There are signs of life even in winter....

Sunday afternoon I was out grocery shopping to get some needed supplies. On my way back home I stopped to take some photos. This was the first day in a while that we had some decent sunshine, including blue skies. There has been a lot of dull, rainy and overcast weather lately. This was a welcomed change and so was the temperature at 8 degrees Celsius. It'll be a bit on the cool side for the week but sunny. The warmer temperatures, and the rain, return by the end of the week but we'll take the sunshine while it's here.

So the above photo shows a condo building nearly complete. There is a pharmacy on the main level and room for other commercial/retail outlets. This building is on Hastings Street in the Heights in north Burnaby. There are a lot of new condo buildings going up in the Greater Vancouver area. I thought I would share this photo with you.

Finally, just before you think all goes lifeless here on B.C.'s lower mainland, below is a photo of heather in bloom (Erica), also on Hastings Street near the new condo building. Hope this cheers you up, especially those still deep in the throws of winter!

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.