Van Dusen in January

I went to the garden last week to take photos of the beehives. Wouldn't you know it, it was the one day I decided not to wear boots so I suffered cold wet feet for these photos!

The pond beside the beehives had quite a bit of ice covering the water and all was still and quiet by the hives. I only saw one other person in the whole garden.




The sumac look like velvet flames against the snow.


Apparently the overwintering Anna's Hummingbirds love witch hazel blossoms. I must say it made me very happy to see this early harbinger of Spring. For those who wish to attract and feed these hummers, you can grow plants that bloom in winter such as Fuchsias (which kind, I wonder?) , Abutilons (flowering maples) Schizostylis coccinea (crimson flag), Hybrid Mahonia 'Charity' and 'Winter Sun' , as well as Sarcococca and Darwin barberry, the Oregon grape Mahonia x media 'Arthur Menzies', hellebores, sasanqua camellias and strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo).

Apparently it is one of the stockier hummers, although I never thought of using the word "stocky" to describe a hummingbird!


The entry to the garden is usually a good key for plants of interest to look for on your walk.

This Japanese cedar looks like coral.

Apparently some varieties of witch hazel are quite fragrant.

The hazel catkins are blooming--still too early to be of use to the bees.

Art's Birthday

I felt unconnected this year. Let's plan for next year. Let's share the weather report next time in sound and image and thought, let's stream the soft fog and the crisp crunch of morning snow. January 17, 2010: where will you be?

More Fog

There are still Christmas trees in the streets waiting forlornly to be picked up and mulched. Dancing drunkenly with melting snowbanks, shedding needles, suffering the indignity of being shoved this way and that by the garbage men and bottle collectors.

How many words are there for fog?

Foggy Art

They showed up one day last fall, or was it early winter? Two mysterious "vehicles" parked on either side of Ontario in a residential area. Whenever I walked by them, a question mark popped up like a cartoon in my brain. "WTF?" My first thought was that it was something to do with the movie industry, which often transports large props that make Vancouver a truly surreal city at times. When the cops had a major take down in our neighborhood a couple of months ago. I couldn't help shaking the feeling it was all just a movie shoot.

I thought maybe it was somebody's holiday vehicles, being stored for the winter. The first time I was moved by curiosity to touch one I could swear I thought the covering was soft. "Next time I'll lift it, I thought." When I touched it a second time I was shocked to discover it the draped cover was molded metal. I rapped it with my knuckled and it rang with a hollow "ping." Now I was truly perplexed. "What the hell is it?", the neighbors asked each other. Shrugs all around. I forgot about them once they were covered in snow and then I saw the article in the Georgia Straight. The jig was up. It's a piece of art by Marko Simcic called Park.

So now they sit, through sun and rain and fog, like two adopted undemanding pets. They smugly claim coveted parking spaces. They don't pollute. They don't advertise. They aren't licensed to kill. They are grey. They are benign. They are art.

Currently five degrees Celsius with fog. Well, that's what the website says. The sun is shining full on at our house.

Tea and Haiku

I felt chilled to the bone this afternoon, so stopped in for some warming Calories at Steeps of Broadway. I like the light cakes they have on offer and today's was an Earl Grey and chocolate mousse cake. I read haiku and took luxurious bites of the light, creamy cake.


Cloudy with a high of 6 degrees C low of zero degrees.

Rain Mixes with Snow

The mornings are dark. The sun rises at eight o'clock.

Women meet to plan projects, secure funding, build foundations, draw plans and make schedules for self discipline.

Women meet to cry in each other's tea cups, shed their dark thoughts, share their burdens look for hope in poetry and scraps of flowers.

Blood oranges appear on store shelves.

3 degrees Celius with light rain.

Corpse of a Christmas Tree

rain falls without mercy
on the corpse of a Christmas tree;
Stellar's Jay cries murder


The week everyone puts their Christmas tree out to be picked up by the city and mulched.