Christmas colors in February . . .

Makes for a wonderful Christmas spirit to see red, white and green  at this time of year!  (I know, I know, Christmas was two months ago. . . but the snow didn't co-operate back then.

Wednesday evening snowfall #1

I started off making tracks in front of the apartment.  It had snowed less than an hour when it stopped. . . but in the end, I was in for a bigger surprise.

The branches were frosted with a layer of the new fallen snow which made them stand out. . .

The streets were busy in spite of the fresh fallen snow surprise, our second snowfall of this winter. . .

The leaves covered up with a blanket of snow and looked like iced cookies!

Grass poked out from beneath the new layer of snow to speak to the fallen branch and give it comfort. . .

 

The trees didn't care that Christmas was long gone -- they decorated themselves with freshly white fallen snow that made their branches glimmer.

Every branch wanted to get into the act for this special occasion.  The snow was going to last longer than a few minutes. . . the beauty would be long remembered.

Even snow can provide ripples if you look hard enough. . . 

 Sometimes you see silhouettes of characters in snow covered leaves. . . can you see anyone here?I see George Washington if I tilt my head.

This umbrella tree got a new design!

 

The mist seems to make these two branches stand out. . . 

One more for today but not the end of my snowy night adventure.  Come back tomorrow for more!

First photo from my window of latest snowfall. . .

This tall tree with all the cones on it is what I see from my 8th floor window.  It was covered in snow when I awoke after a light snow the night before.  I was surprised because I had thought it had stopped snowing by time as I went to sleep about 1:30 AM.  Wonderful surprise for me when I awoke!  I spent a good portion of the day hiking and taking photos.  MORE to come. . .

Winter surprise visitor. . .

I was out shoveling the snow from  around our apartment building after midnight when a resident told me to look up in the tree. . . and I spotted this raccoon!  It did not give me time to adjust my camera with flash or zoom in much before it exited the limb it was on and headed higher where I could not spot it with my camera. . . so no close ups and you will have to contend with those piercing white eyes I saw before I took the photos.  I was surprised to see a racoon in city limits.

For Barb . . .

I cropped and made the below photo black and white -- as if it needed any help -- as Barb suggested.  I think I  still like several instead of one against the background of snow best.

Portrait in the snow. . .

 

Anything is more beautiful with a snowy background!

I had a great snow day last night and today.  Took many photos.  Guess what will be on my blog every post for some time. . . I am so happy we finally got a good snowfall even tho it was between 2 and 3 inches only and some would laugh at me for calling it a big snowfall.  Considering the small amount we got last Wednesday, this was big in comparison.  I am grateful for it all.  I hiked about 9 miles today to capture some of it.  I walked to the river first and then took a bus the opposite direction to a trail and walked about 5 and half miles to capture the latest snowfall.  On my return, it was snowing in the eastern part of our city when I was coming home.  We have blue skies where I live. . . There is a possibility of more coming this weekend.

White stuff from heaven. . .

Yes, it is snowing and I am going out to play in it soon.

Photos to follow hopefully.

Odd shot

If you walk across the street and down the alley of these neighbors, you will find a fish pond in the backyard.  Some of us, out for a walk, stop by to see how the fish are doing.  Not one was in swimming mode and the picture looks like an art piece instead of a pond.  Go here if you want to  post an odd shot linking to Kathy's meme for Odd Shot Monday.

You never know. . .

Last Wednesday when it snowed, the sky was very colorful and I enjoyed capturing the colors of my quilt in the sky.

Today, a friend and I went for a walk in the neighborhood and we saw more signs of Spring besides the blooming Camelias from last week's post. BUT the sky did not present us with the beauty of the day when it snowed last week. . .we might get some more snow this week. . . we will see.  Poor flowers having to put up with our cold temperatures after such a warm stretch of weather . . . near 60.  I'll trade flowers for snow anytime!

Snow Teaser for Vancouver

 

Walking towards the Columbia River, snow starts to gather on a lawn. . . 

 

Snow gathers around plants near curb. . . 

Snow stopped after gathering on windshield of someone's car. . . 

 

View of snow around pond at WSU in Vancouver. . . 

Snow on the grass at WSU. . . 

 

 Trail through the snow at WSU. . .

Sign showing campus of Washington State University on one of the trails around the campus. . . 

We just had a dusting of snow and to me, it was a miracle since our winter in Vancouver has been snowless until today.  They hint that we have a chance for more snow showers throughout the night and then again, Saturday and Sunday.  I hope they are right!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Have a wonderful day with those you love.

"Broken Moon" In the Sky

 

If you look at the left side, it looks like it was broken in half like a cookie. CLICK on to make it bigger.

Is Spring here already?

Out for a walk on Monday and I saw flowers blooming already!  It isn't any wonder . . . with winter passing us by this year and weather almost to 60 every day  for some time now.

Lecture at Museum. . .

 First, we had cookies and drinks at the reception while we were walking around looking at ancient photo posters of the building of the I-5 bridge.  That was followed by a lecture and slide show about its history.  Some are wanting to tear it down and build a very expensive bridge that would support more traffic going into Oregon from Washington , along with a separate layer of road bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists.  While it would be nice, the present plans are way too costly.  Tolls would help pay for it but people are not happy about them.  The present bridge had tolls for awhile until it was completely paid for.  I was going to add these photos to my art walk adventures from yesterday because both the cookies of the bridge and the history are related to art BUT decided to  do it separately,  The cookies were great and so was the history in photos and lecture.
(scuse the underline -- I can't get it off)

The many faces of ART. . .

This woven piece of art was this originally

 

THIS painting:

('scuse the glare)

What a difference!

The above is an example of what I saw last month at the Art Walk we have on First Friday.

This month . . . art was everywhere!

from this sunset happening before my eyes while I was walking to the Art Walk. . . 

to this glassware. . . 

to "Things My Mother Told Me" . . . 

(click on to enlarge and read the axioms)

. . . 

to paintings and black and white photos 

 Sometimes I go to the glass blowers -- this is from last month. . .BUT

Tonight was a special night . . . the artists' group known formerly as "6th Street Gallery" moved to a new location and they are now called Gallery 360 because they made a complete circle in location.  Even the cake was a work of art!

 

The artists of this new gallery are standing in front of the music stage/art classroom. . . Ron, third from left is the one that introduced, to our apartment building, the Friday Art Walks when they were still at 6th St. Gallery.

Finally, the cake was cut. . . 

Many  kinds of art and the artists represented here and just a sampling of their work.  First Friday Art Walk is always something to look forward to each month.