Luminara 2008

Have you ever wanted an excuse to put on a costume or a mask or even just some sparkly make-up and walk through a park on a magical evening? Where children can become faeries or unicorns or ladybugs and adults can become their favourite medieval character or an imaginary creature from some other world....all the while you are transported to an etherial glowing woodland with ponds and trees and floating globes and glowing figures....the Luminara Lantern Festival held in Victoria once a year in July is such an evening!

This year I took up the opportunity and donned my green elvish-looking cape, gilded with golden stars and hood, made up my eyes with green, blue and pink sparkles and even splashed a few purple streaks in my hair to enjoy Luminara a little more.

The evening was full of colourful characters, fantastic entertainment, and wonderful creative lanterns both on the grounds of St. Anne's Academy and all over Beacon Hill Park.

Here are just a few interesting shots from the evening.

If you would like to see ALL my photos....

go to my Facebook Luminara Album

(even if you are not on Facebook)

July Fun - Moss Street, Beacon Hill, Camp Friends

This past week has been a full one! 

I met my Mom and some friends at the Moss Street Market and Paint In on Saturday, then again in Sunday afternoon at Beacon Hill Park to watch and listen to some Hawaiian dancers and musicians (and to run around having fun with my dog, Sophie!), then Mom and I drove up to Nanoose Bay Teen Camp for Monday afternoon to visit friends and check out what was happening so far.

Here are a few photos from the past few days.

Jamie and Liam playing before heading to the Moss Street Market

Painting by donation to help...Africa something or other....

At the Moss Street Paint In... 

watching some artists demonstrate their talent.

The next few photos are of a few artists and their work that caught my eye.....

There were many young artists showing a more cartoon, or comic book style of art....I liked this one a lot!

This artist displayed some of his art in his fancy old Mercedes.

Everyone knows I like fish!

Awesome 3D wall art...neat houses, the artists was making one on the street.

This fellow hand-painted cards with scenes from around Oak Bay. Lovely!

A potter at work making small wavy bowls, you cans see some finished ones below.

Crazy characters!!

I am a sucker for the bright and interesting!

This guy cornered the market on 'guy art' - hockey stars, baseball players and all sorts of cool man-type art. Even his business cards were hockey cards...you can see them in the front right.

Then a lovely afternoon in Beacon Hill Park.

Jamie and Liam quickly found out Sophie likes to run...and that she's easy to run with!

I love this one..."Sit!"

After a beautiful drive upisland to Nanoose, we ran into some old friends...here is pretty little Ava.

Ethan... hungrily waiting for supper.

And Isaac, being silly and trying to make funny faces for the camera.

I'm sure I'll have more July photos to come as more friends come into town. Thanks for reading and browsing through my blog!! I always appreciate comments!

Amazing Vacation!

I am finally back to work after an amazing whirlwind of a vacation with my dear cousin Katie, who flew in to have a bit of a getaway.

We stated by hitting all to great spots around Victoria for some fun touristy shopping and sightseeing: Inner Harbour an

d downtown, where we bought neat jewelry and new shoes, Chinatown, where Katie picked up some unique items, Whale Watching, where we saw a few porpoise and several killer whales, Canada Day Fireworks and c

razy mayhem downtown Victoria ("Darn you Birds!") and much more!

We then took a bit of a road trip up to Tofino for 2 nights of camping and fun. We set up camp and strolled the beach, poking at weird sea creatures, had a lovely cozy campfire and marveled at the LOUD rain that poured down the second we were tucked into bed.

We experienced another awesome whale watching trip in Tofino where we saw a Harbour Seal rookery, some Stellar Sea Lions, Sea Otters, Bald Eagles, two grey whales and a spectacular show from a rare group of Transient Orcas (you know, the black and white ones?), they kind that eat seals! 

After t

he trip back to Victoria, we then headed over to Langley to visit with my sister, Angie and her husban

d Tom. We lounged, played Guitar Hero on their HUGE screen, visited some other friends and relatives and came home, Angie in tow.

Over the last few days of our holiday, Angie, Katie and I explored the Beacon Hill Petting Zoo, ate some yummy ice cream, walked

 the Breakwater and once more strolled downtown.

On our last day, my mom joined us for a splendid Afternoon Tea at the White Heather Tea Room and a drive around scenic Victoria.

I was so very sad to see Katie leave, but we had such a wonderful time together with so many great memories to cherish!

I managed to snap almost 600 photos while Katie was here, but I won't post them all, don't worry! For an excellent sampling of all the BEST ones, click on the links below....you can see them even if you are not a part of Facebook. (Don't miss the awesome and utterly unreal whale watching photos!)

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

Thanks for being my vacation partner, Katie! I'll miss ya!