STAGING A REVIVAL Jane Butler McGregor brings back the Conservatory
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the arts people food homes
PRETTY PLEASE BE MY DOCTOR A good GP is hard to find, but patients may be rewarded
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contents
boulevard
volume XX ISsUE 3 march/april 2010
features
46
116
12 Rx for change Prescriptions to ease the doctor shortage By Anne Mullens
32 SLOWLY, WITH FEELING How one woman rebuilds a Victoria arts institution By Robert Moyes
22 PETS and PAINTING An artist strays into a mission to save dogs By Lisa Ferguson
38 GOOD TO MEET YOU Networking works in difficult times By Alex Van Tol 46 COWICHAN HIGH Paragliders love to take flying leaps By Georgina Montgomery
76
70
22
Pam Lacey Photo
62 FEED THE SOUL A Sidney “open mic” night inspires a CD and a community By Adrienne Dyer
departments 8 EDITOR’S LETTER Fewer degrees of separation 9 LETTERS to the EDITOR Tea, but little sympathy 10 CONTRIBUTORS Who’s writing what in our springtime issue 56 CREATIVE MINDS Pair produces hot docs on topics that can shock By Denise Rudnicki 70 FRONT ROW With Threaded Needle 2010 showcases embroidery from cross-stitch to contemporary; a multi-media and cabaret
columns
20 Hawthorn Victorians live in book-buyers’ heaven By Tom Hawthorn
diva celebrated at the Belfry; times may be tough, but there are no short cuts for a masterpiece of ballet, Carmina Burana ; plus wildlife painting, a Palm Court outing and a Titanic tragedy By Robert Moyes
102 TECHNOLOGIA Web freebies abound, but choose carefully By Darryl Gittins
120 LIBATIONS Distilled spirits have us over the moonshine By Robert Moyes
106 BOULEVARD BOOK CLUB The juicy mystery of crime novels By Adrienne Dyer
122 EATING IN Sow your seeds now, reap salads later By Adrienne Dyer
76 HOT PROPERTIES A house built for the joy of work and play By Denise Rudnicki
112 TRAVEL NEAR Hollyhock reboot By Robert Gibbs
128 EATING OUT Hot lunch spots for midday munchers By Adrienne Dyer
116 TRAVEL FAR Chile’s “Valpo” is a Victorian charmer By Anne Mullens
133 SECRETS & LIES Take our quick tour of Robert Gialloreto By Shannon Moneo
96 HOT DESIGN The beauty of a counter revolution By Steve Carey
28 Public Citizen People power is a wonderful thing By Ross Crockford
66 State of the Arts I’m all ears for Twisted String By Alisa Gordaneer
ON OUR COVER: Jane Butler McGregor commands the stage at the Victoria Conservatory of Music’s Alix Goolden Hall. Photo by Vince Klassen
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editor
FROM our
Life is about more than money.
That old expression “it’s not what you know, but who you know” certainly has a cynical ring, but it is at least partly right. Who among us has not gained something important — a job reference, an invitation to join a club, the name of a family doctor — from somebody well enough acquainted with us to pass our names along? We are, after all, social animals who move within circles of family, friends and colleagues, establishing our reputations through our words and deeds. I think it is especially true in a small, clannish city like Victoria that both what and who we know can open important doors. One without the other is just not enough. Writers Alex Van Tol and Anne Mullens both touch on the theme of connectedness in this issue. Alex draws us into the web of local networking, where those seeking jobs and promotions know that success comes through building meaningful relationships, not slapping a business card into someone’s hand or telling a joke. Anne, our Associate Editor, explains why it is so difficult to find and keep a family doctor here and what the profession is trying to do about it. Anne’s piece is unusual: she writes it not only as a medical journalist but as a health advocate who has agreed to help family doctors communicate plans for improvements to each other and to their patients. Connections are not just important in business and health circles, but also for fun and excitement, as Georgina Montgomery learned when she talked to those in the growing ranks of paragliders in the Cowichan. Now that you and this issue have met, I will leave you two alone to get better acquainted. But first, I’ll make one more introduction: Peter Baillie, the Times Colonist’s former vice-president of advertising and marketing, has just joined Boulevard. We welcome Peter, who brings us a wealth of publishing experience and community connectedness. Correction: In the Hot Properties Suppliers and Trades list in the January/February issue, Charles Gabriel Blasted Glass should have been credited with etched, not stained, glass. Victoria Boulevard welcomes your letters. Please include your name, address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for brevity and/or clarity. Write to Letters, 1845B Fort Street, Victoria, BC V8R 1J6, or you can e-mail us at editor@victoriaboulevard.com. Check out our website: victoriaboulevard.com. VB
8 victoriaboulevard.com
letters
YOUR
Recovery story is inspirational Thanks for the article about (lawyer, mountain climber, stroke victim) Chris Considine (Nov/Dec 09). I have rounded up a half-dozen issues to give to some of my friends who are going through trying times. What an inspiration.
easily daunted, emulated, to make our world a better place to live. I dump cold water on the Book Club moms and give them the thumbs down.
Ir r e s is t a b le
Pat Hanrahan, Maple Bay
. . . make that a double . . . Greg Mortenson did not abandon his family. He met Marlene Lavallee, Victoria his wife long after he began this project and she and their Book Club moms daughter have travelled with cause a Tea stir him to see his work. So the Book Club moms His first school was built reporting on Three Cups of with his savings from his Tea (Nov/Dec 09) have job as a registered nurse given the thumbs down to between his treks back to the humanitarian Greg the people who saved his Mortenson and indicate that he would have shown better life. He was also assisted by judgment if he had stayed at a philanthropist in New York, who heard what he was home with his family. trying to do in the mountains. Surely no wife or mother The “Pennies for Pakistan” (or husband for that matter) came later. could possibly be more Greg was shocked, as he proud than to be associated regained his health, to notice with a person who would the children in the village dedicate his/her life to a scratching in the earth with vision of assisting people sticks to learn their lessons. with no hope. This man is As bad as things might be a shining example of the in inner-city Los Angeles true spirit of caring and schools, the children are compassion. not reduced to that! Mortenson argues that Graduates of CAI schools in the remote areas of (Central Asia Institute) are Pakistan and Afghanistan, being trained as teachers and extremism can be deterred health care workers, thereby through efforts committed multiplying the works begun to reducing poverty and by Greg Mortenson. improving access to A painfully slow read? education, especially for I couldn’t put it down! girls. The account of his May I suggest the members success is breathtaking. of that book club (Nov/Dec He is without a doubt a hero in our time. Mortenson 09) have another look at Three Cups of Tea. is someone to be admired, respected and for those not Vicki Muzychka, Ladysmith
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BOULEVARD the magazine of urban living the arts people food homes
President John Simmons VP Finance Melissa Sands Publisher Sue Hodgson Associate Publisher Linda Hensellek Managing Editor Vivian Smith Associate Editor Anne Mullens Art Director Jaki Jefferson Production Jaki Graphics, Kelli Brunton Principal Photographers Gary McKinstry, Vince Klassen Advertising Sue Hodgson, Linda Hensellek, Cynthia Hanischuk, Alicia Cormier, Pat Montgomery-Brindle Marketing Coordinator Scott Simmons Pre-press Kelli Brunton Printing Central Web 46,000 copies of Victoria Boulevard ® are published bimonthly by Boulevard Lifestyles Inc. Mailing address:1845B Fort Street, Victoria, BC V8R 1J6. Telephone: 250-598-8111. Fax: 250-598-3183. E: info@victoriaboulevard.com. W: victoriaboulevard.com. Victoria Boulevard ® is a registered trademark of Boulevard Lifestyles Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the publisher’s written permission. Printed in Canada.
ourcontributors Steve Carey is an Island-born journalist and IT
consultant who recently has become a bit of a modernism junkie. While working on Hot Design, he became fixated on Szolyd’s G-ROC concrete — a recycled glass and concrete counter top — going so far as to wonder what colour would look good in his kitchen. Once he and his fiancée install flooring and choose cabinetry (an adventure in itself), they’ll weigh the array of counter choices and decide. When he’s not hanging around kitchens for Boulevard, Carey writes Reduce, Reuse, Rethink, a sustainability column for the Times Colonist. Adrienne Dyer’s contributions this issue filled her
with inspiration — to increase her food self-sustainability, to extend a helping hand in a more significant way, to indulge in our city’s delights more frequently and to enrich her column and personal reading experience by joining a book club rather than remaining ever the observer. She hopes readers may find inspiration, too. Rick Gibbs, a Vancouver native and long-time Victoria resident, reports that he got through a demanding 25-year high school teaching career by practising a wellresearched meditation technique and immersing himself in nature whenever possible. Although he finds his current life as a part-time freelance writer much easier, his weekend visit to Hollyhock reminded him that everyone can benefit from a restful retreat by the ocean now and then. As Socrates, Emerson and countless modern-day philosophers have said, “the examined life” is the only one worth living. Georgina Montgomery is an editor and writer for
corporate and government clients across Canada. As the author of a new book called The Cowichan: Duncan, Chemainus, Ladysmith and Region (with photographer Kevin Oke), she welcomed the paragliding-in-Cowichan assignment. “My aim in the book was to provide a ‘big-picture’ view of an amazingly diverse region,” she says. “Now I like thinking about how hundreds of paragliders heading to the Cowichan achieve their own high-level perspective, literally, each time they launch.” Denise Rudnicki lives on a boat in Victoria’s Inner
Harbour, after having spent 25 years as a journalist and teacher in Ontario. The homeowners featured in this issue’s Hot Properties impressed her with their commitment to green living. “The Sloans are playful and practical and their elegant home reflects that.” VB
Are family doctors an endangered species? Maybe, but not if this group can help it
A NEW
PRACTICE
By Anne Mullens photo by gary mckinstry
oyster perpetual datejust
Editor’s Note: After covering health crises for 25 years, Anne Mullens, Boulevard’s Associate Editor, decided to get off the sidelines and work with a group of doctors and government officials (the General Practice Services Committee) to bolster what she believes is right in health care: family doctors as the backbone of our health care system. This story outlines their issues, as she sees them.
Robert Wilkins was desperate when he finally placed an ad in the Personals section of the Times Colonist classifieds a few months ago. The retired businessman wasn’t looking for a companion for moonlight walks or a watch lost somewhere along Dallas Road. He wanted something much more vital. Reward: 65-year-old man, single, desperate for a family doctor offers up to $300 for a legit opening. Phone . . . Since Wilkins retired to Victoria from Vancouver last year, he has been searching for a family doctor, relying on walk-in clinics whenever he had a health concern. He found the turnstile-like relationship with a different physician every time unsatisfying. He fears that as he ages, he will become adrift in a medical system with no general practitioner to oversee his preventive health needs, to arrange his tests and referrals and to manage any acute illnesses. victoriaboulevard.com 13
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“I don’t think I am a difficult patient or person. I don’t really have that many health concerns — yet. I just want to make sure that I have a relationship with a doctor who knows me,” says Wilkins. Alas, his ad garnered about a half-dozen calls from people hoping to cash in on the reward, but it did not land that elusive doc. “I am stuck and I don’t know what to do,” he says. Sandy Wheeler, another Victoria resident, was suddenly searching last year for a new family doctor, too. Without warning, Wheeler, an emergency room nurse and mother of two, got a letter saying her GP was closing her busy practice to become a medical consultant with a corporation. Wheeler’s medical records could be obtained for a fee of $175 from a Toronto storage company. The news shocked Wheeler, 52, who had battled cancer in the previous 10 years and needs regular checkups. With no doctor to take over the practice, Wheeler and about 1,200 others were on their own. “As a woman and a mother, I can understand a GP making a choice to change to a job that better suits her needs, but as a patient I felt completely and utterly abandoned,” says Wheeler. Fortunately, with her medical connections, she found another doctor, but she knows others are still searching. Wilkins and Wheeler represent a facet of a vexing health problem in Victoria and indeed across Canada: the family doctor shortage. An estimated 4.1 million people in Canada — some 200,000 in BC — are without a family doctor. In the Greater Victoria Region, more than 15,000 people are estimated to be “orphaned” or “unattached” to a regular GP. Canada’s health care system is built on family doctors as advocates for and coordinators of patients’ needs and the first step in obtaining care. “Without a family physician, the ability to access timely care is severely undermined,” says Dr. Cathy McLean, the president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. The crisis is the result of many factors. It started back in the 1990s, when the political decision was made across the country not to spend the money to increase seats at
medical schools to keep pace with our growing population. Despite recent efforts to catch up (UBC has doubled its capacity in recent years) that demographic miscalculation will impact us for decades. Making it worse is the fact that over the next 15 years, one-third of the medical work force will be eligible to retire. Working lives of GPs in the last two decades have become increasingly stressed. The medical knowledge that a generalist GP is expected to know has increased exponentially. Patients live longer, often with three or more chronic diseases that call for complex management. Filling in forms and keeping up with the documentation Without a family of the modern medico-legal culture keeps many a GP physician, the ability working late into the evening or catching up on weekends. As a result to access timely doctors are limiting the size of their practices, refusing to care is severely take new patients, limiting their range of services and giving up hospital privileges. undermined. While GPs’ work has become more demanding, financial compensation relative to specialists’ income has stalled or declined. GPs’ incomes relative to other occupations are at an all-time low. Women comprise 50 per cent of medical school classes and about 35 per cent of practicing doctors. Female doctors have been a huge benefit to the discipline in terms of choice of provider, care, compassion and quality, but an indisputable down side is that women tend to work fewer hours per week, take more time out for childrearing and are more apt to go to part-time, so overall provide fewer hours of patient care per capita. Work-life balance has become so important across society that both male and female doctors under 45 tend to work fewer hours per week than doctors over age 50. Who can blame them? Many doctors who don’t look after themselves burn out. It is practically impossible to find another doctor (called a locum) to cover the patient load if they get sick. “You have to book a locum up to two years in advance for a vacation, so what do you do if you are suddenly ill?” said my own GP, Dr. Allison Ferg, now just one of 38 family doctors in the city who still do maternity care — 25 years ago more than 100 Victoria GPs did. Last summer Ferg suddenly herniated a disk and needed emergency back surgery. Lying flat on her back
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in excruciating pain, she sent dozens of e-mails, asking colleagues: “Can you cover for me? Do you know anyone who can?” “I can’t tell a nine-month-pregnant patient ‘hold off for a bit while I recover from surgery’,” said Ferg, who patched together just two weeks of coverage. Instead of taking the recommended month-long time to recuperate, she was back on her feet, up all night delivering babies, in a fortnight. The lure of family medicine was so tarnished that by 2003, only 23 per cent of the UBC medical school graduating class chose general practice, an all-time low. Across Canada the rate that year was 29 per cent. Our health system is designed on the expectation that the GP/ specialist split will be 50/50. A survey of Canadian family doctors three years ago revealed that one-third of GPs said if they could make the choice over, they wouldn’t choose family medicine. A crisis indeed. In 2003 only 23% So what do we do? Everyone is looking for the of UBC medical answer and across the country a number of grads chose family initiatives are underway. Here in BC, a group of medicine, an doctors and government officials, called the General all-time low. Practice Services Committee (GPSC) has been working since 2003 to find solutions. This group, made up of representatives from the BCMA, the Ministry of Health and the members of the Society of General Practice, with the Health Authorities attending as guests, is working to turn the tide, backed by $382-million through to 2012. Such a sum is considered an essential investment. Research shows time and again that patients who have good relationships with a family doctor have fewer health crises, stay out of hospital more often and enjoy better health overall. GPs provide more cost-effective use of limited health funds, too. A recent independent study found that if just 5 per cent of high-needs diabetes patients had a closer attachment to a GP, BC would save $85-million each year. In 2004/05 the GPSC consulted with more than 1,000 doctors around the province, which revealed that the trend could change if GPs felt valued, were paid appropriately for the relative demand of their work and had adequate, ongoing clinical training and practical support. The GPSC is trying a number of initiatives, including incentive payments for doctors to provide the more
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complex, demanding care, such as maternity and mental health care and proactive chronic disease management. Doctors involved can see their incomes increase by about 11 per cent, or up to about $27,000 per year. The popular In medical school practice support program provides training and there is little or resources for doctors to keep up-to-date with clinical skills, no training how to as well as office administrative techniques in how to best run the business of manage patient flow to avoid backlogs and waiting lists.“In being a doctor. medical school we are trained to diagnose and treat disease. There is little or no training about how to handle stress, how to manage your staff and finances and simply how to run the business of being a doctor,” says Dr. Bill Cavers, the co-chair of the GPSC and a Victoria family doctor.
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Dr. Frank Egan, left, closes his office one morning a month to hold a group visit for up to 10 of his diabetic patients. Pictured here with Dr Egan: Paul Chalmers, Fay McLellan and John Williams.
The GPSC program is also paying bonuses and giving debt relief to new family physicians out of medical school to start practices in areas of need. Incentives and supports are being provided to doctors to do maternity care. And things are slowly improving. Ferg, for example, is one of hundreds of BC GPs who have taken the training program in patient scheduling and found it has enabled her to see patients on the same day they call. Patients love it.
“When we started talking about what worked from the patient’s perspective, not the doctors’ or the government’s, but what actions would lead to better patient care and experiences, that is when the work of the GP Services Committee truly came together and we started to make a difference,” said Cavers. Group visits are another option that patients love. Dr. Frank Egan, a Victoria GP, closes his regular practice one morning a month and sees his diabetic patients in groups of 10, for two and a half hours. Instead of individual rushed visits, the group can talk at length, learn from and support each other. Some in the group have even started exercising together outside of the group hours. “It is so powerful. They share tips, recipes and resources. And it is a rewarding use of my time,” says Egan. “I’m always learning something new and it is so much better than just a 15-minute appointment,” says Marie Pearson, 62, who has had diabetes for 60 years, and lost her sight to the disease. “Since I can’t read anymore, the tips and sharing of new information in the group is very helpful to me. And I in turn can also help others with what I know.” Not all family doctors embrace the programs. Some see one more training session they have to attend, new paperwork to fill out and new processes to adopt at a time Over the next 15 when they are stretched to the max. But Egan has tried the years, one-third of various initiatives and emerged as a local champion. “I want to the medical work help improve the health care system and inspire younger force will be eligible doctors and colleagues to embrace technology and to retire. change for the better and to translate it into their practice and lives. If it doesn’t work, we try something else or fix it. But we keep trying.” While the family doctor crisis is far from solved, things appear to be moving in the right direction. This year, 35 per cent of UBC graduates chose family medicine. Cavers hopes the efficiency changes and incentives will enable doctors to use their time more effectively and to therefore squeeze a few more patients in. “If every family doctor collectively agreed to each take in a few patients we could eliminate the problem of orphaned or unattached patients,” said Cavers. In fact, that is just what Egan was able to do. He has had a closed practice for a number of years, but he decided he could squeeze in at least one more. He just agreed to take Robert Wilkins as his patient. VB
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hawthorn By Tom Hawthorn
We’re a city of avid readers and our great book stores show it: I wish I had more time to read everything I buy
Skip up the steps from the west sidewalk of Government Street, place a hand on the brass handle, pull open the doors to heaven. Inside is a shrine of commerce of the most edifying kind. A bookcase holding the latest trade paperbacks appears straight ahead, the brilliant covers miniature masterpieces of the graphic designer’s art. The case is one among dozens that line all walls and create aisles throughout the store. Some books are presented spine only, a demure presentation made necessary by the sheer number of volumes at hand. Every title carries the possibility of a transcendent experience. (OK, a copy of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Puzzle Book #3 might challenge so high-falutin’ a concept.) Change your life, have a laugh, time travel, build a shelf, plant a garden. No wonder books are a delight.
My all-time favourite bookstore — and I have visited many over the years — is Munro’s Books, a playground for any who love the printed word on dead-tree products such as this. A measure of a city is the quality of its retail merchants. Some places become known for certain goods — Milan for high fashion, or Taxco, in Mexico, for silver. Our city still carries a reputation as a far corner of Olde England with tattered Union Jacks, a tiger skin over the fireplace at the Bengal Lounge, cosies over the pots at the tea rooms. That’s all fine, if a little hokey. A better reflection of who we are is that the people of this city support a variety of excellent independent bookstores. Munro’s downtown is joined by Bolen Books at Hillside Mall and such smaller neighbourhood stores as Tanner’s Books in Sidney, Ivy’s Book Shop on Oak Bay Avenue and the Cadboro Bay Book Campany, not to mention a selection of shops specializing in children’s literature and crime books. We’re readers and these stores provide our sustenance. Just stepping into Munro’s makes me feel like one of the faithful on a pilgrimage. Pillars rise almost eight metres to hold up a coffered ceiling designed to resemble that found in the ruins of the Roman library at Ephesus. Not familiar with ancient architecture? They’ve got books about that. My route into the store always follows the same path — go to the right of the front desk, past the new releases, to the mid-rear of the store, where magazines were added some years ago. Sitting at my computer, I can map the store as easily as my own home. The children’s section is in a nook in the far corner. Bought my daughter some Harry Potter volumes there. The classics section rests just before the entrance. Humour is against a rear wall (should you need a bathroom reader), as is fantasy. Literature is along the south wall, though the substantial poetry section has its own place on the north wall, not far from the history section. Music is hidden away near the foyer. In the centre are tables upon which rest stacks of publishers’ rejects, orphans of a fickle trade. One local political columnist describes this part of the store as the “free book table,” so inexpensive are the volumes whose remaindered status is dictated less by their literary quality than by the cost of warehouse space. Without a staff, a bookstore is no more than bricks and books. You never know when the clerk chasing down the latest Dan Brown exercise in typing is a published author of greater talent, if not necessarily popularity and certainly not riches. At Munro’s, Deborah Willis is the author of Vanishing and Other Stories, a first collection that was nominated last year for a Governor General’s award. At Bolen’s, Robert
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Wiersema, who, as the store’s events co-ordinator handles author readings and signings, is also the author of the best-selling novel, Before I Wake, as well as The World More Full of Weeping, a novella published last fall. Harder to find a more erudite crew outside a campus than bookstore workers. My visits to Munro’s have included conversations about music, sports and politics. And when I’m tweaked about the sad state of the newspaper industry, I counter with accounts of the perils of the book trade. The independent stores have survived the rise of the Internet, the arrival of big-box rivals and the rising Canadian dollar, which made a mockery of the prices printed months earlier on dust jackets. The latest challenge is the advent of portable readers with their Age of the Oh, Shock Doctrine, Jetsons’ promise of eliminating physical books. you now seem so Munro’s has been in business for 46 years, a 2007. Stalin’s War, longevity owing much to the you’ve been in the vision of the eponymous founder. Jim Munro, who is book pile longer 80, left a steady job at a department store to open a than the siege of paperback bookstore with his wife, the former Alice Laidlaw. Stalingrad. The business has lasted longer than their marriage, though they remain on good terms. Why, you can find more than 20 Alice Munro titles among the stock, including editions in French and German. The proprietor’s best decision came in 1984 when he bought the neo-classical bank building that is now the store’s home. He has thus avoided the fluctuations of retail rents and the whims of a landlord. I do not believe I have ever left the store empty-handed, often indulging my weakness for doorstopper-sized works of history. The intent is to be rewarded with a good read and a glass of red wine after a hard day’s keyboard labours, though often enough the books wind up in stacks on the floor of the home office. Over time, these teetering stalagmites mock me for my intentions. Oh, Shock Doctrine, you were once top of the list, but now you seem so 2007. Stalin’s War, you’ve been in the pile longer than the siege of Stalingrad. I promise to get to you, Best American Magazine Writing of the Year, as soon as I find out the date of the apocalypse from Have a Nice Doomsday: Why Millions of Americans are Looking Forward to the End of the World. VB
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Bringing up
fido
Far from their original Mexican home, healthy and happy Lobito (left) and Maya have new tales to tell.
By Lisa Ferguson photo by gary mckinstry
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This artist found a new passion, rescuing Mexican mutts and finding them loving homes here
The black cat staring from the second-floor window looks in a pique, but the little blond girl shivering in the cold on the lawn below looks delighted. The object of both pairs of eyes is another little blond, Bertha. Bertha seems ecstatic as she races repeatedly in a circle along the deck, over the rocky lawn, under the deck and back up again. Occasionally she stops to sniff something or scratch. Bertha is a part-Golden Retriever puppy, brought to this house in Metchosin to see if it will be her new home. “So do we get to keep her?” the mother in the hopeful family asks excitedly. Marlene Davis smiles and replies, “I think this will make a lovely home for Bertha.” It’s a long way from Bertha’s last home: the streets of Guanajuato, Mexico, where the “Mexi mutt” was found, her stomach so distended from parasites she was barely able to move. Davis rescued the puppy from a life of certain misery and brought her to Canada. Davis has two passions: pets and painting. Davis is an accomplished artist: her work is in collections including those of the estate of Michael Williams, Camosun College and the Province of British Columbia. But lately, she says, “dogs have taken over. But it’s all worthwhile when I see them go to their homes.” Davis’s relationship with the street dogs of Guanajuato goes back 10 years. In 1999, she founded a non-profit, called Mex-Can Pet Partners, to raise funds for Los Amigos de los Animales de Guanajuato (Friends of the Animals of Guanajuato). Amigos is a charitable organization that cares and advocates for the city’s thousands of abused, neglected and abandoned animals. “People looked at me like I was crazy,” Davis says. They wondered why she cared about animals in Mexico. But to Davis, “any animal I could help was worth it, didn’t matter if it was in Mexico, or here, wherever — they all deserve to have a good life.” In Canada, she explains, lots of
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organizations already help animals. She found an opportunity to help in Mexico and she felt compelled to do so. Receiving the 2003 Humane Award from the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association strengthened her resolve. Over the years, Davis’s work to support Amigos’ spay‑neuter, rescue‑rehabilitation and adoption programs has improved the lives of over 4,000 animals. Since buying a house in Guanajuato a couple of years ago, she has provided a foster home for dozens of rescued dogs — some found, like Bertha, but most dropped anonymously at her house. A few times a year, Davis travels back to Victoria, accompanying as many recovered dogs as she can afford to transport for bringing into well-screened homes, more than 60 in the past two years. A fee of $300 covers a dog’s $130 airfare on pet-friendly Aeromexico from Leon, which is 26 kilometres from Guanajuato, to Seattle, its destination closest to Victoria; ferry costs from Seattle; and vet expenses. Before they leave Guanajuato, Davis has the dogs vet checked, vaccinated, dewormed, treated for mange, tested for blood parasites and spayed or neutered. She cares for them while they recuperate because, she says, “I want a healthy animal to come up and find a home.” The day I visit her, Davis and I set off from her Pembroke Street home in a car borrowed from a neighbour, Bertha lying on the back seat. On the way to the “doggie drop” in Metchosin, Davis, a 54-year-old with one brown eye and one blue — “like some dogs” — tells me how she became “so consumed” with dogs. Checks of her written directions, subsequent comments like “Whoops, look out!” and a frequent, lilting laugh punctuate her story. When Davis and a friend visited Central Mexico in 1999 for its monarch butterfly sanctuaries, it was cruelty, not beauty, that left an impression. “We were both really depressed the whole time,” Davis said, “because of all the dogs — stray animals and wandering puppies.” Mexico’s pet overpopulation and abuse “crisis” (according to award-winning documentary Companions to None) is based, Davis says, on a complex stew of economics, education and religion. “Mexico’s a country where the more, the merrier,” she said. “Procreation is important, and family, and some people believe animals shouldn’t be neutered or spayed because it’s nature to make more.” But there’s a big contradiction, she said, between this value placed on life and the common abuse towards the resulting stray animals wandering the streets and beaches. “They don’t understand that animals are a feeling creature,” Davis says. The strays are seen as pests that carry rabies and parasites, so they are poisoned or rounded up and shot. A more humane solution, Davis said, is to spay and neuter so overpopulation isn’t created in the first place.
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Even family pets are commonly neglected and abandoned. “They love their animals, but they stick them on a roof, don’t feed them or give them shelter from rain, wind, and sun,” Davis said. When an animal dies or is rescued, they don’t know what they’ve done. “You have to understand, these people don’t have any money. They hardly have money to feed themselves or their children.” In the 10 years since she first travelled to Guanajuato and started working with Amigos, Davis told me, the stray population has decreased. And locals’ attitudes are slowly changing — in December 2007, the municipality passed a regulation to protect animals from abuse and neglect and set up a department to receive complaints. “Millions of people have travelled to Mexico and say they’ll never go back because of the dogs,” Davis said. But she did and proved wrong the naysayers who said any contribution she made would be “just a drop in the bucket.” Bertha has found a home. The street dog from Mexico has a family to love her and a grieving family has a puppy to replace the dog that recently died. Davis wipes away a few tears as we walk towards the car, not looking back to prevent Bertha from following her rescuer and companion of the past few months. “Hang on!” she says with a laugh as we pull out of the driveway — then, contentedly, “Rags to riches.” Mex-Can Pet Partners adoption applications can be downloaded from the website, www.mex-can.org, completed and emailed to marlene@mex-can.org. Adoption fee is $300. Home check is required. OTHER DOG RESCUE OPTIONS Many Victoria-area groups work to rescue and rehabilitate homeless animals. Mosaic Rescue, for example, brings dogs from a “high kill” shelter in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Victoria. Many of the dogs test positive for heartworm, a parasite common in Arkansas; most people who want a dog from the shelter are reluctant to pay for the expensive veterinary treatment, but Mosaic provides it to ensure the dogs are healthy when they arrive in Victoria. See mosaicrescue.ca. The SPCA brings dogs from shelters in other parts of the province to Victoria, where they have a much better chance of finding a home. See spca.bc.ca/pet-care/adoption. VictoriaAdoptables.com runs its own dog rescue program to help stray dogs on Vancouver Island and across the border, and links to other animal rescue organizations. Two local pounds and 16 rescue organizations currently post animal profiles on the site. Mexi Mutt Rescue is a Cowichan-based organization that also saves Mexican dogs. See meximutt.com. VB
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publiccitizen By ROSS crockford
Petitions have a noble place in the evolution of democracy: I learned first-hand how hard it is to use them as a tool to wield in Victoria
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The security guard shouted, “You can’t campaign on our property!” I stood outside a busy shopping mall with a sheaf of blank petition forms and despaired. It was the first week of johnsonstreetbridge.org’s drive to compel the City of Victoria to hold a referendum on fate of the “blue bridge,” and already we had trouble. What’s your property? I asked. Everything on this block, he said. No, I replied, the sidewalk is public space. “You’re not listening to me!” he shrieked. You can’t campaign on our property!” “OK, I won’t,” I said. I didn’t move. He walked off, furiously scribbling into a coiled notepad. I learned many things about Victoria from the “alternative approval process” (AAP) the city used last December for its
plan to replace the bridge — and the first was that it’s hard to get the public to sign a petition when we conduct much of our business on private land. Many British Columbians are learning similar lessons. Provincial law requires municipalities to get public approval for certain bylaws, especially those borrowing huge sums like the $42-million Victoria needs for a new bridge. In nearly every case BC municipalities use AAP, requiring opponents to come up with signatures from 10 per cent of voters to stop the bylaw — and forcing ordinary citizens to become petition organizers for the first time in their lives. Petitions have a noble place in the evolution of democracy. Basic rights like the secret ballot, universal suffrage and salaries for members of Parliament (so the working class could seek elected office) largely originated with the Chartist movement, which obtained over three million signatures on its 1842 petition to the British government. Petitions have improved Victoria too: the BC government built the Malahat highway a century ago partly because the retired military officer who surveyed it also gathered enough signatures to fill a petition nine feet long. History didn’t make our task of getting the 6,343 signatures required for the bridge petition any easier, however. The central library and community centres wouldn’t display the forms because they didn’t want to risk a backlash from city hall. Downtown turned out to be one of the hardest places to canvass, because many pedestrians there suffered from panhandler fatigue and refused all solicitations. We had better luck meeting Victorians in their neighbourhoods, out grocery shopping or walking their dogs. Some areas proved more political than others: Fairfield and James Bay residents cast half the votes in Victoria’s last municipal election and they provided many petition signatures, too. Getting a stranger to sign a document, like any briefly intimate act, requires trust, persuasion and personal contact. Online come-ons rarely worked: e-mails vanished amid the inbox clutter and Facebook groups (“Keep The Blue Bridge!!!”) seemed more a way of identifying with a cause than getting involved. (It seems electronic politicking often generates impressive numbers but little heat, causing skeptics to dismiss it as “slacktivism”.) Instead, the vast majority of petitions were collected by several dozen volunteers, on the streets and using their connections. One got signatures from his fellow regulars at a mall food court. Another took petitions to Christmas parties. Another canvassed his friends in rental hotels and collected bottles at the same time to supplement his income. I was deeply touched by how many people dutifully went about the work, each in her or his own way.
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Of course, it helped that many Victorians are passionately interested in local affairs. (Does any other town have as many reporters or free publications per capita?) Most of our volunteers came from Victoria’s large community of retirees, who had free time and decades of experience from political and environmental campaigns. Security guards aside, many businesses also let us canvass on their doorsteps, or collected petitions from their own customers. Victoria’s fetish for public consultation may frustrate newcomers from fast-track jurisdictions like Calgary or Langford, but this is a government town and its residents value the rough-and-tumble of the political process. The petition did meet some opposition. I went to a gallery opening and a drunken fellow told me, “Give it up, man. You can’t win. This is about money from California and Hong Kong. They want a new bridge.” (Some people overheard this and signed.) Others repeated councillor Lynn Hunter’s comment that a referendum would be an “affront” to representative democracy. (That comment also got us hundreds of signatures.) A radical United church minister told me he thought petitions were useless and urged me to take direct action and occupy the mayor’s office. But such antagonism was rare. For every person we encountered who said no, five people signed and thanked us:
once, while I walked along the street, a young driver saw my “Blue Bridge Petition” smock and pulled over, asking if she could add her name while her toddler slept in the back seat. Victorians showed us extraordinary generosity too, donating furniture and office supplies and computers, scoured out of basements and warehouses. One evening a woman came into our office and gave us $500 to pay for photocopying, no questions asked. Betty Gibbens, a longtime council-watcher, told us that while out canvassing, she ran into the mayor. He asked her who was behind this bridge campaign. “The people of Victoria,” she proudly replied. Last October, just before a key council meeting, a city employee handed me a letter from the engineering company hired to replace the bridge, picking apart our criticisms of their project, including our call for a referendum. The rebuke didn’t surprise me; what did was the list of a dozen well-salaried city staffers who’d been cc’d on the letter, all dedicated to pushing the new bridge. At that moment, adding up all our unpaid time, I realized why some say you can’t fight city hall. A few weeks later, though, we delivered more than 9,000 valid petition forms to the city and later this year it will have to hold a public vote on the bridge. That was the greatest lesson from the AAP: with a team of dedicated supporters, you can fight city hall. Whether you can actually change it remains to be seen. VB
victoriaboulevard.com 31
Goodbye Havoc,
HELLO MUSIC
Jane Butler McGregor brings the Victoria Conservatory back from the brink of ruin
By Robert Moyes
photo by Vince Klassen
Two years ago the Victoria Conservatory of Music was going down like the Titanic. Established in 1964 as a non-profit, it had long been a precious resource for musical education and performance. Its world-famous graduates include violinists Marc Destrubé and Jonathan Crow, pianist Jon Kimura Parker and opera singers Richard Margison and Barbara Livingston. But by 2008 it was foundering with debts in excess of $1-million and a large mortgage on a heritage building at Johnson and Pandora in need of expensive repairs. Employees, students and benefactors were jumping ship. Even the beleaguered executive director walked out one day and never returned. Then a saviour appeared in the person of Jane Butler McGregor, a problem solver with first-rate business skills honed by years in private and the not-for-profit sectors. It was by chance that McGregor, who graduated from Mount Douglas high school in the early 1970s, was back in Victoria and able to help. Word of what she is accomplishing at the conservatory is getting out: enrollment, which had been in decline, was up eight per cent in 2009. At present 800 students attend fall and spring classes, with another 400 students coming from across the country for specialized summer programs. A palpable sense of excitement is in the halls, a feeling that this music school once again matters. The story began in April of 2005, when
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McGregor returned to Victoria after 12 years in the United States working for several not-for-profits in Palm Beach and Chicago, involved with everything from animal welfare to assisting youth transitioning out of foster care. Promptly invited onto the board of Pacific Opera Victoria, she soon was promoted to be POV’s interim executive director, a “short-term” appointment that lasted 16 months. By February of 2008, McGregor was well-ensconced in the city’s cultural scene; that’s when she was approached by desperate conservatory board members, who made her an offer that anyone in their right mind would refuse: take over the VCM. She started work four months later. “The For months, conservatory was in such perilous condition . . . taking it Butler McGregor on was one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced,” went home admits McGregor, whose fivestar résumé includes having worked from the early 1980s every day with until 1992 for Jimmy Pattison, rising to become his director her stomach of human resources. “Aside from the debt and the in knots. million-dollar mortgage, no financial systems were in place. They lacked competencies in all management areas, including marketing, financial development, facilities management and raising money,” says McGregor. “I had never seen anything like it.” The financial data was so compromised that McGregor brought in a seasoned chartered accountant, who then struggled for six months to rebuild the data so that it made sense. “It was a really serious situation,” agrees Jamie Syer, head of the keyboard department for six years. “The faculty had essentially been abandoned and there were terrible challenges. But there was also tremendous energy and dedication from the long-term staff,” he adds. “Artistically, the conservatory still retained its quality and we were passionately committed to the idea of what this place means to the community,” he adds. “What a huge gap there’d have been if the conservatory had just disappeared.” McGregor’s forthright approach added a crucial sense of stability and confidence. According to POV’s Patrick Corrigan, McGregor quickly forges strong relations with the people she works with. “Jane is honest and enormously capable. She is great at spotting talent,” says Corrigan, director of marketing and development at POV. “I’ve never seen anyone undo a bottleneck as quickly and easily as she can — that’s why she’s been so good at the
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conservatory,” he adds. “She has a black belt in ‘human resources’ and those skills are invaluable. I just adore her.” Lest this sound too much like a few waves of her magic wand suddenly made everything better, McGregor readily admits for months she went home every day with her stomach in knots, her only comfort being Coco and Chanel, two dogs she rescued from a Chicago dumpster. “The first time I started feeling better was at the one-year mark,” she says. “By then I had been able to build a team of people who could problem-solve and were committed to pushing the organization forward.” Although McGregor concedes that not all the problems are fixed, this year the conservatory raised just over $1.2 million — its biggest amount to date. “We are launching a targeted deficit-reduction campaign and I expect we can eradicate the debt in two years,” says McGregor, who oversees an operating budget of more than $3.5-million annually. She plans a capital campaign for the building, which, after nine years of neglect, needs everything from a new roof and boiler to improved lighting and sound for Alix Goolden Hall. A three-year strategic plan is in place and a strengthened Board of Governors boasts eight new members. Some impressive new faces are in the classrooms, too, adding prestige to the faculty roster. For example, Michael van der Sloot, a specialist in violin and viola, has been hired to lead the strings department; aside from an international reputation as a performer, van der Sloot is an experienced music educator who has taught and developed senior academic programming throughout Western Canada. Johanne Brodeur, an author and award-winning musical therapist, now heads the music therapy department and the new children’s music department. “These are both gifted and inspiring people,” says McGregor. “They further enhance the conservatory’s reputation as a centre of excellence in performance and education.” Adds Syer, “not only are we exposing kids to what place music can have in their lives, we are teaching teamwork and cognitive skills.” Conservatory doors are open wide: many students are amateurs, retirees and others who see music not as a career option but as a pathway to a more meaningful life. “I have always had a love of music . . . it is one of those things that grabs hold of you and doesn’t let go,” says McGregor, who recently had her job title upgraded from Interim Executive Director to CEO, in tandem with a three-year contract. “Our VCM had to be transformed to provide every member of our community the opportunity to experience their own meaningful relationship with music,” she adds. “And it is my privilege to be leading this journey.” VB
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NETWORKING IN DANGEROUS TIMES
It’s not obnoxious; it’s a necessity to land that job or promotion
When Micki Stirling moved to Victoria nearly a decade ago, she had a full-time job waiting for her. Having spent the preceding 10 years working on all manner of arts-related projects in the Kootenays, culminating in a position co-ordinating the 2000 BC Festival of the Arts in Nelson, Stirling was a shoo-in for the same job based out of Victoria. It was a perfect match. A year or so later, the position’s funding was cut. Stirling found herself out of a job, in a city that’s known for being tough to break into. Lucky for Stirling, she never puts all her eggs in one basket. The moment she set foot on Island soil after relocating from the Interior, she invested her energy in establishing a network: she renewed connections from when she had lived in Victoria as a young adult; volunteered at Luminara and other arts events; groomed a relationship she’d first built up during her time operating a B&B in the Kootenays; and fostered new connections by joining one of Victoria’s several branches of Rotary International, a worldwide service organization composed of professionals and business leaders. Her networks ultimately helped to soften her landing after the Festival of the Arts position folded and landed her a position at the Sierra Club. Over the next few years, Stirling, now 54, ramped up her arts-based work. Without the help and support of the relationships she’d nurtured, she doubts she’d have landed the plum position she now holds as Animateur of the Collegium Program at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, where she helps Jamie Syer run the Collegium Program. He’s the same guy who happened to check into Stirling’s Kootenay B&B more than a dozen years ago. Pot-of-gold endings like this don’t just happen and they sure don’t stare out from the classified ads. In good economic times or bad, if you’re looking to move on up, it’s essential to know people who can help you get to where you want to go. Recessionary times in particular demand that we strengthen and expand existing networks, so that we have options to fall back on should the carpet get yanked out from under us. “It isn’t an easy time for work. There are lots of changes happening in all companies,” says Bonnie Gunderson, Chair of the Minerva Foundation, a mentorship-oriented organization that seeks to equip women with skills and opportunities in education, leadership development and economic security. Adapting to negative circumstances, such as losing a job — or struggling to find one — demands flexibility and a positive outlook. And it’s hard to stay positive in the absence of a supportive network. You need
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people around you who believe in you and in what you’re trying to achieve. “In the early ‘80s, there was a big crash,” says Gunderson, who now works in business development for a Victoria tech company. “Networking became essential at that time because pink slips were flying. If you didn’t know someone, you didn’t hear of opportunities. Networking keeps you afloat — for the contacts, and also for the feedback and support you get through a strong network.” Developing an effective network is essential for advancing your career in Victoria. “It’s becoming more important than ever to have a good network,” says Maggie Winters, past chair of the Minerva Foundation. “It’s a small community, so you have to spread yourself among different
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To learn more about our integrated property services 250 381 8700 or www.landeca.ca disciplines.” That could mean nurturing relationships in both private and public management sectors or branching out to find people consultant, says in a discipline that catches your networking is about building relationships interest but in which you don’t have any experience. over time. “You don’t “In Victoria, networking is critical,” need 400 superficial agrees Stirling, who notes that because contacts.” our city is such a desirable place to live, the calibre of job applicant tends to be higher. Knowing someone who can put in a good word for you helps you stand out. “If, as an employer, you’ve got five people and you know that one of them is a dream to work with because somebody has told you so, no matter what your standards for that job, that influences you. [Humans] rely on that,” says Stirling. Still think networking’s an act of cool calculation? You’re falling prey to a common misconception about this crucial human skill. For those who do it best, networking is anything but calculating. “The word networking has Shelly Berlin, a
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negative connotations,” says Shelly Berlin, of Berlin Eaton, a Victoria-based management consulting firm. We’re all familiar with the (faintly hyperbolic) image of eager brownnosers pressing business cards into the palms of every warm-blooded person for the sake of fattening their contacts list. But for Berlin, whose business has grown steadily since it started with a single client 14 years ago, the best results come from building relationships — and a reputation — over time. “If you do good work, everyone wins,” says Berlin. “You don’t need 400 superficial contacts. You need a handful of meaningful relationships “There’s a myth about — and a commitment to stay connected and help networking being each other.” Stirling falls into the same camp. “If you only want to uncomfortable or only know people for what they can do for you, then for brown-nosers and of course [networking] is a dirty word,” she says. that’s false. It’s a skill “But then I believe it won’t even work for you. People have to want to and a talent. You have make something happen for you.” to open yourself to it,” But I’m afraid of networking, you say. In says Bonnie Gunderson. our culture, we’ve been socialized to believe it’s not OK to ask for what we want. Stirling recommends developing clear reasons for your ask. “You need to believe that what you’re asking for is for the good of everybody.” If your desire to climb the ladder is purely selfish — and if you’re stepping on other people’s fingers and heads as you clamber upwards — then doors are less likely to open for you. “When you are clearly on a path that is right, people get it. It’s inspiring, and there’s an energy shift,” says Stirling. Gunderson acknowledges our fear of being perceived as taking advantage of others. “There’s a myth about networking being uncomfortable or only for brown-nosers, and that’s false,” says Gunderson. “It’s a skill and a talent, and you have to open yourself to it.” Remember this: when you ask for something, you give others the opportunity to make things happen for people other than themselves. That’s a good feeling. “To push myself into networking, I had to jump out there and join things,” Gunderson says. Sometimes you’ll have to try different avenues to reach a particular person — and sometimes it won’t work at all.
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Congratulations! To the Canadian athletes who participated in Vancouver & Whistler.
That’s OK. Just keep moving. “The more people you’re exposed to, the better,” says Roger Soane, general manager of the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. “To anyone coming into the [hotel] industry, I always give the advice to move a lot, make a lot of acquaintances and learn as much as you can.” Getting to where you want to go can be a long and tortuous road. Even when you’ve put your goals out there and you’ve got excellent people behind you, the doors don’t always open as quickly as you want or in the way you expected. “My dream job took me seven years — and there was a lot of agony and bottomof-the-well in there for me!” laughs Stirling. “But I got to this spot by networking.”
Networking know-how Swallow your fear. You can’t build a network by not speaking to anyone. Embrace face-to-face connections. “There’s a magic about in-person contact that can’t be replicated by anything electronic,” says Stirling. Stop talking about yourself. Annoying people do this all the time. Don’t be an annoying person. At the same time, Winters recommends being “prepared to be open about yourself.” Ask questions. This goes along with #2. People would much rather talk about themselves than about you, so go with it. Draw
Go from big
them out. They’ll think you’re a wonderful conversationalist and they’ll remember you.
Get clear about what you want and ask for it. Someone’s bound to connect you with someone else who can get you closer to your destination. Look sharp. Remember that adage about dressing for the job you want, not the one you have? Even if you’re just hanging at Fishermen’s Wharf, you never know who you might bump into. Be genuine. You’ve got to want to know the people in your network, not just what they can do for you. “Match your values and build those relationships one at a time,” says Berlin. Surround yourself with great people. “Find a great mentor,” says Soane. “I always try to work with people who are better than me.” Volunteer. “It’s a great way to prove how you are in the workplace to people who you might be interviewed by soon,” says Stirling. Say thank you. The note you send after a meeting keeps you fresh in your contact person’s mind. Keep in touch. You don’t want to seem like you’re only in touch when you want something. Sure, you’re busy. “But how are you going to spend your life?” asks Stirling. “Connecting with wonderful people or not?” VB
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Cowichan
by Georgina Montgomery
photos by paul and linda mclennan
Mount Prevost makes one gorgeous spot for launch
PARAGLIDERS’ PLAYGROUND
After they launch from Mount Prevost under their fabric “wings”, paragliders soar like birds in the thermals, eventually touching down in the “landing zone” below.
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From May to October it’s become a common view looking up toward Mount Prevost’s 800-metre twin summits from Highway 18 just west of Duncan: a flock of large, airborne creatures soar in loopy circles high overhead, riding columns of thermal air. These aren’t the usual raptors you expect to find on this part of Vancouver Island, however. Rather, they’re members of that sporting species known as paragliders, bird-wannabes who free-fly solely with the aid of a wide, fabric “wing.” If you’d been watching those soaring creatures from the highway one day last October, you would have witnessed Audrey Le Pioufle making her first solo mountain flight. What you would not have seen minutes before up on the launch site were her quavering legs as she spread her glider out on the ground. Nor would you have heard her heart thundering in her ears as she clipped herself into her harness and did a final line check. And you wouldn’t have heard her intake of breath when, propelled by adrenalin, she started running toward the edge of the precipitous drop to — on the proverbial wing and a prayer — give herself over to the laws of aerodynamics. As the wind caught and filled the airfoils in her high-tech glider, her feet left the ground and the petite 22-year-old was off on her high-flight debut. Launching seconds later was her instructor, Jayson Biggins, tending to his fledgling like an anxious mother bird, flying above and then below her, always in radio contact, guiding her down through light cloud, away from hazards and over treetops until, 15 exhilarating minutes later, both landed on the target field far below.
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“Audrey had a smile on her face that stayed there for the rest of the day,” Biggins recalls of that milestone flight for his student. Weeks later and four more such flights under her harness, Audrey was still beaming in recounting the triumph of her first big flight. Around the world as the sport of paragliding has taken off, so has the Cowichan region’s reputation as one of the premier paragliding destinations on Canada’s West Coast. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that the Cowichan offers several high but easily accessible and air-flow-dependable launch sites. Equally important is the availability of several designated “landing zones,” as well as suitable alternatives such as farm pastures, school playing fields and other similar flat, cleared and soft-surface areas. The chief paragliding hangout is Mount Prevost, with three launch sites, but other launch spots in the region include one on the mountainside above Bamberton and one on Mount Brenton, west of Chemainus. The second reason for the Cowichan’s paragliding popularity is that it’s home to one of the best training hills around, not just in British Columbia, but in Canada. If you think of Mount Prevost’s launch sites as being to a paraglider what the top of a ski resort’s black diamond runs are to a skier, then the “TH” (as the training hill is commonly called) is the bunny hill. Everyone who has earned paragliding certification on Vancouver Island in the past decade — including many of those ridge-soarers along Dallas Road in Victoria — learned the ropes on this Cowichan hill. Here, about three kilometres south of Duncan, Bud and Maxine McGrade maintain a wide, steeply sloped section of their large dairy farm in training-ready condition, keeping the grassy hill mowed and the landing areas relatively clear of hazards. The result: the perfect place for new fliers to experience thermals in a safe environment. The person who knows the Cowichan’s paragliding playground perhaps better than anyone is Biggins, 38, owner of Vancouver Island Paragliding and the business’s main instructor. Based in Sidney, Biggins holds advanced, senior instructor and Tandem 2 paragliding ratings. Since starting his company in 2002, he has taught dozens of students to fly, even people in their 70s. In the local winter off-season, he leads paragliding holidays to warm-climate destinations such as Hawaii. All of his students do a tandem flight with him first from Mount Prevost or other high launch site. Then they head to the TH to learn everything from how the equipment goes together to how to “kite” the glider from the ground and how to take off and land. No one under Biggins’s tutelage proceeds to a solo mountain launch until he or she has Continued on page 55
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12:28
Continued from page 49
made at least 35 flights on the TH and Biggins deems the fledgling ready. Safety is top of mind with him. He defends the sport’s risky side, maintaining that good training towards novice certification, followed by ongoing practice to master flying techniques, makes paragliding no more dangerous than many popular landbased sports. Anyway, he points out, the thrill To learn more of soaring above the about paragliding lessons landscape with a or to book a “day-taster” bird’s-eye look at the tandem flight with a world makes the certified pilot, visit calculated risks well Vancouver Island worth taking. Paragliding online at Earning a novice viparagliding.com or rating means a person phone 250-514-8595. is approved to fly To find more without an instructor. information about the As pilots advance from sport of paragliding on novice to intermediate Vancouver Island, Google and on to advanced, Island Soaring Society their flying technique and for national and ability to read air information, Google conditions improve. Hang Gliding and Experienced Paragliding Association paragliders start of Canada. measuring flights in hours rather than minutes and then in ground distance covered. From Mount Prevost, for example, pilots begin to stretch their wings with crosscountry flights to destinations such as Youbou on Cowichan Lake and near Chemainus. Paul McLauchlan of Victoria, another of Biggins’s past students, still raves about a three-and-a-half-hour flight he and a group made in the Okanagan in the summer of 2008, flying some 35 kilometres from Mara Lake to Vernon, climbing and sinking from thermal to thermal, coming back to Earth only when the sun began to set. Le Pioufle, a University of Victoria geology student, sees no end to the recreational challenge and pleasure that the sport has opened up for her. Flying through the air without engine noise or a window between the viewer and the view is, as she sums it up, an utterly unique feeling. “No other sport I’ve ever done,” she adds, “has made me feel so happy.” And now, with her new white-and-yellow wing, it’s probably safe to count her in as a regular in that soaring flock off Mount Prevost. VB
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creative
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By Denise Rudnicki photo by gary mckinstry
RUNNING THE GAMUT
For this documentarymaking pair, that
means everything from TV news to personal projects
David Malysheff just returned from shooting a plane crash news story in the Gulf Islands and now he is making a cappuccino in his Vic West kitchen. He keeps checking his cell phone because he’s on call with CBC TV this week. He’s on a second phone making last-minute arrangements for a shoot on Mount Washington for Tourism BC. Sable, the 11-year-old Staffordshire terrier, is whining. Malysheff dashes off to find her blanket. It’s only 8:30 am and Malysheff, 51, is living up to his reputation as an overachiever. So his next remarks are a surprise. “I’ve learned to say no. I don’t take every job like I used to.” Arwen Hunter, 28, Malysheff’s partner in both business and life, comes in from their production studio next door, where she’s been editing their latest documentary. “He’s learned to stop and smell the roses,” she says. It took a life-threatening illness three years ago to get this whirling bundle of energy to slow down, although nothing is slow about Malysheff this morning. As director of photography and camera operator for his company, Gamut Productions, Malysheff shoots and produces TV films and documentaries, travel and adventure series, commercial and in-house corporate productions as well freelancing for television news around the world. Hunter is office manager, editor and producer and handles logistics for their shoots. Many Canadian documentary producers struggle to raise money for their projects these days, but Malysheff and Hunter are busier than ever. They keep the bills paid by
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taking jobs like a 40-day shoot with Tourism BC and that lets them work on their own projects. It helps, says Hunter, that Malysheff has the reputation as the go-to camera operator on Vancouver Island. Others share that opinion. “He’s the best shooter in town,” says Hilary Pryor, president of May Street Productions. She worked with Malysheff for the first time in 1987 and has hired him as director of photography on projects ever since. “I know if I go on a shoot with David, I will come back with what I need. He’s always trying to get the extra shot,” says Pryor. Getting the extra shot has meant being charged by an elk, riding a roller-coaster backward, coming face to face with a hissing baby eagle, a hair-raising ride across the African veldt and more than his fair share of food poisoning in places like Mexico and India. Once, on a shoot in Alaska, he was surrounded by grizzlies in a salmon-rich stream and still managed to get the shots before beating a hasty retreat. Malysheff doesn’t take many breaths when talking but he stops short when asked to describe his creative process. “I sometimes joke that I haven’t had an original idea in years,” he says. Hunter counters that he is always creating, always framing shots and visualizing the next project, always telling stories through pictures. Malysheff credits Hunter with an ability to make something of his shots. “Arwen just gets what I shoot,” he says. “We make a pretty good team. She’s a great field producer.” This is clearly how the two work, in a spirit of mutual admiration and encouragement, feeding off one another’s ideas, creating the spark that motivates their work and their relationship. They are proud of what their six-year-old creative collaboration has produced, in particular The Immortal Beaver. It’s a feature-length documentary they made for History Television in 2008 about the iconic Canadian-made de Havilland, the DHC-2 Beaver, an aircraft that went out of production in 1967. Malysheff and Hunter followed the resurrection of a 60-year-old weather-beaten wreck of a Beaver, an aircraft that’s been lauded as one of the greatest engineering achievements of the century. There are 900 Beavers still flown today. “People love that plane,” says Malysheff. “They’re pulling them out of swamps and dragging them out of museums to get them back in the air.” Actor Harrison Ford flies a Beaver and agreed to be interviewed for the documentary. Malysheff grins. “I don’t normally get star struck but I was nervous going to meet the Blade Runner.” Making that documentary hooked Malysheff and Hunter on the thrill of small aircraft, especially the de Havillands.
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One of their current projects is a documentary on Victoriabased Viking Air, which is putting the legacy de Havilland airplane, the Twin Otter, back into production. Hunter laughs about Malysheff’s love of all things vintage. “He has an 1892 house, a 1967 Porsche and a 1976 sailboat. Even his iPod is a classic,’ she says. “A 1981 girlfriend is kind of out of character but it works.” “Arwen is younger and hipper,” says Malysheff. “My old-school ways are complemented by her fresher approach. She’ll go against the rules and make it work.” One project Hunter brought to Gamut surprised not only Malysheff but many other sceptics. The film is about a subject considered either taboo or just plain pornographic. Hunter produced and edited a documentary about a photographer who wanted to demystify the The two work in a female body, in particular its most intimate part, the spirit of mutual genitalia. Hence the name of the film: Petals. “I kind of forced that one admiration and on David,” laughs Hunter. “He was nervous.” The film encouragement, was a success at both the Amsterdam and Vancouver feeding off one film festivals. “It’s Arwen who made that film work. She has definitely helped move Gamut another’s ideas. ahead,” says Malysheff. Another current project, and one both Malysheff and Hunter are eager to talk about, is a documentary on Our Place, the Victoria-based society that provides transitional housing, meals, support and advocacy, hygiene facilities and training to the city’s homeless people. They love the project so much they are making it without funding. They hope to finish it in 2010, find a buyer and get the film on TV. “Anything we make from this will go to Our Place,” says Hunter. To fuel their creative spark, Malysheff and Hunter rent a lot of movies, watch documentaries, scour the industry magazines and keep their equipment current. Malysheff proudly shows off his state-of-the-art, high-definition camera. “People ask specifically for that camera,” says Malysheff. Back in the kitchen, one questions nags. Why Victoria, when Malysheff and Hunter could live and work anywhere in the world? Without a pause Malysheff says, “I get to work around the world but there’s nothing I like more than flying back and seeing the Gulf Islands.” He looks at Hunter. “It’s our life.” VB
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By Adrienne Dyer photo by gary mckinstry
Musician Christian Bergen, left, and Sidney entrepreneur Jim Townley, donated their time and talent to produce a CD for the local food bank.
By the time Christian Bergen was in high school in Mill Bay, he was well acquainted with poverty. Picked on by classmates for his shabby clothes and enduring poor living conditions at home, Bergen grew up a stranger to the kind of security many of us take for granted. But from an early age, he found solace in two things: music, and the support of local food banks, on which he and his family relied. “It was hard for us to go down to the food bank and ask for help,” remembers Bergen, 28. “But we were sure glad the service was there.” Today, this seasoned singer, guitarist and songwriter is donating his talents along with eight other Saanich Peninsula acts to help give back to a community service that helped his family through those hard times. A fundraiser CD called Feed the Soul, featuring two of Bergen’s original bluesycountry-funk songs, was released in the summer of 2009 to benefit the Sidney Lions Food Bank. Like all the artists featured on the locally produced and recorded CD, Bergen sang, played and wrote his contributions. To date, the project has raised more than $5,000 dollars for the food bank, which relies solely on community support to operate. The story behind the CD is as original as the music. It began when local entrepreneur Jim Townley, co-owner of Fresh Cup Roastery Café in Sidney, decided to hold an “open mic” night every Thursday. He asked recorded performer Lucy Ransom, who is also featured on the CD, to host the weekly jam sessions and lend her guitar, voice and energy to keep the music going even during the darkest winter nights. “The talent that emerged from the woodwork was astounding,” says Townley. “We quickly realized there was something truly special going on here.” Before long, Thursday Night Open Mic was drawing crowds and Townley spotted a perfect opportunity to funnel some of that success back into the community. “The idea for the CD came out of a small food hamper drive we held just before Christmas (2008),” Townley explains. “I thought that with all of the original material the musicians had been playing, we could put the two components together with some success,” he said. Food and music seemed the perfect combination. With the help of his friend, T.W. Tobin, a local recording engineer with a home-based studio, Townley jumped into the role of first-time music producer, creating the Sidney Acoustic Idol competition — now called the Community Music Project — to select artists for the CD. Of the 15 acts that auditioned, Townley (also a singer with a local band) chose nine, who range in age from their early 20s to 50s. While some are seasoned performers — like Barry Perrin, The Cary Tardif Trio, Mowbray & Mills, and Siân Elen — others, like Liam Hildebrand, Landon Crawford and Gio Linguanti (the album’s youngest performers) had never set foot inside a recording studio.
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“It takes a lot of time and effort to put something like this together,” says Ransom, a Nova Scotia native who took up the guitar and started writing music in her teens. “It’s a real feather in everyone’s cap. Plus, it meant a lot to each of us to be able to help our community.” Lisa Ogden, who has performed professionally with husband Stephen since the early 1990s, says that the desire to help people within the community is a common thread that binds Feed the Soul’s artists together. “This will sound cliché,” she says, “but it’s true — we have been given so much, so I believe the With “open mic” only way to be tangibly thankful is to give back.” Beverley Elder, who has served nights, Jim Townley as the Sidney Lions Food Bank administrator for nine years, says spotted a perfect that the CD project has helped increase awareness about the challenges facing so many people opportunity to close to home. “The Sidney Food Bank has existed for 26 years, yet funnel musical many locals don’t know it exists,” she says. And while many of us success back into think to donate funds and provisions at Christmas time, food banks often get forgotten during the community. the rest of the year. As Elder says, “hunger knows no season.” So far, funds from Feed the Soul have helped Elder restock basic items that had run dangerously low. Since the food bank helps an average of 315 households per month, proceeds from fundraisers like Feed the Soul directly benefit about 850 Peninsula residents, more than a third of them children under 16. Elder and her team of 30 volunteers turn every $1 donated into $2 worth of purchasing power. “It’s definitely a privilege to be able to help people in this way.” “I’m sure at one point in our lives we’ve all experienced poverty, or at least known someone who has,” says Bergen, who has learned not to take anything for granted, not even basics like food and shelter. “Projects like this bring out the good in everyone.” Recording eight performers for a second CD is taking place this month, says Townley, with the CD release planned for the end of May. Townley also hopes other communities will become inspired to do something similar and says he will gladly share everything he knows about the process in hopes that the idea will catch on. Feed the Soul is available at Fresh Cup Roastery (Saanichton and Sidney), The Sidney Pier Hotel and Spa, Knickerbocker’s in Brentwood Bay, and Monk Office in Sidney. You can also keep track of fundraising efforts at westcoastacoustic.ca. VB
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push musical boundaries I took a lot of music lessons when I was a kid. Piano, violin, even ukulele (there, I’ve admitted it in a public forum). Every spring, we practiced like mad for the inevitable recitals and performances, a parade of students who plunked or sawed or ploinked out newly learned repertoires before audiences of duly applauding parents. So it’s no wonder that in my mind, music recitals are as much a rite of spring as shaking the first wave of blossoms off a pink cherry tree. However, now that I’m firmly seated on the audience side of the junior orchestra, I’ve become curious about the possibilities of those performances. Could they be more than simply opportunities for young performers to demonstrate their scales and skills? Is there a chance that these events are actually places to witness the development
of not just young talent, but new approaches to their art? I’m starting to think it’s the latter. No longer must we endure the zillionth repetition of Ode to Joy, because young performers — being energetic, creative kids and all — are ramping up the fun factor in their performances and pushing the boundaries of whatever art forms they choose to pursue. Witness the vast pool of talent on display at the Victoria Performing Arts Festival, an annual event that brings together the best from schools around Vancouver Island. This 83-year-old gathering of creative kids happens from March through May. If you like television programs like “Who thinks they can be the next big star singer/dancer/ trapeze artist,” you definitely need to check out the real-life drama of watching area students perform and undergo adjudication as part of the festival. Of course, festival performances are taken seriously, as the part about adjudication suggests. That’s why I was even more excited to learn that Victoria’s chapter of The Twisted String is not only alive and well, but plans to leap into a summer of wacky performance. The Twisted String isn’t your everyday youth orchestra. Rather, it’s a roving gang of teenage and twenty-something kids who dress in outrageous, mismatched, neon-bright outfits and appear on street corners, at gas stations, in shopping malls and parking lots to conduct what they call Random Acts of Violins. Pun intended. They perform contemporary fiddle music composed by their teacher and fiddle hero, the late Oliver Schroer. “It’s a kind of performance art that’s a little bit hard to predict,” says Victoria Twisted String organizer Lea Kirstein. “We like to surprise people, shake the listener out of their expectations about when and where violin music can be played.” For example, you can visit Youtube to see one now-legendary performance on a Toronto subway, featuring a parade of fiddlers in a choreographed performance. These performers are between the ages of 10 and 25, part of the Nintendo generation. That means they’ve embraced crazy ideas about not only what it means to be a young performer, but what it means to push the boundaries of traditional violin music. Part of that boundary-pushing comes from the music itself, which was composed by Schroer, a renowned contemporary fiddler whose songs are a wild pastiche of jazz, traditional fiddle, Celtic and Asian sounds, as well as Scandinavian tunes. Schroer developed a following of students who were committed to learning his music. In 2003, he formed the first “squads” of Twisted Stringers in Smithers and on the Sunshine Coast. Under Schroer’s direction, the groups played at the Vancouver Folk Festival in 2004 and in
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Harrison and at the Vancouver Island Folk Festival the following summer. When Schroer fell ill with leukemia in 2006, the group took a hiatus, giving him time to travel to Toronto for treatment. But as is the case with irrepressible kids, his students couldn’t help but feel like they had to do something. In February 2008, a group of friends and students decided to put on a show in Toronto, a benefit for Schroer to help pay his medical bills. “We raised enough money to fly 23 Twisted Stringers to Toronto, to show up at Ollie’s fiddle benefit and play some of his arrangements,” says Kirstein. That’s when the subway performance happened, as did a memorable storming of the CBC’s Toronto headquarters. After that performance, “we decided we could restart the group, continue the tradition that Oliver started up and let his music continue to evolve,” says Kirstein. “Oliver, when he heard about this, got really excited. He started composing again, which he hadn’t done for a while. He started pouring out tunes by the dozen, especially for this new group. They were happy, buoyant tunes, like Boogie Twist and The Driving Song and Go Crazy.” Schroer passed away soon afterwards, but not before writing dozens more songs specifically for Twisted String. The current members of Twisted String — about 40 kids in all, from Victoria, Vancouver, Smithers and the Sunshine Coast — learn the tunes at once-a-month practices or by listening to digital recordings. One of the lovely facts about Schroer’s music is that “none of the music is written down,” says Morgan Cassels, 13, the newest member of the Victoria group. “We have to learn it by ear.” Cassels is the first member of the group who never met Schroer and as such, represents a kind of proof of his musical legacy. “Everyone loves him so much and he’s so important to people,” says Cassels. “He was very innovative, and very modern.” So, if you’re looking for the next big thing in innovative music, it could come in the form of some crazy, brightly dressed kids with fiddles, playing at a gas station, in memory of their favourite music teacher. Think of it as a new kind of recital or a burst of spring exuberance. And look ahead to the musical blooming yet to come. The 83rd Victoria Performing Arts Festival happens from March 26 to May 8. See gvpaf.org for full performance details. The Twisted String performs here, there and anywhere, but you can catch them for sure at the Vancouver Island Folk Festival in Courtenay this July. For more information visit thetwistedstring.com. VB
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FRONTROW By Robert Moyes
THE MANY ARTS OF EMBROIDERY, FROM TRADITIONAL TO ABSTRACT The Embroiderers Guild of Victoria’s biennial show at the Community Arts Council has been one of CAC’s top draws for more than a decade. This year, With Threaded Needle 2010 will include about 115 examples of embroidery ranging from traditional cross-stitch needlework to experimental contemporary pieces. “These abstract works can involve everything from metals, layering and collage to painted cloth and resist dyeing,” explains Jo Ann Allan, guild spokesperson. “What amazes people is the incredibly wide range of styles and techniques that are displayed.”
Above, Jo Ann Allan creates Metamorphosis using digital image manipulation, machine embroidery, metal and acrylics; above right, Allan’s
Winter Meditations features raised embroidery; bottom right, Diana Caleb creates Book Cover using mixed media.
The show will also include an ancient technique of three-dimensional embroidery known as stump work, plus examples of the so-called Brazilian style, where the stitching sits atop the fabric in a textural manner. Métis embroiderers known for their unique beading will be first-time guests. The guild, now celebrating its 40th anniversary, has 140 members. Even so, they can only mount a show every two years because it can take one person as much as nine months — and sometimes considerably longer — to lay down the tens of thousands of stitches required to create embroidery at this level. “These aren’t Grandma’s pillowcases,” says Allan. “This kind of embroidery very much deserves to be called art.” The show runs March 25-31 at the CACGV Arts Centre, 6-1001 Douglas Street. For information call 250-381-2787. GENRE-BENDING THEATRE Suddenly Dance Theatre performs Agnes B as part of the Belfry Theatre’s SPARK Festival. Written and directed by David Ferguson and starring actress and dancer Treena Stubel, this piece celebrates the life of cabaret singer and actress Agnes Bernelle, who fled Nazi Germany and went on to become a pioneering figure in the world of multimedia by working in radio, dance, film, theatre and TV. Ferguson met this unique diva in Ireland in 1996, three years before her death, and began writing a play about her in 2004. What was originally a one-woman show has been expanded to include Lynda Raino and Ingrid Hansen, plus musical numbers and dance sequences. “The triumph of her life was that she couldn’t be pinned down by genre and I am taking similar liberties to tell her incredible story,” says Ferguson. The show runs March 9-14, 8 pm at the Belfry Theatre. For tickets, call 250-385-6815. MASTERWORKS of MUSIC MEET CLASSICS of DANCE The sumptuous melding of dance with masterworks of classical music will be the feature of two dance events this spring. “If you want to be taken seriously, you have to do serious work,” says Paul Destrooper. The artistic director of Ballet Victoria is more than living up to that credo with his Carmina Burana, that unique masterpiece of musical theatre built around 24 medieval poems whose bawdiness, sarcasm and irony are reminiscent of Chaucer. Although usually presented as a vocal and orchestral
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Morris Gallery 10th Anniversary Celebration
Ballet Victoria’s Megan Cox and Robb Beresford perform in a masterpiece of musical theatre, Carmina Burana. Photo by Peter Coy.
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Artists in attendance: Keith Hiscock, Joanne Thomson, Marie Nagel, Bob McPartlin, Jim McFarland, Desiree Bond, Michelle Lan, Donna Southwood, Ron Wilson, D.F. Gray, Deborah Czernecky, (Myfanwy Pavelic) Opening Reception March 11, 7:00 - 9:00 pm Show runs Mar. 11 - Mar. 31 On Alpha St. at 428 Burnside Road East 250-388-6652 morrisgallery.ca 72 victoriaboulevard.com
work, the unforgettable music of Carmina — a fauxmedieval score by modern German composer Carl Orff — has such a highly rhythmic physicality that several ballets have been choreographed to it over the years. Destrooper, notwithstanding brutal funding challenges, is continuing with his original plans, which feature a dozen dancers; the Victoria Choral Society’s 100-plus voices with four soloists; and a half-dozen percussionists and two pianists at grand pianos. Wow! Performances are March 26-27, 7:30 pm and March 28, 2 pm at the Royal Theatre. For tickets, call 250-386-6121. Also showing April 7, 7:30 pm at Duncan’s Cowichan Theatre. For tickets, call 250-748-7529. Dance Victoria ends its season with a special retrospective performance by the 10-person Compagnie Marie Chouinard. Quebec’s Marie Chouinard, regarded in the 1980s as an enfant terrible primarily involved with solo performance art, has evolved into a dancer-choreographer of focus and imagination. Now the undisputed queen of contemporary dance in Canada, this Officer of the Order of Canada is revisiting two of her signature pieces from earlier in her career — The Rite of Spring and Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Igor Stravinsky’s Rite is a profound hymn to life; and when that angular and propulsive music collided with the genius of dancer-turned-choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky a century ago, it marked the moment when dance leapt forward into modernism. Acknowledging that history, Chouinard fashioned an avant-garde work that is highly rhythmic and blazing with the energy of her inspired
dancers. The complementary Prelude is a solo work that finds mystery, savagery and finesse in the lyrical music of Claude Debussy. Invariably performed together since they first debuted as a pair at the Taipei International Dance Festival in the mid-1990s, these two pieces will be a master class in modern Canadian dance. It will be performed March 16, 7:30 pm at the Royal Theatre. For tickets, call 250-386-6121. GOING BAROQUE BACH TO BACH Some people mark a milestone birthday by throwing a kegger. Then there’s the Early Music Society of the Islands, which is capping its 25th season — and nearly breaking its budget — by bringing in Germany’s Concerto Köln, one of the world’s most elite Baroque orchestras. Founded in 1985
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and with a discography exceeding 50 recordings, Concerto Köln is dedicated to performing earlier forms of classical music on period instruments, in a manner reflecting the intentions of the composer. Based in Cologne, this ensemble comprises many of the best younger players in Europe. They perform with a combination of passion, informed historicism and technical ability that brings the Baroque era fully to life. At the centre of the program are two of J.S. Bach’s beloved Brandenburg Concertos (4 and 5), plus some complementary works by Vivaldi, Sammartini and Dauvergne. For fans of Baroque music, this is a great concert opportunity. The performance is April 30, 8 pm at Alix Goolden. For tickets, call 250-386-6121. Sticking with Bach, a rare performance of the St. Matthew Passion is coming up. This beloved oratorio is one of the most complex and rich pieces of choral music in the repertoire, notable for its lyricism and emotional majesty.
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victoriaboulevard.com 73
Michael Lewis, Untitled; Apple Tree Gang, 1992
Regarding Wealth February 24 to May 2 Free Admission 630 Yates at Broad Wed to Sun 250.381.7670 legacygallery.ca
Proper staging requires a double choir: this performance involves the Victoria Philharmonic Choir in conjunction with the VancouverVoices. Both are under the direction of Victoria-raised Peter Butterfield, a noted tenor whose international singing career has long run in tandem with his interest in conducting. Butterfield, who has for years dreamed of performing this uniquely dramatic musical tapestry depicting the suffering and death of Christ, is using the Victoria Symphony as the orchestra. The Passion has only been presented in Victoria twice in the past 25 years. The work will be performed at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, 740 View Street on March 27, 7 pm. Ticket information is posted at vpchoir.ca. A PAINTING LIFE Victoria nature painter Ron Parker is having a career retrospective. Inspired to become an artist when he saw an exhibit by Fenwick Lansdowne in the 1980s — he was 34 at the time — Parker achieved nearly overnight success with his large-scale wildlife paintings. Originally dedicated to total realism, Parker has gradually come to experiment with colour and design, rendering the natural world in a boldly
Above: Sparrow in Magnolia, acrylic on canvas, 9 x 12 in, 2002. Right: Gathering Mist, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 36 in, 2009.
Cowichan Bay, 36x48, acrylic on canvas
PAUL JORGENSEN – Solo Exhibition –
APRIL 24 – MAY 6, 2010
WEST END GALLERY
1203 Broad Street, Victoria • 250-388-0009 www.westendgalleryltd.com 74 victoriaboulevard.com
stylized and highly rhythmic way that is tactile and visually seductive, with more than a few nods to Lawren Harris-style mysticism. This retrospective includes over 70 paintings and a number of bronzes. The show runs April 11-24 at the Avenue Gallery, 2184 Oak Bay Avenue. For information, call 250-598-2184. A NEW THEATRICAL TAKE ON A TITANIC TRAGEDY Toronto’s acclaimed Theatre Rusticle is revisiting an epic 20th century tragedy with April 14, 1912. The date refers to the sinking of the Titanic. This expressionistic piece brings
PALM COURT OFFERS SPRING DELIGHTS Charles Job’s always-delightful Palm Court Light Orchestra wraps up its 23rd season with special guest Karina Choe, an acclaimed Korean soprano. “On A Spring
Note” will feature Choe in selections from West Side Story, Parisian comic opera and La Bohème, as well as many of the light-classical popular songs and dance tunes commonly associated with the Palm Court tradition that was so fashionable in the Edwardian era. Few Palm Court-style orchestras perform anywhere these days: local audiences have the opportunity to hear songs of such innocence and charm because of Job’s dedication. This well-travelled orchestra performs April 10, 7:30 pm, at Duncan’s Cowichan Theatre,250-748-7529; April 11, 2:30 pm at UVic’s Farquhar Auditorium, 250-721-8480; and April 13, 2:30 pm at Sidney’s Charlie White Theatre, 250-656-0275. VB
Galler
ON SALTSPRING ISLAND
together three viewpoints on the unparalleled marine disaster in which modern man’s hubris cost over 1,500 lives. After starting out on the Fringe Festival circuit a dozen years ago, Theatre Rusticle evolved into a dedicated, innovative group of actors considered to be at the forefront of “movement-based” theatre, where intuitive physicality combines with powerful images and a strong commitment to narrative. “I love the theatrical magic of this performance . . . how a remarkable amount of atmosphere has been created with very little,” says Intrepid Theatre’s executive director, Janet Munsil, who is presenting the show. “You really get the feeling that you are adrift, isolated at sea, surrounded by giant icebergs,” she adds. “Plus it’s a new way of looking at a story that everyone knows.” The show runs April 23 and 24, 8 pm at Metro Studio, corner of Quadra and Johnson Streets. For tickets, call 250-383-2663.
Formerly known as The J Mitchell Gallery
A
pril 2010 ushers in a new era for Gallery 8, formerly known as the J.Mitchell Gallery. New owner and artistic director, Razali Wahab, has renovated and doubled the space to accommodate the works of his expanding stable of accomplished contemporary artists.
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Toll Free: 1-866-537-8822 victoriaboulevard.com 75
A contemporary beach house meets grown-up needs with playfulness
HOTPROPERTIES
By Denise Rudnicki photos by gary mckinstry
One moment Marla Sloan is in her front hall foyer and the next she disappears down a hole in the floor. “This is one of our quirks,” she laughs, reappearing up the stairs. She’s talking about the sliding pole that offers an exceedingly fast way to get from the ground level to the basement. This “Alice down the rabbit hole” trick is startling but oddly appropriate coming from the former owner of West of the Moon toy store in Ganges, where the
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HOT Sloans lived for over 20 years. A fireman’s pole was a beloved feature in their Salt Spring home, so when they built in Victoria four years ago, they included one in their house plans, proving you can take the girl out of the toy store but you can’t take away her toys. Marla’s sense of play is everywhere — in the stuffed bear and black swan, toy cars, a rocking horse, a witchy broom and a wall covered in magnetic paint for the word magnets that guests make into poems, like “fly up, run swift, imagine home.” The playful touch is in the counter in the main level bathroom, which Marla designed to hold her collection of sea glass, shells and marbles. It’s lit from beneath and glows like the bottom of a magical sea. This could be the Little Mermaid’s bathroom. Boulevard contacted the Sloans because we wanted to feature a well-designed, well-built modern home with a small, environmentally-friendly footprint. The Sloan house more than fit the bill and had a light-hearted playfulness to boot. Yet when it comes time to put aside toys and to live a grown-up life, this house sitting on a rocky beach in one of Victoria’s delightful bays is definitely a house for grown-ups — grown-ups who like food.
The house was designed to make room for a small greenhouse and garden. Below: The sliding pole is a huge draw for neighbourhood children at Halloween.
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“I’m a seed-to-table cook, I love doing it all,” says husband Gordon, demonstrating the features of the induction cook top with the electric oven that’s waiting for the organic prime rib sitting on the soapstone counter. The house was designed to accommodate a vegetable garden and greenhouse. On this day, the Prius is in the driveway so onions can dry on the garage floor. “We’re ruralminded people,” says Gordon. “We long for the country. And some of that is playing out here. We eat out of that garden seven months of the year.” Their love of food influenced the design of the house, which
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Keeping the deck low allows for a panoramic view from the main floor. Below: The Sloans share this elegant, efficient home office.
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The main entrance is in the middle of the house, creating an easy separation of living and office spaces.
HOT combines the open-concept, ultra-modern kitchen with the living and dining areas, allowing them “to cook where we live,” says Gordon. This end of the house boasts a wall of windows with a view so open to the beach and sky you feel you could just lean forward and tumble into another world, again like Alice. Marla points out: “The house is so full of windows that going outside is almost a moot point. There’s a feeling of always being outside even though we’re inside.” This is particularly evident upstairs, in what Marla calls their little Zen bedroom. It’s small and cosy yet also a vastly open nest — like being in a tree fort — with a wrap-around view of the bay. It is elegant, yet simply furnished and practical. Taking advantage of the stunning views was an victoriaboulevard.com 83
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important feature for the Sloans because they work at home: Gordon is a mediation lawyer and Marla is a designer, writer and artist. They wanted to separate their work/home spaces, says architect Dennis Moore, who calls his design for the 3,200-squarefoot home “a contemporary West Coast beach house.” The work/ home separation was achieved by designing a house with an entrance in the middle. “Turn to the left and you’re home,” says Moore. “Turn to the right and you’re at work.” It was important to the Sloans that the house not be grandiose or overbuilt and that it be oil and gas-free. Radiant heat comes from water piped through the poured
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The bedroom is a nest-like retreat at the top of the house. Below: From their glass surrounded tub the Sloans can soak in breathtaking views.
Visit our showroom today. 736 Caledonia Ave. 250-386-8453 www.terrystiles.com
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HOT concrete floor, heated from an electric boiler. “That’s a principled decision for me,” says Gordon. That minimalist philosophy is reflected in the products the Sloans chose to finish the house, including Brazilian cherry wood floors, Douglas fir kitchen cabinets, stairs and mantel built from a storm-felled Western maple, American cherry storage cabinets and three colours of Vancouver Island marble in the master bathroom. The outside of the house is finished in shingle but the base is made of something called rock-dash. Moore created a recipe of ordinary three-quarter-inch drain rock, some tan-coloured rock, crushed oyster shells collected on the beach by one of the Sloan sons and some beach glass. This was mixed together and thrown by hand at the wall to create stucco that glows in the evening sun, thanks to the shells and glass. “It’s magical,” says Moore. “The house looks like it’s shimmering.” Moore says his greatest challenge was marrying Marla’s
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wish for what he calls “a hobbit house” with Gordon’s wish for a more contemporary design. He says that was accomplished by combining craftsmanship with crispness. He points to the living room fireplace as an example. It’s a sleek design of Western maple but with an added touch. A narrow trough runs along the tiled base and is filled with the beach rocks Marla loves to collect. “Space affects me,” says Marla, “the shape of things and the way they work.” She credits Moore and builder Hugh Owen for practicality and perfectionism that resulted in top-quality design and construction of a home in which every single inch is used and enjoyed. It was a creative collaboration that “was so much fun,” says Marla, resulting in an exceedingly liveable home with a beach cottage feel. It reflects the Sloans’ belief that you can live well without going over the top. “I want fewer things,” says Marla, “but I want them to fulfill their function perfectly and to be beautiful.” “This is such a livable house . . . it’s a very relaxed place to be,” they say. “But this is only a fun and beautiful place to live if your life inside is giving you joy,” says Marla. “The house supports the life and not the other way around.”
Suppliers and Trades: Architect/interior designer: D.H. Moore Architect Inc.; Contractor/builder/woodwork: Owen Contracting; Exterior & interior painter: Tony Moric Painting; Plumbing: Dave Turner Plumbing and Heating Ltd.; Fixtures/hardware: Victoria Speciality Hardware; Cabinetry: Douglas Grant Cabinetmakers Inc.; Bathroom counters /tile: Matrix Marble & Stone; Tiles: Terry’s Tiles & Wallcoverings Ltd.; Appliances: Trail Appliances (Formerly Lalani Appliances); Wood flooring: Five Star Hardwood Flooring; Windows/doors: Prestige Joinery Ltd.; Lighting: Illuminations Lighting Solutions; Masonry/stonework: Armando Furtado; Alarm systems: Simply Automated; Specialty Heating: Acro Radiant Floor Heating Systems; Floral design: Kenmar Flower Farm VB
GREAThomes GREATrealtors BOULEVARD MAGAZINE’S REAL ESTATE
advertising SECTION March/April 2010
THIS beautiful character home, situated on a stunning deep lot in South Oak Bay, features 3 spacious bedrooms upstairs, 2 new bathrooms, updated kitchen overlooking private garden, family room on main & gorgeous fir floors throughout. $899,900. Contact Dallas Chapple, RE/MAX Camosun.
Photo by bob hewitt
GREAThomes GREATrealtors Welcome to Boulevard ’s Great Homes, Great Realtors. This advertising section, showcasing prominent Victoria realtors and a hand-picked selection of currently available property listings, appears in each issue of the magazine. We hope that you will enjoy it!
DALLAS CHAPPLE — RE/MAX CAMOSUN Named after my father, bandleader Dal Richards, I have a Mass Communications degree from Paris’ Sorbonne University. I’ve been a Victoria realtor for 18 years specializing in Oak Bay and have consistently placed in the top 100 of RE/MAX’s 6,000 agents in Western Canada. My goal is to help clients find their dream home and ensure their decisions are wise, long-term investments.
LISA WILLIAMS CENTURY 21 QUEENSWOOD REALTY LTD. A third generation Victorian, my passions are architecture, design and our fabulous West Coast lifestyle. Working in Victoria since 1990, I specialize in waterfront, unique and luxury properties and have sold many of Victoria’s highest priced homes. My mission is to exceed expectations, rise to every challenge and to always look for innovative ways to connect buyers and sellers!
LYNNE SAGER RE/MAX CAMOSUN I’ve been selling unique and waterfront homes in Victoria for 25 years and offer knowledge in construction and interior design from my family business. I’ve been a member of the Education Committee for VREB for four years and am presently on the Community Relations Committee. I pride myself on keeping my negotiating skills and personal contacts current.
LESLEE FARRELL MACDONALD REALTY I am a Simon Fraser University graduate and passionate about boating, the arts and charity service. After 30 years in my profession, I feel as committed to my clients today as I did on day one. I provide expertise in luxury and waterfront properties, along with a top-ranking internet presence that is combined with leading-edge marketing tools. My wish is to deliver the ultimate concierge service to all of my real estate transactions.
DEEDRIE BALLARD RE/MAX CAMOSUN During my 17 year career in Real Estate, I have been listing homes in Greater Victoria. Diversification and knowledge combined with personalized service has made me one of Victoria’s Top Realtors. Giving back to my community has been a vital part of my life, having served on many boards over the past 35 years. When you work with Deedrie Ballard; Expect Excellence.
photos by bullock & kirstein photography
GreatHomesGreatRealtors
RE/MAX CAMOSUN CALL: 250-744-3301 TOLL FREE: 1-877-652-4880 WWW.DALLASCHAPPLE.COM DALLAS SELLS VICTORIA / OAK BAY
“MY GOAL, AS YOUR REALTOR, IS TO FIND YOUR DREAM HOME, AND ENSURE THE DECISION YOU MAKE STANDS AS A WISE INVESTMENT OVER THE LONG TERM.”
1425 Yale Street – 1st Ad! 1 level (plus basement) townhome steps to Oak Bay village! Beautifully renovated kitchen and family room. Master and 2nd bedroom on main; bathroom, recreation room, & double garage down. – $655,000
Port Royale – Views! Fabulous views of Saanich Inlet! The level entry end unit townhome has a spacious master bedroom, with access to the sunny deck, on the main floor. – $549,900
“From the time I listed to the moment I closed I quickly became aware and confident that Dallas is a true professional. Dallas has every quality that applies to a professional realtor and demonstrates a positive attitude, is knowledgeable, classy and intuitive. The fact is, Dallas worked very hard to get my home the maximum exposure necessary to find a suitable buyer. We all need a realtor that is well connected and has the ability to find the right client for the right market. Dallas also helped me finalize and close on a great deal with a new condo purchase... which I absolutely love!” – Kathy Wright, Victoria
Port Royale – Views! Brentwood Bay! Full panoramic ocean and marina views! Nearly $100,000 in renovations. 2 bedrooms and 3 baths! – $729,000
A steal of a deal! Imagine a Zebra built house for this price! Designer colours, new hardwood floors in the family room and dining room. 3 bedrooms & 3 baths. – $599,900 Fairfield! – This completely remodeled suite has the style and panache of a brand new condo, yet offers over 1,000 sq.ft. of living space. 2 bedrooms & 2 baths. New tile in bathroom with heated floors. – $369,900
Thank you for helping me achieve the Top 50 of 6,000 RE/MAX Associates in Western Canada for 2009! Let me help you achieve your dreams in 2010!
DALLAS CHAPPLE - RE/MAX CAMOSUN 4440 CHATTERTON WAY VICTORIA, BC V8X 5J2 OAK BAY OFFICE 2239 OAK BAY AVENUE VICTORIA, BC V8R 1G4 P: 250-744-3301 F: 250-744-3904 TOLL FREE: 1-877-652-4880 E: DALLAS@DALLASCHAPPLE.COM GreatHomesGreatRealtors
W
LISA WILLIAMS
ELEGANT UPSCALE RANCHER on gorgeous Cordova Bay Golf Course! Beautiful, open design, 3 bedrms, 2.5 bths, hi-ceilings, HW flrs, doublesided FP, deluxe master, private courtyard entry & fantastic terrace on the 8th green! $1,129,000
FORECLOSURE . . . Exceptional opportunity to buy a fantastic .74 ac. beachfront property on sandy Cadboro Bay Beach w/100’ frontage, south exposure world-class views & private, exclusive location! 1900’s character, legal N/C triplex w/lots of options, or build new dream home! $2,100,000
CITY MEETS COUNTRY . . . Fabulous custom 5 bedrm home on private, gated 1.44 ac. property just mins. to world-class golf & all amenities! Luxurious main floor master suite, impressive design & finishing, games rooms, putting green & more! $1,999,500
LUXURY BAYVIEW VICTORIA CONDO! Enjoy exceptional harbour, ocean & mtn. views & non-stop sun from this exclusive, totally upgraded, 2 bedrm corner unit in prestigious bldg. just mins. from the Inner Harbour! $1,599,000
PROSPECT LAKE! Gorgeous, sunny lakefront property with spacious & elegant 4-5 bedroom custom home and PRIVATE DOCK! . . . just minutes from town . . . a true oasis! Super design, great for family & entertaining . . . cosy nanny suite too! $1,298,000
UPLANDS WATERFRONT ESTATE! Private, gated 1.3 ac. property w/9000 sq.ft. hm & access to gorgeous sandy beach! Dramatic design w/5 bedrms/ 6 bths, incredible views & lots of privacy. Beautiful mature gardens w/gazebo, waterfall, terraces & easy access for small boats & kayaks! $7,450,000
SPECTACULAR WATERFRONT ESTATE! Over 6600 sq.ft. on prime 1.24 ac. in Oak Bay. Exceptional views, seaside pool & tons of privacy! Elegant entry, formal lvg & dg rms, kitchen w/FP, eating area, family room, conservatory & office, gorgeous master suite plus 5 bdrms & 6 bths, lrg. games room, nanny suite & much more! $5,500,000
10 MILE POINT Executive! Spacious 4 bedrm, 4 bth home PLUS full 2 bedrm suite. Upstairs has been beautifully updated w/sunny open plan, 2 master bedrm options & huge gourmet kitchen! Gorgeous private property w/park, trails & ocean steps away! $1,195,000
SPECTACULAR OCEANFRONT ESTATE On gated 8.39 ac. property just 17 mins. from downtown! This exceptional 10,000 sq.ft. home boasts hi-end finishing & luxurious appointments, amazing waterfall & terraced patios, non-stop views and total privacy! $12,990,000
Lisa Williams offers professional & personalized service combined with the BEST INTERNATIONAL MARKETING STRATEGY and a commitment to achieving the BEST RESULTS FOR YOU
250•514•1966 Direct www.LisaWilliams.ca GreatHomesGreatRealtors
Century 21 Queenswood R ealty ltd.
paddock, two garages. Amazing value and prime location on Saanich Inlet. $8,900,000 MLS#233557
$2,485,000 MLS#253844
$69
Call Leslee fo
SHOWCASE OF HOMES Your Luxury Waterfront Specialist Email: leslee@lesleefarrell.com Webpage: www.lesleefarrell.com Phone direct: (250) 514-9899 Phone office: (250) 385-2033
Leslee Farrel Boulevard ad Dec 21 1
LD SO Situated on a private by-way, 30 minutes from Victoria on 2.83 acres of waterfront with 330’ of shoreline, this completely renovated residence is a modernist masterpiece ready for occupancy. Enjoy spectacular 180 degree views of Mount Baker and the Saanich Peninsula. Enjoy amazing sunrises from your master suite, kitchen, or spacious view deck. Bonus 2 bay workshop plus double garage. A lifestyle offering at $2,200,000. MLS# 272073
This incredible penthouse is the crowning jewel of the harbour, artfully executed, fully furnished and lavishly appointed. Features include a private lobby, wine cellar and gourmet kitchen with great room. Views encompass the harbour, cruise ships and the Olympics beyond. A jewel offered at an incomparable price of $3,550,000 including GST. MLS# 264773
This completely private 11 acre pastoral estate in Cowichan Valley offers 700’ of low bank waterfront with spectacular east facing views to Salt Spring Island and the Saanich Inlet. The property includes the classic 7000 sq.ft. residence, garage, outbuildings, caretakers suite & greenhouse. A hobbyists dream! Offered at $3,650,000. MLS# 265182
This minimalist architecturally Zen-like residence enjoys spectacular views of the ocean with Mt. Baker in full view. Adjoining Walbran Park in South Oak Bay, it offers privacy, a maintenance-free lifestyle, accented with maple floors, gourmet kitchen and spa-like baths. Better than a townhome! Offered at $2,095,000. MLS# 270598
Situated in idyllic Ardmore on a quiet cove, this charming south facing residence offers an open plan with soaring floor to ceiling windows to take in the spectacular ocean views. Easy access to the water, ready for immediate occupancy. Airport nearby. Offered at $1,995,000. MLS# 269961
An estate worthy of Architectural Digest, a restored 1913 Manor set as a jewel on 2.25 acres of waterfront, a stones throw from Victoria Golf Club. An excellent entertainment home with 10 bdrms, 8 bths, wine cellar, private beach, spectacular landscaping & water features. Offered at $12,500,000. MLS# 266527
Local Brand • Global Reach
Direct: 250.414.8204 Office: 250.388.5882 Toll Free: 1.877.388.5882 755 Humboldt Street leslee@lesleefarrell.com www.lesleefarrell.com luxuryhomesvictoria.com LuxuryPortfolio.com
GreatHomesGreatRealtors
Enjoy outstanding views of the
Unsurpassed views in Cordova Bay!
Located in the popular quiet High
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This home has a terrific open floor plan
Quadra area is where you’ll find this
from this bright and sunny top floor unit.
that has been completely re-designed;
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This 1600 sq. ft. home has 2 bedrooms
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elegance’. Come discover the many
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home in every way, and should not be
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amazing walk-in closet and a 4 piece ensuite. Balance of 10 year warranty in place. $469,000
Expect Excellence Phone
250.744.3301 Email deedrie@deedrieballard.com Website www.deedrieballard.com 4440 Chatterton Way, Victoria, BC V8X 5J2 TOLL FREE 1.800.663.2121
GreatHomesGreatRealtors
Camosun
GreatHomesGreatRealtors
COUNTER PROPOSALS
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granite Corian
wood marble slate concrete...
take your pick of surfaces that look great and perform well in kitchens and baths
G-Roc
Counter tops are central features of home design and function. In the kitchen, they are the surface to prepare our meals, sort our groceries, hold our appliances and display our flower arrangements. We conduct our grooming rituals on them in the bathroom. Whether the surface is stone, wood, steel or synthetic, counters are the backdrop to our everyday lives. And Victorians can choose from all kinds, from the ornate and beautiful, like a slab of polished granite with sparkling gold running through it, to utilitarian stainless steel.
Making Kitchens, Bathrooms And Fireplaces
Absolutely Perfect
Inside Urbana Kitchens, a downtown Victoria kitchen design showroom, owner Simon Kendall walks me through the counter tops available. The choices are almost endless. Stone options include marble, granite, slate or quartz; for wood, popular options are bamboo, cherry and walnut. Laminate is the affordable starter counter for many; Corian is a durable plastic product that comes in many styles and can be formed into unique shapes. Richlite is an environmentally friendly recycled paper composite product; and don’t forget glinting and durable stainless steel.
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The most popular counters are stone. People who move up from a laminate are usually looking for one kind in particular. “When you’re going to stone, there’s two front-runners: quartz and granite. The reason people choose granite is because it’s unique. You’re going to get a piece that your friend isn’t going to have. Your neighbor isn’t going to have. It’s yours,” says Kendall. “Quartz is popular because you don’t have to reseal it. Granite you do. Quartz, you put it in and wipe it clean.” For those looking for local and decadent, Vancouver Island marble is available, quarried outside Tahsis and in other Island locations by Matrix Marble & Stone. Marble is beautiful, heat-resistant and opulent; however, it must be sealed, scratches easily and can be stained. Forget sidewalks, A compromise is to have marble in one part of a kitchen, concrete counter like an island, and something more durable, like granite or tops come in many quartz, on the other surfaces. Victoria graphic designer styles, colours and Heather Koop decided on CaesarStone quartz counter finishes. tops when building her Fairfield home. The stunning hot orange — Tequila Sunrise — is a bright contrast up against her stainless steel and concrete kitchen furnishings. Other quartz products include the popular Silestone. “Quartz is the most dent-resistant thing you can think of. It’s a little bit lighter weight than marble, a little more environmentally friendly and you have a lot more flexibility in how to seal joints, so you can put two large pieces together and essentially have a seamless fit,” says Koop. “I love the fact that it’s hard as nails. Because of its composition, it never gets terribly cold or incredibly hot. It’s a wonderful, warm counter top.” The pages of a modern home magazine like Dwell show other popular trends such as concrete composite. But forget the idea of sidewalks next to your sink: concrete counter tops come in many styles, colours and finishes. One local company, Szolyd (pronounced “solid”), manufactures concrete counters using recycled glass bottles instead of gravel. The product, called G-Roc, blends environmentally friendly practices with good design to create a stunning surface that blends the uniqueness of granite with the durability of concrete. At his office and manufacturing plant, Szolyd president Nolan Mayrhofer shows samples of the various types of G-Roc: some are bright white with blue and green glass, others are more neutral and subdued, such as browns and
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blacks. He shows a video of the production process from his desk, which is a stunning white built-in manufactured from Szolyd’s flexible, finishing concrete called D-Roc, a concrete that doesn’t need to be reinforced with rebar to hold a shape. In the video, Mayrhofer and his staff feed unusable bottles from a local brewery into a crusher which separates the glass into large chunks and fine-grain sand. The larger chunks are used
If you’re looking for some counter top inspiration, take a look into the coffee shop and bakery in Dockside Green, located along Harbour Road. Café Fantastico has a brown-and-tan G-Roc bar and right beside it, Fol Epi, an organic bakery, has a counter top made from a salvaged nautical beam. Artisan baker Cliff Leir salvaged the beam from the Princess Mary — the old ship-onland restaurant — to serve as his public-facing counter. Leir
“You don’t want to pick something that looks good for three years and then you have to rip it out,” says Nolan Mayrhofer.
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refinished the more than two-metre-long beam, giving it a rustic appearance. “I’m just trying to make use of things that would otherwise be wasted; things that have an interesting aspect to them,” says Leir, who has salvaged almost all the shop’s finishings. If you don’t have time to salvage old wood, custom wood counter tops can be milled by West Wind Hardwood of Sidney in a wide variety of woods and finishes. Whatever the materials, good counter tops are stylish, long lasting and defy trends — if you choose right. “The neutral tones, the non-busy tones, are the ones that win out,” says Mayrhofer. “They’re a more timeless design, not just the flavor of the month. You don’t want to pick something that looks good for three years and then you have to rip it out.” VB
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instead of gravel; the finely ground glass is used as sand. Instead of using a large amount of cement, which consumes energy to produce, Szolyd supplements it with fly ash. “Rather than buying granite from China, you can buy locally made recycled glass counters. We have more options for colours,” says Mayrhofer, who points out that the bottles collected are from local recycling plants. “Right now, sustainability is on the forefront. People are starting to build houses using recycled products. People are tired of granite — we hear that time and time again — and they are looking to quartz and our products, which offer a different look.” Sustainability aside, the counters look amazing. The chips of glass allow you to actually look inside the material, providing a visual depth that other materials do not have.
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There’s no free lunch, but free bytes abound. Very good free software exists on the web, often superior to paid versions. Here are my freebie recommendations and as always, some security warnings. Risks Anytime you make a system change, risks exist. That’s true for any software you install — free or otherwise. The biggest danger with free software is that it might contain malware such as a virus. Beware of screensavers, flashy ads in e-mail or pop-ups touting security software. Don’t install anything unless you have verification the program is safe. Make it a habit that before you install anything, even purchased software, do this: • Make sure important files are backed up. • Make sure your virus scanner is up-to-date. If it’s not, uninstall it and then install one of the free versions described below. • In Windows, set a system restore point. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools and then click System Restore. Click Create a restore point, click Next and then follow the remaining steps. • Verify that the program is safe by asking a trusted source 102 victoriaboulevard.com
or search Google for “malware” and the program’s name to find reports of problems. Finding freebies The freebie list is long. To find good free programs, try Wikipedia. For example, searching “List of free and open source software” brings up a dizzying array for just about every purpose. The list contains links to articles about the software, which contain links to the download sites. In some cases, criticism sections outline potential problems. The article about LimeWire, for example, contains warnings that point-to-point sharing programs could exchange personal data if not configured correctly and may enable the download of software that is potentially dangerous. On Wikipedia, search on a topic to find specific programs. A search for “CD Burning” brings up an article that links to a “List of optical disc authoring software,” which contains references to several excellent programs, including DVD Shrink, DVD Flick, ImgBurn, InfraRecorder and Burn. Some free programs are so good the bad guys will try to trick you into installing a fake version. No better example exists than DVD Shrink. The program is effective at editing and backing up DVD videos, but imposters abound. In fact, if you search Google for “DVD Shrink,” most of the returned links, including the top two in the list, are dangerous imposters. The only valid version is “DVD Shrink v3.2.0.15” from afterdawn.com. This example shows that Google is not a good tool to use to find free software. For other good software recommendations, visit Kim Komando’s site at komando.com. You can browse categories or search for a topic. Each suggestion has an excellent writeup about the software. It’s all free and everything on the site is reasonably safe. Other legitimate software download sites are Tucows, MajorGeeks.com, ZDNet Downloads and CNET. These sites all verify that the programs they list contain no spyware or malware. Ninite is outta sight One of the simplest, coolest sites for installing trusted freebies is ninite.com. Its web page lists more than 60 trusted free programs and it will install them all in a jiffy. Click to select the check boxes for the programs you want and then click “Get Installer.” Unfortunately, the site does not include descriptions for each of the listed programs. (Wonder what the heck “Spotify” is? It’s peer-to-peer music sharing.) Search Google to find descriptions.
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Ninite includes free antivirus programs AVG Free AntiVirus 9.0 and Microsoft Security Essentials. No need to pay for a virus scanner when these are available. Ninite also includes the Granddaddy of all freebies, OpenOffice 3.1.1 from Sun Microsystems (openoffice.org). This marvelous open-source package rivals Some free programs Microsoft Office and will do just about anything you need, including read and write files are so good the bad from the other big office packages. guys will try to trick At Ninite, be sure to install VLC media player, especially if you are tired of Windows you into installing a Media Player crashing, hanging, playing video with no sound, fake version. sound with no video or unsynchronized sound and video, like some badly dubbed spaghetti western. VLC will play almost any video without a hiccup and it won’t cost you a nickel. Other highly recommended freebies on Ninite are FireFox, Google Earth, Revo Uninstaller, CDBurnerXP, Defraggler and 7-Zip. Other favEs One of my favorite freebies is the “Everything Search Engine” from voidtools.com. It has a small footprint, uses few resources and will find any file on your computer in nanoseconds. Do you use iTunes and find it doesn’t do quite enough? The MediaMonkey music player might be just the ticket. It’s hands down the most powerful tool available to organize and tag your music collection and yes, you can synch to your iPod or just about any other Mp3 player. Get it at mediamonkey.com. Here’s one more freebie, because I just love to nag about backups! If you don’t have any backup software installed, grab SyncToy v2.0 from microsoft.com/downloads. Connect an external drive or a memory stick and then run the program’s wizard to copy your priceless files to a safe external location. Remember, when installing any program, read all the installation steps carefully and watch for surprise settings that install extra programs you might not want, such as a search toolbar from Ask or Yahoo! Even the most highly recommended freebies will do this and while not dangerous, it can be annoying. So now, if your appetite is whetted, go and enjoy those free bytes. Darryl Gittins welcomes your questions. You can reach him at Darryl_gittins@hotmail.com VB
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BOOK SCENE INVESTIGATION A club consults an expert to unravel the mysterious appeal of whodunits
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JOB # D119-10393 INSERTION DATE: JANUARY/FEBRUARY ISSUE 2010
This Issue’s Book Club: The Friendship Club Guest Speaker: Frances Thorsen, owner of Chronicles of Crime bookstore and The Mystery Book Warehouse (themysterybookwarehouse.com) THE CLUB: When members of The Friendship Club invited me to attend their annual potluck luncheon with guest speaker Frances Thorsen, I jumped at the chance. I love mysteries and Thorsen’s lovely head is packed with knowledge about the genre. And I felt, dear readers, that you would enjoy great recommendations for good mystery reads. Connie Lougher-Goodey hosted the event at her home in Sidney, where all 13 of the club’s members gathered to feast on potluck goodies, enjoy each other’s company and share their passion for mystery books.
By Adrienne Dyer photo by gary mckinstry
The Friendship Book Club formed about a decade ago, after 13 friends decided to branch off from the larger Peninsula Newcomers’ book club. The group reads titles from all genres. One meeting each year features a guest speaker, including local authors. THE MYSTERY GENRE: One of the biggest-selling genres in the world, mystery fiction includes everything from non-violent “cosy mysteries” with loveable amateur sleuths (think Jessica Fletcher of Murder, She Wrote), to legal thrillers, to the noir (a.k.a. hard-boiled) crime novels that appeared in the 1920s. Noir fiction is characterized by rough-edged heroes, gritty plots and realistic villains and looks at the darker side of life. Famous early noir writers include Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon, 1930) and Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, 1939).
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Edgar Allen Poe’s 1841 short story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, is generally considered the first modern mystery, followed by Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White in 1860 and The Moonstone in 1868. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, penned in 1870 by Charles Dickens, is probably the most frustrating mystery of all time, since Dickens died before he wrote the ending, leaving readers without a clue whodunit. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series followed next, starting in 1887 with A Study in Scarlet. These great classics of mystery fiction remain popular today. THE GUEST SPEAKER: Frances Thorsen fell in love with mysteries long before she lived out her first decade. The daughter of avid readers, Thorsen has amassed about 10,000 books in addition to the 8,000 or so mysteries she used to start her store inventory. Though she now reads differently than she did before opening Chronicles of Crime on Fort Street — she often skim-reads to keep up with the sheer volume of titles — Thorsen still packs a separate suitcase just for books whenever she goes on holiday. “I have never not wanted to be at the store,” she says, citing favourite aspects of her career as her relationships with readers and watching her customers develop friendships with one another. Now she’s busy developing her online bookstore and reader community, The Mystery Book Warehouse, to include her entire inventory (some 50,000 titles).
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DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS: “People read mysteries for all kinds of reasons,” says Thorsen. “Some love the mind game. Some love the puzzle. Some love reading about characters trying to right a wrong, while others are thrilled by intrigue.” She points out that, contrary to popular misconceptions, the genre is “not about blood and guts” but all mysteries have at their heart a crime or a secret that must be solved by a professional or amateur sleuth. A mystery may involve a stolen gem, for example, like in The Moonstone. Others, like The Cardinal Divide by Canadian author Stephen Legault, focus on the process of solving a mystery, with a real-life environmental angle built in. With so much variety, Thorsen says there are endless possibilities for Mystery Book Clubs. For instance, you could divide your reading list by country – read something British one month, like W. J. Burley’s Wycliffe series, Canadian the next, like one of Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache books, and then something American, such as one of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series, and so on. Or divide the reading list by type and have plenty of fun analysing the differences between say, the hard-boiled detective novel and medieval mysteries like the Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters. victoriaboulevard.com 109
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Series are also popular. Readers love to follow characters through several books. “We get so involved with characters in mystery books,” says Thorsen, who names more than one author who has been forced to bring someone back from the grave to appease outraged readers. Conan Doyle, for example More than one sent Sherlock Holmes over a waterfall in The Final Problem so author has been that the author might focus on other literary pursuits, only to forced to bring bring the hero back to life in The Adventure of the Empty House in someone back response to public outcry. Frances says books written in “the golden from the grave age of detective fiction” of the 1920s, 30s and 40s, such as novels to appease by Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen and Michael Innes, have particular outraged readers. sentimental appeal. “They’re especially popular in summer, when the mind turns a little nostalgic and during times of personal crisis — times when people like to have old friends about them.” Thorsen’s all-time favourite mysteries are, Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler, The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett and Double Indemnity by James M. Cain. If you’d like to learn more about mysteries, or you’re looking for a page-turner, Thorsen’s shop is designed to bring like-minded individuals together to share what they know and love about the genre. For out-of-print or difficultto-find books, the website Fantasticfiction.co.uk is a great resource that lists authors’ works in date order according to main characters. CLUB VERDICT: The Friendship Club highly recommends mysteries for book club reading. Some recent club favourites include Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain for a beautifully crafted story told from the point of view of a philosophical dog; Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus Series for a gritty hero with a troubled partnership with the villain; and anything by Janet Evanovich for pure “candy,” as Thorsen puts it. The Friendship Club concludes that the mystery genre offers pleasurable reading with plenty of scope for lively discussions, including how skilled the author was at creating and solving the puzzle. Questions or comments? Want your book club featured in our magazine? For more information please e-mail Adrienne Dyer at adyer@telus.net. VB
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text and photos by rick gibbs
Hollyhock: a retreat for learning as well as rejuvenation
Rain falls softly through misted evergreens in the grey, pre-dawn light as I stand on the balcony of our room at Hollyhock, inhaling ocean air freshened by the overnight rainfall. It’s my first morning at this educational retreat centre located on the southeastern tip of Cortes Island, two ferry rides from Campbell River. I’m here to learn what it’s like to spend a few days at what many consider a New Age nexus. Will I, as some might fear, be chanted to death or discover a fantastic travel destination that many Victorians overlook? It’s not surprising that Hollyhock conjures up images that would surely send a Don Cherry or Rex Murphy running for cover. After all, it grew out of the ashes of the Cold Mountain Institute, a Gestalt therapy centre with California connections established here in the 1960s. A gypsy fortune-teller figured in its creation in 1982 by a group of self-confessed “dreamers.” But as I’m about to discover, Hollyhock is more than a refuge for the terminally mystical. After a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, cheesy cornbread, fresh fruit, and Salt Spring Island coffee in the comfortable fir-floored dining hall of the lodge (and despite the now-pouring rain), my wife and I join Operations Director David Drysdale for a tour of the 17-hectare site.
We start in the expansive garden, which provides much of the organic produce and all of the flowers used here. Leading us out of the garden and onto the network of trails that crisscross the heavily forested site, Drysdale, a Victoria businessman before he moved here, explains that Hollyhock was struggling financially when he and CEO Dana Bass Solomon came on board, and it’s taken a decade to turn it around. A CHANGE IN STATUS Change has meant expanding program offerings and turning a former “triple bottom line” (people, planet, profit) business that was losing $250,000 per year into a break-even, not-for-profit organization with charitable status. While maintaining an emphasis on personal well-being, Hollyhock hosts conferences, offers outdoor adventure programs, caters to the arts communities and has established a leadership institute dedicated to social and environmental change. For those not seeking specific programs, it offers getaways and holidays for individuals and families. We wander through an orchard and pause at the Sanctuary, a curving, cob-built meditation building that could be right out of a J.R.R. Tolkien story. Next we visit Kiakum. Nestled in the forest and built with local woods, this circular meeting hall, complete
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with cushions and backrests, exudes warmth and silence. Back in the lodge, my wife and I cosy up to a fire tended by Kyra Dyer, a 20-year-old from Lopez Island who has recently joined Karma Yoga, a work-study program billed as “an experience of service and transformation.” Dyer explains that participants attend for a month or more, working 30 hours per week and participate in sessions offered by Hollyhock teachers. “It’s great,” she says, noting the diverse participants, including 68-year-old Bill Seigler, a former TV producer from New York, who wanders in as we’re talking. He tells us he’s enjoying the experience, particularly his early morning “meditations” in a hot tub overlooking the ocean. HIS AND HERS HOLLYHOCK During lunch — another delicious meal that includes tomato basil soup and polenta with white beans and pesto sauce — we decide to experience both sides of Hollyhock. My wife will brave the rain for a guided nature hike, while I attend a workshop presented by a Buddhist teacher from Portland. I enter Kiakum with reservations. I don’t like touchy-feely sessions and, although I do have a background in
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meditation and some acquaintance with Buddhism, I really don’t know what to expect. Two hours later I emerge invigorated. The presenter, Robert Beatty, has taken us through a thought-provoking and eminently sensible discussion of the “Four Noble Truths” of Buddhism and introduced us to a simple “mindfulness” meditation that seems quite practical. My wife has returned wet but ecstatic from her hike, where she’s learned about the self-pruning ways of evergreens, the aerial acrobatics of copulating slugs and the antics of the resident Cortes wolf population, among other fascinating bits of naturalist lore. Evening finds us enjoying an oyster barbecue under cover on the lodge deck (normally it happens on the beach) followed by another fabulous meal that includes pestobaked salmon. We chat with two artists attending a workshop on the business of art led by the co-ordinator of the West Vancouver Art Gallery. We’re enjoying the place but what about these guys? Reinier deSmit, an affable 50-year-old photo artist, remarks on “the sense of peace and quiet focus” he’s experienced and says Hollyhock gives guests “the freedom to do what you need to do to be here,” noting that not only was his group able to bring wine to their dinner last night but that Hollyhock even provides an outdoor “smoking temple” for those requiring a tobacco fix. Remarking on the mainly vegetarian diet, Dave Denson, a 41-year-old painter and self-confessed “bad eater” who prefers meat, says, “Everything I’ve tasted is delicious.” He also remarks on the friendly, relaxed nature of the place. Although we haven’t experienced everything on offer — we’ve chosen sleep, for example, over the early morning group meditation and yoga session and haven’t had massages in the Bodywork Studio — we have had a rich, relaxing experience and certainly haven’t been inundated by aura-massaging crazies. Best of all, the next morning I awake feeling more deeply rested than I have in weeks. The rain has stopped. Patches of blue appear in the lightening sky. The sun will soon be out. At Hollyhock, accommodation ranges from tent sites to beachfront cabins. Packages ($79-$274 per person per day) include accommodation, meals, guided nature hikes, morning meditations, yoga sessions, hot tubs, library, Internet and periodic evening presentations. Programs and bodywork sessions are extra. See the website hollyhock.ca and/or request a calendar for a complete rundown of upcoming programs. Discounts are available in May and October. See hollycock.ca or call 1-800-933-6339. VB
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TRAVELFAR
Text and Photos By anne mullens
Chile’s historic Valparaíso mixes Victorian grandeur with grand vistas
As I step into one of the famous cliff-side cable elevators in the Chilean port town of Valparaíso, I feel transported back to the 1890s. Metal gears rumble as it clanks up the steep hillside. It smells of warm axle grease. When we clear the lower plain’s ragged rooftops, a spectacular view emerges of brightly painted Victorian-era homes overlooking the deep blue Pacific Ocean. Halfway up the coast of Chile, about 120 kilometres northwest of Santiago, Valparaíso in the 19th century was the major port on the South American coast, the key stop for all ships coming around Cape Horn and a leading destination for British and European immigrants. Called Valpo for short, it was also known as “Little San Francisco.” It, too, was surrounded by dramatic steep hills — 45 cerros to be exact. Instead of trolley cars, ascensores or funicular elevators plied the hills, some no bigger than a closet, others large enough to hold 30 or more passengers. It even had a devastating earthquake in 1906, too. And then, with the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, Europeans took the short cut and Valpo fell into decline. Being bypassed by 20th-century progress, however, yielded st 21 -century benefits: the city is preserved in its Victorian grandeur. In fact UNESCO named its historic centre a world heritage site in 2003 for its funky quaintness. In the past decade, artists, musicians, writers and chefs have
flocked to Valpo’s cheap Victorian real estate, converting the old houses into top-notch restaurants, bars, galleries, stores and accommodations. It now has a population of about 275,000 living in a Southern California-like climate. I have been in Chile for a week, working in Santiago, but almost everyone I meet says: “Have you been to Valpo yet?” At my Santiago bed and breakfast a fellow female business traveler and I decide to take an impromptu Saturday day-trip. Buses leave almost every hour from Santiago’s Terminal Metro Pajaritos for the equivalent of about $20 (Cdn.) return. (One Canadian dollar is about 475 Chilean pesos.) While it is an easy 90-minute drive from Santiago along a major highway, in Valpo a car is a hassle and central Valpo is best explored on foot. Valparaíso has two distinct topographies: a semi-circular, flat plain along the waterfront, which makes up the working port and commercial centre of the city; and the steep wall of hills that surround the plain. The streets along the plain parallel the waterfront, but up on the hills is a crazy-quilt of cobblestone streets, some so steep and twisted they make you breathless with exertion. Right across from the bus station is the imposing National Congress, the legislature, moved here from Santiago in 1990 by the Pinochet government. The surrounding park, Plaza O’Higgins,
Clockwise from left: Victorian houses on Cerro Concepción; the Concepción cable elevator or ascensor; Pablo Neruda’s home La Sebastiana; the harbour view from Café Turri; a cobbled street of Cerro Concepción.
is home to the National Theatre and a popular antiques market each weekend. We walk west along Avenue Pedro Montt, a main commercial street, until we get to the city’s oldest funicular, the Ascensor Concepción, built in 1883 to access the Cerro Concepción. Some 15 of the original 30 funiculars still run as Valpo’s major transportation system. The Concepción ascensor is unchanged from the 1880s, with the same wooden entrance and Victoria-era turnstiles. It cost about 50 cents (Cdn.) to climb the hill and it is a delightful creaking ride to the top. We emerge onto a plaza teaming with flowering plants and trees. Much of the vegetation is unfamiliar but I do recognize hibiscus, bougainvillea and a variety of alstroemerias. Cerro Concepción and nearby Cerro Alegre are two of the most popular hills for wandering and it is easy to spend hours exploring, taking in the view of the port and ogling the Victorian mansions in various states of repair. Some have already been beautifully reclaimed and restored, others we exclaim: “Wouldn’t that be great to fix up!” I fantasize about moving the family to Valpo to convert an old mansion, a fantasy that many North Americans are now living, including my seatmate on the plane from
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Houston and the American couple Jude and Robert Gerrity, who, in 2005, opened the popular restaurant La Concepción in a 19th-century house, with tables in the back garden that overlooks the port. At the well-appointed Café Turri with its gorgeous view we have a light lunch of appetizers. (I have a small seafood stew of shrimp and clams.) We order the Chilean national drink, a Pisco Sour. Peru and Chile argue over who invented the lemony, frothy drink and whose version is the best. I’m partial to Chile’s. After lunch, we set out for one of the prime attractions: La Sebastiana, one of famed poet Pablo Neruda’s three Chilean homes. Chile’s most famous literary icon, Neruda is revered in Chile for both his romantic, sensual poetry and his socialist political activism. Awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1971, Neruda had three homes — one in Santiago, one in Valparaiso and one at Isla Negra — that are now all cultural museums. It is a steady 45-minute climb up the steep roads of Cerro Bellavista in 35C heat and we have to stop to buy water halfway up, but it is worth the trek. La Sebastiana has beautiful shaded grounds and the house itself is a bizarre, tall, boxy structure that reveals a great deal about the eclectic Neruda. Hundreds of tourists troop through it to view his books, paintings, nautical maps, photos and knick-knacky treasures — such as silly or bawdy china figurines and colourful glass bottles. But the view of the port from every room is most striking. In the gift shop I buy a translated copy of his 1924 Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair and I too, become seduced by his sensuous words. Before heading back to Santiago, we manage to land a table for an early dinner at the ultra trendy Pasta e Vino, a converted, white-washed store-front just up from the Concepción ascensor. Opened in 2003, it serves creative homemade pastas and reservations are said to be essential. I had the duck ravioli in a prune cream sauce (delicious) and my friend had the pear and brie ravioli (equally good). As the sun sets we take the rickety Reina Victoria ascensor back down to the plain, and soon catch the bus back to Santiago. I hope to return one day to spend more time exploring this entrancing city.
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libations
By Robert Moyes
With its apothecary-style bottle and old-fashioned label, locallyproduced Victoria Gin has become a distinctive ambassador for this city. The mayor occasionally hands over the spirit to out-of-town dignitaries as a potent keepsake of their visit. With sales surging in Ontario, combined with a recent move into the lucrative American market, Victoria Gin embodies the small but vigorous industry of artisan distilling that has recently sprung up in this region. “We really want to make the best gin in the world,” says Bryan Murray, one of the principals in Victoria Spirits. “There is simply no comparison between a small-batch, handmade gin like ours and mass-market ones such as Bombay Sapphire.” Although the daunting $50 price tag keeps it out of most rumpus room gin and tonics, Victoria Gin has earned acclaim in the realm of “ultra premium” spirits, including winning gold and silver medals at international competitions. Flavoured with 10 botanicals — aside from juniper berries, the ingredients include such exotica as coriander, angelica, star anise and rose petals — this potent potable has a delicate floral quality that makes it suitable for sipping like a cognac or a liqueur.
Local distillers craft small-batch gin and vodka, but this ain’t no backwoods moonshine
Victoria Spirits wood-fired copper pot still.
Four years ago, Murray, a medical doctor, was an investor in Winchester Cellars winery out on the Saanich Peninsula. Soon he was helping them acquire an $80,000 still from Germany and before long moved from investor to hands-on distiller. By spring of 2009 Winchester Cellars was defunct and Murray, along with his wife Valerie and other family members, had become Victoria Spirits. The new company quickly gained traction in the marketplace and currently produces approximately 10,000 bottles annually. Although gin is the focus at Victoria Spirits, they have just laid down an inaugural batch of Scotch-style whisky. Made in conjunction with Matt Phillips of Phillips Brewery, who supplied the “wash” from malted barley that had been brewed specially for this new distilling venture, the as-yet-unnamed whisky will rest for several years in used Kentucky bourbon casks before being bottled and sold. Boutique distilling occurs a couple of hundred kilometres north of Victoria, on Hornby Island, too. Although this funky pastoral getaway seems better suited for stovetop moonshine, Island Spirits Distillery has a following of imbibers who lay out $50 a pop for its top-shelf bottles of Phrog Gin and Phrog Vodka. Island Spirits comprises a trio of longtime distillers who only recently made the move from amateur to professional. “I’d been distilling as a hobby since I was 18,” says Peter Kimmerly, who used to captain an icebreaker. Several years ago Kimmerly and his two partners — winemaker John Grayson and Naz Abdurahman, a PhD organic chemist — were making homemade gin of such purity, mouth-feel and flavour that it was surpassing the world’s best in their own informal blind tastings. Even after they sobered up it seemed obvious that what had once been a pastime should be turned into a serious business: Island Spirits was officially incorporated in July 2007.
According to Kimmerly, their longer production process and custom-made still results in a superb-tasting spirit that has been cleansed of the various impurities that contribute to the causes of hangovers. Despite being a newcomer, Phrog has already won lots of awards, including a silver at the Chicago International Review of Spirits. “We were the only Canadian distiller to win an award there,” says a proud Kimmerly. “Not bad for a couple of hillbillies from Hornby.” The Merridale Estate Cidery, located halfway between Shawnigan Lake and Mill Bay, takes a slightly different approach to the distiller’s art. Premier producers of traditional cider, Merridale has extensive orchards of heritage English and French apples. It was a natural evolution to import a handmade still three years ago and begin producing Calvados, a popular apple brandy that has kept French farmers (and many others) warm A silver medal at a for centuries. According to cidermaster/stillmaster Rick Pipes, Chicago competition the first batch of Cowichan Cider Brandy will come onto the market was “not bad for a late this year, with a $45 price tag. “Calvados is aged in oak to pick couple of hillbillies up some colour and flavours from the wood,” explains Pipes. from Hornby.” Merridale sells a trio of products fortified with distilled spirits. Their port-like Mure Oh! is a blend of blackberry wine and blackberry eau de vie (a clear brandy distilled from fruit). Pomme Oh!, which Pipes describes as “cider meets port,” mimics a drink common in northern France. Their Winter Apple, thicker and sweeter than Pomme Oh!, is almost like a liqueur. These bottles sell for $22. All three distilleries are available for touring. While you sip their products, consider asking how the struggle is going for BC’s artisan distillers to get a reduction of the extraordinarily punitive taxes and handling fees imposed by the government. When you realize, for example, that Murray says he gets to put $3 of profit in his jeans per bottle sold, it’s a miracle that any distilling gets done at all in this province. Victoria Gin is available in numerous government and private liquor stores throughout the province as well as at the Victoria Spirits distillery, 6170 Old West Saanich Road, 250-544-8217. Phrog is carried locally by Spinnakers Spirit Merchants and Cascadia Liquor at Town & Country and Quadra Village. For information on Island Spirits contact Peter Kimmerly, peter@islandspirits.ca. Merridale Estate Cidery products are intermittently available in the higherend private liquor shops but it is easiest to buy them on-site, 1230 Merridale Road, Cobble Hill, 1-250-743-4293. VB
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EATINGIN
By adrienne dyer Photo By gary mckinstry
Turn your garden into a beautiful EDIBLE garden
Fresh from the Earth A spring garden, even a small one, reaps a bounty of herbs and salad greens
I practically grew up in the garden. My family’s market garden flourished no matter what we planted, despite the short growing season in northern BC. My green thumbs failed me, though, when I tried to start my own garden in Brentwood Bay. The soil was packed clay and the climate so foreign I had no idea what to plant or when. Our mild weather is a boon here in gardening zone eight, but crops can fail if planted the wrong time of year. “One of the most common questions I am asked is: why doesn’t my cilantro grow very long?” says Sooke Harbour House head gardener Byron Cook, who supplies the restaurant’s award-winning chefs with fresh salad greens, herbs and edible flowers all year round. “I always ask them: ‘Did you plant in September ?’ ” Cilantro grows best in Victoria when planted in the fall for over-winter and early spring eating, Cook explains. A surprising number of salad greens do well in Victoria if started in the fall.
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But now is still a great time to start a spring garden. Early March is not too early to sow beets, chards, kale, arugula, radishes, collards, corn salad, spinach, nasturtium and all manner of salad greens. Nutrient-rich broad beans and peas can also be sown as soon as you can work the soil. By April you can add carrots, chicory, kohlrabi, Florence fennel and scallions. While some of these plants won’t reach maturity until mid-summer, the baby plants make succulent salad ingredients in the spring. “Pea shoots and flowers taste as sweet and juicy as raw peas and are wonderful in spring salads,” Cook says. “I wait until my shoots are about six to 10 inches tall (15 to 25 centimetres), and then nip off the top couple of inches. The same goes for broad beans.” Nipping the Many herbs are plant tips will affect growth slightly, so be careful not to perennials: one nibble too much or too often. Herbs also provide endless possibilities for spring cuisine, purchase will although some may not be ready until later in the reward you with summer if you start them outdoors from seed. I get seasons of eating. around this with a quick trip to a local nursery for plants that are harvest-ready. Many herbs, like oregano, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme are perennials. One purchase will reward you with seasons of eating. A spring salad garden offers endless possibilities for variation, even if you’ve only got a small condo balcony, tiny patch of backyard or even a windowsill for growing space. “Salad greens, herbs and edible flowers all flourish in well-drained containers,” says Cook, who uses everything from leaky teapots and old copper kettles to planters made from clay, plastic or wood. Short-lived plants like lettuces, chards and kale don’t require additional nutrients beyond what’s already supplied by the soil and the seeds from which they grow. Generally, perennials won’t have consumed the soil’s nutrients until the plants have outgrown their pots. But if they seem to be failing, Cook recommends spraying or watering in a little seaweed liquid fertilizer, available at most garden centres. Out in the garden, raised beds are your best bet. A raised (or framed) bed is simply a bottomless box built on top of the ground and filled with 30.5 centimetres (12 inches) of soil. It’s much easier to build a raised bed than to dig up a plot in infertile soil. Plus,
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if you keep your beds no wider than 1.5 metres or five feet (or .75 metres or 2.5 feet, if against a fence or wall), you’ll be able to reach easily into the middle from both sides. Around here, it’s likely you’ll need a high fence to keep the deer from munching and a few trays of beer to get rid of those destructive slugs. Be sure to add plenty of compost to the soil, too. Cook favours sea soil, which is made from composted fish and forest waste. Although more expensive than other fertilizers like manure, sea soil is certified organic and smells pleasant — especially important when spring breezes waft past your balcony garden and into your home. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your spring salad garden. Every garden is different, and what may grow well for your neighbour may not work for you. Luckily, salad plants grow quickly and seeds are cheap. If your first crop fails, the solution is easy: try again. To garnish your freshly grown greens, try this tasty salad dressing from Sooke Harbour House, a great way to use your spring rhubarb, too:
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Bring to boil, except for oil, and simmer for 10 minutes. Blend. Slowly add oil in steady stream. To participate in one of Byron Cook’s Spring Gardening Workshops, contact Sooke Harbour House at 250-642-3421 or visit sookeharbourhouse.com. The Pacific Horticultural College is also offering “The Spring Garden” on March 20 and “Containers, Small Gardens and Greenhouses” on April 17. Register by calling 250-479-3210 or visit hcp.bc.ca/programs/ community.php.
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The Garden Path has regular workshops and seminars on all aspects of gardening. Visit earthfuture.com/ gardenpath/index.htm. The sharingbackyards.com site links people with available backyard space in Victoria to those who want to grow a garden. VB
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EATINGOUT
By adrienne dyer Photo By gary mckinstry
Lunchtime
in Paradise No more stale sandwiches in your cubicle: something new gives a midday boost
The Noodle Box is just one of many lunch “hot” spots.
Lunch break exists for us to refuel and forget about work long enough to regain sanity. Yet raise your hand if, at noon hour on most days, you find yourself slurping instant noodles from a cup with nary a glance out the corporate or home office window. With so many great lunch spots in beautiful locales around Victoria, it shouldn’t take too much prodding to get out the door to eat, especially now that spring is here. Some of these lunch spots are new, some are tried-andtrue. Most are downtown, but others are farther from the core: as businesses spread wider across Victoria, so do good places to eat lunch. Red Fish Blue Fish, housed in an “up-cycled” steel shipping container, serves responsibly harvested local seafood takeout style near the floatplane dock on Wharf Street. Hungry lunchers flock like seagulls for favourites such as the BBQ Qualicum Bay Scallop Burger and those little strokes of genius, Fish Tacones. Created by chef Kunal Ghose, the tacones consist of grilled tortillas cones packed with fresh seafood, lemon pickled onions, pea shoots, and sauces like spicy pot prawn mayo and golden shallot aioli. Everything on the menu conforms to the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise conservation program, which means that abundant, resilient species are harvested without damage to other marine species. I just love fish and chips for lunch, lightly battered and sizzled to a golden crisp with a side dollop of coleslaw (not too heavy on the mayonnaise, mind) and a drizzle of lemon juice. And plenty of malt vinegar for the chips. If you have a few extra minutes, grab the harbour ferry over to Barb’s Place Floating Seafood Restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf for a plate full of comfort. In Chinatown, Don Mee Chinese Seafood Restaurant has run 80 years under the same name. They offer Cantonese, Szechuan and Western-style dishes along with a daily dim sum lunch. Choose from such dim sum delicacies as Baked Barbecued Pork Buns, Glutinous Rice Tamales with Chicken and over 60 more dishes. Other popular spots are the Forum Chinese Seafood Restaurant, Fan Tan Café and Golden City. The Noodle Box on Fisgard or Douglas streets is perfect for a fast, steaming lunch, but expect lineups. Speaking of Fisgard Street, its markets, which import Asian produce, are also great places to poke around for something exotic, like the succulent, pear-shaped loquat fruit, for a walking and sight-seeing lunch. Over on Fort Street, a world of great places to eat awaits. For Vietnamese specialties, Saigon Night’s No. 18 special (rice noodles, grilled pork, shredded pork and spring rolls) is always popular or Pho Hoa’s noodle soups are sure hits. Fort Street is also home to Shiki Sushi, for great — guess what? — sushi at a good price. Lovers of traditional
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WING'S RESTAURANT 90 Gorge Road West
250- 385-5564
European delicatessens will have to squeeze in tight at Choux Choux Charcuterie (there are only a few tables) for Victoria’s best plat du jour of slow-cooked food. Or take it out for a picnic. Former Montrealers will think they have died and gone to Schwartz’s when they bite into an authentic Montreal smoked meat sandwich at Lully’s on Broughton Street. Opened last October, it has lineups out the door every workday. Pig BBQ Joint on View Street is a street-side smoke shack with devoted fans scarfing back their pulled pork, braised beef or smoked chicken sandwiches. For authentic Mexican food, try a little hole-in-the-mall called Hernande’z, in the bottom of the St. Andrew’s office tower on Yates Street. Little Thai Place specializes in gourmet quality traditional fare that is quick and inexpensive. It has three locations, at Shelbourne Plaza, on Cook Street and on the Veterans Memorial Parkway in Langford. Thai cuisine can range from fiery hot to gentle on the tongue and is generally a filling, healthy choice. In the Quadra Street Village, try 5th Street, which offers a good range of $5 and $10 appetizers and lunches: it can be noisy and packed, but the back patio is quieter. If you’re wanting a fast feast of Caribbean cooking, such as jerk chicken, the Caribbean Village around the corner on Quadra Street is a fun, off-beat choice. Out To Lunch: All restaurants mentioned are open for lunch during the week but some are closed Mondays. Barb’s Place: Fisherman’s Wharf, 250-384-6515 Choux Choux Charcuterie: 830 Fort St., 250-382-7572 Caribbean Village: 2646 Quadra St., 250-381-3363 Don Mee Chinese Seafood Restaurant: 538 Fisgard St., 250-383-1032 Fan Tan Café: 549 Fisgard St., 250-383-1611 5th Street Bar & Wood-Fired Grill: 1028 Hillside Ave., 250-380-4600 Forum Chinese Seafood Restaurant: 612 Fisgard St., 250-385-3288 Golden City Restaurant: 721 Fisgard St., 250-386-8404 Hernande’z: 735 Yates St., 250-382-5145 Little Thai Place: 3613 Shelbourne Plaza, 250-477-8668; 137-2745 Veterans Memorial Parkway, 250-478-5455; 1839 Cook St., 250-477-8900 Lully’s: 732 Broughton St., 250-384-0403 Pig BBQ Joint: 749 View St., 250-381-4677 Pho Hoa Vietnamese: 765 Fort St., 250- 477-2356 Red Fish Blue Fish: 1006 Wharf St., 250-298-6877 Saigon Night: 915 Fort St., 250-384-2971 Shiki Sushi: 787 Fort St., 250-381-8622 The Noodle Box: 626 Fisgard St., 250-360-1312; 818 Douglas St., 250-384-1314 VB victoriaboulevard.com 131
Describe Victoria in five words. Walkable, beautiful, memory-building, unique, flourishing. Last April you were featured on YouTube, wearing a clown’s wig, strumming a guitar and singing your composition about Victoria. Did you worry that could be viewed as unprofessional? I was worried, which is why I took it to my board of directors before it went public to make sure that it wouldn’t be compromising their opinion of what the professionalism of the CEO would look like. It got pretty good endorsement. There was curiosity around the train wreck of a video that it would be, so people went to our YouTube website and actually saw our other more serious, conventional videos. Not sure I’d do it again, but at the time, it was a good thing. With a master’s degree in business from Massachusetts’ Springfield College and an undergrad physical education degree from McGill, how do you, the jock with an MBA, approach your job? I’m not much of a jock. I’m still working at that. My whole career has really been guided by the hopeful development of skills that transcend the industry, being a consensus-builder, being
able to network, to market and sell, leverage budgets. All those things work in a lot of different sectors. Sports was a battleground. I remember waking up when I was working for the Ottawa Rough Riders and one of our players had been arrested for beating his girlfriend and was in handcuffs with our logo on the front page of the newspaper and I was working in PR. So you go, “this is going to be a fun day.” I certainly didn’t do a master’s with an eye to work in tourism. I did do it to work in pro sports.
lies
secrets &
Robert Gialloreto Tourism Victoria’s President and CEO
You’ve worked for several pro sports teams including hockey’s Manitoba Moose and Cornwall Aces and football’s Ottawa Rough Riders. Who’s a tougher customer — a 250-pound linebacker or a high-end tourist? The high-end tourist. You can just give a 250-pound linebacker a steak and reason with him. The high-end tourist has a tremendous list of things he or she wants to make their vacation complete and they’re changing all the time. A linebacker today and a linebacker maybe 20 years ago is pretty much the same beast. Your wife Christie is a sports psychologist. How did you meet? We met in a class at Springfield College but we obviously weren’t ➤
By shannon moneo photo by gary mckinstry
Edna St. Vincent Millay
GARY MCKINSTRY PHOTO
April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
616 View Street (backs onto Trounce Alley) 250 388 0613
Bill Blass
GARY MCKINSTRY PHOTO
When in doubt wear red.
616 Trounce Alley 250 383 1883 134 victoriaboulevard.com
interested in each other at the time. She’s from northern Virginia. She remembers seeing my McGill football jacket and that was the end of that. Years later, we were both working in the American Hockey League. We met through business, dated, got engaged and got married. The Boston Globe did an article on us, Love American Hockey League Style, because we were two PR directors that met in the league and got married. One reason Tourism Victoria hired you was because you’re quick to think on your feet. Does that mean sometimes one of those fast feet lands in your mouth? I think so. I’ve worked to try to think before I speak. It’s not a question of saying the wrong thing. It’s about saying the right thing, perhaps at the wrong time or to the wrong audience. It hasn’t happened too much. I’m just blatantly honest when it comes to some things and sometimes honesty doesn’t go over very well in the corporate world. Your surname isn’t the easiest one to spell or say. Any funny stories about mispronunciations or spellings? (Pronounced “Jallo-ret-toe”) Gosh, lots. It’s been butchered every which way as you can imagine. I did some student teaching when I was doing my phys ed degree and I got called
Mr. Jalapeno for three straight weeks, which is not quite Italian but it’s European. But the nicknames were just beyond everything from typical G-man to Jello to Jelly-Belly even though I was not particularly large. Just an endless stream of nicknames, to this day. Today, G, G-dog. There’s always this group of people that wants to spell it with two Ts and one L. They defend the fact that they’re misspelling it by telling me that’s the way they’d spell it in Italy. My dad was from Italy and I’m pretty sure he didn’t spell his name that way. My wife took it. It can’t be that bad. You run half-marathons and marathons. Why? Mid-life crisis. It was just another challenge. I was never a runner. I hated running. I remember in my thirties I couldn’t run a kilometre. I played hockey. It’s neat now. I can run 10 k in just over 50 minutes. The marathon was a real struggle. At 40, I said, ‘oh my gosh, I’m not 30 anymore. I need to get a two-door sports car and run a marathon.’ (He got a two-door Honda Accord, which he still drives.) What’s your favourite holiday destination? I just can’t isolate one. Ireland was an awesome place. We went there for our honeymoon. I’d love to go back. You can get in a car and just drive. I’d love just exploring Ireland. Then, it’s great to be on a beach in Jamaica. No problems with that either. VB
c o m rags
Gunhouse+Cornish
Spring 2010
Exclusively at
Timelessly You Boutique Inc.
You have to visit to truly appreciate the distinction
618 Broughton Street 250.995.2745 www.sweetnancys.com
Familiar Faces, Familiar Places
This is Jivko and Heather Jeliazkov, owners of Jivko Stone and Tile, with daughters Gabrielle, Sofia and best friend Chewbacca, with their RX 350
Photographed at St. Anne’s Academy by Gary Mckinstry
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Whether it’s used to chauffeur the kids to school, rowing, singing or dancing, the Jeliazkovs’ RX 350 vehicle fits perfectly into their busy lives. Jivko immigrated from Bulgaria 20 years ago and met his wife Heather, a Victoria resident, at the Festival of Trees. “He proposed publicly at the same event two years later,” says Heather; they’ll be celebrating their 11th anniversary this year. “We’re an active bunch,” says Heather. When they’re not driving the kids to and from St. Michaels University School, Heather is on the go running Ovation PR, her small public relations consultancy business, and staying involved as a musical theatre director and choreographer. Jivko is occupied with the opening of their new retail store in town, Jivko Stone and Tile, a natural expansion of their stone and tile installation business. “Our RX 350 is the perfect size for our family, with room for the kids, their
2010 Lexus RX 350 Very well equipped from $48,795.00 Includes freight and pre-delivery inspection
friends and all their stuff (there’s always plenty of that) and any parents of teens know that their car is really a cab,” says Heather. “Not only does the RX 350 get great mileage in the city and on the highway, it handles beautifully on soggy and icy roads.” Two of their favourite attributes of the car are the bluetooth configuration and the shift capability in an automatic transmission. This is their second Lexus. They have worked with both the sales and service team and can’t seem to say enough about how great they are to work with. “The lease process was very simple and they managed the paperwork within our crazy schedules,” says Heather. “Their commitment to excellence on the part of the service is apparent from the moment you drive off the lot. If I ever have a problem with my car, from a flat tire or dead battery, one call to them has me back on the road immediately without missing an appointment.” It doesn’t get much better than this!
lexus victoria
More than just a dealership the pursuit of perfection
Douglas at Finlayson, Victoria 250-386-3516