Pick up Sticks

It's hard not to ooh and aah as I ride back and forth to school these days.  Cherry blossoms line many of the bike path streets.  This tree by the Seaforth Armoury, just before the Burrard Bridge, is one of my favorites.  There was a house finch in it, singing up a storm today.  I had to stand right at the trunk, and look way up, before I finally located it.  My pictures were impossibly bad, so I'll let you imagine the bird, but here is my bike beside the tree.. 

...and one of a garland of blooms circling an offshoot of the trunk.
Along Pacific Street, I stopped to admire some magnolia blooms.  Again, the pictures were too poor to post, but I saw another person stopped at the neighboring tree, so I wasn't alone in my admiration of the hot pink blooms.  I continued on to Stanley Park, and just by the Parks Board Office, saw these tiny blue flowers.
Bluebells, I wonder?  Delicate little wild things.  I hope nobody mows the grass under them.
I crossed over the small street, to stand just beside the heronry.  Ocean haze and a boat peeked through these bushes.  The orange ones brought sun where there was none.  
A squirrel came towards me and climbed this tree.
It braced itself...
...leaned back, and grabbed this branch.  Maybe it was trying to imitate the herons, who were very busy working on their nests.
As I said, impossible light today, but I had to record these four herons, who have set up two nests that are practically touching.  Just above them is Stanley and Stella's nest.  The silhouettes appear sort of depressed, but in fact, the heronry was buzzing with activity. I think they were just taking a small break.
Here is Stanley and Stella's tree.  Their nest is all the way to the right, over the tiny version of the four shown above.
Today was the first time I saw a heron get a twig from the ground.  I had been wondering if they do that.  So far this season, I have only seen them fly to another tree, pull branches off, and return to their own tree.  This heron chose a pretty thick twig.  He and his mate had trouble working it in to their nest, and it finally dropped to the ground.  They didn't retrieve it, I guess they had erred in estimating the correct size for the job. 
I thought about lots of things today as I rode to work.  Finally, it was this quote that I saw on Anna's blog a day or two ago, that left the deepest impression:  'All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it!' - by Bob Newhart