It must have been last Thursday that I found myself, late in the afternoon, sitting in the warm sunshine on the balcony and it was good. Very, very good. I was reading, well, make that devouring a new book I'd picked up at the library earlier in the day in the "fast reads" section. Meaning it is due within a week's time. I've always been someone who stands in front of the new fiction section of the library, waiting for a book to come to me, which is more of a challenge in a foreign country where the authors are unfamiliar, although not all of them, just a bunch. Which reminds me of an author I've been meaning to mention for weeks---Alice Munro, the greatest Canadian short story writer I've ever read. If you like short stories, you can never go wrong with an Alice Munro collection.
So what was I reading?
Theft by Finding by David Sedaris, a collection of his diary entries between 1977 and 2002. I'm not sure who introduced me to his work, could have been my Mom who was a big fan, but then again, it could have been Matt. Who knows? In any case, he's a hoot and not just because one of his titles is,
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls.
Sunshine was in the forecast for the end of last week, and it couldn't come a minute sooner as I was getting mighty sick of the gray. As if you didn't know that already! The sunset on Wednesday gave me a good indication that we were finally in for some fine weather.
Perhaps you recall when we first came here, I was posting sunset photos like mad, mostly because we have a front row seat to the show. Perhaps you were even tiring of looking at them, thinking I would never quit. Quit I did as there was nothing to show for what seems like forever, but was only about six months of barely a sunrise or sunset of note. Only six month??? Did I really type that?
And so it may be that you are thinking I'll never quit posting flower pictures, but when those thoughts surface, remember the lesson we've learned from the sky photos. There may very well be a ton of flowers today, but come some future month, that will surely not be the case. Or will it?
I have no idea what the filler flowers are, in fact, I'd wondered how they could leave so much dirt showing between plantings. As if they didn't know what they were doing. Well, duh! Not only does it come in that bluish color, but hot pink as well.
Speaking of hot pink---just when I thought it was the end of pink cherry blossoms, lo and behold we are in for a second round, this time featuring a hot pink variety.
Parts of Davie Street are lined with them.
Although I've shown you a similar scene before, the white cherry blossoms are fantastic on Richards Street. Plus you've not seen them with much light so I'll show you again.
On a side note, this street-side toilet saved my life when I had that bladder infection. Fortunately I've been good health-wise. On the other hand, I did have the second laser treatment and it is coming along nicely. She did though, start zapping other stuff around my nose, somewhat to my consternation. The good news is it is looking so much better.
I'm extending flowers to my wardrobe as well. This little top is made from a fabric called lawn, this one from Japan, and while nice, nothing is as nice as Liberty of London lawn. Now if I could only wear it! The temperature, while slowly rising, is still not enough for me because we continue wearing outerwear, for how much longer, I've no idea.
I walked to Stanley Park twice last week and was able to take some lovely photographs. You'd have to be a real dummy not to be able to when the flower beds look as they do, however, I've decided in this post to mostly show photos taken in the neighborhood. But first let's have a look at one of the beds at SP with the most gorgeous color of tulips and tiny cherry blossoms littering the ground.
I felt like this little birdie who was singing his heart out on my walk home.
Here's something exciting---the orchid that Matt and Tom gave us for our anniversary last August is blooming again! See it on the fireplace? Notice all that beautiful sunshine in the condo?
Lord have mercy this makes me happy. What will make me any happier? When they finally clean the windows. Scheduled for April 3-13, they have yet to even start on our building and we really need it done as the windows are mighty dirty. The incessant rain threw the whole schedule off; perhaps by this time next week we will be seeing clearly again.
Every single day I see a new flower or plant, bringing me such joy. Again, my heart is so full, that if I were a little birdie, I might just be in the top of this super pink Magnolia tree and be doing just that.
I'd been wanting to show you just how pink it is, as they have only just come into bloom, unlike the lighter version which is on the wane.
Although there are still plenty of flowers on the bunch above, I can tell their days are numbered. BTW, that is our building on the left, with the empty lot beside it. You can't see it in the above picture but it looks like this right now.
There are loads and loads of the little yellow flowers growing wild in any open area, including our park that has plenty of them. Plus some super cute and tiny little white daisy type.
Daffodils are also on the wane, however, some varieties apparently bloom later than others as this whole batch just showed up.
Returning to that Magnolia tree, it is located just off the seawall, about two blocks from our condo. The tulips are of a variety that is so intense the camera can barely keep up.
Some of the colors I'm seeing are as if you were a child working in a coloring book and just kept going over the color again and again. Oh wait, maybe adults do that nowadays? Could this be any more purple? I think not.
Having sunshine again, and for how much longer, I can't say, but anyway, it provides new ways of photographing creatively.
Of course, sometimes a straight forward approach is just fine, as is the case with what I'm thinking is a Japanese Maple tree? For those in the know, correct me should I be wrong.
I did a little reading regarding the difference between azaleas and rhododendron and it seems as if all azaleas are rhododendron, while not all rhododendron are azaleas. Confusing to me. Whatever the case, the rhodys are brilliant. Woo hoo...these are near the bridge in that pop up garden. Passing them all the time, I've enjoyed watching the buds open.
Here's a sweetly colored vine growing on what I'm thinking is a Birch tree.
Time will tell about this one, but I'm thinking it is a Quince flower? Where, pray tell did I get that idea? The florist, next door to the dry cleaners had some branches for sale, labeled Quince and this, found in a nearby park, looks very similar. I've got a 50/50 chance of being right.
These leaves! Could they be any prettier? The flower is the icing on the cake.
For a sun lover, such as myself, going without the sun for so long has not been without its challenges, however, I'm appreciating it so much more having gone without. The whole, "absence makes the heart grow fonder, phenom. While the boat people (my name for those on the water), kept going, rain or shine, you have to imagine they like it so much more when it looks like this.
Another benefit to having the sun again, is it shows all the dirt in the condo. For some odd reason, it gets crazy dusty here, however, until the sun actually provides unfiltered light, it is easy to overlook. Not so on Saturday as B and I did a little spring cleaning, moving the couch, taking the mattress off the bed revealing huge dust piles underneath, and other fun stuff. The fun continued, albeit of a different variety, through the weekend. Stay tuned.
yours truly,
Gail
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