More Mail!

 Hullo... we received more mail today! And I say "we" because... this letter was addressed to the mice as well! Sherlock Sandy, Dr. Cocoa Watson and Inspector Navy Lestrade...

It's another lovely card created by Beanie Mouse...

And it's got our bullion prize from the last case we worked on!

This was the Florence Nightingale one.

Thanks Beanie!

And... we have another clue...

This one says....

This clue is for a heptagonal coin,
Centenary minting with musical showing
The Composer's surname
And the country, the same
He is with singer P. Pears ajoin'd.
Who is he? 

Well "heptagonal" means 7-sided so we are looking for a 50p piece!

And centenary means it's celebrating 100 years...

It's elementary dear Watson (and Lestrade... don't leave Lestrade out of this...)

***whisper, whisper, whisper***

We have solved the case!!

The coin is for Benjamin Britten, born in 1913... Solved!!

 

 

 

Bus Bingo Prize Mail!

 Hullo, we received some mail today!!

Except... um... uh-oh...

Um... Houston... we have a problem. A BIG problem!!

"Cocoa? Do you see what I see??"
Yes, I do Navy... yes I DO.""

Seriously Beanie Mouse... what were you thinking???

Now, now, let's not get our noses out of joint... it could be a simple innocent mistake?

Innocent mistake, my tail!!! 

Look at this!! Look at it!!!

Who is the SOLE addressee??? It is Sandy Bear! Not a mention of a Mouse!!

From our COUSIN no less! What are we?? Minced cheese curds? Hmph!!!!

"If that's the way Beanie wants to be... then FINE!!!"

Oh dear... Maybe it's just a sekrebeary typo (write-o) on the front...

Let's open it up and see...

But first let me get a pair of scissors to get into this Fort Knox of an envelope...

There's a lot of stuff in there! But I think I have it all!

Right, let's take a look...

It's a card... Resistance is ...utile... Eh?

I know my Star Trek: TNG and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be "Futile"! Good image of a Borg by the way!

Oh, it's a lovely card and it is addressed to...

Moi...

And only moi... hmmmm....

There's a nice pin badge from The National Gallery...

And another one that adds a line to the Beatitudes... "Blessed are the cracked for they let the light in"...

That seems like a good addition!

And a post card of an astronomical clock at Hampton Court Palace - cool!

And a magnetic book mark! Those are much better than turning over a couple of page corners!

Oh, and a little corner note... hmmmm... it's supposed to missing an F... "Resistance is Utile"?? Apparently "utile" means "useful"... and it was used before "useful" came on the scene! Cool... That'll be a good one to keep in your backpocket for Scrabble... Somebody puts "tile" down and you can score big with that "u"!

Thanks Beanie Mouse!!!

"Yeah... Thannnnkkkkkssss for nothing Beanie Mouse!"

Ooops.. we have a peanut gallery!

Who you calling peanuts???? We are NOT peanuts, even if we are small... we may be be small but we are mighty!!  I think we should make up our VERY OWN bus bingo cards... so we can get our VERY OWN prizes. Hmph (x2).

Ummm... so yeah... Beanie... any thoughts??

A Wander through Butchart Gardens

Eeeeee!!! Are we at Butchart Gardens??? Sandy, are we hear, really??
I think I dropped something... eeeeee!!!!

Pardon the mice... but yes... we are at Butchart Gardens!!!

We were going to get a selfie with the sign but there was a line-up... an actual line-up to do selfies!

Alright... we are in!!! Let's see what we can find!

oooohhhhh... the rhodos are blooming!!! (We went in late May)...

That's where the tea house is... are we having tea???

Honestly... soooo many pretty flowers and a literal army of gardeners working to refresh all the beds...

This place is massive and the amount of work that goes into it... holy moly!

Ooooohhhhhhhh.... This is one of the old quarries and... from the last post... we know what was quarried here!!! Limestone to make cement down at the old cement plant on Tod Inlet!!

They have informational plaques all over the place outlining the history of the place.

Seriously gorgeous... ummm...

What are you guys doing???
We are admiring the flowers on this wooden stand!

It's the garbage and recycling bins!! Even they look gorgeous!

Alright... we could show you a gazillion pics of flowers...

So many flowers... 

But all we can really say is... if you get the chance... Go to Butchart Gardens...

There are artfully placed benches too if you get exhaustipated from too many flowers...

There's a gardener planting begonias (we think).

They have a lot more to go!!

The crowds weren't too bad...

We also learned that they plant new stuff every year... for like the annuals... even the tulip bulbs are planted fresh and new every year!

Oooh... I hear a fountain!!!

The dancing fountain!! In an old quarry...

From the old cement plant... of course!

It's beary pretty...

It was apparently Mrs. Butchart who saw the potential of these old quarries for a garden (and fountain)... They had to bring in dump truck loads of top soil!

Right... where to next???

Ooohhh!! Through the trees... we could see one of the cement plant's old chimney stacks.

It's in a behind-the-scenes maintenance area of the gardens... which is good, cause in 2019, the top part of the chimney came tumbling down...

I wonder how many people blink and miss this little window into history?

Although they do a beary good job with the historical plaques!

And in this sunken garden... another nod to history with...

What look like old ore carts... maybe they carted the limestone down to the plant in these?

We saw tonnes of bees...

And the hostas are in fully leaf... so gorgeous...

The dragon fountain was cool...

Then there was the ancient forest section with...

... massive old redwood trees...

They were planted in 1934 and aren't even 100 years old yet and are huge!!

Oooh... zinnias!!!

We are now heading to the rose garden which...

Didn't really have much going on as it's too early for most roses...

But it did have a cute fountain with a golden frog...

And a wishing well!

With a good amount of wishes made apparently.

Whew... it's getting hot too! We found a concrete bench (probably locally made!) with a bit of shade...

And then scampered to the Japanese gardens which were beary nicely shaded and cool...

It was beary peaceful and calm here with little babbling brooks...

And benches where you could contemplate the moss breathing...

We even went across the little stepping stone bridge...

And came through to the star fountain...

At this point... stuffies were losing interest... hot and hungry and cranky...

This is the final garden... the Italian Garden... the most formal one... just behind the tea house...

But everyone was more interested in this!!

Ahhh... shade and ice cream!!!

With a pretty view...

Although all stuffies agreed there should have been an ice cream cup for each stuffie... not one to share!

There was talk of tea but we were all exhaustipated at this point...

So we went past the local boar statue (why??) and headed for the gift shop...

Still a line up!!!

Hah!!

Beary true!!

Too bad these t-shirts aren't stuffie-sized...

And there we go!! We have done Butchart Gardens... in the spring... apparently it changes quite a bit from season to season... We'll have to come back.

Getting back home presented two options... drive around and up the Malahat or take the ferry from Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay and avoid the Malahat...

We drove to the ferry which was just around the corner and... joined the line-up... 

We were on the wharf bit which meant our changes of getting on were pretty high!

And we did get on!!! Navy was beary happy to be on the water again.

Cocoa... not so much...

It's a prefect day for a ferry ride...

Way in the distance, on that right hand slope, we could just see the Malahat Skywalk!

Can you see it? Just at the crest of the hill, in the middle of the pic...

I must say... the sekrebeary is doing an excellent job of arranging adventures this year! Although... snacks could still use some work... always room for improvement.