...bird pause...

A trip to the city...photos in the hometown. (part 1)

I went into Victoria today specifically to take pictures of a few of my favorite old derelict buildings. They have sat empty for over 40 years or more and have had quite the history...

This is one of two twin buildings which housed the Northern Junk Company...they were a company which dealt with international ocean shipping and I believe the buildings were built in 1864.

A developer has recently purchased them and although he is very limited to what he can do to them, (they are designated heritage buildings) I wanted to photograph them 'as is'.

 

 

Seems like there weren't much in the way of building codes back then and everything is hodgepodge with brick, sandstone and jumbles of rock and cement pieced together...

Time has allowed wonderful hanging gardens of ferns, sedum and moss of all kinds to flourish here...

 

Then it was over to the Janion building which has been empty and boarded up for over 50 years. This has always been a gem to me.

It was built in 1891 as a Canadian Pacific Railway Hotel.

She was grand in her day...

...with cast iron pillars...

...hitching rings still stand waiting...

Now she sits and the sandstone washes away. The back has been a hangout for druggies and drunkards for years but they leave behind bits of beauty as well...

...perhaps even a Cinderella or two.

So for now I will see which way these old relics will go and hope that one day someone will enjoy their beauty in new ways.

Song for Friday....the kiddies might like this one...

I was never really much of a Bruce Springsteen fan but chummed around with someone who was a FANATICAL FAN. There were the stories about the 3 hour performances and how Bruce would practically melt down into a pool of sweat by the time he was done his show. This was probably 30 years ago when he was much younger, of course, but I've heard that his shows are still pretty amazing. I have a few favorites that I like to hear once in a while but none of his songs caught me like this one. It is a mellow and somewhat off the track of the blue collar worker anthems he is famous for and it has stuck with me since the first time I heard it. The song came off of his second album in 1973, 'The wild, the innocent and the E Street shuffle' (a great title as well). I always had visions of what this song would 'look' like but I've never been able to find anything to reflect the feel of the song....so computer to the rescue! After reading 'Water for Elephants', I became enthralled and pulled in by vintage circus photos and decided to put my own vision to the words...Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...may I draw your attention to the centre ring...sit back and enjoy...Wild Billy's Circus Story!

Introducing...Rueben.

Three years ago, on a Thursday, I went into the city to have lunch with Irma. She says to me at one point.."I saw some really cute kittens in the vet's window." We had just lost our ginger cat, Paddyo a month before and she thought it would be good for us to get another one. I said "O.K but just to LOOK at.." Yeah right. Next thing you know I'm driving the 45 minute ride home with this....

That same night we had the most fearful, wicked hurricane that we've ever had here and guess who decided to sleep all alone upstairs? Yup...Rueben. I realized later that his namesake (after the boxer Rueben Carter) fit perfectley because not only was he ballsy, but Rueben Carter's nickname was....the Hurricane... Anyway I thought I would show a portrait of Rueben and his many moods.

He loves the fire...

He loves his basket..

He loves Griffin and  thinks he's Griffins little brother...

He sleeps in very strange positions...this one is the 'ready for anything' pose. Notice the hind feet on spring mode...

This one is the feline question mark yoga pose....

Stealing Griffins bone.

Here is the 'melt into the couch' pose...

Rueben goes by many names...the most obvious is 'Rubber man', then there's 'Little man', 'Bad Boy' (for gorry reasons to do with birds and mice) and a few unmentionables which shouldn't be in print (to do with the previous reasons).

But we love him just the same....

Says who?!

                                    "Surely as cometh the Winter, I know

                                  There are Spring violets under the snow."

                                                  -   R. H. Newell

According to some oversized rat, they say we will have 6 more weeks of winter....

I beg to differ!

May's cookbook...

I was looking for a recipe amongst my cookbooks and took my Great Grandma May's out for a look...

It was published in 1922. I love how its a bit stained and beat up...she must have used it quite a bit.

On the inside cover is a recipe she wrote down, probably when she was quite elderly, as the writing is very shakey...I haven't tried this one but must make a note of it and give it a go one day.

The book is also full of bits and pieces of recipes from the paper, friends and box sides.

As I looked through the book, I came across some really strange recipes....

Doesn't this sound scrumptious? (not really!)

 

 

Lots of really helpful hints for around the house as well!

Then there is the section of menu ideas for different times of the year...

A lot of them sound very time consuming and I wonder, between looking after the men, babies, chicken farm and garden, where she would have had the time to whip up a salmon souffle' with pineapple gelatin pie? Or how about baconized meatballs and pickled spiced onions?!!

I was lucky enough to inherit a few kitchen gadgets along with the cook book years ago...

This old rolling pin has probably made enough pies to feed an army. I think I even used it as a hammer a few times...as far as I know, no husbands heads have been wacked with it!

Imagine the mountains of potatoes this has mashed...I still use it for mine...

These things that are so simple and mundane continue to be used and loved...Every time I take one of these things out, I think of her in her country kitchen and I love how that little piece of her lives on through me. I often wonder when I'm long gone, if any of my gadgets will find there way into my daughters or grand daughters cupboards and drawers?

Soft weather...

The last few days we've been muted by soft weather....gentle rain and quiet fog...

Although it's beginning to feel like spring, I hesitate to get my hopes up too high for it's only January.

Weather on the west coast can be a sneaky thing...one minute the birds are singing to the warmth and the next we are huddled by the stove with big cups of tea in hand.

I've been experimenting with this gadget that I borrowed from a friend quite a while ago (remember, Jenny?) and the term is called 'through the viewfinder'. The contraption looks like this...

It's a lense taken from an old Brownie camera, wrapped up in black cardboard and lots of duck tape, and strapped onto the lense of a present day camera...The tricky part is making sure that no light creeps in and viewing everything upside down and backwards...anyway yesterday I thought I would go out around the barn and garden and try it out...

I like how it gives the feel of something vintage and on days like this, a  bit haunted...

The old wrecks in the garden look even more ancient ...

These photos remind me of looking at old slides.

Which reminds me...I'll have to dig ours out of the closet one of these days...