Leah and Elior Kinarthy moved to Victoria from California several years ago, to escape the poor air quality and heavy traffic in that part of the States. They were also concerned about increasing drought conditions and wildfires.
鈥淚t was so crowded and there was so much crime I begged my husband to come to sa国际传媒,鈥� said Leah, who was born in Winnipeg and raised in Montreal.
鈥淲e love the clean air in Victoria, the fact we can walk everywhere, the friendly people and the water.鈥� She and her husband decided to create a Mediterranean-style garden here and indulge in their love of Japan. too, by building many soothing and beautiful water features.
鈥淲e kinda went a little water crazy,鈥� she admitted with a chuckle.
They turned to a trio of experts 鈥� Dave Jewitt of Ponds Victoria, Cory Linklater of Arborvitae Garden Design and Patrick Harriott of Level Ground Landscape and Garden 鈥� and the results can be seen today in the self-guided Victoria Water Garden Tour (see fact box at left).
Linklater was just the man to help design the environment, having worked in Spain and Morocco for several years where he was particularly taken with the soft, stylish and sumptuous Andalusian-style gardens, which often include terraces, grand effects with walls and stone, fruit orchards, plantings that are both edible and aesthetic, and reflecting water features.
鈥淚 wanted a Mediterranean-style design because we love to travel in the Middle East and we enjoy things like palm trees, lavender and thyme鈥︹�� said Leah, who trained as a forestry biologist but works as a fitness instructor part-time here, and is taking her pilot鈥檚 licence.
Linklater said he tried to combine the Middle East aesthetic with the couple鈥檚 appreciation for Japanese art and culture, saying: 鈥淭he Andalusian style was a glorious exercise in agriculture and gardening, combining practices of both beauty and functionality, knowledge of microclimates and ways to evoke the fruits of the land.鈥�
With that in mind, interspersed native ferns with perennial plantings that include an attractive hedge of raspberries and blueberries along one side of the property as well as lots of edible hostas, Mediterranean plants that are used in salads, teas and medicines such as bergamot, lavenders, rose, hyssop, thyme, and some ancient plants such as loquat from China.
The Kinarthys found their almost one-acre property in a beautifully serene, treed area of the city and demolished a small house that stood there.
鈥淢y wife had sent me up here from California to look for a place in Vancouver initially, and we rented a place in Kerrisdale for three years while I taught at Langara College,鈥� said Elior, who is a psychologist specializing in behavioral economics.
He is also the author of a book called The Psychology of Investing and is writing another about his cancer journey, which involved travelling to Germany for immunotherapy.
鈥淢y husband is essentially cured now, and it was worth every penny,鈥� said his wife, who noted the therapy was invented by a Canadian doctor but not commonly used here yet.
Leah, an artist, designed the home herself and used plenty of saturated colours, including bold swaths of red - 鈥淭here is lots of zowie in this house鈥� 鈥� because Elior adores the colour red.
He wanted a red dining room, but she surprised him while he was out of town once, by painting the ensuite red too.
He explained his fondness for red arises from his temperate character, which is easy going, accommodating and craves a little zing in the environment.
鈥淚 am a type-B personality, very relaxed, so I need some pizzazz,鈥� he said with a smile.
One of their favourite pieces of art hangs on their red ensuite wall.
It is an original lithograph by Marc Chagall, the Russian-born modernist who created art in almost every medium including paintings, tapestries and stage sets and also worked in stained glass, which Leah has frequently admired in Europe.
Elior has long loved Chagall鈥檚 work, too, especially in Israel鈥檚 state hall of the Knesset. They both appreciate the artist鈥檚 real and imaginary worlds, his dreamy musings and brilliant use of colour. 鈥淚 love Chagall鈥檚 symbolism, his ethereal vision, the people flying through the air,鈥� said Leah.
Their 5,500-square-foot house feels very airy and bright, too, and one of the reasons is a series of touches large and small, such as the delicate, glass light fixtures from Italy, the minstrel鈥檚 gallery that soars above the living room and the double set of picture windows that rise up two storeys.
Every hall and doorway is oversized and there is an elevator for their 27-year-old son, Ari, who is in a wheelchair. Ari, who writes and composes music, was born with a condition called muscular spinal atrophy, but was inspired by a program at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and has gone on to study music composition in Boston, using a touch-free technology device that helps translate his body movements into sound.
Their home features a self-contained unit for him and his two live-in caregivers.
Other intriguing features of the house include an aquarium in the main floor powder room and a separate cottage in the back garden, which is an aviary that houses the owners鈥� 35 cockatiels and parrotlets.
The two had a pagoda-like gazebo delivered this week and are now creating a Zen garden as well.
Elior jokes that his wife probably lived in Japan in her previous reincarnation, because she has a deep interest in Japanese culture and figurines.
He is interested in such ideas and has a passion for parapsychology, having previously worked with Dr. Dianne Morrissey (author of Anyone Can See the Light) as a ghost hunter: 鈥淲e used to investigate places that people said were haunted.鈥�
He certainly hasn鈥檛 found any chilling ghosts in their new home, and they both love the community feeling here.
鈥淧eople here are so friendly,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 am from Orange County, where we never had neighbourhood parties. Our neighbours here invited us for a barbecue soon after we moved in, and we have come to know most of them. It鈥檚 just marvelous.鈥�
Leah chimes in with similar enthusiasm saying they feel safer here and more healthy.
鈥淭his is the nicest place we鈥檝e lived. The air is so clean and we walk everywhere. You鈥檇 think people would walk in California, but they don鈥檛.鈥�
He loves the tourists too, and the street entertainers.
鈥淭his is a high-energy place. People here want to be fit, they exercise every day. It鈥檚 very dynamic.鈥�
