by Marja-Leena 
Third of the English Bay series, this time of the mirror-like surface of the Second Beach Pool on the edge of the bay in Stanley Park.
A lovely aerial view of it may be seen here.
The others in the series:
English Bay: trees
English Bay: beach
English Bay: sky
by Marja-Leena
We spent a lovely weekend staying with dear friends in Victoria on Vancouver Island. It was the first time I saw their recently completed beautiful new home on the seashore. Much talking, catching up with each other’s and our families’ lives, good food and drink, walks on the beach and a huge garden, a birthday lunch, and more meant the time just flew.
I forgot to take photos but thankfully my husband took a few. My favourites are these, taken on our walk around the gardens of Government House, on a high hill overlooking the city. In the distance to the south are the waters of Juan de Fuca Strait and the Olympic Mountains of Washington State.
The extensive lands include a large woodland area with the endangered Garry Oaks, unique to southern Vancouver Island and many of the Gulf Islands, such as on Hornby where I’ve seen them. Their gnarled appearance is most noticeable this time of year without their leaves.
It was too early to see the gardens at their best but we were delighted to see many spring flowering bulbs tucked into sheltered spots throughout. I loved the masses of puffy seed-heads on this clematis. Sadly there was a lot of frost damage to some plants from the extremely cold winter we’ve had, even in this balmiest area of Canada.
by Marja-Leena 
More photos from that lovely day at English Bay….
Wishing all my readers a Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Friendship Day as celebrated in Finland.
Addendum: The other photos in this series:
English Bay: trees
English Bay: reflections
English Bay: sky
by Marja-Leena 
One lovely and warm spring-like day last week, we went out for a walk in the late afternoon along Vancouver’s famous English Bay at Stanley Park. Camera happy that day, I captured an amazing number of beautiful images (braggart!) from which I have a hard time selecting only a few, so I’ve decided to do a short series here. First are these trees against a constantly changing sky. Enjoy!
Edited later: My English readers, Barrett and Joe, have read my mind (see comments). In searching for a good link on English Bay I was disappointed to not find a word about the name. Vancouver historian Chuck Davis’ ever-growing site did not yield the answer. Finally I found this tidbit at City by Cycle:
English Bay beach, which was termed ‘Ayyulshun’ by the Indians meaning ‘soft under feet,’ was established in 1893 with a few beach shacks built there. The name ‘English Bay’ commemorates the meeting of the British Captain Vancouver and Spanish captains Valdes and Galiano, in 1792. This is the event that also resulted in Spanish Banks’ name.
I wish the city had kept the native name. And now I also know where the name of the southwest shore of English Bay, Spanish Banks, came from. That is the shore you see in the background in these photos.
Addendum: The other photos in this series:
English Bay: beach
English Bay: reflections
English Bay: sky
by Marja-Leena 
19 days of fog
few sunny periods
cold below, warm above
an air inversion* they say
fog horns, monotonal musical nights
black white and grey
moody haunting magical
inspiration for old English novels
Added Jan.25th, 2009: Listen to the fog horns in Howe Sound!
(Thanks to Chris at Bowen Island Journal)
*expired link has been removed
by Marja-Leena 
shrinking shapes of white
shifting from all white
to black-and-white
to green-and-white
by Marja-Leena 
It’s the 12th day of Christmas and Epiphany (or loppiainen, a national holiday in Finland). It’s the day we try take down the Christmas tree and decorations and I’m making a slow start on that, leaving some of it for this evening when youngest daughter is home from work.
Following another snow dump on Sunday night, today looks like the end of snow days are near. Something like an amazing-for-Vancouver 26 days of snow on the ground still didn’t match the 33 day record of 1964/65, but oh, the snow’s not going away that fast. It’s being mixed with a LOT of rain, causing flooding and problems with collapsing roofs. Husband has been shoveling the snow off our flat rooftop (thankfully most of it is sloped) and the decks, as well as the walks and driveway, heavy work indeed with our kind of snow. With this deluge now, we may have to make a quick change from snowshoes to hip waders in the coming days, one reporter quipped! Small ponds are emerging, scattered across our snow-full yard with a bird having a happy bath in one, small mercies! The buried kiddie toboggans are reappearing. It is getting so much darker indoors.
by Marja-Leena 
Janus – etching, 40 x 37.5 cm.
As I crack open new calendars, I think about January and the Roman god Janus and about looking back and looking forward. I wonder about the Finnish name for this month, Tammikuu which means oak month. The Finnish wikipedia says this (my loose translation):
“Tammikuu” is the year’s first month and midwinter in the northern hemisphere, which suggests the name for the month. In the Häme dialect “tammi” also means heart or nucleus, or alternatively navel, centre, axis. “Tammikuu” has sometimes been called heart month.
I like the notion of a month devoted to the heart and centering oneself. Certainly I’m pulling into myself a little these early January days as I contemplate and indulge over some books. I read by the windows for it’s been snowing steadily since before midnight last night – so beautiful to watch! Even with thaws alternating with night time freezing, there’s still a lot of snow on the ground, now building up again. I don’t remember having such a long continuous snowy period here, almost three weeks now. I love it but admit it’s getting a little tiring navigating it. I’m lucky to be able to stay home if I wish though I did get up to the library and the food store yesterday. This long spell of winter whiteness may be coming to an end with temperatures about to climb and rain about to pour, creating flooded streets and darker days. I have mixed feelings about returning to normal life.
Instead of putting up another snow photo, I thought it appropriate to re-post (from here) an old etching of mine which happens to be called Janus. Hope you enjoy it.
by Marja-Leena 
yesterday: rain, melting snow, flooded streets
this morning, sunshine; this afternoon, more rain?
heavy clumps of snow falling off trees and roof edges
still deep white yards, snowbanks, tracks on roads
tilting snowmen, carrot noses pointed to sky
broken tree branches, twisted half-buried shrubs
I stay home and enjoy the light and beauty
by Marja-Leena 
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
The words to the carol “Good King Wenceslas” were written by John Mason Neale and published in 1853, the music originates in Finland 300 years earlier. This Christmas carol is unusual as there is no reference in the lyrics to the nativity. Good King Wenceslas was the king of Bohemia in the 10th century. Good King Wenceslas was a Catholic and was martyred following his assassination by his brother Boleslaw and his supporters, his Saint’s Day is September 28th, and he is the Patron Saint of the Czech Republic. St. Stephen’s feast day was celebrated on 26th December which is why this song is sung as a Christmas carol. (From carols.org.uk)
A sunny bright, Christmas Day morning was followed by a cloudy, warmer afternoon with some thawing of our huge layers of snow. Today is Boxing Day as we call it in Canada, and Tapanipäivä in Finland, and it is snowing AGAIN! This inspired our girls (daughters and granddaughters) to sing this carol this morning before Anita and Richard departed for their long drive home.
For all of us this Christmas, Anita had made gorgeous booklets of Christmas carols, with snippets of information about them along with photos of her nieces and winter scenes from around her home near Kamloops. So it was that I learned that the music for this carol originated in Finland 300 years earlier! I could not find the composer’s name through a web search.
Happy Feast of Stephen to all of you! I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas or other feast and continue to bask in the warmth of the holidays! We have lots of delicious leftovers to feast on for days, with turkey soup and ham and pea soup to follow in the days ahead.
Related:
Boxing Day 2007
Boxing Day 2006
Boxing Day 2005
(Photos taken in our backyard on Christmas Eve day.)