Sometimes in Victoria, the sky does stuff like this. It’s impressive.

I found this phone in the park.

I pass this sign on the way to work every day. It’s probably my favourite piece of public art in Victoria. As part of this, there are two benches made out of mattresses. I don’t care much for that part, but the sign is pretty great, and pretty much sums up life for a lot of people in Victoria.

This was last weekend. I was out for the Luminara lantern festival. Just as it was getting dark, it started pouring rain, which doesn’t really add to a lantern festival. It was warm, though, so everyone was walking home and stopping to enjoy this sunset over the west side of the Island.

This is the same place as yesterday’s photo.

This is the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, which is way up north where the 427 meets the 407.

I like that it’s on an industrial road, surrounded by crappy one-storey factories and highways; the contrast multiplies the building’s beauty.

I had seen the Hindu temple before from the highway and I had read about it when it first opened, but I had never taken the time to visit. While home on vacation, I finally had a chance. Sadly, cameras aren’t allowed inside.

If you have a chance to visit, go. It’s amazing from the outside; it’s better on the inside.

From their website: “Using premium Italian Carrara marble, the finest Turkish limestone and Indian pink stone, the Mandir was hand-carved into 24,000 pieces by skilled craftsmen in India.”

Second tower photo in a row.

This is the statue of poet Al Purdy in Queen’s Park. He died in 2000, out here on Vancouver Island, which is the only thing you can really do on Vancouver Island. He was an Ontario poet, though. I’m a great fan of this statue. You can’t see it here, but in his other hand he’s holding a big book. I like that there’s a statue of Purdy in Toronto, especially in Queen’s Park, which is full of statues of former prime ministers, queens and premiers, and even one king on his horse. It’s nice that Purdy’s there, a normal guy who worked very hard to become a great poet. To really get a sense of Purdy, you have to hear him; watch this: Purdy narrates after the Gord Downie introduction.

A sampling of Purdy’s work, because Wednesdays are fine days for poetry –

From About Being a Member of Our Armed Forces:

I wasn’t exactly a soldier tho
only a humble airman
who kept getting demoted
and demoted
and demoted
to the point where I finally saluted civilians

This is one of the best, Poem for Eda, in its entirety:

She wears glasses
and has a slightly intellectual expression
as if she’d intended to read a book
- then decided against it

Finally, my very favourite – Attempt

Man’s sole gesture of defiance
at a hostile or indifferent universe
is standing outside at night
after the requisite number of beers
and with a graceful enormous parabola
trying to piss on the stars
failing magnificently

I shot this through the sunroof of a car being driven by a man who was three hours away from getting married. I think this is Adelaide (can anyone confirm?).

PS – I’m pretty sure the mirror building is the new Bay-Adelaide Centre, so this probably is Adelaide, though I might still be wrong.