Some blues on Monday

I'm posting to Smiling Sally's Blue Monday meme today.  If you are a fan of the colour blue and find that it turns up in your photographs, why don't you join in?  Thanks, Sally!

We first noticed some family members decorating this Jericho Park tree in 2010.  They told us they gathered each year to enjoy a picnic together and to decorate this little tree in memory of  a loved one whose favourite colour was blue.

Five years later, and it seems the beautiful memories are still vivid.

Yesterday, we attended a Jazz Vespers performance at St. Andrew's Wesley.  Urbana, a Vancouver band, gave a wonderfully upbeat performance, though I've chosen this sultry, bluesy number called "Star-Crossed Lovers" by Ellington/Strayhorn (that was one of my favourites yesterday) to share with you.  The saxophone solo after the piano intro might be better suited to relaxing on a Friday evening, but perhaps it will suit those of you looking for a thoughtfully mellow start to your week. 

I mentioned that we took Black Jack to see a vet last week, one who employs both traditional and holistic methods.  Not to worry.  Black Jack is getting a bit older (we think approaching the age of 10) but she is still happy and active.  We just wanted to see what we can do to keep her luxated patella knees and other joints as healthy as possible after a short-lived but disturbing incidence of pain a few weeks ago.  We are not presently considering surgery for her and the vet agreed with that decision.  She liked the present diet we feed her but suggested we choose a joint supplement (Flexadin or Dasuquin) and we will also begin adding a small quantity of salmon oil to her food.  I'm not sure which of the two supplements to choose.  We were given a sample of the Dasuquin and Black Jack seems happy to chew up the rather large tablets.  I think I notice improvement already in the way she moves, but since we only started the pills three days ago, that could very well be my imagination.  I'm always interested to see what those of you with "mature" pets have tried in the way of supplements, so feel free to comment.  But, to return to the subject of blue, we enjoyed this mural near the vet's office at the corner of Broadway and Kingsway.  

There's a little more information about it in a post I wrote in 2012  but for today, I'll just let you soak in a part of it (would have needed the smaller lens to include all of it).

We arrived way early (my mistake) for the appointment so we went for quite a long walk around the neighbourhood.  This steeple really caught our attention.

What an interesting building!  Bill checked it out and we learned that it was a church at one time but has now been adapted to residential use.  It is a heritage building..

and so has a lovely blue sign on its walls.  :)

Vancouver skies have been very blue lately.  Our walk had us looking up quite frequently to admire them.  Two seagulls on a roof conversed for a while, until the one on the right flew.. 

away and the other prepared to follow.

We looked down quite a bit as well.  This cat was sitting in a window at street level.

S/he kept a close eye on Black Jack as we walked by.  Black Jack completely missed..

seeing the cat, much to our amazement.  Perhaps, this is pale grey rather than blue, but.. 

this watercolour will make up for that.  

It was just a couple of windows down the street from the cat's residence.

I posted the rest of the photos this morning without further commentary, since I was rushing to a piano lesson, but will edit to add a little bit of description this evening..

  
Bike Ride to Granville Island

Blue flowers (Maybe "Glory of Snow" flowers?) by the side of the bike path.

Forget-me-nots.

Could this be Gunnera plant (sometimes called Dinosaur)?  Loved the decay patterns and reflections from some unidentifiable structure by the pond. 

Can't identify these either..

but found them beautiful..

and the birds loved them.

Lots of them fell in the pond.

Reflections,

reflections, with the mystery pods,

more reflections,

and still more reflections.

There was a flurry of activity as this lady fed the pigeons and ducks.

Here's the zoomed out view.  Same lady.  Wonderful blues, reds and yellows reflected.

No attempt to identify these.

We left the pond and walked along the docks by the marina.  Yet another reflection shot.

Saw these through the window of a boat.

Otters and other critters frequent these docks.  Black Jack was on a mission.  I was only able to catch half of Bill with her, 

or half of her with Bill.  She was on a mission! 

A fishing trawler on the other side of False Creek looked ready for action.

Came back to look through the boat's window again and found the organization of items fascinating.

A peak at the marina and yes, another reflection shot.

Black Jack was whimpering almost to the point of hysteria.  She knew, as in absolutely knew, critters were under the canoes on the dock, but as much as we searched, we never saw them.  Bill did his best to calm her, but my oh my, her nose does take her places.

Olympic Spirit Park Outing

Towhee against blue sky.

I can't remember what made these colourful reflections in the water, but adding definition to the photograph really made the stripes stand out.   

Bald eagle high in the sky.

This fellow came high, riding a good six feet higher than everyone around.  He jumped..

to the ground for a moment and then took a running start..

to get back on the bike.

Not in my wildest dreams could I see myself..

riding a bike like that, but I did envy him his view :)

Jazz Vespers Concert

I took a few photos at the jazz concert.  Urbana was, I thought, in top form.  Notice the blue mutes in the trombones :)

Black Jack is hard to see, but she is sitting on Bill's knee.  Actually, she's staring pointedly in the direction of his pocket, hoping for a treat :)

The last picture is of some blue patterns in the cement of a building near St. Andrew's Wesley where we heard the concert.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Some of you will already be into your Tuesday, (it's 10:34 p.m. here in Vancouver) but I hope you had a happy Blue Monday!