Homeless in Vancouver: Some deciduous fireworks off Yukon Street

Nearly every day for a week I’ve had the chance to enjoy a really vivid display being put on by three trees in a block of back alley, southeast of Yukon Street and 10th Avenue.

The effect is a bit like frozen explosions of colour.

Sadly, a still image doesn’t allow you to move around the scene in three dimensions and watch the changing interactions of  the intense yellows, fresh greens, and delicate pinks.

You really should try to see the real thing. Either visit the alley in question or take in the show the next time it comes to your town.

There are technical types out there (read: killjoys) who would say that I’m just mistaking noise for signal and that the only display intended is the one I can’t see in the ultraviolet spectrum, meant to impress foragers and pollinators such as bees and hummingbirds.

I prefer to believe that nature doesn’t waste effort and that such displays are like a Shrek movie: meant to be experienced and enjoyed on more than one level—by a bird or a bee or by you or by me.