This post is for Liza and Wilbur - Raven with Mount Rundle in the background Wind sweeping the snow off

my walk up and my walk at lunch

These first photos are from this morning's walk up to work.

The deer have begun to come back into town for the winter and the snow keeps coming every week now. One morning I saw a coyote eyeing a mother mule deer and her twin young deer, the coyote disappeared when it saw me.

When you see Santiago puppy dog on the road - the pictures from that photo on are of our walk at lunch time - Santi, her mummy and me. It was a lovely walk up Tunnel Mountain Road which is ALREADY closed for the winter - which is very nice for walking but rather shocking that it was closed even before Thanksgiving when the first snowstorm came. The views are spectacular on that walk.

Some of the photos, because of the light and shadow, look like etchings, particularly the 2nd last photo which is of Rundle Mountain.

I am still enthralled with the mountains....hope you don't tire of my many photos of mountains, deer and sky.

Fall

Himalayas?

Himalayas? No! Banff! October 3rd

My poor sunflower on the balcony has snow on its leaves.

The walk to work was with boots. I don't even mind the snow that much but I do mind having to put boots on this early.

Still is is very beautiful and surely it will be warm and sunny again before December and the real start of winter.

You can't complain to me about weather.

Snow on the Mountains

There is snow on the mountains this evening and a considerable amount of cloud.

It is quite cool through the nights and in the mornings - I have been wearing gloves to walk up

the hill to work for the past week. Where did our golden autumn go?

Charley saw an ad on TV the other day for the local grocery chain here - and it was showing a Thanksgiving dinner and it made him have a yearning for a pumpkin pie. So I made one & it was very good. Practicing for Thanksgiving I guess, though I think we hope to go to a hotel in town that is serving a big turkey dinner. I am so busy with work right now.

You can tell winter is coming because the deer have moved back down into town.

More soon. X

The Horseback Ride

The Ride began at 9:30 in the morning. The first pictures are of Jill getting the stirrups adjusted, views on the way up, Cameron Falls, and mule deer. The route was varied and included riding through pasture land, on roadways behind the houses in the town, but mostly going STRAIGHT UP hill - or should I say Mountains. The view from way up shows you how much elevation we gained on the way up. On the earlier posts I said (more than once) how

narrow the path, how rock-strewn the path, how close to the edge which was often a steep vertical drop. Man I am so brave on a horse and yet not able to get on a plane - go figure.

The horse I rode was named Zamboni and she took advantage of whatever greenery she could eat - she was stubborn and headstrong just like me. Jill's horse was nice and calm and named Skeena.

At the top at Bertha Falls we dismounted and rested a bit then headed down. Our guide was a young Australian woman whose grandfather had been a rancher in Alberta. She was an expert rider, calm and just a lovely guide...we were lucky to have her take us up those mountains.

The picture of Jill and I sitting on the horses in the corral is at the end of the ride and we are contemplating trying to dismount. My knees were locked from having to stand in the stirrups, leaning back for most of the descent. Jill was worried she couldn't lift her leg over the back of the horse to get off. We both thought our legs would give out under us when we landed...but we were fine and only a bit sore the next day. This was a fabulous adventure and I am thrilled we did it. The last picture is another trail guide riding a spirited Arabian heading on on the next ride and showing off. Glad we didn't have him as our guide.