During our visit to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, we had a day of fairly good weather, so we decided to wander through a tiny portion of Beacon Hill Park. It covers 183 acres, and it was a stone’s throw from our hotel. It’s a beautifully landscaped park, and we enjoyed walking along its many paths, delighting in the antics of the black squirrels and the occasional peacock.
We also crossed a beautiful stone bridge that had nice views of the pond. And we wandered through a portion of the park that has remained the same since the 1850’s, when the Sir James Douglas, agent for the Hudson’s Bay Company and the man who drew the park’s boundaries, used to cross it on horseback every morning to go from his home to his farm. Winston Churchill once planted a hawthorn tree in the park as well. I could imagine both those eras in the park as we wandered around. It was a pleasant way to start our day.
But by far the biggest draw to the area, for me, was finding the Moss Lady. I’ve been intrigued ever since I saw a picture of her on Facebook years ago. Even with Google Maps, the lady proved to be difficult to find. We asked a few locals, and they either didn’t know, or pointed vaguely and apologetically in her general direction. Finally, we stumbled upon a small clearing surrounded by trees that all but blocked out the light, and there she was, blending in to the landscape so well that she could easily be overlooked. And perhaps that’s a good thing, because she’s sound asleep, and melting into the earth.
She has had pride of place in the park since she was designed by the artist Dale Doebert, and built onsite in 2015 with the help of city employees. She was fashioned from cement, boulders, pipe and chicken wire, and then the whole structure was covered with a clay that is acidic enough to encourage moss.
As you can see below, the Moss Lady looks different depending on which season you meet her. Sometimes, in the spring, her hair is made of flowering plants, other times it consists of ferns or grasses. During much of the year, her dress is a thick layer of moss, but sometimes she is overtaken by ferns. Since we were there just before the onset of winter, unfortunately, she was bald and had evenly spaced vegetation that was obviously planted by man. But she was still beautiful, and gave off a sense of serenity that one rarely encounters in the middle of a city.
I was quite pleased to finally make her acquaintance, even though she was unaware of me. I wonder what she dreams about from one season to the next? It must be nice to be able to sleep so soundly in a world that seems to be full of ever-increasing chaos and division.
We quietly took our leave and she slept on. We had barely gone 30 feet when a man approached us and asked where she was, which made us smile. We were now the ones in the know. We were happy to show him the way.
Perhaps the Moss Lady dreams of my book, which you should totally read. http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
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