I’m pretty old-fashioned.  I don’t own a smartphone, and most of  my photography is done with an advanced point-and-shoot camera.  I loved my Canon SX20IS camera, not the least because it operated on four AA batteries.  I never had to worry about its battery dying, because I always kept a spare set of batteries in my bag.  I had it fixed once when the flip-out screen stopped working.  But on a recent trip to Victoria, BC, I dropped it on a hard floor, and the door to the battery compartment broke clean off.  So, time for a new camera.

My followers will know that i’m a picture-taking fool, and all the pictures you see on this blog were taken with my SX20IS.  Here are some of the last photos I took with it, in Victoria last weekend.

We stayed at our favorite Inn at Laurel Point this time, but on the opposite side of the building from where we normally book our room.  Reason being, that the rooms across the hall had a view worse than this one-see the “construction zone” below? The opposite view was a big honking hole in the ground where the beautiful garden used to be, and a bunch of earth-movers.  The hotel is undergoing a big remodel, and everything was strictly-from hunger this year.  But we did get a nice view of the inner Inner Harbour.  The first afternoon, we went out for lunch, and just by feel, Hubby found a neat pizza restaurant we visited last time.  It was across the street from this place.

I got the biggest kick out of the coat of arms!  See the Beagle on the left?  After lunch, we went on our usual walking tour of downtown Victoria.  There seems to be a bunch of construction going on there too.  We saw this historic building being renovated-they were careful to preserve the outer walls, and are completely replacing the inside!

We went over the the Empress Hotel to pick up some of their famous tea.  And I captured the last days of the old Bengal Lounge, which had an awesome Indian buffet for lunch and dinner.  These are all that is left of it.

I really liked the elephant door-handles.

We enjoyed this fellow busking on the sidewalk near the marina.

Before we walked on, Hubby “paid the piper”.  His costume did leave a bit to be desired, though.  He was wearing navy socks with the obvious Under Armour logo!

Here are some shots of the harbor at sunset on our walk home.

And then we saw our old friend, the Coho Ferry leaving port.

When I got home, I got on the trusty computer and ordered myself a new camera.  Staying with Canon, I bought a similar model, an SX60HS.  Here are a couple of new pictures I took close to home.

The pear tree on our front lawn.

Some crows at a local park.

On to new photos!