Waterfront Thanksgiving 2012 - 12/23 - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia where he works also as a writer and a personal trainer.

BC Ferries terminal at Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver taking passengers and vehicles to Nanaimo BC in Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands in Howe Sound. [Photo by Ray Van Eng]

Some of the gourmet kitchen features in one our rancher townhomes at The Ridge.

Labour Day Lake near Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

BC Travel information at www.BritishColumbia.com

as this nanaimo city museum display shows, nanaimo bars are the best known export of Nanaimo, BC. They're unbaked and have a chocolate, graham cracker and coconut (or almond) base, a custard flavored filling in the middle and chocolate ganache on top. They've long been one of our favorite treats!

Patiently waiting for the performance to start

This is the Bowen Park Party Place - a great venue for organized events - Nikon F601 with Fujifilm ISO 400 - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia where he works also as a writer and a personal trainer.

Ceremonial Review

With permission from Brett Carter

BC Ferries terminal at Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver taking passengers and vehicles to Nanaimo BC in Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands in Howe Sound. [Photo by Ray Van Eng]

BC Ferries terminal at Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver taking passengers and vehicles to Nanaimo BC in Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands in Howe Sound. [Photo by Ray Van Eng]

The Officer-in-Charge of the RCMP Musical Ride leads the contingent into the equestrian ring

September 19, 2012 - 6/7 - Kodak Easyshare DX7590 - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia where he works also as a writer and a personal trainer.

Professor Bodil Ellins and her interior design students from Vancouver Island University meet with Derek Gillette at The Ridge to study elements of modern design.

Outdoor living at it's best. Shown is the patio of our rancher townhome at The Ridge.

Neck Point - Pentax ME Super with Pentax-M f/4 200 mm lens - 4/5 - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia where he works also as a writer and a personal trainer.

these rock carvings are right in the city of Nanaimo and are hundreds of years old. perhaps they are ancient directions for making nanaimo bars?

The open-concept living room in one of our rancher townhomes at The Ridge. Features a gas fireplace.

via Instagram instagr.am/p/CcguvAJPcRp/

its not blurry- it's raining!

These shades of red are quite common in October - Nikon F601 with Fujifilm ISO 400 - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia where he works also as a writer and a personal trainer.

A bedroom in one of our two-storey townhomes at The Ridge.

BC Ferries terminal at Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver taking passengers and vehicles to Nanaimo BC in Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands in Howe Sound. [Photo by Ray Van Eng

The living room in one of our rancher townhomes at The Ridge.

This was taken from my kayak. It was hot but maybe there weren't great thermals for soaring at the time. The one might be drying his wings as cormorants are often seen doing so maybe had fed on carrion on the beach and gotten a bit wet that way.

The exterior of our first townhome "cluster" at The Ridge. Rather than building rows of homes, the townhomes at The Ridge will be built in clusters of two or three attached homes. The Ridge townhomes are Built Green® Gold certified.

A spare bedroom in one of our two-storey townhomes at The Ridge.