Skywatch Friday ~ Last Friday in March

Hello and welcome to Friday's Skywatch post,

It has been raining so very heavily now for what seems like forever. It makes it difficult to go anywhere. But today it stopped raining and the sun came out. I couldn't get away early but in the late evening I went to the grocery store for a few items and snapped these night photos.

It was much warmer than it has been in a long while and it felt so good. You can see some of the apple blossoms are out in full force but haven't started to blossom on other trees.  I'm hoping it will be sunny more frequently soon so I can get out and enjoy the blossoms more fully and during the day too.

A few years ago I learned that many of the city's cherry trees were gifts from Japan.  In the early 1930s the mayors of Kobe and Yokohama in Japan gifted 500 Ojochin variety cherry trees to the City of Vancouver, British Columbia.  The trees were meant to honour the Japanese-Canadian veterans of WW1.  A few years later, Bunjiro and Kimi Uyeda, a local business owner and philanthropist couple, donated another 100 cherry trees to the city's park board.  The citizens and visitors alike have been enjoying the blossoms ever since. Today we enjoy thousands of cherry trees all over the city and they are in full bloom from late March to about the end of Apri with some areas starting earlier and some starting later.  Right now there is a Cherry Blossom Festival going on. I've never attended myself because it's often still cold and blustery and it's also a very busy time for me in general.  But the moment the sun shines and I have a few spare moments I get out and take some photos.

You can tell the weather was warmer as people are walking around without heavy jackets. It was so nice not to feel the chill when I went out. I don't need heat but I do like the temperature to be a bit higher than frigid, lol. I snapped this photo of the pretty tree with Christmas lights. The tree will likely remain lit all year long. 

During Covid, the city put seating in many streets all around town so people could visit outdoors instead of in their homes. After things got back to more or less normal, the city decided to continue with these outdoor seating areas and they've become a nice place to rest or visit, or both. Sometimes they have live free music. I noticed they added several tables and chairs on the opposite side of the street (the side on which I'm standing to take a photo).

On Wednesday the sun came out and brightened the day a bit. I managed to capture a bit of blue in the sky.

Thanks for joining me on Skywatch Friday.

One Friday in March

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I went to town on Friday. I had some business to take care of right in the heart of the city. Afterward, I walked through town all the way to Chinatown and took some photos along the way.

Each year I plant pansies.  I think they are a happy and hardy plant.  I haven't planted any yet but I saw these cute little pansies downtown.

I always like the 'lacy' effect of the bare branches against the sky.
 

The iconic Fairmont Hotel Vancouver 

The stained glass steeple caught my eye

A front view of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

The Vancouver Art Galley through the trees

The Holy Rosary Cathedral downtown

View to the North Shore mountains. It snowed overnight.

The Salvation Army Shelter downtown.

I was on my way to see the film "A Complete Unknown", a movie about Bob Dylan. It did not disappoint.

One of my recent reads. This book is set over 3 days in a Dublin maternity/fever hospital ward during the 1918 Flu Pandemic.  It's a very graphic book and quite gripping. I recommend it.

As always, I enjoy a bit of quiet time knitting these simple dishcloths.  The top one was made with 'good' cotton yarn. The bottom one was made with inexpensive cotton/polyester yarn purchased at the dollar store.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend so far. Thanks for visiting.

A Few Pics From a Night Walk

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I went for a walk to do some errands on Sunday early evening. I photographed a few little interesting things along the way.

I was headed to a small mall located to the west of where I live. As I neared my destination, I captured the skyline of the downtown core and the lights of one of the ski slopes.

 

At more or less the same corner, I captured the clock tower of our current City Hall.

I took a photo of the signage at this intersection.  I wanted to remember it as the corner where I found 3 homes that were in a foreclosure sale. I've never seen even one sign of a foreclosure sale in all the years I've lived here so this was a bit startling though not entirely surprising.

This old house looked in disrepair and is one of the homes under foreclosure proceedings.

Two other homes under foreclosure are on the other side of the signage.

Across the street is a beautiful, old Victorian home that I've long admired. Most of these large old homes are subdivided into numerous suites.

I love the stained glass and the big veranda.

After I stopped at the mall, I made my way to Broadway Avenue. I was on my way to Michael's Craft Store but they were closed.  I missed out by about 15 minutes.

After that I hopped on a bus heading further west. I was going to a particular location of London Drugs. Before I got there I spotted this cute little tea shop with its name taken from Alice in Wonderland. It looks amazing but oddly I couldn't find it on google. I'll have to look again another day but Sunday night they were preparing for an event, setting up tables, checking menus and so on.

The street had a very hyggelieg feel about it with the lights around the trees and extra lights in the 'air'.

It turns out that London Drugs didn't have the items I was looking to buy although their website said they had one item in stock. I was told that the website stock information is not that accurate especially if it only says one item remaining. I expected this because I have experienced the same issue before.  It was too bad but not the end of the world. At least I got my steps in.

Sunday the air was much, much warmer than it's been in weeks. I was actually overheating so took my time going about. I'm happy the weather is back to our usual moderate temperatures. I hope you are keeping warm where you are. I know much of Canada has had a significant amount of snow.  Keep safe.

A Changing Sky ~ November 21, 2024

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you've all had a great week. I've had a very busy one but a good one.   The week presented an ever changing mood and I was able to capture some of it.  We even had thunder, lighting and sleet. You might be able to see the 'white stuff' in the night scene on the patio. There was also huge windstorm (bomb cyclone) which affected many just as it did down the western US coastline. Thankfully my household and general neighbourhood were not affected.  But many in the Greater Vancouver area and beyond, suffered damage to their homes & cars or a loss of power.  I guess the latter is better than losing one's home or car, especially since the electric company managed to restore power relatively quickly too most homes.

Enjoy the photos. Thanks for stopping by. Have a safe week.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday this week.

A Week in November

November 7, 2024

November 7, 2024

November 5, 2024

November 5, 2024

November 4, 2024

November 4, 2024

November 1, 2024

November 1, 2024

November 1, 2024

These are the skies in early November. It's mostly been wet and cold but we also had some brilliantly blue coloured skies. It's always good to have colour in the sky after days of dull, gray, rainy days.

Thank you for stopping by my post for Skywatch Friday this week.

Friday Beauty

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope this day finds you happy and well.  After a tremendous amount of rain recently, something called an Atmospheric River, I am happy to say we have enjoyed several fabulous days of clearer skies and sunshine.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday this week. Thank you for stopping by!