In all kinds of weather, sisters stick together...

My sister visited for several days last week and got a good demonstration of Vancouver weather. The first day it was dumping rain, the second it was overcast but windy, the third it snowed like a new ice age was blowing in, and on the day she left it was cold, crisp and stunningly sunny. Happily, she embraced each day for its distinctive meteorologic mood, welcoming the novel conditions. 

Day 1: Rain

Day 2: Overcast

Day 3: Snow

Day 4: Sunshine

less blur, more brrr

Well if the seasons seemed blurry before, I think its safe to say they are now reasonably well defined. The snow makes a pretty clear distinguishing point between fall and full winter. So does maintaining temperatures below freezing. Brrr. At least the snow came in time to supply a white Christmas:)

blurring seasons

Apparently it was autumn when I last posted some photos—and it seems to be quite clearly wintertime now.  The seasons have kind of run together a bit...not least owing to celebrating Thanksgiving for well over a month. October saw multiple Canadian Thanksgiving gatherings...some before the fact, some after. Then American Thanksgiving festivities, (including a visit to my family in the States) followed closely by an early Christmas potluck dinner with my church and a Christmas celebration with my college. Basically, its been Thanksgiving or Christmas since about a week after the semester started. And that was just a week after summer ended. 

Here is my impression—in photos—of the general trajectory.

The seasons have blurred together, and quite honestly that affect seems to have spread to my Greek verb tenses...it finals week, and I have a three hour Greek exam to sit tomorrow. Apparently what is missing from the above photos in piles of books! But by late Friday afternoon there will be a clear cut change of seasons: I will be done with exams and the Fall semester will officially be over. I'm looking forward to the couple weeks break (including a visit from my sister!) before school starts again in the new year...although truth be told, I  already have my Winter term syllabi and a heap of books vying for my attention. But they will have to wait...at least till after Christmas:)

Garibaldi Lake hike

I know that when you browse my posts it doesn't look like I spend all my time studying and working—but if I showed you what I actually did (think pages of Greek homework and books on epistemology) you wouldn't look at my blog. Ever. 

Today I went on a hike up between Squamish and Whistler, the Garibaldi Lake Trail. It would be amazing to do it in the summer, but alas, I was too busy—you guessed it—working and doing summer classes. Anyhow, the forecast said rain and 27–31ºF. But I had already committed...so I borrowed an insulated rain jacket and prayed for the best. Which is exactly what we got: the cold weather froze the precipitation and we ascended 900 meters via 9 kilometers of trail under a confetti storm of snow. And we weren't even cold because the hiking effort was keeping us warm! By the time we hiked another 9 kilometers out, the snow had recreated the forest as a winter wonderland, a perfect Narnia...quiet, and hardly stirred by a breeze....enchanting. 

The team—all classmates from my college. 

Elevensies with a view

Arriving at the lake—a serene winterscape.

By the time we'd hiked out and stopped for dinner at a local brewery, we'd been out of the city for over twelve hours! We decided it was high time we headed home from our epic outing. It was a really lovely day of fellowship, bonding, laughter, and gratitude for the beauty we experienced.

on the water

On Sunday, we drove out to Deep Cove—a cute (but rather too well touristed) little town a few minutes outside of the city. It sits in a snug little cove, occupied by a tidy marina and a kayak rental shop. Rather spontaneously, Jasmine decided we ought to go kayaking for a couple hours a last adventure together before she flew out the following morning. So thats how we ended up kayaking up the Indian Arm waterway for the later part of the afternoon:)

It was a lovely way to finish off our visit—even if my arms do still ache a little:)

Full speed pause

This weekend my dear Maui friend Jasmine came to town for the wedding of an old YWAM colleague of ours. It was lovely to catch up, have support for going to get my hair cut, and see old friends and coworkers at the wedding itself. Although it was a pause from my school work (I'd worked ahead to free up the couple days of the visit) it was none the less a full speed weekend. In fact, I am fairly exhausted from the early mornings and late nights, cramming everything we could into our couple days together. 

College retreat

At the start of every fall semester, Regent takes a weekend away—we leave town en masse to make space for us to connect, recalibrate, and gain shared vision as a community.  There was dormitory lodge accommodations but I stayed in a tent with a friend, using loaner sleeping bags (yes, plural) to insulate against the nighttime mountain chill. It was nice after a month of classes and homework to have two full days without a text book. 

With my housemate Marissa

With friends Heather and Jolene

With my friend Amy with whom I drove up to the retreat. I actually really enjoyed the drive—it was scenic and I enjoyed conversations with my fellow backseat passenger, Nicole:)

I haven't written lately, you say?

This is why.

prime real estate

Through rather unusual circumstances I ended up accompanying a friend to visit an apartment in a downtown high rise—I can't imagine a more prime location in the city center! One direction featured a view of the skyline, another an unimpeded prospect of Stanley Park,  and yet another the glistening inlet bounded by islands and distant mountains. Just thought I'd share this great view of the city—a rather different perspective than my everyday life here offers:)

From the roof, you could see a bit of everything!

the beach is back

The wildfire smoke had made the beach a rather smoggy and undesirable place the last couple weeks, so once the smoke cleared it was like rediscovering a lost love. For my dad's last day in town, we went to church, enjoyed lunch al fresco, and then went down to soak up the beauty of sun and sea. 

 The crazy tides were way out again (some previous posts discuss this phenomena) and dad got to experience the strangeness of walking far out into the channel.

I still can't get over the standing water, sand bars, shallows, reflections, and the general novelty of walking so far out from shore. 

We took a break from the beach for afternoon iced coffee and then for dinner at a rooftop pub, then strolled back down to the water for sunset...even with clouds rolling in, a burst of burning sun shot through on the horizon...as we sat there eating wild blackberries from the brambles along the beach. A fittingly sweet and glowing ending for my dad's week in Vancouver.

driving from sea to sky: Sea to Sky Gondola and Summit

When I pointed out the cable cars of the Sea to Sky Gondola from the highway and told my dad that was what we were going to be doing, he didn't seem as excited as I'd hoped. I think he said something along the lines of "no way." It was touch and go there for awhile, but he came around in time and up we went. Its a pretty cool ride. Even cooler because I remember hiking it and seeing how steep it is makes me incredibly impressed with myself all over again:) Dad survived the ride, and when we got to the suspension bridge up at the summit lodge, once again, he wasn't as excited as I hoped. I think he said something like "nope." But of course, after recuperating a minute from the gondola ride, went across just the same:) It was a great day on the summit, so we we hiked a scenic loop—basically a nature trail that leads between various lookout points and viewing platforms. 

It was great having such stunning vantage points to view the surrounding peaks, and Howe Sound below—it was a particularly scenic birthday. When all was done, said, and seen, my day finished with a glass of wine on the lodge's dining patio before we headed back to the city. 

Really grateful for such a rich and beauty filled day out with my dad:)