Fall Colour & Sunshine

I went to City Hall to try and vote in the advance poll for a new Mayor and city Councillors. The line up was so long and I had many other errands to run so I decided to wait until Saturday which is when the regular poll will be open.

City Hall (front)

Back (northern view) from City Hall. Downtown is in the distance.

We've been having fabulous Fall weather this past week or so and the fall foliage is still on the trees but just barely in some cases. These photos were taken on my walk to City Hall.

The next several photos were taken on the weekend. Look at the tree on the left side of the photo below. It's completely  missing half it's leaves.

The large building complex in the photo below is nearing completion. You might recognize the tower from many of my earlier posts. I've been watching it go up for what seems like years though I think the construction started in earnest  last October.

I've heard that the tower is ready for move in though I'm not sure when the move in date is. The condominiums were sold out several years ago.

There will be a grocery market on the ground level. (The tower peeking out in the back is the one I've featured numerous times in my blog posts).  This is a higher end market called Nester's. There is already a branch of this grocery market a short 10 minute bus ride away to the south but this store will make grocery shopping extremely convenient for the resident owners. In fact there there is another food store just behind the building across the street.

I spotted this cute puppy at the park. He really didn't want to walk and laid down on the grass to protest. Eventually he followed his master and they went ahead in the general direction that I travelled.

Time has been flying buy as always. I'm still not quite 100% healthy though I'm learning I always feel sub par during the Fall months. It is my favourite season but I always seem to be sick for much of it with low grade fever, headache and fatigue. At least I can still enjoy the seasonal colour and I still try to keep up with a schedule as bet I can.
 The weather is supposed to remain good for a few days.  If I have time I will take a walk around a lagoon in the park downtown soon.  We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'm making good progress on an afghan I've decided to make for a friend's Christmas gift.  She doesn't read this blog so she won't find out what I'm making.

I have plans Thursday for surprising my brother for his birthday. Not a party as such because he has his own plans but a little something to mark the occasion. On Friday I will go to dinner with a friend and a lady missionary to Taiwan. Saturday is voting day and somewhere in between I have errands and the walk I'd like to take.  I hope to share photos in this space later.

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Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by!

A Change is Coming

The last few days there has been a definite change in the temperature of the air. While it is still generally warm, there is now a distinct chill and I need to have a shawl or a light jacket when I go out. It seems to me that the chill has arrived somewhat early this year and rather abruptly. We don't usually notice the shift until the day after Labour Day (the first Monday of September).  This year Labour Day is on September 4, 2018.

The sky was looking quite cloudy when I came home from an appointment around 4 p.m. on Thursday.  There is no rain in the 14 day forecast but the temperatures are anywhere from 6-10 degrees cooler each day than they have been for months.  I don't mind because the Fall or Autumn is one of my favourite seasons. I do not do well in intense heat.  I far prefer the chill of autumn when it isn't yet cold and one can wear cosy sweaters and scarves. In some years the Fall season can go on for some time. Those are special times.

After I finished my errands I stopped for this breakfast/lunch. It isn't my favourite place to dine but it was handy and I enjoyed the omelette and sourdough toast.

The next few photos were taken on Wednesday. You might notice that the light of the day is not a intense as the past few months.

The photo below was taken at 7 p.m. It was still quite bright out but now the daylight hours are shortened by 1-2 hours each day.

I'm reading my 45th book of the year.

 

It is very interesting.
 I haven't gotten to the sad part yet but it will come.

Here is a synopsis of the book taken from the internet.

On July 12, 1969, Ruth Davis, a young American volunteer at Dr. Jane Goodall’s famous chimpanzee research camp in the Gombe Stream National Park of Tanzania, East Africa, walked out of camp to follow a chimpanzee into the forest. Six days later, her body was found floating in a pool at the base of a high waterfall. With careful detail, The Ghosts of Gombe reveals for the first time the full story of day-to-day life in Goodall’s wilderness camp—the people and the animals, the stresses and excitements, the social conflicts and cultural alignments, and the astonishing friendships that developed between three of the researchers and some of the chimpanzees—during the months preceding that tragic event. Was Ruth’s death an accident? Did she jump? Was she pushed? In an extended act of literary forensics, Goodall biographer Dale Peterson examines how Ruth’s death might have happened and explores some of the painful sequelae that haunted two of the survivors for the rest of their lives.

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I watched the much hyped first episode of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime Video. If you have a chance to watch it I would recommend it. It is very well done and quite riveting. 

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I managed to get my documents photocopied yesterday to add to my earthquake kit.

If you missed my post on earthquake preparedness you can find it here.

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I've always loved zebras. They are so beautiful and these ones are from Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya. I'll never forget my safari there.
I'm sharing them for Saturday's Critters with Eileen.

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Last but not least, I am remembering my mom today.
She would have been 82 on Friday.

 These photos are from the last celebration of her birthday and were taken a few days after her stroke.
We were surprised to arrive and see her driving her wheelchair. She couldn't swallow yet so she she couldn't eat the cake that's why we only bought a small one. We usually bought her a chicken, seafood or Chinese dinner but this day we didn't want to eat in front of her so we only bought a cake to mark her day.


I always liked to treat her on her birthday.
 She loved her roses, her cake and balloon.

I remember wanting to wait until she was able to eat with us to celebrate. My youngest brother insisted we celebrate on her day. I'm so glad he did because it was the last time we were able to do so and see her smile.

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 That's all for now.
Wishing you all a wonderful and safe weekend.

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and

Saturday's Critters

The End of My Week

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

Today's post is filled with photos. I am joining up with Skywatch Friday, Friday Foto Friends and Saturday's Critters. Thank you to hosts of all these memes. I know it takes commitment and reliability to keep these memes going.

My niece has been here having a short holiday and she will return home tomorrow. We managed to go and see a movie, Christopher Robin (a cute movie), do some light shopping, watch TV, colour, listen to a lot of music on YouTube, go for walks and ice cream and go for a car ride up to Squamish. On other days she went with her brother to spend time at the waterfront.

You can see Squamish on the map below (to the north of Vancouver).

We had dinner in the small town though there wasn't much selection.

We tried to get some photos but I didn't get any good ones of my niece and I. 

For some reason I am not very photogenic at all.
Top it off my niece is not very patient when it comes to posing for photos and she always has her head too high or too  low or never looking at the camera and so on.

The main thing then is to enjoy the ride and get some scenic photos.
(Click on photos for a larger and better view)

On the way to Squamish

This ferry is leaving Horseshoe Bay. Not sure where it's going but probably to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

We continue north on the Sea to Sky Highway.

I'm afraid I didn't get photos of the small town of Squamish.

 I wanted photos of the famous rock cliff where many do mountain hiking. 

It is a challenging trail on the rock called Stawamus Chief.

You can read more about it by clicking here.

The view of Stawamus Chief from the main street of Squamish.

After dinner we were in a rush to try and get some coastline photos while the sun was still up.
Access to the ocean was not possible in town so

we headed south back to Vancouver on the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

Not too far from Squamish you get to the Britannia Mine Museum & the Britannia Mine.

I've never been inside. In fact I've only ever been in this direction for 4 complete round trips over the many years I've lived in Vancouver.  Usually it was to Whistler Village.  Many of you may have heard about it because it is a very famous skiing village where celebs from all over the world visit for winter vacations.

The coastal scenery is spectacular.

I captured the following photos at a view point area near the Britannia Mine.

As we continue south we find a new to me park called Porteau Cove Provincial Marine Park.

It is a lovely little spot with beautiful scenery, a secluded swimming beach, clean toilets and plenty of picnic tables. 

It is definitely on my list of places to return for a lovely picnic on a hot summer day.

The sun was setting at the same time the moon was showing it's face.

Beautiful clouds

Sky gazing

I snapped this photo of  the ferry en route to Horseshoe Bay from Nanaimo. I almost missed it.

Another drive by shot. This one over the Lion's Gate Bridge from North Vancouver into Vancouver. Spectacular colour.

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From my garden

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