It really needs a bit of work - I like all my favourite stars to be shown at their best.....
For example, this very delicate one was purchased at the gift shop by the crypt in St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
This one I bought at the Christmas store in Rothenburg, Germany - a medieval city on the 'Romantic Road'.
And at the top, a star from China bought at the cloisonne factory near Beijing.
I really like the Cameron Island decorations. If I lived there I would decorate, too. Luckily, no one on my street puts up lights, so I don't have any guilt at all.
Every year I drive around McGirr Street. I don't think the decorations are quite as spectacular this year, but every year this house in a cul-de-sac off McGirr has the same six white boomers pulling Santa's sleigh.
This house on one of the north end streets (I was lost when I saw it) has very eclectic decorations. Something for everyone!
This snowman was at Russell's Market.
While driving around Victoria I spotted this decorated tree. Now these are perfect decorations for Christmas!
The snow came down one afternoon as big as toonies - no, much bigger....
My flowers had been trying to keep blooming until this landed.
My computer desk is in front of the window, and just outside this window I have a bird feeder and a hummingbird feeder. There was lots of action on the snowy days! This is a finch, of course.
The juncos are cute little birds. They always look clean and tidy.
Some of the finches looked anything but tidy. They were all puffed up to keep warm.
The rufous-sided towhees are my favourite visitors, but they are difficult to photograph because they are always in motion. They have a sassy character.....
The hummers were very busy feeding on the snowy days. Funny - I just realized from the picture that I don't have the perches opposite the feeding places - the poor things have to keep flying to eat!
This hummer spent time sitting on the tree on my deck. This picture doesn't show how tiny he is.
Then I went to the back of my house. On the hill behind my fence there were two deer plowing through the snow. They have a path there, but I imagine it wasn't as easy for a few days. The second one is partly behind the tree - a little buck.
It is sad, but I guess it really is winter. I shall go to Victoria tomorrow and see how many flowers I can find blooming to make me feel better.
Go and see what Rain and Dilling and Krista have done.
Here is the obligatory fishing boat picture.
I took this one because I was thinking of the nice ice cream treats we have in the summer, and we sit at these little tables on warm summer evenings. Then I liked the reflections. I am big on reflections!
There are boats and people of all kinds at the waterfront! Is he going to Protection Island or one of the boats that are anchored in the harbour?
I said I liked reflections......
This is the reflection of the Cameron Island tower.
Up at the top by the street and the Bastion is a row of roses, still showing lots of pretty blooms.
I think that I read that the old museum is closed now.
This is a WWI museum, with displays of photos and memorabelia of the battlefields and the people who fought here. As we went into the museum we were given the name of a soldier, a medical person or a citizen of the area. As we went through the museum we got a story of that person and at the end of the tour we found out if the person lived or died.
This is the main square of Ypres, rebuilt as it was before the war.
Then we drove out across the fields of Flanders to the place where our own Dr. John McCrae tended to the wounded and wrote his poem.
These are the terrible bunkers where he worked - dark, cold and damp.
Then we drove on to a cemetary of Canadians, British, Australian and other Commonwealth soldiers of WWI.
There had been many Canadian visitors recently - wreaths, poppies and flags were on the graves of the Canadians.
After dinner that evening, we went to the Menin Gate of Ypres.
Every single night since the end of World War I, except for the years of Nazi occupation in the second World War, the Last Post has been played at this gate.
It was very sad and impressive and touching.
Buttertubs was looking very nice. I don't think I have been there this late in the fall, but it looked attractive with lots of autumn leaves left.
The paths to the north and west are lined with huge old English oak trees. These are not native - they were planted in the 1920s. It was neat to walk over the paths that were golden with the oak leaves.
I am wondering if more and more of the marsh is being taken over by bullrushes. It seems to me that there are more than when I visited here on previous years.
On the east side of the marsh are lombardi poplars, also planted in the 1920s, and there are a bunch of trees that are covered with these red berries. I have no idea what they are.......
After I walked here and there, I sat down on the wide 'steps' at about the only place where there is bird access. I pulled out the baggie of bird seed and waited.
Not for long! The ducks and pigeons have one eye on this area waiting for humans with bird seed.
I took oodles of pictures of greedy birds, but in the end kept only this one.....
When all the seed was gone the fickle birds left me sitting there alone ........
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