sailboat on English Bay

I took this photo in the spring of 2008 and was thinking of Brad at the time I took it since he's such a sailing buff. This is looking across English Bay from Stanley Park. What caught my interest was the large flock of seabirds flying by at the time the image was taken. I've never seen such a sight before or since. I also posted this photo early on when I first started this blog in 2008 with Brad as my co-writer. Simply awesome scene! - V

the sky

Have you ever taken the time to appreciate the beauty that the sky offers us daily? In this case its the sky over English Bay in Vancouver, British Columbia during a recent summer (but not the one we just had). That's the landing to the ferry at Sunset Beach on the right. Take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life! Life is over too quickly to spend it asleep at the switch!! - V

English Bay, Sunset Beach and other photos!

On Sunday, August 1st I went to check out the activities along English Bay and at Sunset Beach before heading over to the Davie Village Community Garden. These are just some of the photos I took along the way. Kayaks were being rented out at the main beach on English Bay, something that has been happening every summer recently. The colour yellow seems to add something to these photos in an otherwise drab setting. Otherwise, its just shades of greens, browns and blues!
The yellow tansies were found in flower along Sunset Beach and even thistles complete with busy bumblebees.
The photo above shows a view of the activity on English Bay. That's Bowen Island on the left in the background. Sunset Beach itself was very busy, especially where the pride tents were located.
The aquabus was kept very busy ferrying people between the landing at Sunset Beach and Granville Island. Feel free to comment. I hope you enjoy these images! Have an awesome weekend!!! - V

English Bay

Even though I missed the pride parade there was enough to see on English Bay and its main beach plus Sunset Beach. More pride photos taken Sunday, August 1st coming up soon. Have a great weekend! Hope its sunny and warm where you are. - V

water

Summer may be behind us but there is still a lot of nice weather ahead of us to enjoy now that we're in autumn. There is something about water that we find soothing, whether it a fountain, a babbling brook or the waves at the seashore. Here are some shots I took along the seawall at Stanley Park in Vancouver during the last weekend of September. You're viewing English Bay. The rainy days of fall will soon be upon us but it's nothing like a sunny day to bring out people to enjoy the fine weather. That could mean sailing on the bay, walking their dogs, having a run or just enjoying a leisurely stroll along the water. Enjoy the photos!!! - V.

Saturday in Vancouver

Saturday afternoon I had made plans to go into Vancouver but rather than head over to the Spanish Banks as originally decided, I ended up heading over to Davie Street and then English Bay Beach from there. When I arrived, there was a street market in progress on Davie Street with plenty of activity in the works. There was a stage set-up on Davie near Burrard Street with people seated in front. The stage is off to the left and not pictured in the photo above. I struggled to get a photo with enough sunlight in it since the sun is rather low on the horizon this time of year. After all, we are above the 49th parallel. There were even a couple of guys handing out condoms in front of the Priape store. All they were wearing was underwear (Jim), some flip-flops and a smile! The restaurants and taverns had lots of activity too. Booths were set up and sidewalk seating was extended out into the street. From there is was off to the other end of Davie Street to check out the annual flower plantings.

So at the other end of the street I saw another surprise aside from the annuals. The cloud pattern in the sky caught my interest, so some of the photos you see will have these clouds in them, such as the one above of English Bay Beach with the fan palms in sillouette.

And before heading out to the beach we can also pay a visit to one of the many local Starbucks locations in town. This one is at Denman and Davie Streets.

I believe I caught the flowers at the right time since they are due to be pulled and replaced by spring tulip bulbs at any time. I love the colours and textures!

There are many fan palms along Beach Avenue above English Bay Beach as you can see in the above photo. From the railing on the left you can see the beach below. Then this cloud pattern caught my interest again forming a background to the crowns of the fan palms. What do you think???

The above photo shows Sunset Beach (plus the clouds). There are a few fan palms there too plus some annual plants for added interest.

Before I left Vancouver's West End for home I spent some time at the beach (English Bay Beach) to observe the sunset. The image above shows the rays of the sun shining through the cloud cover with Vancouver Island far off to the west. Then the photo below shows a larger view of the sunset with people in sillouette. Enjoy the photos! There will be more over time and not just images of hot guys, though I'm sure you appreciate them too!!! - V.

Checking out Stanley Park

Saturday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. It was 23 degrees with a cloudless sky though you could see the mist off in the distance. This area is known for its temperate rainforests, so this shouldn't be surprising. I took a number of photos during my trip into Vancouver, the main destination being Stanley Park. The photo above was taken near the entrance to the park on West Georgia Street. Off in the distance (looking east) you can see the Coal Harbour development. A Canada goose (there were a few) is seen on the grassy boulevard on the northside of West Georgia Street.

The swallows are back at Lost Lagoon (above). Here are a few at a nesting box at the north end of the lagoon.

Near the rose garden in the park you may spot a bee house-hive for the blue mason bee native to this part of the British Columbia coast (see pic above). The bees even have their own garden with flowers suited to their needs. The alliums (below) also keep them busy collecting nectar for making honey.

A couple of "lions" guard the entrance to the Lion's Gate Bridge crossing the first narrows on Burrard Inlet between Vancouver and North and West Vancouver on the northside of the inlet. The photo above shows one of the lions. Below is a view of part of the seawall as seen from the bridge.

Downtown Vancouver can be seen from the bridge just beyond Stanley Park. The view includes one of the tallest structures at West Georgia and Thurlow Streets. Then there is a view of the bridge looking up (below).

Another view of the bridge is shown above, this one from the Stanley Park side and a close-up view below.

Prospect Point, to the immediate west of the bridge, has an awesome view, this one looking to the northwest across to West Vancouver (Hollyburn Mountain in the background). There are all sorts of wild flowers to be seen on the walk between Prospect Point and Ferguson Point on English Bay (see below).

The above photos shows a fern frond unfurling and there are all sorts of stumps to be found, all put to good use as "nurse stumps" (below).

I did manage to see another couple of bald eagles. If you look carefully at the centre of the above photo, you can see an eagle. When I spotted them and took this photo, that one and its partner obscured by the trees took off westward. This was the best I could do with my telephoto lens and reason enough for me to get a bigger one! The clearing have all sorts of wild flowers, such as the buttercups below. I did want to get a close-up shot of a bumblebee but it took off rather quickly unlike the garden variety that are used to having people about.

The fruit of the blackberries are starting to form (above) and below you can see a view of one of the clearings. A number of clearings were created after the big wild storm of late 2006 (I have photos of before and after with dramatic changes).

Above is a view of English Bay as seen from Ferguson Point. Then below is a photo of rock art which can be seen along the seawall between the 2nd and 3rd beach on the English Bay side of the park.

People were braving the water at the 3rd beach (above) and there's another view of the beach from the lookout above the beach itself (note the fan palm).

A view of English Bay's main beach near Denman and Davie Streets can be seen below. Despite the warm temperatures, people are well clothed for the most part, even in the heat of the summer. Back east in southern Ontario, beaches there would display a lot more skin. This something that immediately struck me when I came here to stay in 2006 but a couple of factors come to mind that might account for this: an awareness of the damaging affects of the sun and perhaps, in part, a British prudishness to cover up, something that has been tossed away back east though sunscreen is well used there. The benefits of exposure to the air and the sun's rays is the body's ability to produce vitamin D plus drying out the skin (we all know what moist skin is the breeding ground for!). Anyway, that's my journey through the park for Saturday. I hope you've enjoyed the photos! Hope your weekend was a pleasant one too! As for today, I spent the day resting up after all the walking I did yesterday. My right foot and knee have not healed up enough yet, so both (especially the foot) were a bit sore after the end of the day. Take care!!! - V.