Just got off work and we walk past the light-limned Lege on the Inner Harbour. The dark water is gleaming like a mirror, throwing back a wavering reflection of the Lege and the proud buildings and grand hotels standing on the banks. The fragrance of seaweed and salt wafts over our noses on the night breeze as we wander back to our fiery Kia.

Decided to go for a drive.

We drive up to Shwartz Bay, where we came though on the ferries, recharging and grooving to music and the atmosphere of the night. We swing back around the bay, taking the sightseeing route towards the sea and Ogden Point, where the majestic cruise ships, like cities on the water, wait for passengers, promising adventure and luxurious enjoyment.

We’re watching the line of the sea, and the lacy breakers roll and sussuruss on the shore; we’re watching the point where the dark line of the mountains glides into the water, the buoys and boats and lights bobbing on the waves. The sky dips down to kiss the sea, scattered with poets’ stars and the faint cry of forever hungry gulls.

Dawn is breaking. A faint flush of pale green brightens the trees and sleeping houses; an edge of light to sketch the world in rich blacks and deep gold and new aqua.

We drive on, following the line of beach and driftwood and unfurling sky. The world is unfolding in stunning colour. The water is a brilliant turquoise, the lights on the shore are shining copper and bright gold. We are in some fairytale, some beach in Greece, and the world looks like a shimmering exotic jewel.

As the city wakes up, the sea and the sky meld into a striking liquid azure, water and sky fusing into one gorgeous blue blue ball. It’s like it’s the surf’s way of singing a dawn chorus, changing from muted deep lapis lazuli blue-silver-grey to a burning aquamarine limned with hot liquid gold. The power of the star.

There are a few hidden harbours, where sailing boats still slumber in the new day, rocking with waves created by coast guard cruisers and the occasional early fishing trawler. The music we’re listening to is renewing us as much as the view. We sing as we drive, we resonate with the sounds of sea and the harmonies we share.

We smooth through a forest tunnel where the light is a deep lush green, and the sea we can glimpse through the leaves and needles, is turning into a pool of pale illumination, dotted with islands that are thickly clotted with dark mysterious evergreen.

At the last turn on our way home, we see a young deer, nonchalantly standing by the side of the road, not 10 feet from us, breakfasting on low hanging leaves. It doesn’t care we are here, it just wants its nosh.

We arrive back at Mountain View at 5 or so in the morning, and the world is yawning and stretching and preparing to trundle off to work as we are falling asleep to the rhythms of the seas and the music in our heads.

So time to do an update.

We have now been in Victoria for just under three weeks. Setup has been slow but we are getting there. The basics are covered – we have a place, jobs, food on the table.

It is beautiful out here – no where near as rainy as Vancouver, nice and temperate – almost every day has been sitting at about 20C. Sadly we have yet to do too much exploring – we have only done the tourist bit once. Everything is in nice and close proximity so we can walk everywhere. Right out side our place, we have a path that takes us straight to Victoria (which is actually a really small area like 10 blocks by 10 blocks type small), the other way the path can take us to Shwartz Bay (where the ferries from Vancouver come in). We plan on exploring these paths in the coming weeks.

Our immediate plans are to get a set of bicycles. everything is close enough that we can all but park the car. We can walk to work/Victoria in approximately 45 minutes.

Everything in this area is beautiful. There is a lot of older architecture, adding a lot of character to the city. The legislative grounds are a good deal smaller than the Edmonton, but what the grounds lack in size, they more than make up for in aesthetics. Parliament looks out onto the Inner Harbour, and there is holly surrounding the grounds. At night the Parliament building is lit up on the edges with LEDs. It really is a remarkable sight. Then there is the Fairmont Empress hotel. It is built in the same style as the Hotel Macdonald, but dwarfs it in size. With any luck we will be able to get some pictures up soon.

~Dusk ||

Dragons could live in these mountains. The peaks are caped in skirling, moody mist, trees clot thickly on the lower slopes. The foliage is new fresh green, layered and lacy and lush.

I don’t miss the prairies. I don’t miss the flat dry scrubby grey and brown flat lines, the blank horizon, the blank listless people.

Going to BC, moving to the coast. Here we are in the mountains, where I can hear the song of the stone, and where little mysteries wander through the mist, and the weather is mercurial and revitalizing.

It feels so much more alive.