January 2023
Take
advantage of those sunny days!
Walk on the Seawall
The winter is often dark
and rainy in Vancouver. We had a Sunday afternoon with a bit
less rain than normal and no one in my family wanted to go out for a
walk. I drove down to Stanley Park and started walking near
Saiwash Rock.
In the winter we can sometimes get huge flocks of sea birds around
Stanley Park. This is far south as these animals migrate in
the winter and they will fly North in early spring.
It wasn't long before it started raining again and I packed up my
camera.
Chinese New Years at UBC Botanical Garden
Chinese New years can span a few
weeks in Vancouver. This year, Chinese New Years happens to
land on Sunday January 22nd, but the UBC Botanical Garden had it's
new years activities the weekend before. There was some
confusion about ticketing (they were free, but limited) but we
eventually got into the garden and went for a walk.
The kids have traditional Chinese New Years jackets hanging in the
closet which they are slowly outgrowing. Today those jackets
got put to use so the kids treated this visit as their chance to be
models.
The UBC Botanical Garden
isn't a "bed of flowers" kind of garden. They have a trees and
plants representative of different parts of the world (especially
Asia) and some interesting collections of vines. While some of
these include flowering plans such as Rhododendrons, being the
middle of winter, there isn't much for flowers, but the light was
really quite nice.
Chinese New Years Parade
We have been to a lot of
Chinese New Years parades so we have some ideas where to sit to see
get a good view of everyone. (Hint - arrive an hour early and
the politicians mostly only stay for a few blocks). This year,
the kids had swimming class in the morning so we arrive after the
parade started and the kids had to struggle to find a place to see
the parade.
The Dancing Lions and Dragons get all of the attention, but there is
quite a bit more to parade beyond them.
One of my favorite parts is the God
of Wealth character. Some years there are more than one of
these guys, but he is definitely a crowd favorite.
Of course the lions are one of the stars of the show. Most of
the Lions have similar style heads, but often with wildly different
colours. There are perhaps half a dozen benevolent societies
in chinatown. New for this year was a person in a lion costume
- lots of points for innovating.
If the
lions are the prince of the parade, the dragon teams are the
kings. The dragons have a team of supporters - some are
slower, some are extremely energetic.
Granville Island Lanterns
For the last few years, Granville Island has hosted a small lantern
display. Since Granville Island is so close (and easy to park
at night), we decided to drop by.
We were the only people there, but the kids had a good time
looking at the Lanterns. Thanks Granville Island!
Tags: UBC Botanical Garden(6), Tang jacket(4), Vancouver Chinatown(4), parade(3), dragon(3), lantern(2)
People: Claira(7), Nara(6), Janet(2), Helen(2), John(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > January 2023
Last Modified Sunday, May 21st, 2023 at 23:21:12 Edit
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