Cloud patterns and reflections

My old hard drive on my laptop computer died over three weeks ago and I am only now getting back to normal with the new drive working as planned. This is part of the reason why I haven't posted for a while. The other is that I have been rather busy and just lacked sufficient time to post.

A week ago Sunday I was in Vancouver during the afternoon going into the evening. I was struck by the unusual cloud patterns in the sky above these office towers on West Georgia Street at Burrard. Without the clouds this would just be an ordinary scene. Added to that are the reflections in the buildings. The building in the background in the first photo above is Hotel Vancouver on Burrard Street at West Georgia. Then the crane adds the the unusual scene. What are your thoughts and impressions?

Then this highrise office tower is on West Georgia Street at Thurlow Street. It appears to be the highest building in the Vancouver downtown.

Then above and below are images of the cloud patterns above Hotel Vancouver. This is an unusual scene I often don't see and I couldn't resist taking some photos. Comment if you like!

Flowering Annuals August 2007 - at Stanley Park's Rose Garden and the Pavillion

For those deep in the throws of winter you've probably had enough of the cold, snow and wind. I recently was able to download a batch of 1095 photos from my Sony camera. Here are some taken last August (2007) of the annual flowers at Stanley Park's Rosegarden and the nearby Pavillion. There are annuals in flower beds, in hanging baskets and other places. These pics should cheer you up and have you thinking of the spring and summer to come with warmer, more pleasant weather! You'll find cleome, dahlias, nicotianas and various other interesting plants.

It's not only flowers that seems to attract attention but our furry friends as well, such as the black squirrel above and the grey squirrel below.

And perhaps after all that viewing a nice cold beer and some munchies are in order. I hope you've enjoyed these photos (and perhaps forgotten about winter for a bit). There will be many more coming soon!

Snow in the Mountains

Well, the lower Fraser Valley may be green, as the above photo of Hastings Park in Vancouver will attest, but the mountains certainly have snow. The image below is of Grouse Mountain on the north side of Burrard Inlet. There is certainly enough snow to make the skiers happy! These photos were taken a week ago today (Monday). It was sunny, above freezing temperature-wise but there was a cold wind blowing which made it feel much colder than the thermometer would suggest.

In the Heights, a suburb of north Burnaby founded in 1909, I found a beautiful Monkey Puzzle tree back in October and couldn't resist taking a few more photos. The first image is of the crown and the second is of the whole tree on a side street. It's not the largest specimen I've seen (there are much larger ones in the area) but it will give you an idea what the tree looks like. There will be more photos later since I plan a trip to Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver where large trees are found.

Video Clips - SkyTrain - Greater Vancouver

Here are a couple of short video clips taken from the SkyTrain in the Greater Vancouver area over the past week. The first one is north bound from Scott Road to Columbia Stations going over the suspension bridge over the Fraser River. The second clip is south bound from 22nd Street to New Westminster Stations. Sorry for the quality of the videos. There were smudges and dead insects on the glass at the time. Both clips are 2 minutes long. I will have others from time to time to give you an idea of what the area looks like and what life is like. This will be in addition to the still photos that I have been posting up until now. Enjoy them and feel free to comment.