Rhododendrons and Ramblings

Rhododendrons blooming in February! That's uber early, even for Vancouver's climate. There they are, in all their pink glory, flowering in gardens along False Creek's seawall walk. Rhododendrons, or Rhodos as they are often referred to, by people whose fingers get sore trying to type out the whole name, and whose tongues get twisted trying to pronounce it, usually bloom in May on the Westcoast. Some early varieties flower in March. February is worthy of a news conference!

January's record rainfall made the news. The city, which is known for rain, broke a fifty year record for the number of consecutive days of rain. All was forgotten, when the sun broke through clouds this morning. What a glorious day for a seawall walk to Granville Island Public Market.

 

I wasn't alone on the promenade. The sun brings everyone out. As I walked, I caught fleeting bits of conversation, and turned it into a game of poetry in motion.

Two older women in brightly coloured coats, nodded in agreement as one said to the other, "Don't go on a Friday, though!" I would like to have known where that was. Right behind them, a woman with a soft Scottish accent invited her companion to, "Get together." A tall jogger rapidly inhaled and exhaled. An older couple laughed, as the wife said, "I'll getcha." 

I caught the word, "Party" as a couple pushing a baby stroller were discussing the fact that, "There were an awful lot of people we didn't recognize!" Maybe they were at the same Friday night event! A man in a puffy vest explained to an elegantly dressed, bearded man, who was puffing on a European cigarette, "It took me a long time to like it. I didn't used to." What was he talking about? Gitanes, gin, or ginger? Then, there was the young woman in a cream coloured yoga outfit, and matching cellphone, who marched along, angrily barking into the phone, "So, I asked him, 'Are we going to go out, or not?'" My guess is the answer was not.  

 Photographs Copyright of: Ruth Adams. Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

The Birds and the B's

What a beautiful ending to a glorious first day of 2020 in Vancouver!  Westcoast sunsets are spectacular!  The intensity of the coral pink in the evening sky took my breath away.  The sunset reflecting on the water was almost supernatural.  It truly is as the tourism slogan says, "Super.  Natural.  British Columbia."

Earlier in the day, I took a long walk along Vancouver's False Creek seawall, celebrating the new year, and the new decade.  The difficult teen years are over, and we're in the twenties now.  There's promise in the air!

The birds and b's were everywhere!  Bicycles, backpacks, benches, boats - all the b's jostling for space along the seawall. 

There were black birds in bare branches.  Seagulls bobbing in the deep blue water, made room for more gulls swooping down to join them.  The seagulls calling from the water's edge, could barely be heard over the throaty caws of the black crows in the tree branches overhead.  An artist has created folk art birdhouses.

 

So much for birds, let's talk about the b's.  B is for bike paths.  One quickly learns that the seawall is divided into two paths.  One side of the painted white line is for pedestrians, the other, for bicyclists.  Boys with backpacks, and mothers with baby buggies, kept to their side of the walkway, to allow couples on bicycles to pedal past on the other side of the dividing line.  Even as the afternoon crowd grew larger, the dividing line was never crossed.

As I walked along the path, I overheard pieces of conversations, and observed the little vignettes of life.  A young mother, carrying her toddler spread-eagle across her hip, ran down an embankment laughing as she cried, "fly like a bird!"  The little one raised her arms, as if to soar.  A bride-to-be and her friend were discussing the merits of her fiancees guest list, which to her relief, included most of their mutual friends.  An elderly Asian man squinted in the sunlight to see the dragon boats his son was pointing out to him.   

B is for buildings.  The False Creek of my childhood was an industrial area, often shrouded in thick fog.  From the Cambie Bridge, one could still see Sweeney's Cooperage, an old barrel making business, long since replaced by condos and parkettes.  Expo '86 and years later, the 2010 Winter Olympics changed the landscape of False Creek.  Prior to 1986, only the far West side of the water was developed.  Afterwards, development spread Eastward to where Science World, and the Olympic Village condos are located.  There's new development along the entire stretch of False Creek.

B is for boats.  I have a thing for boats.  Big yachts, little tug boats, sailboats, dragonboats, the Aquabus which takes people over the Granville Island Public Market and the West End - I could watch them for hours!  The freighters and cruise ships can't get into the creek, so they stay further West in English Bay, or on the other side of the city, in Burrard Inlet.

B is for beautiful beginning to the new year, and the new decade. 


Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.