Through My Lens: Vancouver in February

I feel a bit cruel posting this photo, but, well, it does reflect the reality of what it’s like to live in Vancouver.

Vancouver in February = crocuses.

I feel cruel because my friends in Halifax and Boston are struggling to keep up with all the snow shovelling and my friends in Toronto and New York are facing endless days of sub-Arctic temperatures ― all while Vancouver is experiencing a non-winter.

And now, on top of all that, we get an early spring.

I saw daffodils in bloom in Stanley Park on New Year’s Day. The snow drops made their first appearance about ten days later. The crocuses have been up for weeks, and I saw the first cherry blossoms on February 11 ― about two weeks earlier than most years ― and they’re now in full bloom. Last weekend I even saw a flowering rhododendron.

And all this past week I’ve noticed the magnolia trees are starting to blossom. I have never seen magnolia flowers appear so early ― the trees typically bloom in April.

It doesn’t seem fair, given the winter the rest of the continent is having (and it definitely doesn’t seem Canadian).

But, hey, whoever said life is fair?

Someone has to live in Vancouver. Might as well be me.