Random Shots of Vancouver

A brief sojourn in Vancouver, B.C., for Thanksgiving resulted in just a few photos of things that caught my eye.

First, the best among several clever candy bars in a display:


(That's the Last Supper Bar just below it.)

The Granville Island area is a big tourist attraction with artisans and a big public market, but this sign from its previous life as a working part of the city was perhaps the most interesting thing there:


Inside the marketplace, there were these nifty gourds:


I understand that Vancouver's population is roughly divisible into one-third Chinese, one-third Indian (from the subcontinent), and one-third European. This poster -- mimicking the look of old monster movie promos -- caught my eye because the terrified woman is Asian:


Since the early 1980s, I've been wishing for retro artwork that reflects the diversity of modern life, so I'm always happy when I see an example of it.

Finally, a bit of greenery. Vancouver is rainy, as you may have heard. When we were there, it was not only rainy but dreary, with the clouds sitting so low you couldn't see any of the scenic mountains that surround it (or so they tell me... I couldn't see them, so maybe they don't exist!). But its climate is advantageous to certain kinds of plants we can't grow in Minnesota, so it has its advantages.


This is a monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), which is clearly an evergreen but not a conifer. It's an ancient species, sometimes referred to as a living fossil, from South America, particularly Chile. Those aren't needles -- each branchlet is more like an Echeveria or Sedum, only very sharp. I didn't know what it was without asking, since the only ones I've seen in person were tiny seedlings. This one was about 40 feet tall.