific."  A book was written about it by local author and former cable station operator,  the late R.B. Scott called "Breakers Ahead."
In World War II it was active as one of the armed look out stations (also at Macaulay Point) in case of a Japanese attack. 

Gateway to the grounds

The grounds are beautiful with the Olympic mountains across the strait and lots of wildlife in the surrounding woodlands and lagoons

                                                                                  dancing at the lagoon

is it loaded?

Life in the old fort
activated recordings tell us the stories of those who lived here

Infinity lies beyond but how to get there!!?
Old tunnels and magazines with rows of disarmed artillery shells lie under the hill
and wonderful hide and seek

The lighthouse inside is cosy with lots of charts lying around and a tea kettle on the old wood stove as though the lighthouse keeper just stepped out to check the wind vane. Here I got an interesting effect through the window with a ghostly reflection of the opposite coastline.

ghosties and ghouliesand those who find entering and exiting by windows infinitely more interesting than by ordinary doors

It is said that the Lighthouse and grounds are haunted and paranormal investigations are carried out here by local ghost hunters.


who goes at the darkened window!!?

Esquimalt Lagoon Beach next to Fort Rodd 

Happy New Year from the Butchart Gardens!!   Victoria BC

One of the most beautiful gardens in the world and an absolute delight at Christmas, ablaze with lights and full of fanciful magic.  (12 Days of Christmas).


For more of the light fantastic click on link or the photo

http://dreamshadowexcursions.blogspot.ca/2013/12/happy-new-year.html