Oranges and Critters

Lots of ducks, a hummingbird, a couple of blurry shots of a Golden-crowned Kinglet (I think), one happy dog in the park and our dear Black Jack to share with Eileen's critter meme, Anni's I'd Rather Be Birdin', Misty Dawn's Camera Critters and Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday this week.Many thanks, Eileen, Anni, Misty and Stewart!  There is orange in almost every photo, some of it more subtle and some of it quite distinct, so I'm going to contribute as well to Orange You Glad It's Friday, with many thanks to Maria, though of course, it's Sunday, and to be honest, I'm happy it's every day, any day :)

This pond near Vancouver's Cambie Bridge was bathed in orangey tones last week. 

 

As many times as we have enjoyed that pond, we had never walked around to the other side of it. It was a complete surprise to discover this little waterfall and I think the dog with the orange ball was as happy as we were to find such a wonderful play area.

Follow me.  The water's fine!

Mirror, mirror in the pond.  What a handsome dude you've found!

But I've got places to see and tricks to play!

See this ball?  It could be yours.

Come and get it!

Ha-Ha!  Fooled Ya!

Okay, here we go again.  Isn't this fun?  Just follow me!

After some fun watching the dog, we headed back to our usual side of the pond.  On the way, I caught some orangey reflections via some decaying leaves from last Autumn.

We saw this Anna's hummingbird a few days later.  It has been frequenting a pond near Coal Harbour and really should have gone into yesterday's letter "B" post.  Do you see why?

On the other side of the bike path, Black Jack inspected a log..

and I caught a few more orangey reflections..

in Coal Harbour.

Back again to the pond side of the path, we watched this mallard.  He was inspecting..

the decaying leaves of an elephant plant,

wondering perhaps if they would make a good nest.

I could barely take my eyes off his..

huge, and very bright, orange feet.

This is a sort of a random shot, thrown in just because I like the way the oranges blend with the blues, greens and purples of a mosaic floor under the water of a fountain by Vancouver's art gallery.

The Pineapple Express brought two days of relentless rain to Vancouver and it wasn't the best for cycling :) so Bill and I walked in the afternoons.  On Friday, we made it as far as Canada Place, where we sat inside with Black Jack for a few minutes, looking out the window at the lights of the Lions Gate Bridge twinkling through the mist.  The floating Chevron Station services the sea planes but doesn't do a lot for the view :)

We sat in the hallway outside a café and felt rather privileged that no one seemed to object to Black Jack's presence.  We checked out the oranges..

in the art on the walls.

I couldn't fit all of this one into the frame.  It brightened the hallway but I have to admit, a feeling that I occasionally experience of "I could have done that" occurred to me.

Above Bill and Black Jack, an opening into the café revealed a distinctly orange theme.

Past that dividing wall, is the café, with window looking over the drizzly harbour.

Not to be out-oranged, Black Jack was proud to be seen with her beautiful Bill, whose smile was at least as warm as his perfectly-themed shirt.

Rested up and dried out (somewhat), we were just heading out the door (with the café at Harrison Galleries as our destination, when a security fellow came by.  "That's a service dog, isn't it?" he said, nodding his head vigorously up and down to cue me to respond in the affirmative.  I smiled and nodded.  Now, that's the sort of security I appreciate :)  As we walked out, I noted both critters..

and oranges in the view.

I've taken that globe many times, but here it is..

from a different perspective, and with oranges featured.

We continued past a fancy hotel where two different doormen offered Black Jack treats.  She, of course, said, "No thanks!"  (just kidding!!)  Then we stopped to look at the Port of..

Vancouver Cranes that we seem to view from every single one of our haunts.  This art representation of them remains my favorite.  (I've shown it here at least twice but it's always worth a look.) A sea plane..

flew by.  You can still see it in this photo, almost obscured.  I liked the lights of the North Shore and thought of the crews on the ships, as I always do when we look over the harbor.

I loaded my photos a bit haphazardly for this post, so we are now moving back a few days in time.  This is back by the pond near the Cambie Bridge.  It wasn't particularly sunny, but..

my camera seemed to do an extra fine job of capturing the water and duck details.

This was another occasion when orange feet and orange bills..

were lovely accents against beautiful feather markings.

That day, Bill and Black Jack were very active, zipping through this "rustic" tunnel, and..

giving me a new perspective as I took this (overexposed) shot through one of its openings.

Bill caught sight of this Golden-crowned Kinglet (I think), and I came tantalizingly close to catching a decent shot of it.  Just a little too slow on the draw!  I'm hoping there will still be some around so I can try again soon.

There's the full picture of that tunnel.  Does that count as orange?

And what about this tree?  You can see it as Bill and Black Jack walked through the..

tunnel, but I came back to zoom in on some of its features.  I thought it looked like a person standing with crossed legs, and also thought I should be able to identify it, but couldn't.  One thing for certain, there is some distinct orange shading in its peeling bark.

This American Wigeon came up from the water and stood so close to us for what seemed like ages.  Perhaps, he hoped we had treats, but I'm afraid we disappointed him.

Once more, Bill spotted what I think was a Kinglet, but once more, I was too slow to catch a clear shot.  Next time :)  Many thanks to the hosts of the memes I've joined.  And, many thanks to you for stopping by.  Have a wonderful Sunday!