A blooming lovely walk

First some updates on earlier posts.

I wrote about the bankruptcy of the Hanjin Shipping company, and that one of its cargo ships was 'parked' outside our home. Well, now there are two! The one has been there about a week. I wonder about the staff on board ... Do they have enough food? Will they get paid? What about their family in South Korea; are they worried? The repercussions are endless. 

I also wrote about the Little Free Library website. Here's a photo sent by our homeowners, who are on a self-directed cycling vacation in France. She follows our blog, and then noticed these by the roadside. Proof that this concept has a world-wide reach.

This morning Greg and I walked some of the neighbourhood streets with Fanci. We live in quite a hilly area, which provides great views from the house. Our street slopes down behind this house. Those who are familiar with Britain may notice a similarity in the style of the gardens here. Also notice the black gate to the right of the garage.

Here's a close up. You'll need to look closely to notice there's fine mesh fencing attached to this gate. It's most noticeable against the tree trunk in the upper left corner.

It's clearer now in the photo below.

Many houses in this upper area have these fences to keep out the deer. Apparently they feed on the plants and flowers and effectively destroy the gardens.

I'll sidetrack for a deer story. Here's Fanci in our yard. Although this is our fourth time of house sitting with Fanci, it's our first time at this home. We've renamed her Houdini, as she seems to be able to escape from the yard and bolt away when she sights a deer. We frantically hunted for her for a short while yesterday, and she came bouncing down the road, happy after having chased some deer, so the neighbour told us. 

Greg then worked on creating a make-shift fix to close up the gap in the fence. She patiently sat watching him ... and then leapt over the wall and stared at him from the other side of the fence!

Hence the reason Greg then tied her up when she was outside. She's not impressed. The owners said they've had similar experiences with her.

Both of us noticed this vine as it's so dense and colourful.

Here's a close-up of the berries. Beautiful.

These flowers are from a similar-sized planting and the flowers covered a large area and were lovely. We chatted with a fellow house sitter walking a dog near here.

This flower borders someone's driveway. It reminded me of flowers I saw growing up in Britain. I know very little about flowers, but I think it's a dahlia.

These berries hung over a fence in huge clusters. Again, very noticeable and lovely.

The last photos below - thank you, Google - are definitely dahlias. They were next to each other, and I noticed the contrast in the core of these two flowers. It looks like a before-and-after photo of the effect of bees at work. Nature in all its glory.

These photos are just from walking a few streets, but there are lots of examples of lovely flowers and landscaping everywhere.

Today I've heard from two friends in Ontario and another in Granada, Spain, and all commented on the extreme heat and humidity they're experiencing. I'm happy to say we're in a temperate climate with minimal humidity. We're still in shorts and t-shirts, although many locals are more bundled up.

Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Note: We obtain permission from homeowners before showing photos of their home or pet.