Baillie House

Things were pretty busy last Saturday at the Baillie House!
Great weather to showcase local groups and artists made for a nice day...with granola bars and iced tea for a light lunch. :)
Baillie House is a historic building in Merritt- home to one of the earliest pioneers and now a tourism/info center with a gorgeous perennial garden out front and a small herb and vegetable garden in back.
It is a venue for many spring and summer celebrations and hosts yard sales throughout the year- I have got some amazing bargains there!
There were bird houses and plants for sale- many little cacti potted up in old children's shoes.

The Lilac Conspiracy had a display in tones of purple that showcased the more bohemian aspects of life in Merritt using the lilac as it's theme.

Lilac is a shrub (almost a tree actually) that does phenomenally well in Merritt. It seems to thrive in the heat and the windy nature of Merritt carries the perfume of flowers throughout town. It comes in several shades: deep purple, pale purple, white and there are also pink/burgundy colours. I registered mine :)

Some of the local vendors had preserves on display:

native plants from tribal growers

and lavender for sale (another heavily scented plant)

There were bees and honey as well (I didn't want to get too close):

as well as local art from Shirley Reynolds and Cindilla Trent:

and lets not forget a bit of Baillie House garden:

Richard Branson at YVR

Another trip to Vancouver behind us with Roland back home in Switzerland. I hope the flight went well- it certainly was a great day to fly out and overall the last 3 weeks had very good weather- in Merritt certainly.

I will write more about his stay with us in my next post but as it's a matter of being timely with news oriented photography I will share the photos I took of Sir Richard Branson on his trip to Vancouver.

Along with Premier Christy Clark and a host of people involved in airline/transportation matters he was there to announce the new non-stop flight route between Vancouver's YVR airport and Heathrow Airport in London, U.K. on his airline Virgin Atlantic.

It was quite a media event that probably started in the morning and ended up at the airport...a matter of good timing as photography 'on the fly' goes! Despite 3 distinct and separated rings of guests, media and onlookers I was able to get some rather nice photos.
(I believe this is in part due to the fact that Canadians are polite people.)

I had heard of Richard Branson of course and knew he was a wealthy businessman involved in all kinds of ventures. Once I did a little research at home it's easy to see why I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was that made him so rich and famous. He has evidently amassed a collection of at least 400 quite divergent companies. The name 'Virgin' is associated with several of them...Virgin this-this-and-that in the back of my mind and a recollection of stunts and daredevil antics by a rather wolfish looking man who had obviously already lived a full life!

In any case, I was glad for the opportunity to put myself to the test and brave the wall of media to get my shots and see now that Sir Richard is a pretty good looking fellow with great hair, a nice way of speaking and a very friendly yet proper manner. It must be said that he has a sly grin sometimes and a jaw that sets quite firmly on certain statements I can't quite recall the content of.

This was quite in contrast to the almost chipmunk-like appearance and demeanour of our Premier who was blatantly enjoying the whole event. I did recall some of her address to the crowd acknowledging our ties to the U.K. (referring to Queen Elisabeth) although I think she's far from a being a supporter of titles.

The airline hostesses (?) that acted as models for the whole prop of Virgin Atlantic probably have permanent lines in their faces by now from the permanent smiles they wore...they seriously were so professional and even managed to keep some warmth in their expressions.

Merritt In May

It's flood watch time for Merritt like most other communities.
Sandbags are up on Voght which is good but I often wondered if things might not be improved by dredging some of the silt from the Nicola. It's extremely built up with sediments after it leaves the fields upriver. There are practically islands choked with tall grasses clogging up the waterway- a huge contrast to the area immediately south of the dam where it looks more like the frisky Coldwater River.

Someone suggested that the sandbags be covered over with dirt and landscaped making a permanent (and money saving) barrier...the idea has merit. (ha ha).

Elsewhere, at the extreme opposite end of things, there was a fire south of the Colloquial along the hills of the Coldwater River. It looked like a grass fire that had burned out of control.

And then there's the Ladies Hospital Auxiliary that celebrated 100 years of service to the community. The thrift store generates much of the revenue that was in the past used to purchase machines for Merritt's (then) first-rate general hospital.

Times have changed however and the community is not what it once was was. A second shop owner has posted a message on the wood covering a broken window of his storefront expressing discontent.
This seems to have made some impact as there are now police on bikes patrolling the downtown.