Sapperton

The top photo is a crop of a larger one and shows the cone on a Monkey Puzzle Tree, this one in Sapperton. Below is the crown of the same tree.
I got out late in the afternoon to check out a new grocery store near the SkyTrain station in Sapperton. The weather was mostly cloudy but with some sunshine getting through the overcast sky. As you can see, it is the usual autumn weather. The rain will be back but for the moment not having it is a relief! I cut through the Fraser Cemetery on the way to East Columbia Street (200 block) in New Westminster where the store is located. The store (Thifty Foods) was about a 20 minute walk away from home, so the exercise was good and needed but walking back was mostly uphill until it leveled out some as I got closer to home. When I returned home, it was time for a quick supper with most of the daylight gone for the day. As the season advances, the sun gets lower on the horizon and the daylight hours decrease. There's a fair bit of dew in the morning but I'll let you know when it gets frosty! - V

Fog

The fog we've been experiencing for the last week is continuing. The fog is found in the valley near the Fraser River, in low lying areas such as the city of Richmond, English Bay, Burrard Inlet and the Georgia Strait. Yesterday as I left home for work, New Westminster wasn't too bad except near the river but as we got to Vancouver on the train, the mist became more evident. That's pretty well what was seen all day at work yesterday: fog! The photo above was taken Sunday from the Fraser Cemetery in Sapperton (New Westminster). You can see the mist above the Fraser River in the distance. In Vancouver it was a different story as can be seen in the photo below taken along the seawall in Stanley Park, just past the 2nd beach. English Bay was shrouded in fog and the fog horns from freighters could be heard constantly. There was a photo posted on one of the local papers on the weekend of the office towers in downtown Vancouver poking through the fog, the city fog-shrouded except for that! I believe the photo was taken from Grouse Mountain, which of course enjoyed sun-filled skies! If this continues into the weekend, I will make a trip to Burnaby Mountain, an excellent vantage point, and take some photos from there. Meantime, I'm off to work!

Misty

The sun did appear today (Saturday) but much of it was obscured by a ground fog/mist that hung in the valleys and depressions in the Greater Vancouver Area for much of the day. Above the mist you could see clear blue skies and when I took the train into Vancouver to complete some errands, that fog was less severe in around Metrotown because of the higher elevation than elsewhere. The scene above was taken this afternoon in the mist shrouded Fraser Cemetery in Sapperton, a part of New Westminster, British Columbia. During my walk to Sapperton SkyTrain station I noticed some lichen that was in bloom with the recent warmer temperatures we've been having (well, for us its warmer!). The tombstone in the centre of the photo, by the way, dates from 1886. I had hoped to get to the Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park to feed the birds but it was nearing sunset and it gets dark early yet. We'll have to wait a few more months for longer daylight hours!

Signs of snow

There are signs of snow, in the mountains of course. Before I went on into Vancouver on Sunday, I stopped by the Fraser Cemetery in Sapperton (New Westminster) to have a look at the view from that vantage point. As you can see, there are signs of snow in the nearby mountains. The rain we had over the last few weeks has contributed to the accumulation but we are long from seeing any snow here in the valley. The snow should make the skiers happy though!

The cherry trees are all stripped of leaves as I've found is the case throughout the region. You can see more snow in the mountains to the north. Below, the signs of nature's handiwork and the birds in particular and seen now that the trees are free of leaves.

The cemetery also has a lone monkey puzzle tree. There are other good examples in the region such as on Capital Hill and the Heights in north Burnaby, at the Lions Gate Bridge (Stanley Park side) and Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver amongst others. Are you ready for winter when it comes? - Volker