Early Spring at Shadbolt Centre

Today our family took advantage of the good weather, and strolled the picturesque grounds around the Shadbolt Centre in Burnaby BC. The trails lead down and around Deer Lake. Here is a view across Deer Lake, to some of the residential towers near Metrotown (click any image for a slightly larger view):

Everywhere there are signs of early spring, such as these bright yellow shoots of skunk cabbage:

The daffodils are now blooming:

As were some bedding plants, such as these pansies:

But what caught my attention today were the weird and spooky looking trees, such as this one, which looks like a bumpy monster screaming, and having a bad hair day:

This one was pretty interesting too:

But my favourite was this one, which looks like a very very contorted willow:

Here are a couple more images of this same tree:


Our kids' favourite spot is the climbing structure, seen here in the background:

It makes for some pretty nice shots of the kids, I think, with the beautiful blue sky behind, and their natural (at least more natural than usual) smiles. Here are my little monkeys: