This past weekend was an unusual one for Vancouver - we got snowed on! I was in Florida about a week before when we had also had a small dumping, and I had thought I had missed the snowfall for the year. I was mistaken, as this weekend we got more snow than I think we've had in all the years I've lived here. Sunday, we had a fun day out in the snow.
Before we get to that, Saturday afternoon we headed down to the Christmas market. It was cold, but sunny and beautiful. They've been running a German-style Christmas Market in Vancouver for a few years now, but this was the first time I had been. We wandered about - had some mulled wine, ate some German food and checked out the crafts and other things on display. It was really well done, and very festive. We spent a couple of hours before heading home. We spent some time with our friends Jo and Stuart, then headed over to Katie's for dinner. It was a very festive start to the weekend.
The view of the North Shore mountains was amazing from the Christmas Market.
The snow started Saturday night/Sunday morning, and when I went to hockey at about 7:30 a.m., there was already an inch or so on the ground. By the time I got back, it was closer to double that, and it kept coming most of the day. I think we ended up with 5-6" by the time the weekend was over. Not a lot by most standards, but very unusual for us - and a nice change from the rain. It added a real Christmas feeling to the start of the holiday season.
One of the cool things about living in Vancouver is that the hummingbirds (some of them anyway) stick around all winter. They get enough food from people keeping feeders out all winter, but it was getting cold enough to freeze the food every night, so I've been bringing the feeder in at night, and putting it back out in the morning. We've had this little girl hanging out nearby as a result.
Our little friend has been hanging out, trying to survive the cold weather.
After getting back from hockey, the snow was coming down pretty good. Justine had headed over to the market ahead of me to meet up with our friends Alex and Fergus, and their son Emmet. We ahdn't seen them in a while, so it was a good opportunity to catch up. I took my camera with me, and took some pictures of the winter wonderland on the walk over to meet them.
