Songhees History Cairn, Anderson Hill Park
The cairn on top of Anderson Hill is my favourite of all of the Oak Bay cairns about Songhees history. It feels more part of the natural landscape than any of the others as it is well within Anderson Hill Park, you have to walk up hill and across rocks and dirt to get to it and it has a stunning view of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Olympic Mountains and Trial Island. If you are going to visit only one of these cairns, and are able to walk on a slightly rough trail, then this is the one. The entrance to the park is off Island Road, which joins with Newport Avenue near to Beach Drive not far east of the Kitty Islet cairn. If you have limited mobility I would recommend the King George Terrace lookout cairn as it is next to a parking area and has a good view as well.
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Thaywun – Bowker Creek Songhees History Cairn
Bowker Creek and it’s salmon run are marked by a cairn on Cadboro Bay Road where Bowker Creek passes beneath it and Foul Bay Road. The cairn is crowded by a narrow sidewalk, businesses and parked cars. It, like Bowker Creek, is walled in and controlled by a modern world in a rush towards prosperity. In some ways this seems like appropriate symbolism for the Songhees First Nation way of life that has been heavily constrained by the settlement of their lands. Although, and as the cairn says, the endurance of the creek in the face of such pressure can be understood as an appropriate tribute to the endurance of the Songhees culture in the face of the same pressures.
What on earth is with this alien, and why is he the same colour as recreation Oak Bay in the background? Trying to blend in, or something. In any case, it is less alien in my Hollywood informed culture than the settlers must have seemed to the Songhees two hundred years ago. In the picture above on the other side of the street, the cairn is off the rear bumper of the parked car and Bowker Creek is below the railings.
Sungayka – A Songhees Cairn at Loon Bay
Loon Bay is on the north east shore of the municipality of Oak Bay and the west shore of Cadboro Bay. Located between the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and Spurn Head in the Uplands neighbourhood, it is the site of another of several cairns marking Songhees First Nation history and culture in Oak Bay. The cairn can be found at the edge of Beach Drive opposite Exeter Road. It’s theme concerns traditional use of Cadboro Bay by the Songhees people.
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Awards Ceremony
Last week I had the distinct parental pleasure of attending a ceremony at Camosun College here in Victoria to witness my daughter being awarded for academic excellence. Here she is leaving the ceremony, light hearted and light of foot. The view is in the Young Building, built 1914.
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Keeping Culture Alive – The Cattle Point Songhees History Sign
I am doing a series on the cairns in Oak Bay that honour Songhees First Nation history and geography. I now know of two more, which I will blog about once I have a chance to make pictures. In the meantime, there is also a large sign at Cattle Point in Uplands Park about the Songhees use of land that is now largely encompassed within the municipality of Oak Bay, part of Greater Victoria. Today I feature this sign which is titled: Keeping Culture Alive, The Chekonein Family. It includes maps of Songhees geographical names and boundaries, historical photographs, and mentions history, archaeology, territory, seasonal round, subsistence activities, and traditional ecological knowledge.
From a photography viewpoint it is not a particularly interesting subject. And, it is covered by shiny plexiglass that has not been washed for months, or even years. In order to photograph the sign panels, I had to stand to one side to avoid reflections. That combined with the grime make for substandard images. But that is all part of the current context for this sign, and I really don’t want to take a bucket of soapy water and squeegee out there to clear the plexiglass, which would probably make the reflections worse. Excuses aside, I am lazy enough to not want to retype the text; nor is it my wish to encroach on copyright so I present all the information from this sign through these images, regardless of their quality.
Argentine Hitty Hair
It’s almost impossible to move in this house without bumping into, tripping over, or being sassed by a doll. They come in all sizes and shapes and types. Some of them collect dust on shelves, but these small wooden Hitty dolls are among the most loved. Here they are sitting on our kitchen table watching the family get on with things. They take part in many of our day-to-day activities, and sometimes even show up under a pillow in the bed. They go on adventures, all around town and far away. Yesterday some of them even met the Queen. They are kind-hearted, but sometimes jealous and acerbic. Sisters, in short.
Glass Gate Sunset
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This door is really a gate between the front garden and back. It’s part of a new waterfront house on Harling Point in Victoria. I was just going to take a picture of it when a woman appeared part way through the gate, propped it open a crack, and then went back in. My camera was set on monochrome and the picture below is the result. A while later I came back this way thinking I would try for another shot and coincided with the man arriving home from work to be met by his two enthusiastic dogs.
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