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Beacon Hill Park Emily Carr James Bay Inn On Location Season 4 Victoria

Season 4 Episode 19: On Location – Emily Carr and James Bay Inn

Beacon Hill Park

On Location Victoria British Columbia – Emily Carr, James Bay Inn and Beacon Hill Park – Tea. Toast. & Trivia.

Beacon Hill Park

By Rebecca Budd

Blogger, Visual Storyteller, Podcaster, Traveler and Life-long Learner

25 replies on “Season 4 Episode 19: On Location – Emily Carr and James Bay Inn”

I enjoyed this podcast very much, Rebecca. Seeing the rich green park and the northwest water brought back memories of my time in Seattle, and my visits to BC. I was unaware of this artist, but I leave here impressed by her. Thank you for sharing this information in this manner.

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I continue to learn, Dan. I didn’t know whether this video would translate into a podcast, but it seemed to work. I kept my fingers crossed. I believe that Emily Carr painted her world as a witness to what was. I have read that she articulated what she saw in these landscapes. She interpreted and portrayed Indigenous village sites, landmarks, and culture, capturing a pivotal moment for those who would follow. She was eccentric, without doubt – she had a pet monkey, Woo. Her artwork has spiritual resonance. She presented God as nature through her paintings. I am delighted that you joined me at James Bay Inn and Beacon Hill Park.

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She left us a reminder of what was. That’s a gift. We have very little knowledge about the indigenous people here on the east coast. We moved into this area too quickly, and it doesn’t seem like we took the task of documenting what was here, too seriously.

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I think that is why I find blogging such a powerful tool for writing the stories of our time. Of course, we want to connect and share conversations. At the same time, we preserve our memories and events. Consider your “Thursday Doors” – I believe that is a brilliant way of recording and archiving. What I am interested in now, is how we transition these stories into new technologies as they evolve.

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On-location made this video special. My wife and I made it to Victoria before Covid. Of course, we attended the High Tea at the Empress, but we only walked by theJames Bay Inn. What a wonderful way of presenting its interior and exterior. We spent a wonderful time at Beacon Hill Park. My first memory of the park was the peacocks before you mentioned them. Sharing Emily’s words with the marvelous footage was great!

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Thank you for joining me in Victoria, Pete. Isn’t the Empress a grand old lady. One evening, we went on a “ghost walking tour ” that highlighted the many ghosts that haunt this hotel. It seems that ghosts can generally be found in hotels and theaters (something that I did not know). Those Beacon Hill Park peacocks are brave and can be found walking the streets just outside the Park. By the way, have you ever considered a podcast as a way to read passages from your book “They Call Me Mom” and for your soon to be published children’s stories. You have a wonderful voice for reading.

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Fantastic presentation, Rebecca, and it was very enjoyable seeing as well as hearing one of your great podcasts! Emily Carr’s words about the old goose left behind, and her own old age, were incredibly moving.

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Thank you Dave!!! The more I read about Emily, the more remarkable she becomes to me. Her family was British and she was raised Presbyterian. I understand that she was required to give a sermon to her family each week, something she never quite mastered. For 15 years, she ran a boarding house called “House of All Sorts” which influenced her writing. She was able to see our future – the environmental and societal challenges that we would encounter.

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This is a delightful story, and I was so very fortunate to be with you on a weekend in this lovely location–beauty after beauty!! It was exciting to be in the places that are mentioned, the high tea in the Empress, the vitality of the James Bay and the energy found there. And it is close to Becan Hill Park! Thank you for including a little history, including the famous Canadian artist and writter, Emily Carr. .She passed away there but her presence is still felt by her paintings and her feelings of the surroundings. I will remember the birds, walking and flying just as Emily must have experienced them! Thank you for the experience of James Bay Inn. Emily was truly a part of British Columbia and was really inspired and able to write and paint from experience! She was also a true friend of the original occupants of the Island’s First Nations and her words show her respect and love for them. Her descriptive words about the one cloud, the birds flying in the blue sky under the cloud and remembering, of course, the one let behind! I appreciated her remembering the experience with her father. This podcast was truly inspiring!

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I am delighted that you enjoyed this podcast, Frances. We had a wonderful time in Victoria, didn’t we? I am glad that you were able to join us for lunch at the James Bay Inn and I am especially grateful that we visited the Butchart Gardens together. I think that the rainy day brought out the vibrancy of the flowers and greenery. I had never seen as many types of tulips in my experience as I did at Butchart Gardens. The website indicates that over “185 Opulent Varieties Of Are Amongst The 160, 000 Tulip Bulbs That Are Now Poised And Ready To Stun Us All With Their Elegant Beauty.” I confess, I was stunned!!! I am enjoying looking through the photos.

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I remember when you did another feature on Emily Carr. I recognized the little white church surrounded by lush green. Thank you for taking us on location with the episode of Tea, Toast & Trivia.

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I am delighted that you joined me at the James Bay Inn and Beacon Hill Park, Liz. Emily Carr was an outlier! She was especially fond of animals and would go out into nature with them to paint. When we were on the ghost walk this past week during a visit to Victoria (every city has ghosts its seems) the tour guide would tell the story of Emily Carr walking through the streets of downtown Victoria with a baby pram that was full of dogs, cats, birds and “Woo”, the Javanese macaque.

Victoria writer, Grant Hayter-Menzies, has written a biography of Woo, which I have yet to read, but thought you would enjoy this article.

https://www.vicnews.com/news/victoria-author-pens-biography-on-emily-carrs-monkey-woo/

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Thank you so much for this, Rebecca. A piece of home for me. AS you know, I am a huge fan of Emily Carr. She writes as she paints, with clarity and passion. I enjoyed this so much, I have listened to it and watched it twice. Sending love from Spain.

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I am delighted that you joined me virtually in Beacon Hill Park, Darlene. Like you, I have always been fascinated by Emily Carr – the more I read, the more I recognize her extraordinary gift to our world. I read that, just before she passed, she gave a few, very special mementos/treasures to a friend and asked her to bury them in Beacon Hill Park. These treasures have never been found. And somehow, that gives me great comfort. Sending love back your way.

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Thanks. That is a very cool bit of information. It is just like her to do that too. She was one in a million. I would have loved to have met her. But I feel through her art and her books, I know her.

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HI Rebecca, thank you for this lovely podcast and exquisite footage. The African landscape is not like this, especially where I live. I had not heard of Emily Carr until you wrote about her some time earlier this year. You did a great job sharing about her life and work and the piece about the geese flying away and the old one being grounded is very poignant.

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I am delighted that you enjoyed the podcast, Robbie. It was the first time that I considered posting a video on TTT and didn’t know how it would turn out. Emily Carr was an outlier – she saw the world through a creative lens that defies time and style. The forward of “Growing Pains” is by a friend of Emily’s and is written in letter format. I know these words with resonate with you.

Dear Emily:

You have asked me to write a foreword to your autobiography – this summing up of a number of things that have mattered in your life. It is a hard task but one for which I thank you.

What can I say? Certainly nothing that can possibly matter much. I know how courageous your life has been, how dauntless your purpose, how unshaken and unshakable your faith that this is not all, that we go on. I know too how intensely you have felt the influence of nature – its loveliness, its deep solemnity, its mystic, overwhelming power to strike awe and sometimes terror in our hearts. You have told us of your reactions to those forces in your painting and your writing. Canadians will remember as they open this book and will be grateful…”

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HI Rebecca, thank you for sharing this foreword, it is most powerful. People who can share emotion and feelings through art and words are a blessing. I am always aspiring to do this well and work on it constantly. It feels important. I thought the video was great.

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