The towhees are back, and ...

... Saturday morning the water in the birdbath was frozen. My begonias have finally wilted, the honeysuckle leaves have turned yellow, and I've brought the Christmas cactus indoors, almost ready to burst into bloom. Winter is upon us.

But now, with the rain a grey memory, the skies are deep blue and the sunshine warm. In the shade, it's a different matter.

We were running errands in New Westminster; mid-afternoon, along the old "Antique Row", I dawdled in the wasteland beside the railroad tracks, waiting for Laurie to make his purchases. Here, parking garages and blackberry-tangled fences filtered the sun, and the morning frost persisted:

Old railroad ties.

Iron bars. Rails, maybe?

Rotting plywood.

Nothing stops hawkweed!

Unidentified weedlet.

And, along the edge where the sun shines, it's still summer:

Common stork's bill, I think.

I poured hot water into the birds' bath to thaw it out. I forgot to empty it in the afternoon. It's now frozen into a 1 inch thick slab. My poor birds! (They do love their baths, even in icy weather.)