Pink Eye Candy

Each year I look forward to trees blossoming in the Spring.

 

However, the last two years we have had very strange weather. 

It makes it very difficult to get many good photos. 

These particular trees on a busy city street don't seem well cared for at all. 

I have never see anyone from the City of Vancouver pruning them, or otherwise looking after them. 

Nonetheless their happy and generous pink blossoms give me a lot of pleasure.

 Especially when I can take photos and view them again and again.

Such precious gifts  I get every year for free and I look forward with anticipation to the time when they will arrive.

I feel so blessed to be the recipient of these glorious gifts that are given so freely.

All I have to do is be outside to savour their beauty.

  I can enjoy them in the rain too.

But to share them with you, I like to photograph them on a sunny day.

 

 Today I'm sharing these blossoms at Our World Tuesday
and Mosaic Monday.

 

Have a wonderful Easter Monday and thanks for stopping by.

He Is Risen

Blessed Easter, Blessed Spring!

Intersection of Hastings & Granville

I was in downtown Vancouver just over a week ago.

I took these fun shots of the city sky at the corner of Hastings & Granville Street.

A Blessed Easter weekend to you and your family.

 

Joining in with Skywatch Friday

Look What the Last Day of March 2015 Brings

The day was not bad as we made our way out of the city in the early morning about 7:00 a.m.  The weather forecast for Vancouver today was heavy rain and thunder.  I was glad it wasn't raining when we left.

In the photo above and below we are travelling over the new Port Mann Bridge. Every time you cross the bridge you must pay a toll fee of about $3.00 each way (more if you take longer than 7 days to pay).  Unlike New York and many other states, you do not stop and pay the fee at the bridge. Instead you pay on line or by cheque. Tourists must also pay.  There are a few exemptions such as emergency vehicles, public transport vehicles, taxis and people with proof of disabilities.

As we head in an easterly direction it looks quite cloudy.

Passing through the City of Chilliwack (photo below) you can see all the water pooling in the farm fields.

We've been getting a lot of rain for well over a week.

A nice rainbow came out as we stopped in Chilliwack for gas.

About a half hour later, the snow started flying. You can see it all over the windshield of the vehicle.

This next photo (below) is near the peak of the mountains on the Coquihalla Highway.

It was very foggy in parts and quite gray in the sky.

I snapped some photos of the trees and road banks just to show how much snow had fallen in a short space of time.

Another 45 minutes drive to the north and we are nearing the town of Merritt, BC.

The sky is spectacular but I see in the forecast that they are expecting snow tonight.

We descend the mountain into Merritt (photo below) where we will make a quick coffee stop.

On the north side of Merritt, we reach what is often referred to as the "Second Summit".  Here you will run into bad weather once again. In winter it is usually very icy, or snowy,  or both.  Today it was snowy and wet.

From this point we are about 40 minutes away from Kamloops, our ultimate destination.

You can see the road sign warning of sudden weather changes.

In this last photo we are descending another mountain into the City of Kamloops.

I made this trip to take my mom for a medical appointment.  Actually I was planning on visiting anyway but when I got the call about the medical appointment, I had to visit on this particular day.  I've been doing a spot of sewing frr mom so delivered some of the new items.  Whenever I visit I always try to make some sense and order out of her wardrobe as staff make a jumble of all her clothing. I also cleared out some of the items I don't think she has been wearing to make room for things to hang properly.

My brother joined me and was there to visit with mom and to touch bases with a few other people while I went to the medical appointment with mom.

The drive back to Vancouver was much of the same weather and we stopped for more gas and a wee bit of shopping before getting home about 10:3 p.m.

It is always good to see mom but it is also good to get home after a long day!

I hope you had a good last day of March 2015 for we won't see it again.

Thanks for visiting!

Fleeting Tree Blossoms

Hi friends,

We had a reasonably good winter with hardly any snow and the rainfall seemed less than normal too.

But now it is Spring and I'd like to get in the garden. 

However it has been raining cats and dogs!

How is the weather where you live?

 Manure and topsoil was purchased and bit of potting soil for the container plants. I also purchased some pansies to plant and a new patio umbrella stands at the ready but none of it has been used yet.

 

I hope the rains will stop soon though I don't complain too loudly. 

On the few nice days we've had without rain, I hardly had an opportunity to get out to take photos of the tree blossoms.  I hurriedly snapped a few once or twice while out running errands and happened to have my camera along.

I have so few photos of the tree blossoms compared to previous years.  The blossoms came out very early this year but with all the rain falling it hasn't been the best time to take photos and I was busy on the few really nice days we've had.

I am glad that I did manage to capture a few tree blossoms late last week on different errands around the city.

If I had more time I would go to another neighbourhood or two and capture some blossoms where I know they have lovely trees.  But time is limited right now and because a lot of the blossoms started early, many of them are already gone though a few new ones are coming out. Such a strange season this year. Or should I say, stranger than usual as  the weather has been getting unusual all around the globe for some years now.

I hope you are all enjoying good weather wherever you live. 

It looks like a movie was being shot on this street in the eastern part of town. I love the old building!

I have also been enjoying my new pressure cooker. So far I've made vegetable soup and now I've made some navy bean soup. It was sure thrilling to wait for only half an hour to have fully cooked (and softened) navy bean and vegetable soup! This sure beats the overnight soak or 1 hour quick soak method. First I put the navy beans in the pot just covered with water. I let those cook for about 15 minutes before I added a colourful array of veggies. In this case I purchased a bag of cleaned mixed veggies from the produce market. You know the kind they clean because they don't want to throw it away? I purchased one large bag and used about 1/3 of it. I chopped the veggies more finely in my food processor.  I didn't mince them too finely just gave them a coarse chop and put them in with the beans along with some herbs. Another 15 minutes and the soup was great. Next time I make soup it will likely be vegetables and some meat. If you like Italian food I think the pressure cooker would be ideal for making chicken cacciatore.  Well I'm off to enjoy some navy bean soup right now for a spot of late lunch.

This photo was taken right downtown at Hastings & Granville.

I will be joining up with Mosaic Monday & Our World Tuesday this week.
Our World is a very fun meme which I've participated in for years already. How time flies!
Mosaic Monday is a new to me meme, hosted by my neighbour in the far east of Canada.

Enjoy your week!