Back on Salt Spring Island ~ with the deer

Back on Salt Spring Island. It's the week after the Victoria Day weekend, which means fewer people and more of this wonderful space to enjoy to ourselves. After New York City, it's nice to be home and then away again, and to more space.







Wild deer are common on Salt Spring Island. In fact, without any natural predators on the island, the deer have become a wee bit of nuisance for some farmers and gardeners, and they pop up everywhere eating flowers and crops (the deer that is).













These young animals were visiting Vesuvius Bay, as were we on a bright early afternoon.







Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

Fire escapes and firehouses in New York

New York City, like any large city, has a mixture of old and new buildings. Some are high tech marvels, with all kinds of ways to limit fires and reduce the risk to occupants.






















In some neighbourhoods the fire escapes are prominent fixtures, part of the design and appearance, and they alone provide the best potential for escape. Do these things get tested once in a while? Should we be concerned?

The Fire Department of New York is the largest municipal fire department in the US, and second largest in the world after Tokyo. FDNY employs over 11,000 fire fighters and over 3300 paramedics.








On September 11, 2001, 343 members of the FDNY were killed as they responded to the attacks on the World Trade Centre. There were 75 firehouses, like the two shown here, in which at least one member was killed.










There are 217 firehouses in the five boroughs of New York and like fire departments everywhere, they answer the call, no questions asked, every time. And if a fire fighter wants to park his or her car on the sidewalk in a fire zone, while it isn't right, no one seems to notice.








And not noticing doesn't make it right either.


Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

The rhodos of VanDusen Garden

While walking through VanDusen Garden earlier this week we took a path through the rhododendrons which were magnificent in colour.

The rhododendron, which apparently originated in the nation once called Rhodesia, is a genus of over 1000 species of woody plants in the Heath family. Some viewers will remember another notable member of the Heath family: Edward Heath, former prime minister of the UK during the early 1970s.






The smallest of the rhododendrons can be 10 to 100 cm in height, and the largest can reach 30 metres.

The rhododendron is the National Flower of Nepal, where it is considered edible and enjoyed for its sour taste. Sour indeed as it is served pickled. You can't make this stuff up.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.