Walking in a winter wonderland

blue winter

 Elli is thinking, "When is my next walk? Where is my next cookie?"

 Walking on the road in the Banff Springs Golf Course....we also ventured into the deep snow and Elli was thrilled to find all the bedding spots of a herd of elk...lots of sniffing (no elk thankfully).

 Banff Springs Hotel always looks like a fairy-tale castle

 One of my favourite birds, A Bohemian Waxwing...all puffed up for warmth.

 Options

Golden Autumn, beautiful blue sky, and horses.

 Smoke - loooking for company-  in the corral. Most of the horses are gone to their winter pastures. Jake, the horse I rode - is already at the winter pasture and Smokr misses him. Elli and I still go out to the corrals on my days off. Since I "fell" and spent all of August in the apartment I try to spend as much time outside as I possibly can. The days have been glorious and golden.  My favourite two photos are the last two.

 I love the area where the corrals are - it is a world apart.

The paint in the corral is Spirit, and the paint being led by Carmen is called Ladybug. Elli likes the horses but s wisely wary around them too.

 Our darling Elli, basking in the sun. She loves being out at the corrals - she meets up with her friends, Zoya (part husky and part?) and Alexandra (a long-haired Jack Russell terrier). And, I meet up with my friends and we have coffee and treats and chats.

 Smoke, dappled by shadow, as he grazes. THis photo looks like a painting to me. This week all the horses will be gone from the corrals. But I think we will still meet out there for walks and talks.

I Love Clouds. I love thunder storms

Today a blue sky (rare these days) was obscured as a thunderstorm rushed into the valley. I love thunder and lightening, so I wasn't sad to have a short storm visit Banff.

 You would think it was November from the grey skies and big clouds....we have had a bit of sunshine and a day or two of warm weather...but far more grey than great. Except I love atmospheric skies of huge clouds. We even had snow on the mountains in the last week. But enough is enough, let's have summer.

Portraits of puppy dogs at the river

 The Bow River really is this colour of turquoise with the 'rock flour' (minerals) in the water as the spring melt begins. We have had lots of doggie adventures in the past few weeks. Our friend Zoya has been joining Elli and I on our days of walks and dog park visit. Yesterday we were all exhausted after more than 3 hours of walking and play. The forecast for the weekend is cold and rain/snow, so we were very lucky to have lovely days for our adventures.

 Was also bird-watching with my friend Audrey - and we were at the Warner Horse Stables and saw killdeer and cinnamon teal and our at Vermillion we saw mergansers and horn-billed grebes.

Yes, it snowed today and it is cold but ....look at this sky full of clouds. How beautiful.