Tag: Featured

A Magnolia Moment …

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My regular readers know that when it comes to flowers, I love poppies and peonies. But did you know that I also love the fleetingly and beautiful magnolia blossom. Like most tree blossoms—apple and cherry—they bud, bloom, and are gone far too soon.

It seems I forgot about taking these photos—shot back in the early spring, 2019—so now seems like as good a time as any to share them with you. A fantastic bonanza of soft delicate pinks and white blossoms to set you up for the weekend.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone, and stay safe.

Friday Flowers #2

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Today I’m delving into the archives to share a bonanza of spring primulas with you. These hardy colourful perennials flower every year in the Botanic Gardens, throwing off winter’s mantel of snow, to a riot of colour, shape and form. I love visiting the gardens in early spring just to photograph these beauties.

And yes, I do lie down in the dirt to take some of these shots. It’s the only way to get up close and personal with them—at ground level.

These photos are from spring 2019, BC. I hope the colours cheer you up, as they do me.

Have a great weekend everyone, and stay safe.

The Bois de Coulonge

Alexandra4 Comments

This local park is just 15 minutes walk from where I live, and was once home to the Lieutenant Governors of Québec that is, till there was a terrible fire in the 60s, and the main house burnt down. After that, the grounds were ceded to the public as a heritage park. Welcome to the Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge!

“Bordering the Sillery bluffs, Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge is one of Québec’s most unique parks. Its layout is influenced by the city’s French and English regimes and by many members of royalty. A number of buildings still reflect this rich past. Half of the park is covered in maple forest, and is home to more than 3 km of trails bordered by gorgeous flowers, berry bushes, and trees, and offering beautiful views of the St. Lawrence River.”

The park has a bonus viewing-point that over looks the St. Lawrance river, with great views of the marina and, eh, the oil terminal on the south shore.

It’s a wonderful park to visit at any time of the year that, because of the changing seasons, is also ever changing.

A Passion for Peonies

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It’s hump day so it must be time for some more pretty flowers to brighten the mid-week slump. And what better way to do that than with some of my favourite flowers, yes, peonies.

Remember, you can click on the images to see them full-size in a gallery!

The day the Spanish came to town

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As I mention in my post about the Viking ship, we’ve had a lot of visitors to our port over the years. The Spanish came with this magnificent replica galleon—the Andalucía— a few years back, and allowed visitors aboard. Sad to say, the numbers were limited to go onboard to visit the actual ship, and they were only here for a few days before heading to Montreal and then, Boston and further south.

I never managed to get onto the ship itself. The queues were huge, they say at least 10k to 15k queued over the 2 day period. And why not, what a chance of a lifetime. Anyway, I did get up close in personal from the quayside and was just as happy to have seen this magnificent ship.

Seminary & Cathedral

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Today’s mini tour of Québec City takes us to the Catholic Cathedral—Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral—and, next door, what once was the adjoining seminary. The seminary is now the architectural school of the University Laval. I mean, how cool is that? The building is amazing and, because of the endowment, is preserved as a working, living monument to the history of the city and the architecture as well.

Not only that, but the cathedral next door has one of only a handful of ‘Holy Doors‘ outside the Vatican. It’s only used ‘open’ on certain special holy days and, of course, is and of itself, an attraction to pilgrims.

Both these amazing buildings and cathedral sit on the ‘town square’ opposite City Hall or, Hotel de Ville, Québec. More of which I can share with you in another post.

Note: The Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec is the primatial church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Québec. It is the oldest church in Canada and was the first church in Canada to be elevated to the rank of minor basilica, by Pope Pius IX in 1874.