August 20

The morning ferry line-up of people wanting to leave SaltSpring. We are heading to Victoria to attend Fibrations - a local fibre festival.

The festival was quite large - with lots of great vendors and groups including the local spinners and weavers, and embroidery guilds. The venue was very lovely - a local park behind a community centre and school.

One demonstration was of cotton spinning on this charming spinning 'book' - a portable cotton spinning device like the one used by Ghandi. The girl demonstrating it was very skilled and made it look easy - although I know that spinning cotton is very difficult because of the shortness of the fibres.

The venue was gorgeous. Garry oaks, lovely rocks to sit on, warm sunshine. 

There was a woman weaving baskets from kelp! I got quite excited about finding some kelp and doing this - but apparently I'll be unlikely to find any on the island. The baskets were very beautiful when they were dried.

After the festival we had lunch at a converted 1950's gas station. Quite unique.

Then we went to the Abkhazi Gardens. These gardens are so beautiful. These trunks are rhododendrons.

Walking in a rhododendron garden.

Garry oaks. So lacey and beautiful.

Cyclamen grow wild here. Sigh.

The shapes and colours - so lovely.

A charming bench that invites you to sit - or lie - and enjoy the garden.

A stone bench shouldn't be this comfortable!

The trunks of a huge pine.

Rock outcroppings and steps up to the house.

The ponds were created in the natural depressions in the rock.

Just look at these Japanese maples!

From the top of the garden, you can see the ocean and the Washington State mountains beyond.

These gardens were so lovely, and very worth visiting. We did not have tea there, but it looks lovely. If you're visiting Victoria, I'd recommend this - it's free to visit. The famous Buchart Gardens is $35. Of course it's much, much larger - this garden is a large city lot.

A lovely day!