b.c., canada (part 32: i arrived at 32 by doubling the original number and then adding thirty)

this was taken as we left the harbor for victoria.

super cooper on the deck

gary, ellie, ains, and becks on the ferry

gary and becks at the woody woodland show
coop and ains with their umbrellas in the gardens
on the path in the gardens

coop and ains in the sunken garden
the walls at butchart gardens
ains and i with the "ladies dancing"

to convert american measurement into canadian (or metric, as they like to call it) you take the number, double it, and add thirty.

yesterday morning we got up early, 8am, and headed to the border to catch a ferry for vancouver island. we crossed the border into canada without so much as an "eh," and waited in line at the ferry terminal for two hours as visions of the titantic disaster danced in my head. it was ridiculously windy and logically speaking the 11am ferry should have been cancelled. much to my dismay it left a mere 30 minutes late. we found a quiet spot near a television playing weird cartoons and enjoyed 90 minutes of lurching and bouncing, only to find the lovely town of victoria to be the wettest place on earth (not including the olympic peninsula - also located in the pacific northwest). we got situated at the condo and spent a few minutes checking out the empress hotel. it is an amazing building, covered in ivy and wreaking of old money and even older british columbians.

we headed back towards the harbor to see the lights at butchart gardens, a place gary and ellie had heard about. next to a sign that read, "the american dollar is worth $.98," was a sign that read, "adults-$20." it seemed a little steep for a garden tour, especially since it was cold and rainy, but we parked the car and headed inside. and it was worth every penny. not my penny, but that is not the point. the gardens were created by a woman whose husband had built their home on the site of his limestone quarry. after he had cleared it, she transformed the grounds into the most impressive, lush, fragrant gardens imaginable. actually, i could not have even imagined it. it was totally decked out for the holidays. fresh garland was wrapped around the rails and lights were securely fastened to every living thing. over 55 acres of land covered with trees, ponds equipped with beautiful fountains, a japanese garden, a sunken garden, a rose garden, an old 1920s tennis court covered in ivy and blossoms, and a handful of beautiful old buildings sat perched around a sprawling home built in the early 1900s. each of the "days" from the "12 days of christmas" was featured throughout the gardens and at the end of the trail a brass band played christmas songs. we requested "santa claus is coming to town," and they obliged us. an extremely old man, stage name "woody woodland," told funny stories and played christmas songs on a recorder for all the kids. it was a very magical evening. the kids were great; the company was great; and i cannot even describe the overwhelmingly lovely smell of pine that accompanied us throughout the gardens. my heart was sad only for a minute when the kids and i sat and listened to the brass band play "oh, holy night." it was such a "connie" moment. she would have loved the lights and the smell and the music. it was the perfect evening.