Recent Outings Near Vancouver in Beautiful British Columbia

I have a photo dump today. I spent a bit of time travelling further out than usual to enjoy some sunny days and some picturesque scenes. I hope you enjoy.

I went to Porteau Cove just over a week ago and shared a few photos here. But we also stopped at a place called Cypress Bowl Lookout which is on the way to Cypress Provincial Park.

The first photos are taken on the Lion's Gate Bridge on the way to West Vancouver and North Vancouver.

These next photos are the lookout point and some information about Cypress Park.

When you get to the top of the mountain you can see for miles. But often there is haze. On that day you can see a bit of haze over the Vancouver Skyline.

We didn't carry on further into the park itself as we were going up to the small town of Squamish. 

On the drive up there you will see some spectacular scenery but there are hardly any places to stop and actually take photos. It's one of those times you should just forget about the camera and enjoy the scenery. I did try to get a few photos but it isn't very easy due to the forest lining the highway.

You can see the town of Squamish in the valley below.

There isn't much to do in the actual town. We mainly went to catch some sun rays and see the scenery. We stopped at what appears to be a new McDonald's nestled into a nice spot on the outskirts of the town. We also took a drive through the town but I didn't take any photos since there isn't much to see. The surrounding mountains are the main attraction though not far away there are two popular attractions.  One is a very popular hiking spot for serious hikers, called The Stawamus Chief.  Click here for more information. Also close by is a newer tourist attraction called the Sea to Sky Gondola which I've yet to experience. The truth is I'm a little afraid because this popular attraction has been the subject of sabotage on 3 separate occasions over the past several years. Someone or several someone's, keep cutting the cables on the gondola cars This has cost the company a lot of money to repair and escalate more security features over time.

On the return journey.  We stopped off at for fish and chips near the site of the Britannia Mine Museum, an award winning tourist attraction.

I hope you enjoyed the scenery. Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday 4 ~ Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

 Welcome!  It's time again for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

Today we are talking about some things related to home?

1. What styles of décor do you like?  Mid Century?  Colonial?  Contemporary?

I like too many decor styles to have a favourite.  Having a beautiful home has never been that important to me though. It's more important I feel comfortable in my home. Since I used to travel a lot and I like handcrafted things from my travels or those I make, I prefer to decorate in an eclectic or bohemian style.

2.   What  makes your bedroom comfortable?

My bedroom is comfortable when I have cosy and warm or cool bedding depending on the season. I also like a variety of pillows because some days I need neck support while other days I need less support but I always need my head to be quite elevated.  I also need lots of room for putting water and others things I might need including the phone for the alarm.

3   What do you think makes a home comfortable and welcoming?

A home where people don't feel that they are going to get something 'dirty' because it is too white or too elegant. Other than family and a few friends, I don't invite that many people to my home.  Invariably they comment on how comfortable or peaceful my home is and that is the feeling I'm after.  Some people also like to investigate all the books on the bookshelves. Over time I've downscaled a lot of books but I still have more I'd like to give away in due course. 

4. Do you share your home with pets? Would you tell us about them please?

Long ago I had a beautiful while, long haired Turkish Angora. The cats I like tend to have long hair and require a lot of maintenance. These days I don't want to spend so much time brushing a cat or vacuuming after it but I do miss having one. From time to time, I think about getting another cat though it will likely be a medium haired cat. So far, the timing doesn't seem to work out to get a cat but I'm sure eventually I will have another fur companion.

Skywatch Friday - March 23, 2023

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you've all had a great week and are looking forward to the weekend.  Where I live we've had some beautiful, sunny days and some not so spectacular days. After a glorious sunny day yesterday it was back to rain today and actually quite chilly. It should turn back to sunshine soon. I can't wait until it warms up a touch. I don't like it too warm just enough to keep my bones from getting a chill.

The first photo is taken in my patio garden. I haven't done any work to prepare it this year and I won't be doing any. Everything will be ripped up and out by June or July as the patio gardens in the entire building need redoing. It's a job and a half and very expensive.

I took the next two photos at the community garden in a nearby park. I was trying to capture the setting sun before it completely disappeared.

I've been preparing the community plot but some darn dog went and walked all over it damaging things in the process. I love dogs but not when they run rampant. I don't know why but they only ran over mine. I guess my plot is too close to the main pathways. Good thing I caught it. I will be keeping a close eye on things as I want the garden to grow a bit by May.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely weekend. 

Joining in with Skywatch Friday this week.

Another Friday Has Come & Gone

My how time flies. I wish it would slow down a bit but on the other hand, right now I'm waiting not so patiently for spring season to arrive because we've had a long, cold winter as far as Vancouver weather goes.

Today we had some glorious sunshine and it being Saturday and the end of spring break for students, everyone and his/her dog was out all over town.  However, the good weather won't last long. In fact it will cloud over tonight so my brother and I went for a wonderful drive up the coast to enjoy the scenery. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday today (a day late). Have a wonderful week ahead.

Warm & Cold

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are all well. Today I want to share photos I took on Wednesday. The day started off sunny and warmish. I went to the community plot in the late afternoon (first photo) and by the time I left it had turned cold. 

In this photo you can see how bright and beautiful the sky was before it began to cloud over. Today is now Friday and it was very cold when I returned home from a late outing. It's supposed to start raining soon and I expect we'll have unsettled weather for the rest of this month which is the norm. I'm glad I went to put the compost in the garden on Wednesday because I sure wouldn't feel like doing it now.

Thank you for stopping by.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday. 

Tuesday 4 ~ Cowboys

Cowboys

painting by Mark Maggori

 It's time once again for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.  We're talking about cowboys this week.

1.  Do you like western style chuck wagon cooking?  Stews, chilis, beef steaks, BBQ  etc.?

I like these kinds of food in moderation. I especially like stews with cubes of beef.

2.  Do you make a good chili or do you know someone whose chili is the best ever? Beans, meat or both? 

I used to make a great chili but it seems I've lost my touch. The last few times I've made it it wasn't that great. I use beans and meat, usually beef. Sometimes cubes of beef and sometimes ground beef.

3.  Who is your favorite cowboy movie star?

I can't say I really have a favourite cowboy movie star. I liked almost all of them except Clint Eastwood.  For some reason I didn't like him in cowboy movies but I did like him in other later movies. John Wayne was the actor who seemed like he was in almost all the cowboy movies that played on our two television channels growing up. 

4.  Do you have a favorite western TV show or movie

I liked all of them. I'm not sure why because I never was really into rodeos, horse riding or living on a farm. I attended the rodeo every year because virtually everyone in the family and community did.  The Fall Fair happened at the same time and that was more my idea of fun. The one movie that sticks out in my memory is The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne. It's about hundreds of settlers in covered wagons moving westward from the Mississippi River. You can watch it on You Tube for free. I did also enjoy all the western shows on television like High Chaparral, Big Valley, Cheyenne, Bonanza among others. I also enjoy Kevin Costner in the movie, Dances with Wolves. 

It Snowed, Again!

 Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are doing well.  It snowed again and has been quite cold since Thursday or so. We had a big dump of snow on Saturday night so I've kept indoors and worked away on decluttering.

I made excellent progress over the past few days and got to sort out a lot of smaller nooks and crannies.

All month long I've been participating in something called a daily declutter challenge.  The challenge is to let go of at least one item each day so the decluttering habit is formed and it doesn't take hours to accomplish.  I have a lot of small items to get rid of because I'm down to the fine-tuning of the major decluttering project I've been working on for awhile. In the fine-tuning stage, it takes me a lot longer to go through every area of clutter and make the decisions as to what to do with things. I tend to collect a lot of paper items and a lot of little things that don't seem to 'fit' into any category of items, a hodge podge, if you will.

I've been surprised to find so much junk in all the places that I decluttered. I suppose it's understandable since some of these small areas haven't seen the light of day for decades.  Literally.  Anyway the month will end in a few days and I'm trying to get as much done as possible. The below items are much of what I've offloaded since Friday.

I've been decluttering something every day this month but I've also been crocheting so I can have a break from the task.  Thursday night I ran out of yarn for the blanket I'm making and I'll need time to go to the craft store to buy at least one more ball to finish the project.

I haven't had time to delve into the books I picked up recently at the library or to finish listening to the audible Spare.

In March, I look forward to getting into these books and planning the community garden for this year.

What plans do you have for the coming month?