The 26th of November was a Sunday and I found myself sitting at home in the afternoon watching the snow. That's right, snow, in November, in Vancouver. Even at my place along the river in New Westminster, which is not very far above sea level. The weather had certainly been interesting lately...first a massive windstorm and now snow.

Snow changes the appearance of everything, of course, and so it was natural that I wanted to get out and get some pictures in it. I put the macro lens on the camera, dressed myself up well, and went out to the courtyard to see what I could find.

These first two photos are of some pink flowers. The snow here almost looks like crushed ice, but that's partly a function of the flash units on the camera. In the ambient light, it looked a little more white.

I walked to the other side of the courtyard. (Well, I shuffled or I waddled would probably be more appropriate—it was slippery and falling on my posterior would probably not be good for my recovery from my accident.) Anyhow, after somehow getting myself over to that side, I found some nice red-orange berries near the corner where Cadbury, Sonic, and Easter Bunny live.

It's a shame, them sitting out like that. They'd make a good pie. Or two.

It being Vancouver, and November, there were roses still in bloom. I found a few in a little plot outside where Sandy and Smudge live.

A careful scan of my surroundings yielded what appeared to be a few flakes of snow sitting still in midair. I stared at the snow, and it didn't move. It was a bit unsettling. I started to panic, thinking that maybe it had gotten so cold that time had frozen. If it was cold enough to freeze time, then I was gonna get frostbite on my nose, for sure. And I didn't want frostbite. Least of all on my nose.

I was greatly relieved when I finally turned the modelling lights on my camera flash on and saw little strands of silk between the motionless flakes. Some poor spider had caught snow rather than a decent meal.

The spider would be hungry, but my nose was safe; it seemed like a good trade-off to me. I took some photos and continued on.

A few steps later, I found this plant with beautifully colored foliage.

But I was starting to sense that all of my photos on the day had a sameness to them, and I wanted to get something different. So I went back inside, both to warm my nose and to change the lens on my camera. I opted for my general-purpose (24-120mm) lens, which is good for landscape and people shots.

For a real different feel to my shots, though, I figured I'd head somewhere where I might get some landscape or medium-range nature shots. Since the roads were slippery, I didn't want to go far, and I ended up just halfway across New Westminster in Queen's Park.

At the park, I found many snow-covered trees, and took photos of them. I don't think I've quite figured out how to take photos of trees yet. Despite trying various approaches, I'm always vaguely dissatisfied with my tree photos. Anyhow, here's the best of the snow-covered trees; it just seems to lack a certain zing to me.

My sympathies stopped short of having me brush the snow off of his schnozz, though.

Besides which, I had gotten distracted by some motion in a tree to the left of him. A bright orange bird can come out and lit on a branch.

He was a Varied Thrush, with his orange breast standing out very well in the snow. I've seen Varied Thrushes in the snow more regularly than I've seen any other bird around here; they must like the stuff. Probably their bills don't get frostbite.

Anyhow, that last photo shows what happens when I try to take a bird photo with a short lens—I end up with a little bird and a lot of habitat.

That ended my photography for the day. I'd been having fun tromping around outside, but it was definitely time to head home and warm up by the fire.

With time now flying,
Tom