I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! I hope you all have a safe and happy year for 2008 enjoying the things you like to do with the people who bring you happiness and adventure.I spotted these two banners at the local grocery store parking lot and they have just the right amount of whimsy for me. May they bring some brightness to you.

What a surprise this afternoon when the snow began to fall and we got a white Christmas! This is my condo tonight with the snow coming down. It's hard to see but if you click on the picture it will enlarge for you to see some of the lights. I hope you had a wonderful day.

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family, may you have a wonderful day.

Today I woke up to a sprinkle of snow covering the courtyard to my surprise! Tonight I'm going to my friend Tricia's for a Christmas celebration. What a great way to start the day.

Yesterday I had lunch at my friend Rita's with another friend Tricia. These chickadees were enjoying their lunch also.

This is what the quay looks like in late fall. I love the light at this time of year filtering through the bare branches.

The reflection on the water is just delightful, I see a quilt in my future to reflect this time of year.

On Thursday I went to downtown Vancouver to have lunch with my friend Heather. I went for a walk along Robson Street and found this wonderful window with some vintage typewriters with Wish Lists.

Robson Street has some amazing shops and lovely decorations along it. At night it is a wonderland of lights.

I could only get a few of these trees and red boxes in my picture, but look how effective they look.

I found this tree topper on Thursday, and like it just standing on my mantle.

I found this tree to join some of my many angels on the mantle.

This is the my favourite of my many little trees. I found it in L.A. when I went to the Rose Parade 2006, you'll remember it was the first time in 50 years that it rained!

I went out for a walk this morning and this is the view back towards the courtyard.

Huge snowflakes were coming down covering the palms and everything else around them.

Looking up-river.

Looking down-river.

I think the roses are finished for the year.

The tugs work everyday no matter what the weather.

The view from my condo of the pond and waterfall, notice how the pampas grass flower plumes have toppled over from the weight of the snow.

The snow has started again, this is the view back towards our pond and waterfall in the courtyard.Here is the view towards the river, you cannot see the Alex Fraser Bridge because of the snow falling.

I took this picture of Calla Lily leaves before placing my Christmas lights.

Here they are with new snow falling on them.

Here is my Lemon Bell Clematis before the snow.

Here they are lightly covered with snow.

This morning I woke up to a skiff of snow on the quay, I decided to go for a walk before it starts to come down heavier. I had breakfast at Angelina's before taking any pictures. On entering the market I saw this wonderful display of blue and green ornaments at a local florist. I love how they used the peacock feather and carving to make a bird.

I found this group of poinsettias very pleasing.

Gerbera daisies are a favourite flower of mine and the contrasting colours here just jumped out.

The winter kale looks interesting sitting in the snow.

The boardwalk has a light layer of snow, you can still see a few roses bravely showing their colours amongst the shade of grey.

Here is a sight you don't get to see often, snow on the palm trees outside my condo.

There are several peeling bark maples planted along the quay this year. As the weather gets colder the bark will peel even more.

Roses dappled with snow, how delicate they look, but how rich the colours appear!

I decided to go for a walk this afternoon to check out some of the beautiful colour along the quay. Yesterday we had a rainstorm, and the sun decided to come out today, so everything looked newly washed.

This crow decided he wanted to get into the game.

This bush flowers throughout the winter.

The green leaves and bright red stems caught my eye, and then I noticed the deep blue berries.

These bright red leaves caught my eye, and then I realized some of the leaves looked like oak leaves and some like maple leaves. The flower was like a lilac/hydrangae.

These are leaves from the same plant.

oops, another picture of those pretty leaves.

Here is the plant from another side.

Some beautiful fall colours in the maple leaves.

I'm not sure what this tree is, the bark was peeling and the leaves almost look like a maple. But not quite.

The peeling bark has a wonderful colour to it.

Let's hope for some more wonderful November days like today.

One of the last of the roses for the year.

Late this afternoon the skies are finally clearing and the white caps are gone from the river. Throughout the day I saw people bundled up walking along the quay.Earlier today the sun started to peak through and the clouds started to part.

This morning the skies were grey and the river was full of whitecaps. At times it looked like they might come up and over the boardwalk. Branches and leaves were flying around. Some people were without power from early this morning.

One of the first storms of the winter started last night. It was very grey and windy this morning when I decided to take a few pictures.