Tag Archives: fall

Fall appreciation

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Fall in Vancouver is usually defined by rain. Pouring, ever present rain with a gloomy sky, often unable to see where exactly the sun is. You can sometimes go days without seeing the sun for more than 10 minutes. Not this year.

This year we’ve had a glorious fall. We’ve had beautiful sunny days, and more often than not, even when rain has been forecasted it has not been as much or for as long as expected. The extra sunlight has warmed my soul, and so have the fall colours.

Usually by now there is hardly a leaf on the deciduous trees, but the number of trees that still have vibrant reds, yellows, oranges, and pinks is surprising. Any time that we still have fall colours lasting almost two weeks into November, it’s worth mentioning!

Winter is on its way, the leaves will fall, the rain will come… this is inevitable. Still, it feels wonderful to have this unusual bout of pleasant fall weather, and beautiful fall colours, for a little longer than we normally do.

Fall colours

A friend commented that this year fall seems to have lasted a lot longer than usual. Specifically, the autumn leaves stayed on the trees much longer, and the colours seem more vibrant.

Here’s a photo he took on a walk in Port Moody yesterday.

And a photo I took on a walk in Nanaimo this afternoon.

One of the only things I really miss about living in Ontario is the fall colours. Late October and early November are a special kind of beautiful in a place where deciduous trees transition from a summer lush of green to a rainbow of yellows, oranges, and reds… all ranging from vibrant and glowing to dull and faded.

Here in BC, the transition usually happens very quickly, and a windstorm or two will shed and blow the colours off of the trees in a rush to welcome winter.

Not this year.

This year we’ve had a full season of fall colours and it has been spectacular.

Fall colours

I just came back from a walk with my daughter. We passed this tree and I had to stop and take a photo:

Growing up in the Caribbean, I have to say that the explosion of fall colours was as captivating as experiencing snow for the first time. We moved to Toronto (North York) and the main highway downtown is the Don Valley Parkway, which follows the Don River lowlands and is surrounded by trees. This time of year the drive is breathtaking.

Seeing this tree brought back memories of seeing fall leaves for the first time and thinking that there was no way these colours were from real trees. It’s amazing that so many vibrant colours can stem from the death of leaves. Fall is here, enjoy the weather, and beautiful scenery, because winter is coming.