Fall is in the air and a lot has happened since my last posting in the summer. Our house is in place and sheltering us nicely from the sometimes heavy rains and very blustery winds up here on St. David ridge. Recently, I cut another significant tie to BC. My ICBC insurance expired and now I have NB plates on my truck. A bittersweet day.
And then there’s Kingsbrae Garden. After the initial job offer advertisement I read in the newspaper, I applied for a job there. They did not respond to my e-mailed cover letter and resume. After almost a month, I e-mailed them, asking if they had even received my application. Next day, I received a very embarassed-sounding e-mail back, saying that they had been busy and that the job was filled, apply again in Spring. Three weeks after that, Another e-mail arrived in my inbox on a Friday afternoon. Due to a change in circumstances, they were taking applications again. They had taken the liberty of slotting me in for 10 AM on the following Tuesday. Was I still available? I replied that I was and was looking forward to seeing them then. The interview went well, Andreas, the manager and Bob, the assistant manager were the “committee”. Next morning, Wednesday, at 8:10 AM I got a phone call, asking if I would start the next day , Thursday, August 20. Well, that was easy.
So I’ve joined to the ranks of the semi-retired, working on average 3 days a week. In the winter season, after November 5, I will be working 1 or 2 days a week. The garden closed officially to the public on October 9, but does still allow visitors, if they are willing to brave the hustle and bustle of putting the garden to bed.
My workmates are all pretty good people, like to work there, but also like to have their winters off on EI. Different sort of lifestyle. It’s all about getting enough hours to qualify, then it is a kind of happy atmosphere as the cutoff days come close.
The Garden is an interesting place. It was originally conceived in 1996, the same year that the Central Vancouver Island Botanical Garden Society was formed, with a very similar aim. Construction began in early 1997 and was completed in late 1998. It is comprised of several themed, formal and informal gardens. It shows how you can make an extraordinary place with a lot of normal garden plants, with relatively few exotics. Part of the reason is of course, the cold climate zone. This is at around 5 here, with some warmer pockets in Saint Andrews, where the garden is situated.
All in all, I like working there, “Keeps me off the streets, not like my last job!”
There are several alpacas, some goats, chickens and peacocks as part of the displays here. Also, there are 2 resident cats and 2 resident dogs. The cats have the run of the place and often greet visitors. the dogs are confined to the Works yard by a buried wire system
One dog, Bubba, is quite old and some days doesn’t feel the shock of the collar and ventures out. This makes for a cute, interesting situation on some days. There are also resident foxes in the garden. On fox apparently likes to play a “chase me” game with old Bubba. He is seen running up a pathway with Bubba in “hot” pursuit.
When Foxy gets too far ahead, he stops and waits for Bubba to catch up a bit so they can resume the chase. Guess they probably know each other on a first-name basis, and the fox knows he’s pretty safe doing this.
