Home & cancer free

I am 'radiant!'

and happy!

All done - after three weeks, plus one day - 16 treatments.

The week or so after treatments is when it 'peaks' and I am now seven days past the last treatment and feeling burning (like a very severe sunburn) in my armpit and some fatigue about 4-6 days following treatment.   Back on my feet!

Spent five hours today just hanging out and 'airing' my arm - basically holding my arm out, putting calendula cream on, polysporin and the juice of an aloe vera plant.

Sending Marc a huge shout out! He has been incredibly supportive and I can not thank him enough.
___________________________________________________________________________

Now, about our journey in Victoria, BC (capital city of British Columbia), three hours south of Comox, on Vancouver Island.

Fort Victoria RV Park

Stayed for two weeks in our 21 foot White Hawk trailer.

700 sites with 300 full hook-up sites with 50 amp.   It is close to downtown Victoria (about 7 km) and right beside part of the galloping goose trail (a network of bike trails).


Not fancy, but functional, no weekly rate (but a reduction for medical reasons and they found us a spot even in the peak of the season).   We were paying $55.00 per night (a deduction from the usual $65.00).

Photo from the Web

The Galloping Goose is part of the Trans Canada trail, dedicated in 1989 and is named for a gawky and noisey gas rail-car which carried passengers between Victoria and Sooke in the 1920's.   It is built on abandoned rail beds and trestles and now covers nearly 60 kms.   You can cycle, walk, or ride a horse along this former rail line.  60 km long trail from Sooke to downtown Victoria.

Esquimalt Lagoon



The View Royal RV resort is only a ten minute drive to the lagoon.   Fabulous beach and road that stretches across the lagoon.

Photo from the Web

The lagoon features views across to the City of Victoria at one end and snow capped peaks of the Olympic Mountains (Washington) at the other. 

It is an important stop off for birds journeying between North and South America.

People are very inventive and able to stay overnight in the park, unnoticed.

Very creative driftwood art along oceanview drive

(the lagoon)

Turkey Vulture

Kingfisher

Osprey

Oyster Catcher

Unfortunately, since Aug 5, 2018, an artist (Paul Lewis) who created a swan, blue heron and geese, has had his artwork vandalized a handful of times since June and he continues to redevelop his artwork, despite the idiots.  

Tazz is still learning to swim - she actually 'swam' around Marc but her swimming skills are very short.  

Having the front legs start to float off the ocean floor is a scary concept to the kelpie.












Seagull watching.   

They would watch the waves come in and see something then dive bomb to get these critters and swallow them whole.   No idea what they are - not crabs.

Photo courtesy of CTV news

When we lived on the beach we would observe seagulls downing starfish - whole and live.

Seriously?!?

















Leftovers from local fishermen.

I could walk with Tazz to a View Royal Park where dogs were allowed off leash in a large field and they had fabulous community gardens, water and shade during our summer time heat wave.

Yes, we do see them periodically - 

this was a photo taken from our kitchen window in Cumberland.

Downtown Victoria

After staying in Fort Victoria from Aug 6-17th (NW side of Victoria), we went home for the weekend, to drop off the RV, do laundry and then Monday, Aug 20th moved into Marc's moms place (she has a condo in James Bay - smack dab in downtown Victoria - walking distance from downtown and minutes to Beacon Hill Park).    Marc stayed with her the night before her flight - they had to rise at 2:30am to get to the airport in time and early enough to check-in for her 5:30 am flight to Florida.

A short walk from our temporary home and into the heart of serious tourist attractions.




The M.V.Coho (in the background - the ferry that transports clients between Victoria and Port Angeles, Washington).   A 2 hour ferry ride.

WALK ALONG WHARF STREET TO BASTION SQUARE

Chillin' out while Bev shops at the downtown street market.

There is no shortage of fabulous places to dine out in Victoria

and no lack of outdoor live music





























The back stairwell at Bastion Square Parkade features a unique experience.   Took awhile to figure out what all these domino-looking wall lights were for, at every level.



The challenge is taken on by Marc and not long into it, several people were watching and lining up to try the same.





















A musical stiarclimbing system; sensors are placed on the railing at all six levels.   When you touch the sensors, sounds will play through speakers on each level and LED lights illuminate the railing.   More visible at night.  

Downtown is bike friendly

We are noticing 

Lime green bicycles parked    randomly all over.  

This is a pilot project.  

A fleet of 300 U-bicycles are distributed in Victoria, in areas where people frequently ride.   You can pick up a bike by unlocking the bicycle lock on the rear tire by using an app on your mobile phone.   Then you will set up an account.  By scanning the bar code on the lock, you are free to take the bike and ride anywhere.   

When you have completed your ride, you simply park it and lock it for the next person.   Most of them come with helmets as well but theft is becoming a problem so they are working on a system for that.

Based on time - the cost is $1 for 30 minutes.  Your time is monitored from the app, when you park the bike you pay your account and log off.

PIT STOP ALONG CHINA TOWN

A light snack of BBQ pork bun and some hot, barbecued pork.

Chinatown started as a crude collection of wooden shacks, built by Chinese immigrants who travelled to seek gold.   Victoria became the major entry point when Barkerville became known during the gold rush and 15,000 workers came to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway.

FAN TAN ALLEY

A narrow pedestrian walkway connecting two commercial streets.   It is less than 3 feet wide at its narrowest.   Originally a gambling district, you will now find a variety of shops, restaurants and galleries.


NIGHT TIME STROLLS ALONG GOVERNMENT AND WHARF STREET

Parliament Buildings

(Legislative Assembly of British Columbia)

The horses put in a full day's work.  Resting time is around 7 pm and they are boarded at Ogden Point.   We have seen them coming in for rest time.

The Empress Hotel

This is called the V2V - transports foot passengers from the heart of downtown Vancouver, through the Southern Gulf Islands, right into Victoria's Inner Harbor.    Main deck seating is $110.00 and upper deck is $165.00.  3 hours 30 minutes across to Vancouver.

BUTTERFLY GARDENS

Our friend, Beverly and myself, spent an afternoon hanging out in the tropics.   After just under two hours, we were soaking wet and done - the humidity is unreal.

Very interesting place with insects, a few birds and of course butterflies.

We had a great "Beverly" time together.







Leaf-Cutter Ants

Leaf-cutter ants don't eat the leaves they cut, they are collecting those leaves to feed to their fungus gardens.   It is the fungus they grow from the decomposing leaves that is their food.   In the wild, they have a built-in mechanism that stops them from cutting the same leaves for more than a day or two.   This prevents the surrounding area from being stripped of leaves.

Having said that, they can have colonies of up to 10 million.   They are able to strip a tree of its foliage in less than 24 hours.

They can carry things in their jaws up to 20 times heavier than they are!

The colony is made of different roles, such as workers and soldiers.   The tiny protector, whose job it is to protect leaves and actually rides on the leaves as the ants carry them (freeloaders), protects the ants from parasitic flies and moths that could cause disease or destruction.

There are gardeners/Nurses that take care of whole gardens of fungus.





Excavators:  they have garbage chambers where dead workers, old food and other trash is taken.

Trash Handlers:  Things like dead ants, bad mold, and leaves build up in the colony and must be removed to prevent the spread of disease.  The excavators build large chambers deep below the rest of the nest - these are the garbage dumps of the colony.  Once the ant becomes a trash handler, they avoid contact with other chambers so they do not accidentally infect the queen with disease.   So, they basically stay in the dumps!

I know one thing - I never want to reincarnate as a leaf cutter ant!!!!

Leaf Insect



























Leaf insects have thin and large leaf-like appendages on the sides of their legs and bodies.   These Celebes Leaf Insects are bright red when they first hatch and fade to green over the first few days of life.  They live in the Indonesian area in South East Asia.

JUNGLE NYMPHS

They hold the record for the largest egg laid by an insect.   These large and aggressive insects use their spike to fight off threats.   Males are brown and females range from yellow to green and significantly larger.   Eggs take 12 to 14 months to hatch.  Found predominantly in Malaysia.


IRIDESCENT BEETLE

Most sought after beetle in the world, from Cairns, Australia

  INTO THE HUMID TROPICS

Self explanatory:   Turtle versus Koi

Real Flamingos

THIS, 

opens up to this

And, the iguana - loose but just hanging out high above everyone.

BACK TO DOWNTOWN VICTORIA

Croquet on the lawns of the Empress Hotel and High Tea (a very British tradition with the Empress and Victoria).

THE DEMOLITION OF THE CUSTOMS BUILDING

New configuration of the seven-stores Customs House project will see 57 high-end condos built in what was the Canada Customs building and the adjoining heritage building.  

The heritage facade will be maintained while the interior will be gutted and renovated.  

Built in 1914, Customs House was constructed on the former foundation of the City of Victoria's 1898 post office.  

A 'vice-like' process retains the exterior structural integrity as crews rebuild the interior.

Marc and I walk downtown then east a couple of blocks to Ogden Point breakwater (a protection built for the coast guard and docking point but also for the cruise ships).

Cruise ships docked at Ogden Point.

While we were downtown Victoria, Marc's cousin and family were passing through on a very short trip from Menlo Park, California.   We meet them one evening and walked around downtown, then breakfast the next morning.  (It has been eight years since we have seen them).

So great to have time to visit them and just happen to be in the same area.

PICKLEBALL EVERY DAY

Big thank you to everyone that we got to play with in Victoria and everyone for organizing play for both of us through the month.

My last day of treatments - thank you all for my farewell games and company.

Bev, Susan, Beverly

Good Grief! (what can I say about this?)

Sadly, I have to report that British Columbia has had major wildfires this summer and they have not ended yet.   Supposedly, we will get some rain starting tomorrow.  

Air quality has been an issue everywhere and throughout the province - evacuations and devastation. July and August have virtually seen no rainfall and unseasonably high temperatures.

On this note, I end.

Our time in Victoria is done, we have been back in Comox a week and settling back into a somewhat normal lifestyle.