Mom-Day Adventure: Cadboro Bay and Gyro Park; and a Wee Shop

Hello, my friends! I'm excited to share another wonderful Mom-Day Adventure with you. Mom and I went to Cadboro Bay and Gyro Park, an old haunt from my childhood, and walked on the beach. I also had a wee shop afterwards, and found a fake designer dress that now has a scandalous nickname. Intrigued? Grab a beverage and put up your feet. 

We had a beautiful sunny and warm day, with a light breeze.

So much colour! 

But let's get this outfit out of the way first, shall we? 

Some favourites getting a repeat.

• Shirt - Guess, thrifted; last seen here in July 2021 for an early Mom-Day
• Cami - Mexx; not tracked
• Skirt - BCBG Max Azria, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) in May for Easter at Mom's
• Sandals - Hopeful Sunny, Fluevog, thrifted; last seen here in July for Mom-Day at Blenkinsop Lake

This chambray embroidered shirt hadn't been worn yet this year, so I mixed it with one of my favourite maxi skirts. 

I fully intended on billowing dramatically. 

I've worn this top and skirt together before (here), but had a coat on the whole time then. 

I've also worn every one of these pieces with Mom previously, including the shoes. 

"But not all at the same time!" I pointed out. 

I also have my sporty long shorts underneath so that my bare legs are comfortable. 

Masked up.

Nearly everyone on the bus wears one still. 

Incognito.

This outfit made me feel happy. Much swooshing! 

Accoutrements: 

I didn't end up needing the scarf at all - it just hung off my purse. 

• Purse - thrifted, embellished by me
• Scarf - Smoking Lily, vintage 90s, thrifted
• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

I don't own too many shoes that are beach-safe! I gave these a gentle wipe-down and rinsed the soles when I got home to get all the sand off them. 

Sparkly bling: 

Matchy! Sparkly! 

• Necklace/earrings - Sherman, vintage 60s, vintage fair
• Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes
• Tower ring - antique store, Sidney
• Coral/olivine ring - Hawaii, vintage 70s, Mom's

Mom brought a home-made birthday card for Louise, L's mom (it's her birthday next week). 

It's from one of our trips to Elk-Beaver Lake. Mom got some new acrylic pencils, so she's been playing with them. 

She played with this painting too, amping up the colours.

So fun! I love getting inspired to do art with new toys! 

We drove up to the coast near the University of Victoria (UVic - we are both alumni). Heading down Sinclair hill - I used to walk down to the beach here when I had hours between classes when I was at UVic in the 80s.

 It's a very steep hill - I walked up it to the bus exchange after lunch. That's our destination straight ahead - see the water?

We drove to the parking lot under a canopy of maple trees. 

Ah, that dappled light brings back memories. 

Mom's snazzy outfit. 

Her top is from Bermuda; she and Dad went there in the 90s. Such great colours! 

Looking to Gyro (JYE-row) Park. Cadboro (CAD-burrow) Bay is on the right and refers to the actual beach/bay of water. About the park/beach here (all links 'cause I love). 

I was super-stoked to see the concrete sculptures that are in the play area, including that red octopus.

When I was a kid we came here and climbed all over the sculptures, which were created in the 1960s. This park is world-famous, ranked 10th in the world for unique playgrounds (link here to a local article, here for the Fodor list)

When I was a kid, the octopus was repainted multiple times - I remember it being pink, turquoise and black over the years. Mom tells me they sandblasted it down and gave it a new coating, likely when they renovated the park in 2014. It has "stairs" made of logs, a slide and you can climb inside the head! 

In addition to the octopus, there's a salmon (it was black when I was younger) and a Caborosaurus.

Shockingly, it's another purported water monster! About "Caddy" here. 

This is the best part of Caddy (which was turquoise for many years): you can sit inside his mouth. 

And you can stand inside his eye sockets! That kid has the right idea. 

They've done a beautiful job in making the beach and park more accessible, including adding ramps to an existing concrete boat sculpture (which was also a favourite spot for playing Pirates). There was an additional area with a zipline and a section of "shipwreck" parts for playing on. 

Every one of the areas was crawling with shrieking kids, so we gave that a wide berth.

All of this concrete area is new to me. It used to be grass that went right into logs and beach. 

There is now a steel mesh ramp that leads out onto the beach - it made it really easy for Mom to get onto the sand. 

Looking at Cadboro Bay. We used to come here with a picnic lunch (in the 70s), and hang out all day. We'd go swimming in the water (that's the Pacific Ocean - it's cold), dig in the sand and play on the sculptures. 

I tasted the egg salad sandwiches Mom used to make us (they always had a bit of grit from the sand) as soon as I smelled the low tide.

On the beach, looking south. 

We walked along here for a while, passing families, a guy with a metal detector, people frolicking in the water, and sunbathers.

Lots of boats out on the water. 

That's the US in the far distance. Seattle is that direction (*waves vaguely*).

We were both looking down, seeing interesting things. 

A teeny-tiny crab. A bad pedicure (hee hee). 

Every so often, we just paused and looked around. 

Ah...

What a cool piece of driftwood. 

Tree roots! That's right at the high tideline. 

The Royal Victoria Yacht Club is across the bay. 

Most BC beaches look like this: pebbles, kelp, seaweed/grass. It's not all sand. 

But there is enough to build sandcastles - this is excellent sand, as it's wet and packs hard. 

Canada geese footprints, crows and someone in runners. 

A heron flew over us. 

The houses in this area sell for millions. 

Some typical beachy things. 

Barnacles, rocks, shells. I spy a clam-hole (a few of them). 

What a view.

We turned around and headed north for a bit. 

The teenage crow on the left was raucously demanding food from the parent on the right. 

Dude, chill, you're on a beach, there's food everywhere! 

All of this will be underwater soon, and this pile of muck will be waving seagrass. 

It was quite squelchy to walk on. 

Pose of joy! 

Gratitude! 

Fabulousness! 

Another awesome day with Mom. 

Unless you write your name in the sand, you weren't really there. 

We were there! 

See?

Proof. 

Feet in sand. 

I don't get to do this very often! 

We went to Smugglers' Cove Pub for lunch, and then I headed homeward.

Thank you for such a lovely day, Mom! I love you! 

I bused to town and had a peek through the Velvet Crease and Vanity Fair Antique Mall. I found these wonderful long gloves at the Velvet Crease. 

They have leather patches on the palms and the finger-fabric for using phones. Since I don't have a phone (really!), that does not matter to me, but this pair of wool, cashmere and nylon snuggly long gloves will be worn a ton. They are by Echo and were $20.00 - they sold for $69.00 at the Bay. 

I came back to this weird dress for the label (I admit it), but when I tried it on, I actually really liked it. 

"I think it's stupid."

It's a knit, but you can't see the texture there.

It's...3D, almost like a spider-web look, and with those raised points all over, you know, the name for this dress just popped into my head when I tried it on. 

Dress of a Thousand Nipples! And so it has been named.

It's a very interesting and unusual knit (and unfortunately only on the front, grrr).

"You know what's interesting? Dinner."

See? Alexander McQueen! Um...why does it look like it says Al Exander McQueen? 

That's kind of a shabby-looking label. Huh. I am SUSPICIOUS.

I checked the tags...it's 100% cotton supposedly (but it feels like nylon), there's no RN or CA number (required for selling in the US/Canada). The word "Tumble" is misspelled. 

Also, it can't be both Made in China AND made in Italy! I call fake! I bet someone bought this off a street vendor somewhere in Italy.

Just to double-check and be really sure, I compared the authentic label from my skull scarf to this one. Look at the letter spacing, the blurry-looking font, the poor quality fabric (stitched on poorly), the little doodly bit on the Q. It's immediately apparent that I have a fake here. 

I have no idea if this dress is intended to actually be a replica of an existing McQueen, but it's sufficiently interesting for me to have bought (it was $60.00). I'm sure I'll enjoy a few giggles sharing the name when I wear it. 

I was excited to spot this brooch in Vanity Fair. 

Only $10? Take my money! 

It's stamped "Solid Copper" on the back. 

And it matches my squash blossom cuff almost exactly. 

I am sure it's also by Bell Trading Post, so vintage 1960s. 

Vizzini, what do you think of my purchases? 

"Not enough tuna."

He was attacking my shopping bag most vigorously. 

"If you won't feed me, I will eat this bag!"

Such a silly boy. 

"Dinner?"

He is rather single-minded. 

And now, my friends, I'm off for the weekend - and we have an exciting event planned so check back on Sunday for tales of adventure! Thank you all so much for visiting, reading and commenting! Happy weekend!