Camera Crazy: The First Snowfall

By all accounts, it was a very early snowfall for this part of the country. Friday morning, after the day of rain on Thursday, I was shocked when from the balcony, I saw this sight.

Oh my goodness, can that really be? Well, of course it could, silly. Sadly, Bruce was in Seattle so I had no one to share my excitement with, however, he was seeing his own snow in Seattle, and truth be told, he'd probably not have been nearly as impressed as I was.

Thinking to myself, I've got to see this closer, I dressed in an all homemade outfit, aside from my coat; blouse, turtleneck, pants, socks, shoes, coat. That should do it, right? Not!

Walking along the sidewalk on Beach, I eventually made my way to the seawalk path, rustling through the Autumn leaves as I went down this hill.

The chill was beginning to set in, but I persevered, stopping at Sunset Beach for this shot of the beautiful snow capped mountains without a building in the way!

With the lovely blue sky and sunshine, it appeared magical to me. Not so many folks out walking because, well, they've probably seen it before, and then again, who volunteers to walk in freezing weather anyway? Me, that's who! I thought I was in love with the surrounding mountains before, but now..wow! The longer we are here, the more I understand why people love this city so much. More so, I suspect, if you have enough money!

The far off mountains in picture number one may be from the Squamish area, I'm not clear on that. I do know the one pictured above is one of what they call the North Shore Mountains. This aerial shot is somewhat helpful, or so I think, to understand the topography better. We are adjacent to the second major bridge shown.

Talking briefly with a woman visiting from Minnesota, she told me she was here for the mountains. She also asked me if I were getting a more appropriate coat? I assured her I was, because darn was I ever cold by then. Gawking over with, I walked towards home as quickly as I could to put on some tights under my pants, however, I heard, and then saw, some little birdies in the trees above my head and had to see if I could get a shot of them. Not so much the little ones because they flitted here and there, but I do kind of like this photograph.

The tights proved to be enough when later in the day I decided I had to walk to the other side of the city to see those North Shore Mountains for myself. Along the way, on Granville Street, I came across another Japanese store that was full of super cute and somewhat silly things.

I don't know what I was thinking when I bought a large umbrella in that store because I looked kind of silly carrying it around with me on a perfectly nice day, not to mention it was cumbersome, but I suspect it will prove handy in the upcoming days that are full of rain predictions.

As you've seen countless times before, English Bay generally has at least ten cargo ships waiting for, well, cargo. As one of the busiest ports in the world, it happens here in Coal Harbor. The North Shore in the distance.

Meanwhile Bruce was driving home through some snow flurries, at some points along the road, it was already looking a bit like a winter wonderland. God Bless that man, he pulled off the side of the road to take a photograph for me so I might see it as well.

Saturday, as is our custom, Bruce went to the office, and I actually got some things done around the condo. You know, laundry, clean sheets, clean floors, that sort of thing. Naturally I had to keep my eyes on the outdoors, as I am prone to do, and what a difference a day makes...

Not a mountain to be found. Briefly I wondered if it were snowing that way. Well, by golly, that must have been the case and it moved our way because all of a sudden I looked out the windows and it was snowing!!

Not a lot, mind you, and at first it stopped as quickly as it started. Then, an hour or so later it began again, lasting for several hours. So, here's something you'll get a kick out of...I got this notion that wouldn't it be neat to take a photograph of one of the fallen leaves with snow on it. I went downstairs to do that very thing and noticed, just outside the doors, what looked to me like fertilizer on the ground. That's weird, was my thought. No luck on the leaf photo because once it fell the twenty stories it melted instantly.

Baxter, by the way, was having no part of this snow stuff; he peed and then fairly ran back to the door! It wasn't until later, when we were out for longer, crunching on all that "fertilizer," that some fellows began talking a moment and told me it was SALT. Well, duh! This Florida gal has a lot to learn about being in the North!

We spent the evening in front of the gas fireplace, watching football and having some chili. Oh yeah...daylight savings time change which I've been dreading for weeks. This photo, with the pink tinge to the sky, under a mostly full moon, taken Sunday morning around 7:15 AM, would have been in the pitch dark the previous day.

So, that is good. But, get this, the sun will set tonight at 4:42 PM!!! I'm trying not to think of the long dark nights, and short days in our future, at least until the Winter Solstice. Once again it was a sunny day, so following a tremendous church service, I convinced Bruce to walk to Canada Place to see the mountains.

Having spent many, many years, building restaurants in Northern climates, his reaction to all this is a bit subdued. Me, on the other hand, I can't get enough. In fact, today is another sunny day, followed by, if my phone weather app can be trusted, 10 days of gloom and rain, so I've got to get outside soon.

I've been keeping busy working on a coat,