Yesterday Spring Seemed So Close

Yesterday was filled with sadness and joy all in one day.

I first heard the news about my Kenya friend losing her child. Mother and family are going through an incredibly rough time right now; financially and emotionally and for the mom, physically too. See my blog post here if you have a moment.

Much later I went out for a walk.

The day was gloriously warm and sunny. A rarity in Vancouver over the winter months.

There were some early signs of Spring. 

I'm not sure what these blossoms are but they caught my eye.

The last time I took a photo of this fountain it was frozen solid. Yesterday it flowed freely.

Some rose hips were evident. I haven't noticed this bush here before.

A palm tree on someone's balcony beckons me to African shores.

I smiled as this senior cycled by on his tricycle.

A helicopter in flight. Can you spot it?

It seems like this kind of warm weather seems to happen around this time every year, give or take a week. Whether it remains is yet to be seen. At any rate, the real Spring is not so very far away from now.

As the sun was disappearing, it brought lovely pastel colours to the skies.

I like the look of the bare leaves like lace against the sky. The transit wires give added interest

I managed to take a shot of the half moon before the light got too low

I captured these pansies just before I stopped at the final store.  They are on the corner of two main city streets that get a lot of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. So you can see that pedestrians have been using the planter as an ashtray. What a shame!

 It was the end of my picture taking as night fell (just after 5 p.m.).

You can see the twin (mountain) peaks of the Lions way in back of mountains and the towers of downtown.

 Though it was sunny yesterday, today was a bit misty and foggy at higher levels.

In the east they are having winter storms.

I hope you are warm wherever you are in the world.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday

Thank you to hosts:

 
Arija
Gattina  Lady Fi
Sylvia
Sandy
Jennifer  

Beautiful Details

For days now I've been hearing about the Arctic Front (and it is cold here). The front is supposed to bring about 15 centimeters of snow over the city starting today and ending Monday or Tuesday.

Today is Friday and though there was some frost on the patio we didn't get any snow yet. It will likely start falling tonight. Apparently after Tuesday we will be having less of a cold snap, and getting more rain. An El Nino, winter of rain (lots), to be exact.

I took advantage of our dry spell and went for a nice walk. I enjoyed my walk very much and spent my time looking at the details of things. Let me share some of those details with you.

Look at the street banners and the bare branches outlining them. You can see how cloudy the sky is. You can almost "feel" snow.
A photo of a dormant tree. I am not much of a gardener but my guess is these leaves will need to be removed in the spring to make way for new growth.
Carvings on the building...way up high. I can see a face in there. Can you? I wonder who it is? I'm joking of course. It doesn't quite look like the usual gargoyles I see with the pointed ears, wings or horns. I am not a fan of those kinds of gargoyle as they are so scary and nasty looking but those kind of gargoyles can also be found on other parts of this particular building. I found this excellent manuscript explaining all about gargoyles here.
A carved pillar adorns the front of the same building. I especially like the pattern on this pillar.
A black metal stair rail gives support to the front steps of the building. I've seen the same kind of stair railings on the stairways of buildings half way around the world.A carved or built up impression (mould) on the building. This reminds me of the provincial flower, the Dogwood.
A close up photo of the mosaic tile in front of the building. The colours remind me of the historic department store, The Bay, which began as a way for Great Britain to exploit the animal furs in the colonial wilderness.A cool detail of several trees and many bare branches lining the gently inclined street. I turned the coloured photo into a black and white one. Then I coloured part of the picture with a beautiful shade of blue to accentuate the bare branches.
A close up of bare branches against a dark sky.
A beautiful little surprise beckoned me as I peeked into this building.I love the atmosphere that the Christmas season brings. Don't you?

I truly hope you enjoy yourself this season; wherever you may be.

Sunset at the Bay

I thought it would be fun to capture the sunset from my window through its different phases.