Mom-Day Adventure: Beacon Hill Park

Welcome back, my friends! For today's Mom-Day Adventure, we cruised over to Victoria's signature beauty, Beacon Hill Park. 

Mom's top is from our trip to London in 2010, and matches her lovely butterfly/3D flower necklace perfectly. We often end up dressed similarly!

I've been sitting on this outfit since I unpacked my spring/summer wardrobe, waiting for a day that was warm enough to wear this top.

I'm happy to report, we had lovely sun and temps in the low 20s. Perfect weather! 

• Top - Yest, consignment; purchased here for $19.00
• Skirt - Marc Cain, thrifted; first worn here in April with yellow brights
• Shoes - Sol Sana; last seen here in May with a striped sweater maxi

I'm wearing a scarf around my neck in the above picture, but I didn't end up wearing it like that at all during the day. 

This tunic is cut straight across, off the shoulders, with straps covering my bra straps.

It's a slim fit but long, so I thought pairing it with a skinny mini would keep it in proportion. 

I have bare legs and am wearing my little sporty long shorts under the skirt. 

I sunblocked up, of course.

I might try this tunic with a pair of Boss Lady Pants. Future work outfit? Otherwise, it was okay - the sleeves rode up a bit.

This is more like how I looked. 

I carried the scarf like this all afternoon. 

Masked up.

I wore this when we were at the Beagle pub afterwards for lunch. 

Ready to go! 

First sun hat of the year! 

Accoutrements:

The hat's made of paper.

• Hat - Heart's Content
• Purse - Arcadia, consignment
• Scarf - Marc Rozier, thrifted
• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

Comfy shoes! I walked home from the pub afterwards.

Matchy bling: 

I just noticed I have a triangle theme going on (even down to the kitty's ears)! I pinned the wee wooden kitty to my top.

• Black and white cuff - vintage fair
• Triangle cuff - consignment
• Steel/acrylic ring - Calvin Klein, thrifted
• Hematite ring - thrifted
• Earrings - vintage 80s, consignment
• Kitty pin - consignment

Okay, are you ready? I took a ton of pictures today, so grab a cool drink and settle in.

Looking fine, Mom! 

Lovely viscose trousers.

Mom showed me her "en plein air" watercolour and ink that she did last weekend.

More shadow, I suggested. She concurred.

Mom brought me a present! 

Lavender from her garden! It smelled amazing. You can see my kitty pin there.

Beacon Hill Park is the true gem of Victoria - it's minutes from downtown and is an oasis of wildlife, wild areas and manicured gardens - and a petting zoo! City info page here, and Tourism Victoria's main site here (all links 'cause I love). I've been visiting Beacon Hill Park since I was born, and Mom also spent a lot of time here throughout her life. As we walked around, we reminisced about all the stuff we both remembered, and took in the changes and evolution of the park today.

I've featured Beacon Hill Park on my blog before: 

• Mom and I painted on top of Beacon Hill in September 2012 here
• Mom, Elaine and I did some en plein air painting in August 2014 here
• I took Ally here when she visited in April 2018 here
• My work colleague Ann and I harassed peacocks in January 2019 here

We parked in the centre of the park, near the petting zoo. The park was buzzing with activity - loads of families, tourists and locals, just hanging out.

Warning: This post is very peacock-heavy! I hope you like peacocks.

 There are three way up high in this tree - can see them all?

"Are we going in the petting zoo?" I asked Mom.

"Of COURSE we are!" she said. The petting zoo has been part of the park for as long as I've lived - you can see how integrated it is with the local flora. 

I remember Queenie! I would have been barely 3 years old when she died, but I have a very vivid memory of her being approximately 20 feet tall and towering over a fence at me, but since the tallest Clydsdales get is just over 6 feet, I'm guessing my perspective was skewed by my young age!

She was the last Beacon Hill workhorse (an interesting bit about the park workhorses here).

This fellow was sitting all aloof on a fence at the south end of the petting zoo.

Getting away from all the kids, no doubt.

Another male up high in this Garry Oak.

People seem surprised to see peacocks in trees. They can fly! Not far, but enough to get up in a tree.

Each area had a different animal. 

See the wooly sheep on the left? They are Jacob sheep.

This fellow was posing for the tourists. 

A man near us pulled some grass and started doing peacock calls. 

It caught his attention! 

He actually responded! 

These alpacas have recently been shorn of their wool.

They look oddly skinny! 

This Vietnamese Potbelly pig's name is Maple. 

He headed for this patch of fresh hay. 

Snorted around and then crashed. 

Nap time! 

The zoo made us both smile. 

Mom brought her grandkids (my nieces/nephew) here a bunch when they were younger. 

We cut across one of the lawns opposite the zoo, heading for the big ponds to the north.

Another peacock. People were taking selfies with him. 

Isn't it beautiful? 

There's a cricket pitch down the hill on the other side. 

Skirting the edge of this lake. 

I used to feed the ducks here as a kid - Mom has pictures of my grandpa holding me back. 

I lost my gold Sanyo digital watch here in the 80s. 

It's somewhere in this lake - it flew off when I was feeding the ducks! 

A duckling!

Head for the splashing water! 

Beacon Hill has a beautiful rose garden ("Nah," said Mom when I asked if she wanted to visit it), and this sundial-centred round garden. 

Many of the plants in these more formal gardens are rotated by season.

Mom reading the sundial. It's on the Sundial Registry (here) - I did not know there was such a thing! 

I know the inscription by heart. "I only count the sunny hours." The sundial and I are old friends. 

Squirrel! 

A black one! Very exciting. 

From formal gardens...

To undergrowth and scrub at the base of towering trees. 

Only a few steps away. 

We were walking on the service road here. The park is easily accessible for all abilities.

It's this little pocket of nature in the heart of the city.

I often recommend to folks visiting Victoria to skip Butchart Gardens (lovely, but very manicured gardens) and explore Beacon Hill Park. 

A glimpse through the trees of the Cameron Bandshell on the right.

A bed of red begonias.

"Shh...The Herons are Nesting."

There are regular free "B-Movie" festivals here - it's a natural bowl-shaped lawn with benches and room beyond that for blankets. I remember going to one with my ex back in the 90s; we often visited the park, as we lived only a few blocks away.

Coming up on one of the many lakes.

So much green.

As we walked around the lake, I spied a heron on the opposite bank and zoomed in.

I see you! 

Then we spotted the nest up in a tall Douglas fir.

I see mama heron, and a few babies! 

I think there are three of them.

Amazing! 

Duck! 

Lots of green blooming on the water. 

This edge of the park borders James Bay, a downtown neighbourhood. 

We continued walking around this section of the lake, and crossed over the bridge. 

But first...

Water lily!

"Turtles! cried Mom.

Initially we thought there were only two. 

But that wee "stone" in front is a baby turtle! 

AW!

The papa turtle marched down to the end of the log closest to us and gave us a good glare.

Then he dove into the water. 

As we were exclaiming over the turtles, a mom and her son near us had seen the clutch of ducklings on the bank. 

We quickly traded discoveries and swapped places. DUCKS! 

Going over the bridge.

Angsty teenage me loved hanging out here, writing angsty poetry. 

Looking back. 

There are no bad views.

This used to be the aviary (housing various kinds of birds). 

It has a grisly history, which both Mom and I remembered (warning about graphic violence to birds here). 

The heron that was on the far side of the lake was now on our side of the lake. 

Keeping an eye on us - we're just under its nesting area.

Ducks bobbed for weeds under the water.

We could hear people laughing at the play area on the other side of that hill. I recently found a fascinating article about vintage playground equipment (here) that featured one of the pieces I remember from my childhood, the "Saddle Mate" chicken in the image near the bottom, and those really great merry-go-rounds were definitely ones I loved to play on (including spinning on them well into my teens). There was also a huge red rocking horse see-saw that I loved (a similar one here still exists on Salt Spring Island, video here).

Another heron - at first we thought he was a piece of art or something. 

And then he opened his beak! 

We're now behind the bandshell. 

Enormous cedars in this area.

See?

They're massive. 

Mom, take my picture! 

"You look so tiny!" 

It's a whole grove of them.

That dappled sunlight was so lovely. 

Another peacock lurked down this path.

We went the other way.

This is the Moss Lady (link here).

She looks so peaceful. 

Mom sat in the throne provided for viewing/contemplating. It's carved out of a cedar log.

Your Majesty.

This lake was choked by water lilies.

The fountain gurgled and splashed.

Nearly back at the car, looking back into the park. 

That tree looks like it's trying to crawl away.

One of the giant sequoias. 

Just beyond it is...a putting golf course. 

Mom take my picture! I must sit on this tree!

Also not the first time doing this - Mom has pictures of me with my cousins in this tree from when I was a kid. Today's adventure was another walk down Memory Lane for Mom and I - such a fun way to spend the day! Thank you so much, Mom! Love you! 

Vizzini was excited to see me when I got home.  

"I was?"

I'm signing off now for the weekend, my friends, so please do pop back in for tales of adventure. Thank you so much for stopping by my little corner of the interwebz.