"A" is for Applesauce

Jenny, you would be pleased to know that yes, we did make a pot of applesauce!  :)  

By far the cutest apple from the bunch we picked.  :)

First we picked a few of the apples off of our trees...

...and placed them into this box.

Ta-da!  Hey, it's that cute apple again!

Next we washed, cored, and cut them into eighths

Here they are in the pot, starting to warm up...

Mommy working on slicing up the apples

It's slowly filling up!

After the apples cooked long enough and became soft enough,
we scooped them into the above strainer,
and mashed the saucey goodness through the strainer and into the yellow bowl...

Go, Dad, Go!  Squish those apples!

Mommy and me and our finished applesauce...  :)
Photo credit: Dad

Victoria: English Tea

Before I show my pictures from our tea,
I thought I'd show you some pictures from our nature walk...

This is the closest I've ever been to a cougar!  It was very exciting!!

There were also some adorable seals...

Dad looking through some binoculars...

...at this lovely swan in the marsh.

Then we got to walk the streets of a very old town...

Here's their dress shop.

Mom and Dad resting on a bench.
See the cobblestone street and the big red mailbox?

If you haven't figured it out by now, our little "nature walk" and tour of the the old town was really no more than a walk in the interior of Victoria's Royal BC museum.  It's a great museum (especially the third floor).  If you go to Victoria, and if you like museums, I'd recommend this one.  :)

Now for our tea...

Our first course of fruit.
Strawberries and Whipped Cream...mmmmm...

Here we are!  See the three-tiered tray?  They brought that out (along with the tea) after we were done with our fruit.  On the bottom were sandwiches, the middle had scones, and the upper one had an assortment of little desserts (in actuality, everything we ate was like dessert).

We started with sandwiches.  They were delicious!  They included:
Egg salad on croissant
Cucumber and cream cheese (with dill) on sourdough
Hummus on brown bread
Tomato and Cucumber on wheat (which was so good that I gobbled it up before I took a picture of it :)
and
Tomato and onion on a crunchy round piece of bread (no idea what kind it was)

Delicious tea!  It was called The Empress Tea...

Momma

Me

Daddy

First the tea...

...then the sugar...

...and finally the cream...

One of the desserts from the top tier.  This was an extremely odd "dessert".
The pink stuff tasted a LOT like Play-Doh.
And believe me, I know Play-Doh when I taste it.  :P

Here's what the tea room looks like looking in through the doors.  

And thus concludes the series of pictures from our trip to Victoria, British Columbia.  

Now I am back in the good ol' US of A
where toilets are called "restrooms" and instead of "washrooms",
where people say "Zee" instead of "Zed",
and where I can understand distances once again.

Ah, America.  Home, sweet Home...  :)

Victoria: Butchart Gardens

Actually, this wasn't from Butchart,
but I still wanted to post it.
Photo credit: Mom

This wasn't from Butchart either.
It's actually from The Elderly Noodle Workshop.
It used to be a vintage gas pump.
Now it's a fish tank.  Cool, huh?

Day two of our excursion to Victoria.  Peaceful, vibrant, lush, varied.  Ah, Butchart Gardens, words can scarcely describe you.

The beautiful hydrangeas.  I love how each time you plant one, it's like a mystery,
because you never know what color it will turn out being!  :)

The Butchart Gardens!

This way to ENTER

Momsy and Daddy-O

Bathrooms this way.
Information and first-aid this way.
Bus and taxi this way.
Exclamation point, pedestrian, and chunky car who-knows-where.

Dad and The Purple Pack.

together :)

Dad showing off The Purple Pack while Mom snaps a few shots.

What a fun little hut to take pictures in!

A sweet little window in the hut that overlooked
one of the gorgeous gardens below

A better view of the view...

You gotta love fall.

And Mom.  :)

Water lilies!

...and Down...

Up...

Mommy 

Joey

Daddy

Dad the Photographer

And Mom the Photographer

A toad spitting water.  Now how cute is that?!

Oh the fun we had taking pictures
in the Mirror that was a Ball  :)

Roses are to Baby Breath flowers
as
Purple flowers are to The Purple Pack
In other words, they just go together.
Period.
End of story.

Next we were on to the Japanese section of the gardens...this part was so peaceful!

I've always loved winding stairs :)

Sweet little lanterns dotted the garden

This was a great noise maker.  The upper pipe would fill the lower pipe with water, and as the lower pipe got heavier and heavier, it would suddenly drop down and clunk on a rock, letting out the water.  Once it was light again, it would swing back up (that's what this is a picture of), and would start filling again.

Time to go...
'Twas a lovely afternoon.  :)