{"id":1166,"date":"2021-10-27T17:39:39","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T00:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/?p=1166"},"modified":"2021-10-27T17:45:27","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T00:45:27","slug":"autumn-on-the-west-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/autumn-on-the-west-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Autumn on the West Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As you may know from a previous post<\/a>, we packed up the family in July and moved from the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains to settle in the foothills of the North Shore Mountain range–aka the greater Vancouver area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We expected many things to be different after moving from prairie country, and I personally have been most excited to welcome fall. The Alberta prairies are dry, and whether that contributes to the limited diversity of the boreal forest, I’m not sure. All I know is that autumn in Alberta is yellow due to the trembling aspen and poplar trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trembling aspen in the fall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However here in Vancouver, we have a wider variety of trees and a wider colour palette for fall. The variety of maple trees lend bright reds and oranges, and there are even sherbet coloured trees of which I have yet to learn the names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No idea what these trees are but they look like orange sherbet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To break it down, the colours on this side of the mountains are gorgeous!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daily walkies with Mochi take us through a rainbow of foliage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adventures to go grocery shopping or to visit stores offer up bright colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A burst of red on a residential street.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s just so “not Alberta” over here, from getting more daylight in the fall months to weeks of endless rain and mist. The sun is definitely a rarity on the west coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our existing family here warned us that fall and winter were wet and rainy, and we are experiencing that. The river is running high and swift in time for salmon spawning season. That’s our next “local” attraction to check out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A sign posted by a river where salmon spawn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And, I dunno… I still haven’t seen a bear, but I’m not too disappointed aboutthat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, fall means Halloween in Canada (our Thanksgiving is also in October, but is quickly trumped by all the ghosts and ghoulies). With Halloween right around the corner, that means a few things for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First off, next month is NaNoWriMo<\/a>. This will be my 11th year in a row participating… 11 years! In those years, I’ve published 3 novels<\/a> and have another 3 in the waiting room . This year I hope to add a book #4 to the waiting room by completing the first book in a fantasy series I’ve been actually planning and not pantsing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This aptly named bigleaf maple leaf is bigger than my head!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And secondly, while I’m pounding away at that 50,000 word goal, I’d like the 4th book in my Rose Cross Academy<\/a> series to be visiting with my editor to get polished up for self publishing early next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaaaand third-ly, if you’re a big epic fantasy nerd like me, you’ll know November 19th is when the first three episodes of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time<\/em><\/a> series comes out on Amazon Prime<\/a>. I’ve got my popcorn, my angreal, and my Black Ajah shawl all ready for the occasion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November will be busy, but it’s a good kind of busy. I’m also curious to see how the seasons play out on this side of the Rockies. By Halloween, Calgary would already have had snow falling for a couple weeks. Halloween costumes are typically worn over snow suits or multiple layers. This year in Vancouver, we’re expecting a balmy +13 (about 55F), just warm enough to keep the snow suits and thermals at bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New Westminster Quay in autumn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And thus the countdown begins. Four more days to go until November!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is anyone else participating in NaNoWriMo<\/a> this year? What are your plans for that month-long session of keyboard pounding? Good luck on all your endeavours and I hope to see you soon!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Rissa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you may know from a previous post, we packed up the family in July and moved from the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains to settle in the foothills of the North Shore Mountain range–aka the greater Vancouver area. We expected many things to be different after moving from prairie country, and I personally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[115,110,112],"tags":[114,113,8],"class_list":["post-1166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autumn","category-british-columbia","category-nanowrimo","tag-autumn","tag-nanowrimo","tag-updates","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6odz9-iO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":799,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/you-know-what-i-did-this-summer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1166,"position":0},"title":"You Know What I Did This Summer","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"October 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh no, it's nothing nefarious . . . unless you count not writing as nefarious. 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It's wonderful, it's magical. Nope, it's not Christmas (although it still looks like it outside). And it's not back to school either. It's not even Halloween (my favourite holiday). If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know what time of the year it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Winter"","block_context":{"text":"Winter","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/winter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/MostWonderfulTime.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1142,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/a-change-of-scenery-moving\/","url_meta":{"origin":1166,"position":5},"title":"A Change of Scenery – Moving","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"September 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I think we can mostly agree that COVID-19 has changed the landscape of the modern workplace. 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