Sky & Mountains

The first two photos are from Saturday night, in town, with the clouds and light on the mountains.

Last night my friend Audrey and I drove out to Vermillion Lakes - at the edge of town - and saw a pair of loons with one baby "loonlet" paddling behind.

We saw a spotted sandpiper on a tiny spot of sand at the water's edge. It made me homesick for Nova Scotia's shore and shorebirds.

We saw a teal-winged duck and mate. What I think was a blackpoll warbler - though I can never identify warblers.

Canada Geese were far out in the marsh.

We saw and heard redwing blackbirds.

We also heard the concert at the Banff Centre (miles away) that Charley was working . Xavier Rudd - an Australian musician who plays digeridoo.

So these photos show the setting where we saw the birds.

Santiago's Picnic on Canada Day

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Santiago wanted to go out for a picnic on Canada so she got her baseball cap, her ball and her 'chuckit' and took us to Gap Lake on the other side of Canmore. It was a perfect day, glorious sunshine, a glacial cold jade green coloured lake and Santi was jaunty in her cap. She was thrilled to jump in the water and swim for the ball, hide in the grass and look  like a bear, shake water all over everyone, and generally have a great time. She did not understand why the people just sat at the picnic table, ate food and talked. What kind of picnic is that?

A very relaxing one for the people and a true start to summer - finally.

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My Daily Commute to My Office

At the corner of Beaver and Moose Streets I head up the hill.

This is the view I have looking to my right at Mount Rundle. (photo 1)

There are a number of ways to get up the hill to work - this is the one taking the main roads, I also go by back lanes and paths. I will show some of those in a later blog in a phot essay of the way down the hill.

Then I go across Grizzly Street which is flat ( photo 2 & 3)

(photo 4) is looking down hill on Moose street where I just walked up

to Grizzly.

Then we come to two paths that diverge....always have to take the one ascending the hill (photo 5)

(photos 6 to 12) show what I see on the way - houses, views, and a few shots back down the hill I have just walked up. The houses are beautiful but there are also many that are nothing but wrecks. I might do a blog entry ont he underbelly of Banff and rental properties but that is not nearly so picturesque.

The final photos show the view - 
when I am almost at the Centre campus. Spectacular to see the Bourgeau Range off in the west.

Breathtaking way to start the morning.

The final photo is one ofthe main buildings where conferences and lectures can be held. And where workshops and meetings of the many programs take place.

Soon I post the descent photo tour.

First Day of Summer?

I thought this view  looked like Mount Everest. It is a foggy, rainy, chilly day here for the First Day of Summer. You would think we were in the Maritimes for heaven's sake.

This is believe it or not - a tiny hummingbird on the tip of the branch - freezing no doubt.

There are advantages to having a dog make you get up at 6:45 am.

A very early walk brings delights that compensate for leaving a warm bed.

Two pair of parenting Canada geese herding their brood of goslings into the water and away from Santiago and me. The baby geese do not have the gravitas or gravity of the grown geese and they pop along the top of the water like fluffy corks.

The nose of a creature creating a wake across a small tributary of the river just beyond the geese. Not the flat head of a beaver so perhaps a muskrat...only a nose and too far away to identify.

The only traffic is bird flight. A Belted Kingfisher - with its punk crown and its indescriable blue-gray colour. Ravens that croak so loudly they create echoes. A flycatcher or phoebe with a mini mohawked head. pine siskins, warblers, white throated sparrows...too many little birds that flit and dissapear before I can begin to figure out what they are. But the figuring out doesn't matter all that much. The songs are the gift and the flight paths across our path.

An elk with a  set of antlers with that covering that looks like velcro that he will shed as summer comes on.

That is snow you see on the mountains. Several mornins lately we have had snow but also lots of sun and then some rain. Mountain weather is like the Maritimes...very changeable.

Now home again with a warm cup of coffee and a sleeping dog. I think I will wake her up.

What an optimist! Balcony gardeningl

I spent a day planting window boxes and pots for the balcony.

This morning it is SNOWING.

What an optimist a gardener has to be in Canada.

This is a view - past the hanging basket - from our little table and chairs set on the balcony.