October Marches On & Gives Me a Beautiful Gift

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are well today.

October gives us a mixed bag of weather. We've had some spectacular, sunny days and clear blue skies and we've also had days where it pours like cats and dogs. The particular day I snapped these sky photos for you, we had a brief spell of pouring rain. 

I had gone to the post office to check mail. Imagine my surprise when I came outside to see the rainbow.  Initially I thought it was just the very faint rainbow I saw near the church steeple but when I turned my head, I was amazed to see a full rainbow arc and it was a beautiful sight.

 

I hope you enjoyed the rainbow as much as I did! 

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday this week. Thank you for your visit.

Moody Sky ~ Skywatch Friday

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

Happy Friday to you. I hope you all had a great week. I'm keeping my submission to Skywatch Friday very brief and only one, moody photo today.
 

It's a long weekend in my world. I'm going to relax with a family member.

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope to see you back here again real soon.

 

Skywatch Friday ~ The Last Friday in August

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are all doing well this end of the month of August.  For those of us in the western hemisphere, the end of August typically signals the end of the summer and back to school for those with children. In fact, many already seem to have begun the school year earlier this month. How did that happen?!  

Most schools where I live will start classes after the August/September long weekend and head back to classes on September 3, 2024. This rings true for school age children and those studying at the colleges and universities.

Over the past 2 weeks or so, it was raining and the temperature chilled quite a bit although the forecast is for warmer temperatures through to at least Sunday where we may reach 30 degrees Celsius. I think that will be it for our summer however and the forecast is for a colder (and wetter where I live) winter this year due to the effects of La Niña. I am hoping to do a bit of window proofing earlier this year to prepare for it.

Right now I'm just going to enjoy the sunshine that there is.

This photo was taken on the renovated balcony. Unfortunately, it took all summer to do the work and so we were not able to plant the garden or enjoy the finished result during the summer season. I'm now trying to see what I can do before the rain sets in this autumn.

The rest of the photos were taken at the community garden plot. 

Joining in with Skywatch Friday this week. Thank you for stopping by!

Skywatch Friday ~ August 24, 2024

Hello once again fellow bloggers and friends, 

Can you believe that the month of August is almost over? I just blinked and here we are. I haven't been able to enjoy much gardening this summer so when I take a walk I am always happy to see the green trees and lovely flowers all around the city. 

These beautiful hibiscus give me joy during my neighbourhood errands. Did you know that there are over 100 varieties of hibiscus? I believe this one is called Hibiscus Syriacus.  I'm not 100% sure so if you know, kindly educate me by leaving a comment. I'd appreciate it so much!

Other than enjoying the flowers I really enjoyed the clouds in the beautiful blue sky.

 Thank you for stopping by to read my Skywatch Friday post today.

Sky to Share

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

How are you and how is your summer going?

It's hot again this week.  I'm doing okay but most of my summer has been spent dealing with indoor and outdoor renovations. Not the kind of thing I want to be doing at the best of times. Hopefully this will be the end of major renovations for awhile though I do have a few larger projects that need to be done in good time.

I enjoyed these skies a few days ago and wanted to share them here.
 

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

 

Skywatch Friday ~ June 28, 2024

It's the last Friday of the monthand a wet day for us. It was also a wet day on Thursday when I took these photos.  

I was on my way to meet a friend for a lunch to celebrate both of our birthdays, which are in the month of May.

The Main Street Science World Sky train Station

The new St. Paul's hospital under construction 

Heritage Hall

St. Patrick's Catholic Church

Even though it was a wet day I never got rained on at all since it rained before and after my outing. I'm hoping it won't be such a long time before we are able to meet up again.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday this week.  Enjoy your weekend and thank you for dropping by!

Happy New Month of June

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you're well. I don't know about you but I feel as if the month of may went by in a flash. I've been kept on my toes so that usually makes the time fly by.

Let's hope the month of June is a good one for all of us and that it doesn't get too hot or too cold where you live.  In Canada, wildfires started a few weeks ago in the far north of British Columbia and northern Alberta.  Several communities in both provinces had to be evacuated. Fortunately, they got the green light to return to their homes just a few short days ago. Sadly some people did lose their homes but I think the damage might have been less than originally expected. Thank God for small mercies. It's never fun having to move out of your home unexpectedly and especially not knowing what you might be returning to at the end of the ordeal.

Where I live the weather has been beautiful for much of the month of May but in the last week it turned quite cold.

The small community plot that I planted is doing 'so so'.  It was very cold in April and the garden rules are that the gardens must be fully planted by May 1st.  In April, there weren't a lot of starter or nursery plants available in my neighbourhood but I bought what I could and also sowed sunflower seeds directly into the soil.

They are green items growing in the foreground.  I probably planted too many because they didn't do so well when I tried to start them indoors so I wasn't sure how they would do being sown as seeds into the garden plot.  I've been to the garden plot a few times to check on them.  They seem to be growing a bit slowly but perhaps that is normal since they have a longer growing season than many vegetables.

Various invasive plants have planted themselves in the garden plot as well. I just let them grow.  It doesn't bother me but it does bother other gardeners.  I plucked out most of the mint but I left the strawberries and some poppy plants.  The cherry tomatoes haven't grown very much since planted but this seems to be normal.

We are growing kale, swiss chard, lettuce and tomatoes, sweet peas and corn.  The other plants have sown themselves or they come back yearly.  Soon I have to return to do some weeding and also harvest some chives.  They grow so well no matter what the weather and it seems like they don't really need any maintenance.

I picked a few strawberries and ate them after washing. It was a nice little treat.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday today.  Thank you for stopping by! Please come again soon.

Skywatch Friday - May 24, 2024

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are well today,

I went to lunch with a friend.

So when we chatted to make the plan, I heard her say "Seasons in the Park", a beautiful restaurant in Queen Elizabeth Park. So that is where I arrived on Wednesday last, just before noon. I waited but no one came and there was no reservation under her name.

I decided to sit in the lounge area and keep an eye out for her. I also called her at her home and cell phone numbers but there was no answer. After about 10 -15 minutes no one had arrived but I received a phone call. It was her! I was at the wrong place.  I hurriedly got the new instructions, reactivated my Uber account and went off to meet her. 

In the meantime, I took these photos of the entrance to Seasons in the Park. If you look in the first photo beyond the windows, that is where one would get a fantastic view of the city. I had no time to capture the views of the park which is so beautiful at this time of year.

These chairs are near a fireplace where I waited.

So the next venue is a place called Shaughnessy Restaurant and it's located in another park called Van Dusen Gardens. Van Dusen Gardens has a magnificent light show at Christmas each year which I attended in 2022 and 2023 and posted about.

My friend and I were so excitable and chattering away that I completely forgot to get proper photos of the restaurant and the park itself.  These photos are from the entry to the restaurant.

The outdoor seating area

The restaurant was bustling, the wait staff was super and the food excellent.  Best of all was reconnecting with my dear friend.  She is the one who took me for birthday lunch. We've been friends for 38 years and met almost from the beginning of my move to Vancouver.

I'm linking up with Skywatch Friday. Thanks for stopping by!