a window of opportunity
By: kardz by kris
Tags: photography, weekly photo challenge, weekly photo challenge: window, winter
Category: on the road, postaweek2014, Strait of Georgia, travel, walking, winter
win-dow
an intentionally constructed opening in a wall or roof. This allows for two things to take place: 1) Light and/or air can enter. 2) And those inside are able to look out or to see better that which is inside.
And while there is such a thing as one-way glass which allows only those on one side of the window to see what is on the other, generally that seems to sum up what a window is. An opportunity to see and share what you have seen. And in many ways isn’t that essentially what blogging is? An opportunity to share stories and and adventures, memories and insights, monumentous events and carefully preserved moments, as well as being able to share in those of others. To research and learn, and to discover many things and meet people which would not have been possible apart from blogging.
But I digress.
The view above was captured through the window of a ferry at breakfast time just under five years ago. The sun was working its way through the clouds, its persistent rays slowly beginning to light up the Strait of Georgia as we sailed southwest towards Vancouver Island.
It was February, with typically unpredictable weather conditions, and I had a scheduled day off. Always good to have a day off! There were three of us on our way to Victoria, including Tante Ulla, a favourite aunt who was spending almost half a year in Canada on an extended visit from Germany. She was 85 years old young at the time, although those who knew her would say she did not look her age. She was young at heart with a great sense of humour and a gift of hospitality like I have rarely seen it. It would turn out to be her last visit here.
Tante Ulla had a short wish list of places she wanted to see and things she was hoping to do on this visit, and going to Victoria was high up on that list. In fact, Victoria had always been a favourite destination every time she had been to Canada, even back when her husband, Onkel Paul, was still with us. However previous trips to Victoria had usually taken place in the summer.
We expected to walk through the Parliament Buildings once again and to stroll along the Inner Harbour, although the day’s plans were not etched in stone. A brochure on board the ferry advertised Butchart Gardens’ special indoor garden, “Spring Prelude”, and it captured our attention. And so we all spontaneously agreed that was something we would like to check out. Besides, a visit to the Butchart Gardens was actually also a secret wish of Tante Ulla’s, and none of us had been there before.
By the time we disembarked at Swartz Bay, the clouds were lifting and through the car’s windows we could see fresh snow on the local mountains on our way to Butchart Gardens.
fresh snow on the local mountains, Vancouver Island
The display was everything it had promised to be, from one gallery to another. There were tulips and irises and gerbera blossoms and much, much more. A feast for the eyes in the middle of a cool winter’s day when not too much was blooming outside. We all enjoyed it.
Tante Ulla could not have been more thrilled, and I was happy to be here, and especially happy to be here with her, and that she was able to take it all in.
Tante Ulla admiring the amaryllis blossoms
In addition to the indoor garden, there were outdoor pathways to explore, although not too much was blooming yet. Yet we soaked up some of the sun’s rays when it put in its appearance.
There was also a small historical museum which was open, and we took some steps back in time and enjoyed the displays. The museum could easily warrant a post or two of its own, so there may be more on that some other day.
And of course we had high tea.
high tea is served. Tante Ulla’s reflection visible in the teapot to the left
Tea was served in a sunny room that had windows for a ceiling and all along the outside walls. Various potted flowers lined the window sills.
orchids in the window
It was a beautiful day, at the risk of overusing a word which often seems to be flogged mercilessly, diluting its meaning. But it really was beautiful, from the morning view from the ferry to the unexpected ‘Spring Prelude’ display, the fascinating museum, and the tea spread before us. Added to this was the table decor and table decorations, the lovely hot tea, the sound of laughter, and the warmth of a host of new and delicious memories that we were gathering on our day trip together.
After tea, it was time to return home via the ferry again.
on board again
By now the outside temperatures had cooled down considerably and it was good to be inside, in the warmth of the ferry.
Evening was approaching as we sailed past the Gulf Islands once again, this time against the backdrop of a peaceful dusk. The views from the windows were a delightful feast for the eyes as our excursion was coming to an end.
What a glorious day it had been.
Today’s post was inspired by the currently weekly photo challenge over at WordPress’ Daily Post which is on windows. More accurately, on a window. Singular. And this post has been a window – a look back at an unforgettable winter’s day almost five years ago.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Window
Cherri Lucas Rowlands at WordPress is hosting this week’s photo challenge. To look at and/or through windows posted by bloggers from around the blogosphere, click here.
25 comments on “a window of opportunity”
¡hola hello! bonjour! kamusta!
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pix & kardz 
A lovely selection!
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thank you, TRS. 🙂
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You’ve described some of my favorite places! All windows up near Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands look out on beautiful opportunities …thanks for the lovely post.
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thank you JANE – glad you enjoyed.
and welcome to pix & kardz!
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Indeed it does sound a beautiful day so why not say so? Tante Ulla’s love of flowers comes out in that pic where she doesn’t look remotely 85 years young. The last couple of shots remind me of the trip between north and south islands of NZ where you enter Picton Sound (I think from memory as it was a long time ago). Looks a fine ferry ride, I love ferries. Nice interpretation of window, I haven’t thought of anything sufficiently original yet, so may not play.
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true, however i generally try to avoid ‘beautiful’ and ‘wonderful’ and reserve them for special occasions. this was one of them, certainly.
yes, Tante Ulla definitely loved her flowers, no matter where she found them. i can still almost hear her voice as she enjoyed the full blooms of the amaryllis plants. in fact, she had a real gift of not only seeing things, but enjoying and savouring them. it was quite infectious.
i know what you mean. i didn’t just want to post some windows here, although over at photojourneying i decided to do so, since i still have so many photos from my Germany trip last summer that hadn’t seen the light of day yet.
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Lovely pics, and as RS’s has said a nice interpretation of window.
I also agree with RS’s again about your Tante Ulla, I can’t believe she was 85 in that pic.
With your header photo’s blue border, and blue the main colour in the photo too, I’m so surprised at DT’s lovely colour choice, I’m sure if I’d posted it, I’d have got grey 😉
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thank you Vicky. glad you enjoyed.
i know. amazingly, it seemed as if Tante Ulla never showed her age. even when i visited her in the care facility in June 2012 after she had needed to move out of her apartment, she sat there at almost 88 looking as youthful as always.
i actually suspected i would end up with a grey background with the image as is, so i thought i could help DT along by adding the first, inner border. this provided the light tan-coloured darker canvas for writing which was surprising but ok, however the actual background was a pale pink/peach tone. so i improvised and added another, slightly lighter blue frame to the original one in hopes i could persuade it to become a blue background, but it would not play. however, it did mute the peach/pink colour somewhat. but i thought this is better than pink – or grey – and stopped fiddling. 🙂
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You amaze me with your knowledge of DT.
I just take pot luck 🙂 I will add the last two of mine have been a total surprise to me though.
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must check out your posts later then. haha, i guess it just comes down to seeing some of the surprising results i have encountered when least expected. for example there was a challenge with ‘green’ as the topic, not sure if you remember it, and no matter what i did, despite so many green images in a college, DT provided a blue background for this photo collage. too funny.
sometimes it just takes a simple frame to persuade DT to give it another go, or the repositioning of images in a collage. but sometimes, no matter how hard i tweak i am unable to make it budge. in fact, i think it just deliberately digs in its heels at times, lol. over at roughsea’s everypic i once tried to tweak the colour by adding a frame for this post, and it worked.
but when i tried a second time to fiddle with one of the everypic posts, DT was incorrigibly obstinate, and it was not paying attention to any attempts made. i had offered to do some tweaking on this one, which had been posted for a weekly photo challenge. the favourite image was placed second because it resulted in a grey background. must have been Pippa’s colouring. anyhow, i tweaked and tweaked that second image, but no matter what i did, it remained grey. so roughseas left the post as is.
anyhow, i suspect this comment may end up in the spam box with all the links, so i better go looking for it once i hit ‘post comment’. 🙂
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sure enough, it had ended up in the spam box, lol. but i rescued it 🙂
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Ah, I remember your green post 🙂
I find it fascination how it chooses the colours, but the fact that even when you’ve manipulated it, sometimes it works and others not, is even more puzzling.
I need to go and ‘play’ with some images 🙂
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Oh that’s so serene!
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thanks for the kind words, Gilly!
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I really enjoyed reading this and looking at the pictures. It reminded me of travelling to Ireland from Scotland last summer – ferry trips are rather magical (unless it’s stormy – that’s another story!). Tante Ulla sounds like a wonderful person – it’s funny, but the way you described her really made me feel as though I’d met her, and she lit up my day (which was actually a pretty good one already!) Cheers!
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thank you Hedwigia, and welcome to pix & kardz.
i so agree- there is something special about ferry trips. i am reminded of one trip that was a bit stormy, also sailing the Strait of Georgia, and could really feel the heave and the ho of ferry as it was fighting the waves. we arrived safely, is all i remember.
glad you enjoyed the story of Tante Ulla. she was one of a kind. even though we were on two different continents, we were quite close. all my friends were her friends, and whenever i introduced her to someone new, they were always made to feel at home. how nice that her story helped to make your good day even better. 🙂
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My stormy ferry crossing was from England to the Netherlands, and we were the last ferry out of the port before they closed it because of bad weather. It was ghastly! I hyperventilated because I felt so sick (though didn’t know that was what was happening at the time) and thought I was dying! Glasses were flying off the bar onto the floor, and nobody was allowed up on deck. Quite memorable, in its way. 🙂
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oh wow, that must have been so scary! what a story. thanks for sharing.
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Chris how did I miss all these posts? I just got Window of Opportunity in my mail yesterday. And I have not seen the previous posts. You are not showing up in my email notifications. I will be back this afternoon when I can relax and have some time to myself to enjoy your posts.
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hey Pix, good to hear from you! i have noticed that about notifications too. they seem to have stopped. anyhow, good to hear from you! take your time and take care. above all, do keep warm! 🙂
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Chris I remember when I first started following you and you did a post on your Tante Ulla. This is such a sweet read and a refreshing interpretation of window. It soothed the soul and body to read this post. It is almost 11:30 pm here in Missouri, USA and it is a lovely post to read before bed time. The pictures are a delight and so is Tante Ulla. So special to have those memories Chris. I am an overuser of beautiful and wonderful but that is how I really see things so those words come out.. 🙂 I didn’t use beautiful or wonderful once in this comment.. 😉
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thanks Pix. she really was a wonderful person – and she truly was so i used the word, too 🙂 consider myself blessed to have gotten to know her so well over the years even despite living on two different continents. your restraint in the the lack of ‘beautiful’ and ‘wonderful’ is amazing – or is that another one of those overused words? 😀
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I love, overused word too.. :D, the word amazing! But I just love ‘words’.. 🙂
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Beautiful photos from the ferry. The weather didn’t behave so well for me. 🙂
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thanks for stopping by, beeblu. the temperatures were cold, but the sunshine more than made up for it.
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