Friday, August 14, 2009

Friday Photo Shootout - Relaxation

You can find more FPS posts here.

I spent most of today in Victoria, which isn't really my home town. However, the part of my heart that was left after San Francisco got through with me is in Victoria. I live in Nanaimo, but I love Victoria.

Today's trip wasn't meant for relaxation. We had errands to run. We spent the first part of the visit sitting in the passport office - but I had a book to read (Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, which - at least so far - is just as good the second time around as it was when I read it on the plane coming home from England - maybe three years ago? Has it been that long? Really?). So even the passport office experience was fairly relaxing.

Then the fun started. We headed down to Dallas Road, where we sat for a few minutes beside the duck pond. There were no ducks. Hmmmmph. Geese, seagulls, but no ducks today. Nonetheless, the pond was a very relaxing place.

After our few minutes of meditation by the pond, we met a friend for lunch - at Spinnaker's, our usual haunt. We lingered over our meals. Mine was a spinach salad with hazelnuts, blue cheese, and a delicious vinaigrette, so it was worth lingering over. While we ate, we gazed out over Esquimalt harbour, where boat after boat sailed by, filled with people who like to do their relaxing on the water.

As we left the restaurant, I stopped to smell the roses - really. Often, these days, I am disappointed when I lean over to smell a rose. So many of the hybrids have little or no scent. Not at Spinnaker's. I bent to smell a red rose, and then I called everybody else over to smell it. It was fabulous. The nearby pink rose was also fragrant.

Even the drive back to Nanaimo had its moment of relaxation, when we pulled over at a viewpoint atop the Malahat Pass and spent a few minutes enjoying the view.

Thus, my busy day became a day of relaxation, punctuated by moments of business. I liked that.

14 comments:

Sarah Lulu said...

Beautiful ...thank you for sharing.

Carrie said...

Don't we live in a beautiful part of the world? I'm on the Washington coast. Have been to Victoria a few times but never Nanaimo.

Your salad sounds delicious and how nice to linger and relax over lunch!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

You had a great time relaxing. Yummy salad with hazelnuts.

I miss my monthly lunches with my girlfriends when I was in Singapore. We were faculty wives without much money. So on that day, we pretended to be wives of the rich and famous. I joke we still had dirt under our nails as most of us belonged to the gardening club.

The duck pond with no ducks, have you heard? if there are Chinese, there won't be any ducks. They will be served as Beijing ducks.

Re: the head rub, the closest I can explain scientifically is with the rubbing and pressing, they encourage blood to flow and bring oxzyen to the head, and hence the healing.

Do you watch CBS series survivor? In one, there was a Vietnamese cowboy. He was healing others of their headaches by pinching on their forehead. They say, they don't know why, he leaves a red mark on the forehead, but the headache is gone.

I too rub the bridge of my nose and my mates laugh at my red mark.

There is an old Chinese and Japanese therapy, Nab Sa or Qua Sa. it involved pinching various points.or scrapping with a porcelain spoon. OUCH!!! my mum used to do it to me. Now I do it to myself because the family won't let me do it to them.

Unknown said...

water, roses and that fantastic mountain view.........what is better than that? lovely shots. Great shoot out Sandra!!

Anonymous said...

What could be more relaxing when we stop in "smell the roses" - simplicity at its best (I love flowers). great post - I enjoyed your trip to Victoria.

Unknown said...

The photos themselves are relaxing to look at--a nice recap of what sounds like a nice day.

gigi said...

Sounds and looks just like a relaxing day to me :)
Have a "Relaxed" weekend.

Debbie said...

Drives me nuts to try to smell a flower only to be met with no scent at all! Great photos.

Sandra Leigh said...

Thanks to everyone who has commented - I'm taking a day off from blogging (I guess I should blog that!) to concentrate on writing, I mean, other writing. I'll be back tomorrow.

Chef E said...

We were in Victoria last September and wanted to move there, it was truly a beautiful place as you describe and we were relaxed!

J9 said...

It looks like you had a balaned day of work and relaxation - I like days like that!

Zaroga said...

Beautiful pictures!

Zaroga said...

Beautiful pictures... I can almost smell the roses!

Gordon said...

I don't thin there is anything more relaxing than a forest.

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