Our series “The Hollow’s Backyard” will finish tomorrow with a nice wrap-up, but today we continue our grand adventure together. Being Toad’s who live on an island, we love all things nautical. The smell of the ocean breeze, the sound of the waves against the shore, bells ringing, flags flapping in the wind… all distinctive sounds that help to create the overall sensation of life by the ocean. The people who live in these fabulous homes are all unique themselves and they decorate their homes with some wonderful and distinctive items that really lend themselves to a true nautical feel. Today we will look at a few of these items.
House Boats - Wooden Boat Festival - Maple Bay Marina, BC, Canada
The homes are all special, they all reflect those who live in them and their surroundings. The colors are distinctive and are really quite typical for Vancouver Island, and we love them. In this shot, we see a few of the homes on one of the rows of docks at the Maple Bay Marina. Peppered with distinct and very unique collections of items, these scenes provide an abundant source of interest with lot’s of wonderful details to enjoy.
House Boats - Wooden Boat Festival - Maple Bay Marina, BC, Canada
Even though each place is special and unique in their own right, the folks who live here also really foster a true sense of community. Privacy is available for when needed, but your neighbor is just a few feet away and all too ready to help out in any manner required. In some ways, this really felt like stepping back in time to when everyone lived in small towns and communities, and folks really put a lot of care and effort into looking out for each other.
We were invited into one of the homes for a tour, but were asked to refrain from photo-taking so we don’t have any images to share we’re sorry to say… however, the strong sense of caring for the community and surroundings was very strong and evident. This is a welcoming place to old and new friends alike, and we absolutely relished the experience.
House Boats - Wooden Boat Festival - Maple Bay Marina, BC, Canada
This is my favorite picture from today’s post. Mrs. Toad and myself have such a decoration in our house, and we believe they are commonly referred to as “Tree Spirits”. These adorn the outer wall of the houseboat pictured above and due to being outside really are wonderful in their weathered appearance. I also really loved the slightly out of focus lamp in the window in the left area of the image. Also, the rich tones of the wooden frame around the window really adds a wonderful dash of warmth and color to the overall scene.
House Boats - Wooden Boat Festival - Maple Bay Marina, BC, Canada
Each home is entirely distinct with the decorations, and the ivory statue of what appears to be a mermaid was something too good to pass up for our lens this day. You can also see a plethora of colors emanating from the flower baskets and other artifacts of wonder present themselves to the viewer who spends a little time taking in the image.
It’s bittersweet to note that this series will be wrapping up tomorrow, we’ve really really enjoyed bringing this to you. We do have what we feel is a wonderful end, so if you’ve been following along and enjoying this series, we hope that tomorrow will not disappoint.
As always, we are forever grateful for your visit! Please do feel free to leave us any comments you may have, we truly love to hear from all our visitors!!
That shot with the carvings is pretty sweet. I cannot even imaging how much time went into carving that out of a piece of wood, especially with some of the finer details. Nicely captured.
The Tree Spirits are really quite common up here; we find them in many forms. They really do appear to be very intricate and must take a lot to work to do my friend! Thank you so much for your kind visit today Chris!
This really looks like a great spot for a relaxing vacation!
It really is Jason. This winter has been a tad unruly for our tastes, we’re really looking forward to enjoying the summer at the Marina here, in the restaurant… oh boy, I almost gave away too much information regarding tomorrow’s closing post for the series!! Thanks so much for your visit and comments today my friend!
Love the perspective in the first image. Nice work.
Thanks Chris, that sure does mean a lot to us coming from you, sir!
The tree spirits brought you and your photography to us Toad. I’ll be off the radar for a few days. Have a great weekend!
What a wonderful thing to say Barbara! Thank you so very much! We’ll be missing you tomorrow; hope your weekend is the best it can be!
Ohh..the tree spirits are truly amazing. Who can resist a face like that.
Thank you Jan, yes my friend, it’s too much of an allure for me to ignore that’s for sure! Really appreciate your visit & wonderful comments today!
Love the tree spirits! As always you do a great job taking your audience on a brief trip to your neck of the woods! Great images accompany a carefree yet informative text! Good work!
Thank you so very very much Tom, that just means the world to us! We’re honored and humbled by your kind words today!
I love all these posts. All the boats too. I want to go there!
And you are VERY welcome to come join us some day Heather! Thank you so very much for you taking the time to pop by and leave us these wonderful comments!
Just beautiful shots Toad. These buildings have tremendous character and your shots display them vividly.
That really means so much to us here Jerry, thank you kindly my friend!
I’m so glad I stumbled onto your blog. Wonderful photos…
My houseboat/shantyboat blog gets several hundred hits a day even though I only post sporadically. I couldn’t resist giving your blog a post and poaching one of your photos as a teaser. I hope it will get some of my readers to check you out.
If you have any objections I will delete the post immediately.
I am absolutely honored and delighted, thank you SO much! We love this sort of thing! Thanks so very much for your wonderful comments today, and for taking the time to read our post.
Those tree spirits are cool Toad. We have the Green Man in England, a mythical being who lived in the forests and kept watch over the woodland etc. good to see that ancient traditions or deities are kept alive in some small way.
Loving the series and the style of your work, unique and fascinating.
Thanks so very very much Chris! Yep, we are well aware of the Green Man here on Vancouver Island as well. We have a lot of metaphysical and spiritual type haberdasheries here and we see tons of this kind of stuff. Us Toads love this, too, we really get a sense of connection to the world around us and the surrounding universe we live in. Gosh, Chris, thanks so very much for all your kindness, friendship & support; you are a wonderful friend and we sure do appreciate you!
Your photo reminds me that the tree spirits need oiling. Nicest photos I have seen of our home, Mr Toad. We moved the house to Cowichan Bay in the past week. I managed some time for scenic photography while on the floating house. The photos of this event have been and are being published now on my blog. Once again it’s joy to find these high quality photos on this subject.
Good Lord, Joseph. The world is a huge place and then you discover this treasure feet away from the front door of your house. I am rather moved tonight to read your comments; I can sincerely tell you I had no idea that this was your beautiful home, my friend, but now that we know this I love it more.