You've Had Your Snow

One has to wonder, had I visited Vancouver in December, rather than April, would I have been so keen to move here?

Monday was a holiday here, Family Day, so while Bruce worked from home in the morning, I took off for Queen Elizabeth park because it was a beautiful day. I'm monitoring all of the gardens these days, watching for signs of Spring. At any rate, it was chilly, but lovely, so no staying indoors for me!

Since I was there, I decided to visit the birds in the conservatory, and heck, get a little Florida as a bonus. The plants and trees are what you will find in most yards back home, but to folks here, they are exotic. What was I thinking? I should have known it would be filled with families enjoying the holiday. Alas, I focused, no pun intended, on trying to get a good shot of the Lady Amherst Pheasant, mostly to no avail because it runs around like mad.

Perhaps another day.

As we've discussed before QEP is the highest point in the city of Vancouver, affording sweeping views of the city from many vantage points.

Before leaving to go to the park, Bruce said "let's go to Granville Island for lunch" and who says no to that on a pretty day? Loads of other folks felt the same way, and honestly, who could blame them? Nearly three years ago, during my short visit,  I went to Granville Island and was so impressed with, well, everything. Something about our visit on Monday got me to thinking about that time,  maybe because the day was quite similar.

I still think to myself that never in a million years did I dream that we would one day come here to live! BTW---that busker was terrific. As you can see by the way he is dressed that it was still quite chilly, but when you are sun-starved, the temperature is irrelevant. We were even treated to a beautiful sunset that same night.

Some days I go out walking because I have errands to run, whereas some days I go out just to see what I can see. A lovely pink camellia, just like we have at home. Or maybe not just like ours as I've learned that there are way more types than, it seems, anyone can count.

Here's something else entirely new to me. As I walked along the seawall one day, I believe the day they had the water shut off in our building, I saw sprouts, (a poor description, but I don't know what other term to use) busting through the grassy hillside. Mystified, I've since learned from Matt that they are crocuses. So, just as those folks who visit the conservatory think the plant life is exotic, so too, do I feel that way here!

Of course now I am obsessed with seeing the blooms, only just having returned from a walk to check on them. Baby it was cold out there, more so than I was dressed for because I'd been inside sewing all day, and it is as warm as toast in here. You may find it hard to believe, but the heat has come on only twice all winter because it never seems to get cold inside.

Which brings me to my title. In my last post I mentioned the possibility for snow, however,  I was not holding my breath as I've seen that little snow icon before only to have it disappear just as quickly as it appeared. Still, I told Bruce that perhaps it will snow tonight, to which he replied, "probably not."
"Honey, I want more!" Being the loving husband that he is, he answered back, "you've had your snow." Spoil sport!!!

 I'm here to tell you that my wish came true! When we woke up the first thing Bruce did was look outdoors and said, "yup, it snowed."

Ha ha! I could not wait until real daylight before taking a picture of the snow on the other side of the water! Because I knew it would probably not hang around, after Bruce left for work I got dressed lickety split to head to the park, where I felt pretty confidant I could find snow. Before going too far though, here's the flower bed at the park below the condo. Yes, indeed, those are bulbs coming up amongst the snow.

From the looks of this car, the snow was heavier than it first appeared, probably because it turned to rain and melted on the ground? Listen to me, acting like I understand winter!

One mission was to return to the snowdrops for a photograph of them in, well, snow, of course. I know, I'm pretty crazy, but then again, with a blog called Camera Crazy, what would one expect? I cut through a few streets in the West End and this sign in an apartment window made me happy.

Canada is, geographically, such a huge country with so few people it is crazy. Did you realize that nearly 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the United States border? In the months leading up to the Olympics, the message board in the elevator runs sports stories and so many of them involved the Olympic athletes. As I type this the Canadians have won 13 medals and I can tell you this makes them very proud. As it should be, right?

Mission accomplished.

It has only been in the last two weeks that I've found the area of the park that I visited as a tourist and I'm delighted I finally did because that is where I saw scads and scads of flowering bulbs that slayed me. You can bet I'll be there a ridiculous amount of time, soaking it all in. This sad daffodil!

I have no idea how many Canadian Geese make Vancouver their home; what I can tell you is the number is probably in the thousands. Writing this blog helps me to learn new things, and I hope, every now and again, there is something linked that might interest you. This article from the Vancouver Sun explains the goose problem. Wow!

As I mentioned, it rained after snowing and the sky was dim for most of my walk, only breaking up after a few hours. Enough though so that I could see the freshly fallen snow on the North Shore mountains where they were meant to receive up to 8 inches overnight.

Instead of walking on the seawall to make my way home, I began taking trails through the park, finally finding Beaver Lake, not pictured because, well, if you are from Florida, this lake is what you might call "a poor excuse for a lake." I suspect walking in the forest has not been on my agenda more often because I don't know my way around and fear that I'll get lost. That's a pity because the trees are magnificent.

Perhaps when it is closer to summer, after I'm done chasing flowers, that I can study the map and see more of the interior of the park. Just before leaving I was rewarded with a little light show.

As you now know, I got to experience a tiny snow fall, and allegedly there is more to come. As in tonight!!

Wish me luck,

Gail