For months Carrie had been looking forward to Fibrations Victoria, an outdoor craft fair featuring vendors from a variety of textile arts. There were knitters, spinners, weavers, sheep and alpaca growers, basically everything you could imagine related to textiles. Most were local so it was interesting to see the local slant on the arts. There was even a local lady making tamales for sale for lunch. It was a beautiful cool and sunny day so the weather cooperated with a respite from the heat wave.
Carrie had previously signed up to volunteer at Fibrations and Sue agreed to join her. They worked for several hours selling raffle tickets for a huge array of fabric items that had been donated. By the end they were fully familiar with the colors and shapes of Canadian currency (or is it colours?).
While Carrie and Sue worked the raffle Charlie and Leo walked about a mile up the hill and toured Craigdarroch Castle. This Victorian mansion was built between 1887 and 1890 by Robert Dunsmuir, the father of James Dunsmuir who built Hatley Castle around 20 years later. The house is furnished in the style of the period and is open for self-guided tours.
On the way back to Fibrations Charlie and Leo walked around the grounds of Government House, the office and official residence of the Lieutenant Governor, the representative of the British Royal Family in British Columbia. Although Canada is a sovereign nation, Queen Elizabeth is still considered Queen of Canada and you see her portrait here and there in government facilities, always with a Canadian flag behind her. Canadians, for the most part, seem to value their benevolent relationship with the Crown.
