Revisit

Another trip to Squint Lake yesterday, and the lake part still eludes me as does the squinting so far. Maybe when the sun comes out and I need my sunglasses and forget them - then I shall squint. Oh, I had to google after that flight of fancy and discovered this.

In 1910 when the Vancouver real-estate firm of Ross and Shaw tried to sell their new subdivision on the mountain they printed ads in the Vancouver Daily province which announced: "Adjoining this desirable property is the beautiful Quinte Lake, where it is proposed to erect a tourist hotel." Apparently local residents thought the name was hilarious and much to grandiose a description for a beaver pond. Instead Lochdale residents joked that "...you had to squint to see it" and the name Squint Lake stuck.

I have included the link as it has some interesting information and more pictures of the park and lake.

OK after some hard blinking at my chain of thought to bring me back to reality let's get back to our walk. The music was lacking when I arrived but there was a greeter welcoming me, or regimenting me not quite sure which, he might even have been oblivious to my presence, Etta was certainly oblivious to his.

Duck ensuring all is in order in the car park at Squint Lake Park

I was cropping the green box out of this pic, but then I saw another utilities box in a later one so I left it so you can see the wonders of living in Canada. I forgot to mention that we live kinda on the foot of Burnaby Mountain and this next shot is of the mountain shrouded in cloud. I love the layers of trees and the scarf-like wrapping of the mist.

Looking up towards Burnaby Mountain from Squint Lake Park

You need to remember that between those layers of trees are houses, and quite a few houses actually, it would be interesting to see an aerial shot of the landscape. That very tall conifer seems to be competing with the floodlight, I suspect the tree will win in the end :)

So, we were off on the usual trek, I passed the tai-chiers, not sure if I was earlier or they were later but the music started and we stood on the far side of the softball (I stand corrected re that sport) pitch and watched the pair moving, was very relaxing but I respected their privacy as I snapped them yesterday.

I felt the tunnel was greener than yesterday so I took a fresh picture.

Trail at Squint Lake Park beside Burnaby Mountain Golf Course.

But as I compared the two I realised I was actually further along the path, the tree trunk on my left was much further away when I took the picture on Wednesday, so actually the bloom is probably around the same it is just that I am closer. The spray of light green you can see overhanging from the left - kinda central to the pic, is more of the white flowers, they are so delicate that they seem to reflect the green from the leaves that nested them.

However.

Looking to Burnaby Mountain Golf Course from Squint Lake Park across flowering trees

There is some more colour coming into the trees, here is the lightest touch of quite a glorious pink.

Looking to Burnaby Mountain Golf Course from Squint Lake Park across flowering trees

And here you can see even more, I am sure that soon the branches will be vibrant with these lovely little flowers, ready for the bees and other insects. I heard on the radio that the city of Vancouver is looking into making the city more bee friendly. Apparently there are already places planted with trails of plants to attract and feed bees and other pollen and nectar seekers, but they are considering further action such as bee hives and other things (I forgot what they were *blush*). Great idea, I know the garden centre I visited when we lived in North Van sold bees for gardeners to help strengthen the population.

I am sure this little bird would like there to be more bees and insects around.

Silhouetted

This is a robin, now for all my friends in the UK and Europe who are used to robins the size of sparrows, the robins here are very different. They have the requisite red breast but are more the size of a thrush. In fact as I typed that I felt the urge to google my facts and the american robin is a part of the same family as a thrush and not related at all to the European bird. They merely share a red breast and a name. I will try and get  better picture myself but when I have the dog she and birds don't mix very well at close quarters.

As it had only been a day and we were in the same place I didn't take many pictures, so just a little more to show you. Perhaps you remember the first blog and the plant I promised to keep you up to date with.

Well they are everywhere and this one is not the same one so I apologise for my failure. But on another note you can see more clearly the inside. I think it is going to be a lily like flower, it reminds me of some beautiful peace lilies we had in the garden of our last house. I will keep track of them and post developments because, as I said, they really are everywhere. Is going to be exquisite if they live up to my expectations. My expectations are dashed, a little research tells me these are skunk cabbages so-called cos of the skunk like smell that have. As if we don't have enough from actual skunks and pot-heads!

The last two shots from the walk are of some crows. I won't say sorry for my play on words although I think in this case a conspiracy of crows is better than a murder.

Softball pitch being taken over by crows at Squint Lake Park

They are trying to look inconspicuous but really, what sort of worms are they pecking on the sandy diamond? However, look behind them, can you see a patterned green rectangle? right in the centre behind the fence? That is a utility box, many of them are decorated like that, almost camouflaged around the streets of Burnaby and Vancouver. Why? I don't know for sure, but imho they look so much more cheerful and just better than dull grey or green. Kudos to the councils!

Lookout at Squint Lake Park?

Back to the crows, this chappie was on watch from what I saw, keeping a close eye on the tai-chi couple who were further to his right and also on me. Hope he got a worm or two from the heist.

As I arrived at the park I noticed, for the first time, a welcome sign and also a bed of what I think are daffodils. On the way out I took this picture, at great risk I might add as I was in the car driving and at a stop sign - you can see the blur of steering wheel in the bottom right corner. Luckily the road is very quiet on all sides.

Entry to Squint Lake Park and Burnaby Mountain Gold Course

There was a work crew on the opposite side of the junction, they must have wondered what i was doing, and you can see the guy in the top left looking over too. But that bed is going to be glorious and I shall risk life and limb to bring you the pictures.

These pictures were all from yesterday and I am just going to run to the front door and take a picture of the cherry blossom to see how it is doing. Hang on brb.

Cherry Blossom Trees in Burnaby

Not much change since Wednesday, but they are sneaky things and will blossom almost in the blink of an eye. I have noticed trees further up the road already out, and there's a magnolia I have to catch also. I'll try and bring those along to my next instalment.

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading xx