Winter Solstice

New Year's Eve in Vancouver doesn't have the razzle-dazzle of larger cities like Sydney, London or New York - no public fireworks displays, no balloons. However, on the winter solstice we did have a small celebration in our neighbourhood. Locals gathered after dark to make paper lanterns and march through the streets, led by the wonderfully-named  Orkestar Slivovica, to the community centre.

Since the procession route was along an adjoining street, it was easy for us to join the parade. Michael used his phone to take a few rather blurry pictures, of which these are the best:

In the second photo, a keen observer can just make out the shape of the tuba with its halo of little coloured lights.

Winter Solstice

New Year's Eve in Vancouver doesn't have the razzle-dazzle of larger cities like Sydney, London or New York - no public fireworks displays, no balloons. However, on the winter solstice we did have a small celebration in our neighbourhood. Locals gathered after dark to make paper lanterns and march through the streets, led by the wonderfully-named  Orkestar Slivovica, to the community centre.
Since the procession route was along an adjoining street, it was easy for us to join the parade. Michael used his phone to take a few rather blurry pictures, of which these are the best:

In the second photo, a keen observer can just make out the shape of the tuba with its halo of little coloured lights.

Kitchen Door

It's taken a while to follow up the new front door with some images of the new kitchen door. This is partly because it arrived with frosted glass panels, which we hadn't asked for; and partly because of Christmas and New Year activities claiming my time.

The old door looked like this:

Not a bad door in many ways, but we wanted to bring more natural light into the kitchen.

The replacement was installed with the frosted glass,

... and we had to wait a few days for the clear glass to be retrofitted, but we finally got what we wanted.

We're very pleased with both the look of the door and the extra amount of light.

Kitchen Door

It's taken a while to follow up the new front door with some images of the new kitchen door. This is partly because it arrived with frosted glass panels, which we hadn't asked for; and partly because of Christmas and New Year activities claiming my time.
The old door looked like this:

Not a bad door in many ways, but we wanted to bring more natural light into the kitchen.
The replacement was installed with the frosted glass,

... and we had to wait a few days for the clear glass to be retrofitted, but we finally got what we wanted.

We're very pleased with both the look of the door and the extra amount of light.

The New Front Door

It's been a while since we've made any progress that affects the exterior of the house, but we finally have new front and back doors. The front door in particular was ugly, either with or without its aluminum screen - so ugly that it never got into any photos and I had trouble finding a "before" image. This is the best I could do, cropped from a larger image of the porch:

It was not a welcoming sight. The opening was not standard, which meant we couldn't go with a pre-hung door, but on the positive side it allowed us to design our own replacement. The drawback was waiting for it to be manufactured. Finally, it arrived last week, and I spent hours in the basement painting the exterior and clear-coating the interior. Yesterday, Randy the carpenter installed it, and this morning we attached our new letterbox beside it. (The old door had a mail slot.) So now it looks like this:

From the street, it complements the house.

From the inside, it completely changes what was a very dark hall into a much more pleasant space.

When I originally photographed the hall from the stairs, I had to open the door to get enough light.

                                                             Not now!

These last two photos also show the changes to the floor, walls, and the stair rail. We've had to replace the newel post, but found all but one of the original spindles intact under the sheathing. Needless to say, the stair treads are among the tasks still to do.

The New Front Door

It's been a while since we've made any progress that affects the exterior of the house, but we finally have new front and back doors. The front door in particular was ugly, either with or without its aluminum screen - so ugly that it never got into any photos and I had trouble finding a "before" image. This is the best I could do, cropped from a larger image of the porch:

It was not a welcoming sight. The opening was not standard, which meant we couldn't go with a pre-hung door, but on the positive side it allowed us to design our own replacement. The drawback was waiting for it to be manufactured. Finally, it arrived last week, and I spent hours in the basement painting the exterior and clear-coating the interior. Yesterday, Randy the carpenter installed it, and this morning we attached our new letterbox beside it. (The old door had a mail slot.) So now it looks like this:

From the street, it complements the house.

From the inside, it completely changes what was a very dark hall into a much more pleasant space.

When I originally photographed the hall from the stairs, I had to open the door to get enough light.

                                                             Not now!

These last two photos also show the changes to the floor, walls, and the stair rail. We've had to replace the newel post, but found all but one of the original spindles intact under the sheathing. Needless to say, the stair treads are among the tasks still to do.

Last gasp in the Garden

It has always been my aim to have a garden where interesting things are happening all year. Still, I didn't really expect to have so much colour when the garden is little more than just one year old.

Early in November, the shapely Corylopsis that came from the garden of old friends, Audrey and Robert, turned golden.

 

In front of it the flowers of Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Fire Dance' floated like tufts of bright pink chenille.

Across the way, the dying leaves of Hosta 'Krossa Regal' glowed a deeper gold beside 'Stormy Seas', my all-time favourite of the plum-coloured heucheras.

In the same area Cyclamen hederifolium has sprouted delicate little pink blooms on slender stems above its beautifully marbled leaves.

 

My two Scotch Briar roses are still in pots as we haven't yet prepared the ground for them, but their fall colour is stunning against the green of a clump of thyme.

Equally bright in the front garden is Enkianthus perulatus. It has grown considerably since I photographed it, newly planted, last year.

A close-up view shows the subtle variation in the leaves.

As a contrast we now have a Japanese maple in a large pot. The white string temporarily attached to a couple of branches is to persuade it to a more interesting shape.

Hydrangea 'Beni-gaku' continues to impress me with its deepening leaf colour.

And there are still a few flowers determined to keep opening, such as these rain-soaked, fragile blooms of rose 'Darlow's Enigma'

Note: By the middle of the month, all the leaves had fallen; only the cyclamen were undaunted by several days of cold, sleet and light snow.