Saturday, October 12, 2013

details

The bride, the bridesmaids, the matron of honour, and the mother of the bride, all wore cowboy boots.
And the wedding wasn't even in Alberta!


 The flower-girl wore these.
 We walked through the beautiful woods to the site where the wedding was held. The bride came down a very long flight of stairs at the location of the wedding.
 Bridesmaids, matron-of-honour & flower girl. Sorry I didn't get the boots in this picture.
                                                         Husband and wife

She danced all night and was adorable.

                                                       Jess's gown was exquisite - just as she is.
                                           Silly fun on the dance floor later that night with glow sticks.
                    James is SO handsome and this picture shows his sense of humour not his handsomeness.
                                           Justin - my youngest nephew.
          One of the few pictures of Charley not on a ladder hanging lights. He looks like a member of the Mafia. He is escorting Elena, the "droapkie" cook expert.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Preparations for a Wedding! Such fun.



Charley and Jennifer (family friend) learn to make "droapkie" (no idea how it is spelled but this is how it sounds) from Elena, (cousin of groom's mom) and expert at "droapkie" making. She is a surgeon - her other expertise - so you can be sure the results are superb. These confections are tubes of puff pastry filled with cream.



Minus the cream - the tubes of pastry are waiting.


The wedding was held in a frest about an hour and a half north-east of Toronto. Beautiful setting, the autumn leaves golden and luminous with sparks of red. This is the calvacade of cars heading to the reception centre to set up the room for the following day's wedding.


 The lovely room before the work is done
 Fearless Charley up the ladder hanging the paper lanterns.

 Lavender for the centreplace decorations on the table.
 Groomsman, Ryan - hatted - and two of my fabulous nephews, The Groom - James on the right, Mike, in the middle.
 My neice, Helen, of whom I always say "I want to be Helen when I grow up."
 Refreshments - Anderson style- always an abundance - as with the food, we always want to have enough! Rest assured we had enough and there were leftovers for return.
 Love is indeed sweet. I am so happy to have had such a long and wonderful visit with my family, and to attend the wedding of James and Jess.
My next post will have a few photos of the wedding in the forest.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Smoke and Jake

 Glorious golden sunshine and even more gorgeous geldings. These are the two horses I have been lucky enough to spend time with this fall. The grey is Smoke and the chestnut is Jake. I get to ride Jake.
The area where the horses are stabled is like a paradise hidden away from the tourist-staurated town. I had never seen the corrals before I stated riding Jake and it is such a wonderful place. Corrals - I think there may be 30 or so - are placed along two roads, in a big U-shape, and most house two horses. Many different breeds, an Icelandic horse, an Arabian, a Tennessee Walking Horse, and draughthorses, and everything in between, including a mule. Who knew this world existed just a few kilometres from my house. I am even deliriously happy shovelling the maure out of the corral and brushing the horses. Jake is calm and so good-natured. Smoke is too. You can see how tall Jake is in the picture with me barely showing above his shoulder.
The mountains make a glorious background.
The horses are all moved for the winter. So I hope to see Jake and Smoke once more before they head to pasture until next spring. I am so happy that Sylvie shared the boys with me this fall. 
















Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Spring at Vermillion Lakes






Pussywillows and birds arriving at Vermillion Lakes. Tonight we were thrilled to see a black-necked Stilt. Very long, red legs and a very long beak, this water bird is not a frequent visitor to Banff. It is wonderful to have the birds returning to Banff. A great Blue heron was also feeding at the lakes tonight. We are hoping to see the kestrels and the red-winged blackbirds soon. Amazing how the long, long winter feels swept away by a few feathers - bringing this beautiful visitors back to Banff.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

What was I thinking?

Yesterday, we went on another snow shoe adventure. A bit longer than I anticipated and I guess I can hike 12 km but snowshoeing 12 kilometres is a lot more work. It was 6 km UP a mountain and 6 km down. I have to say when we got to a sign that said we still had 2.7 km to go I thought oh-oh we are no where near finished. We still had to reach the top and then do all the 6 km to return. We met a couple cross-country skiing down.... when we were about 1/2 way up the trail we saw fresh prints on their ski-tracks. I was certain they were fresh wolf tracks (not coyote) and I looked in my Animal Tracks book and it looks as though they may well be wolf. The area we were in is well known as the home of the Bow Valley wolf pack. I was praying all day that we would see them....but whatever made the tracks stayed far away from us. We do carry bear spray as advised by Parks Canada (no bears but cougars and elk and moose can be deterred with the spray).
 
If anyone can confirm that this is a wolf print, I would be grateful. 
I love the chiaroscuro effect of light - the mountains often look like an etching or a charcoal sketch.
You can see the sign at the Inkpots holding me up when we finally reached the upper valley (I think it might be what is called a hanging valley....a high valley in the middle of several mountains). At this point all I could think of was 6km still ahead of me....
The Inkpots are a series of three ponds created by hot springs. This area is above Johnston Canyon - probably one of the biggest tourist spots in the Rockies - closed in the winter.
A photo of a saucy Whiskey Jack talking to us. 
Then a heart of ice on one of the ponds.
Finally the road home. I was in bed with heating pads by 7 pm and all is well today...though I am not going very far from the couch.