Flowers are hail, March 21st

Is this really Spring?  The hail woke us up during the night.  I feared the flowers would be ruined, but their suppleness and ability to close at night serves them well.

Vancouver's Snow, December 2012

Yesterday's weather brought icy roads for much of Greater Vancouver, and today's weather is blanketing the Point Grey area with snow.  The sky is dark, but the snow lends one of the year's shorter days what little brightness there is.

Crocuses in Vancouver's Snow (February)

Even though they are closed for warmth, our season's first crocuses look best against the white snow.

First Snow in Vancouver, November 18th

Even a single inch of wet snow puts Vancouver into a tither--some buses are not making it up the hill to UBC, one high bridge is temporarily closed, traffic is slower, and the city's noises are slightly muted.  Now that surrounding neighbours' trees shade our apple tree, it no longer produces tasty fruit, so this is its final season.  I wish to honour its former days of excellent productivity with a few photos.  (I confess that I have not properly honoured the tree according to Renaissance protocol:  I should have made some hot cider on January 1st, taken a bowl of it out to the tree, and sung an apple carol in order to thank the tree and request it to provide fruit for the coming year.  Live and learn.)

Tydeman apples

Rudbeckia

Hollyhock

Snow in Vancouver, March 9, 2009

Vancouverites greeted the morning's snow with resignation and a shake of the head. Freezing temperatures are nearly 10 degrees C lower than normal for this time of year. Crocuses which had already delayed appearing as long as possible are still forced to cope with the snow.

Melting snow on a foggy day in Vancouver

Vancouver's foggy morning, 7:48 a.m.

Closeup shots of melting pile of snow:

Fresh snow intrigues everybody, but dirty piles of melting snow are either disgusting or a nuisance, viewed solely as an inevitable transition we must endure until the snow either disappears or returns with a fresh coat.

But the "dirty" snow has a beauty all its own. It visibly records what has fallen to the ground for the past several weeks--debris from our trees and particulates from our city's air.

A closer look at a melting pile of snow on our side street revealed new crystal structures (I obviously need a different tripod to capture this more fully), crystals which became rounded as they were eroded by warmer temperatures. These new shapes are quite different from the earlier symmetrical structures of the fresh snowflakes several weeks ago. The dirt in the snow will soon replenish the meager soil in our front yard (our soil is essentially glacial dump consisting of large rocks which are nearly impossible to move by hand, stones and stones finely ground into sand dropped here some 10,000 years ago when the ice age left this region). I am slowly learning to appreciate and enjoy this stage of snow.

Night photos of Vancouver's final (?) snow storm of the season

Our street lights are quite orange in colour.

Snow on tree, lit by street lamp.

Looking east on West 31st Avenue

Even now, in spite of days of rain and warmer weather, snow piles are everywhere, residential side roads are uncleared, and by now the meter of snow seems that it might last forever. My car keys fell somewhere in our snow, so I await the melting rather eagerly.

These pictures were taken on January 4th, around 8:45-9:00 p.m. during a fairly heavy snow shower. Several of us sensed that this was the final hurrah of this series of storms, so we took cameras outside one last time. The swirling wind made it impossible to keep snow off the lens, I shot at ISO 1600 hand-held. Our street lights are anything but white, so I include one picture rendered in black and white, to give a better sense of the stuff being snow. On the other hand, in many modern cities, this is the way our city snow now looks. Now British Columbia and Washington State face serious flooding problems, rock falls, avalanches and the like.

December's snow viewed from inside a warm Vancouver home

Since Vancouver's city fathers have never seen fit to clear our residential roads--ever, only four-wheel drive vehicles should be out and about this morning. It is therefore a perfect day for remaining inside, enjoying the 'winter wonderland' from the comfort of a heated home. I photographed these snow scenes through our windows because this is how I so often see Vancouver's snow, from the comfort of my desk, or while washing dishes or preparing food, or while eating, reading or working at the computer. Walking in the snow is also wonderful, but I thought this perspective was worth a try.

Snow fall at night in Vancouver, Dec. 21st, first day of winter

This year, December 21st marks the first day of winter and the Fourth Sunday of Advent. My concert season ended for 2008, admist Vancouver's first heavy snow storm. Although churches were not closed, they were sparsely populated. I had to dig out my car after loading it with music stands.

I took these pictures at 8:30 this evening (hand-held, -2 C), using only street and Christmas lights for illumination. The evening exuded a calmness that was soothing after days of rehearsing and singing. During the 15 minutes of shooting, neither cars nor people were seen or heard. Falling snow is difficult to photograph at night, particularly without a tripod, but several pictures at least suggest why my camera had to be thoroughly dried afterward.