Christmas Day Bird Nest

I spotted this bird nest on Christmas Day during a walk around Three Mile Bend park in Red Deer Alberta.
Here are Jet and Ted in front of it, showing how small it is!

My Dogs at Gull Lake

I usually try to post my other stuff here, but I really like this photo of Ted and Jet taken at Birch Bay, Gull Lake, November 21.

Walking on Water

A flock of geese landed on the pond near the office where I work. They walked around on the ice for about 20 minutes, then headed off after a little rest

Bulrushes

Bulrushes in a marsh near the Red Deer River, at Three Mile Bend dog park, taken November 8

World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions

Is it time yet? Two Lipizzaner Stallions peek out at the crowd.

I saw the Lipizzaners perform tonight with my friend Nancy. The show was at the Westerner in Red Deer.

There are more photos on http://spriritdancedogs.blogspot.com/ This is my favourite...
What beautiful, noble animals. I love Arabians, and can see them in some of these horses, especially in the big, shaded, expressive eyes.

Black-Crowned Night Heron Rookery near Airdrie

On my way home from Banff I spotted a bird on a fencepost and backed up to take a photo. It flew across this little pond and alerted me to a rookery on the rocks right near the road!Since I never get to use that word in normal everyday life, I have to add that I learned all about heron rookeries when I worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources in northwestern Ontario. These little guys looked hunched like tiny penguins. I looked them up when I got home and rather than being unique or critical, they are actually listed as of "LITTLE CONCERN" which I found funny. They are found all over the world and are very successful little herons. These ones lived beside highway 2, and you can see a new Airdrie subdivision in the background. However, no bird or animal should be taken for granted. Some day we may be criticized for not doing more to ensure they remain as successful and healthy as they apparently are today. Water protection is especially important for these birds who depend on it for food.

Rocky Mountain wildlife - Bighorn sheep and Black Bear

On my way home from BC, I was driving along towards Golden when I saw a bunch of people in a tiny parking lot off the highway...and this is why...These Bighorn Sheep are so used to people that they had no reason to move. I strategically faced them with my car, as I know my dogs would have barked if they had seen them, and that might have upset the animals (and made the tourists mad). About 30 minutes later, I saw a truck on the side of the road and so slowed down again - he was photographing this Black Bear on the railway tracks. I sidled along my car, and took this photo. He was closer than it looks and bears can move really fast. Mind you this one was licking salt, I believe.

Log boom on Shuswap Lake, Salmon Arm, BC

On my way to Vancouver last weekend, I stopped and took this photo of a log boom on Shuswap Lake, just on the outskirts of Salmon Arm BC. What a beautiful area! The shape of the hill in behind reminds me of Mt. McKay in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Except that Mt. McKay is usually photographed from the city-scape and not from the water. Here it is below, from the website http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_McKay_Thunder_Bay.JPG Boy, this photo below makes me homesick!

Alberta Skies on Canada Day

Fenceline at sunset, east of CalgaryLate afternoon on Canada Day, July 1, I could not stop taking pictures of the sky! It goes on forever here.

Black sky to the south above and below, a farm under a rainbow...Below, the sun lights up Calgary's downtown building on the horizon.
Sky looking west towards the mountains below...
Going north, the sky was clear! That was the way home.

My Herb Garden

I've always wanted to grow my own herbs so I put two hanging planters on my deck and filled them with sage, oregano, thyme, basil, marjoram, and a few pretty flowers as well. As you can see, the cross is still on my little renovated church.

Since I am new at it, I left the labels in, to make sure I was not accidentally eating daisies or lobelia.

Here is my first harvest. I am making a prime rib roast, using a recipe from Chef Michael Smith - Chef at Home on the Food Network (http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=1750) I just need to add a few potatoes and it is ready to go in the oven! Having my own fresh herbs somehow makes me feel proud, and I am sure this will be even more delicious knowing that I grew them.
In the front of the house, I have put tomato plants against the iron planters. Stay tuned for tomato photos (I hope!)

Prayer Ribbons

In Buddhism they write a word or phrase on a ribbon and tie it to a tree or shrine and let the winds carry the prayer into the skies. I Googled some photos of prayer ribbons in Tibet and Mongolia and liked the looks of them, plus I liked the idea. So I bought a bunch of ribbons, and ended up with a lot of words to symbolize my prayers for family, friends, my dogs, work and new friends. The Alberta winds picked it right up. Later I moved it to a tree, and most of the ribbons ended up being ripped off and flying into the sky. Good prayers I guess!

Sunday Morning Piraka

When I was growing up my Estonian Grandma Kahara made Piraka every Sunday. They are the Estonian version of a 'perogy' but are baked, not fried or boiled. She put meat and rice, or eggs in hers, and they were delicious.

I have never tried making Piraka before - in fact for most of my adult life I did not even follow my own family's traditions. I am making up for lost time now that I have moved and am on my own! May 3 is my Mom's birthday, so I am remembering her with traditional family food.

I had to take photos to commemorate the moment. My new tablecloth has beautiful spring colours and reminds me of something my Grandma would have loved. I think putting that tablecloth on the table made me think of her cooking. And the Piraka are in my mother's pink bowl. Funny how family traditions stay with you even over a big move and over time.

They turned out great and seeing my hands covered with flour made me think of my Grandma and I felt close to my Mom and Grandma as I baked - first time baker but it must be in the blood. I am sharing these with friends in Calgary later this afternoon.

Common Highway scenes

En route to Schutzhund practice in Calgary last Sunday I saw some flaring on the horizon. As I got closer I realized it was at the sour gas plant in Crossfield. Flaring is the way they get rid of waste gas. The H2S gas is that stuff that smells like rotten eggs. It is the same smell you encounter at hot springs although in extremely high concentrations it can make you pass out of cause death (as with any gas it is toxic). Being new to Alberta, I am learning all these things and getting used to seeing flaring stacks on the horizon and at night - and not worrying it is a fire all the time!

Prairie Grain Bins and Thunder Bay Grain Elevators

Everywhere I drive, I see grain bins, old and new, big and small - used for storing bushels of grain for livestock. Above are three grain bins, and below are storage silos and a grain elevator I drove by in Saskatchewan last summer (my photos.) To learn of the importance of these structures in Canadian history, this is an interersting article: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Grain_elevator

I find these fascinating because Thunder Bay Ontario where I grew up was the terminal for wheat from out west, where trains would pour the grain into ships, or to store in elevators. My grandfather was a Federal Grain Inspector, and very proud of his job. He even appears in an old B&W National Film Board film about the grain elevators, inspecting grain "in his suit!" (I guess he dressed up for the occasion.

The elevators in Thunder Bay have been torn down or are sitting dormant now - a goverment decision that really affected employment as the majority of grain was redirected to Hudson Bay. For a picture of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in Thunder Bay, at the head of Lake Superior, you can actually check Wikipedia here! - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_elevator. This article shows a pictures of Sask Wheat Pool No. 7 which was the longest grain elevator in the world when it was built in Thunder Bay.

The photo above was taken by Gary Rich and is from a great website gallery of grain elevator photos - http://www.grainelevators.ca/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3700 This photo is of Sask Pool (8 or 4?) in Thunder Bay, with one of the lakers beside it. This time of year the lakers started showing up on a regular basis to load up. I suppose that is why it is on my mind as I sit here in Alberta seeing the grain from the other end. I grew up always within view of the lake, boats and elevators. I miss them.

These YouTube links show the demolition of Thunder Bay Pool Six which was demolished in 2000. I was there that day. It was very sad personally as it marked the end of an era and I thought of my grandfather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnbdd0OqyYU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPVF5Od8mIE

Some people are converting grain bins into beautiful homes - I know it is hard t believe - check out these links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/realestate/14nati.html?pagewanted=2&fta=y

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Hands-On-How-To/Grain-Bin-Building.aspx

Mountains on the Horizon

What a strange sensation to fly west from Ontario and call the Mountains home. I was sitting beside a young fellow from Parry Sound who had never been on a plane before. He was heading to Grande Prairie for a job, like so many other people coming to Alberta. I pointed out the mountains to him. He had never seen the Rockies before and he was blown away. I feel that way every time I see them! So I snapped this quick picture of our plane's descent into Calgary. The first time I have flown "home" to Alberta.

Lion Dog in Toronto Chinatown

I just got home from a week in Toronto where I attended a conference at the Metro Convention Centre. On Sunday night we ate at Libretto Pizza on Ossington which was featured on the TV Show Steve and Chris. What a fantastic 'real' Italian pizza joint! We decided to walk through Chinatown and all the way down Dundas back to our hotel. On the way, I couldn't resist a picture of this Lion Dog just sitting outside of a restaurant along the way. It looks so unassuming, plunked there beside the stairs. Chinatown Toronto is a very interesting place with a unique blend of sights, sounds and smells.

The Cowboy Trail - Alberta Highway 22

I took Highway 22 home from Cranbrook last weekend. This is a view of the landscape from in my car. I was following a transport. If not for him, I would have felt alone and little overwhelmed. This is the area in Alberta where they film a lot of Hollywood Westerns including Brad Pitt's Jessie James movie a few years ago, as well as Brokeback Mountain. This area gives you a good feel for the kinds of wild open spaces that Alberta and west are known for, compared with the more urban areas I live in, along Highway 2., the major north-south corridor.

Here is a hardy herd of ranchland cattle taken carefully as I flew by in my car. I am very sorry that I didn't get a photo of a group of elk. I thought of turning around, but was trying to beat home a winter snow advisory and drive as much as possible in the light. I would not want to break down along here! Very few cars and such an imposing landscape. Also, home to Grizzly Bears and Cougars. Enough to make this 'northern Ontario' girl feel humbled.

The ranchland along this route, also called The Cowboy Trail, is just east of the mountains. These are huge properties with the occasional fence marking the end of one ranch and beginning of the next. The famous, historic Bar U Ranch is along this highway. I also passed through a little town with all historic-fronted buildings, and a bar that is apparently owned by Ian Tyson, Canada's famous country singer. I turned onto this highway after going through the Crowsnest Pass, and turned off at Black Diamond, driving from there through Okotoks to Calgary.

Here is a link to the Bar U Ranch on the Cowboy Trail Web site - for more information on this beautiful highway - http://www.thecowboytrail.com/baru.html These photos were taken around 6 PM on a very threatening winter afternoon on Sunday, March 22.

Avalanche Snow in the Rockies

Yesterday in the news there were two avalanches in BC, and people died in them while snowmobiling on the mountain snows. One avalanche was in Kimberley, 30 km from where I was last weekend. I am very sorry for the deaths. When I drive through the mountains I feel both awe and a bit of fear. The mountains a beautiful but so daunting. While driving I noticed the amount of snow piled between mountain ridges. I have cropped this photo to show how much is piled up between the steeples of each mountaintop. That is a lot of snow. At this time of year I am sure it is very unstable although it seems as if there have been a lot of avalanches all winter.

This is a photo of the organizer of the workshop I gave last weekend. She is waiting for her turn with her dog. I took this photo because I wanted to capture the beautiful mountains that surround Cranbrook BC. I told the workshop participants that I just can't get tired of looking at mountains! They said that they have grown up in the mountains, but they don't get tired of their beauty either.

Check this link for a story about the Avalanche near Cranbrook BC and a great close-up photo of the snow slide on the side of the mountain. The story says 22 people have died in avalanches in BC this winter...

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/avalanche+survivor+lauded+efforts+find+friends/1431748/story.html

Rocky Mountain Moose

When you grow up in Northwestern Ontario you develop an "eye" for moose on the side of the road. They are such big animals and hitting one could be, and often is, fatal. So on my way to Cranbrook last week, I was driving along through the mountains and suddenly my sub-conscious went to work for me and said "Moose!" If you were whizzing past this mountain (above) would you have seen them? I pulled over for a photo. A few other cars pulled in behind me!
Here they are (using my great zoom) below. Looks like a cow in behind a bull with no rack yet. You can see the size of his hump (shoulders) and he also has a "bell" hanging under his chin. Many years of working with biologists with the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario taught me a lot about these beautiful animals. In Ontario they could be threatened by climate change decades from now, as they are so big-bodied and can't cope with warm weather - they love to hang out in water, like these ones below.

Alberta Buffalo

On my way to Cranbrook last Friday, I drove past Olds Alberta and spotted a herd of Buffalo (or Bison) fenced in on a huge field. I stopped to take some photos, walking towards the fence. This big guy looked over and it hit me - he is HUGE! I didn't walk right up to the fence, because it suddenly looked very flimsy, if he decided to charge. Jet and Ted my Border Collies were barking in the car. I don't think they would get far herding this "big brown sheep."

Here is another view of the herd of buffalo. Amazing to think the Prairies were once covered with so many that it took a day for a whole herd to go by. What a majestic and prehistoric-looking animal. Restaurants in this area offer Bison Burgers and "Beefalo" which is a cross. I gather the meat is leaner than Beef but quite good - have not tried it yet.

You can see that the big boy is further away than it appears in my photo above - I used my zoom lens.

Rocky Mountain lake and flowers

I am going to Cranbrook BC this weekend. The last time I was there, was coming home from Coeur D'Alene Idaho in 2006. Along the highway in the Rockies I stopped and took a few photos near Fernie BC. This is a close up of some flowers beside a very cold mountain lake (below). There will be snow on this trip since it is March, and I will try to get some nice nature shots alng the drive.

Winter Moon in Nanton

This was taken at Winning Strides Equestrian Centre in Nanton, just south of Calgary. We practiced herding all day in their indoor arena. When I was leaving, a full moon was rising, and this horse was watching me load up the dogs.

Historic Church, Pine Lake Alberta

Last fall I drove through Pine Lake, about 30 minutes east of Red Deer Alberta. This is a photo I took of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a historic church that is protected as part of a Heritage Plan. A few years ago a terrible tornado devastated the area around Pine Lake but missed this building. September, 2007

Two Mules

These are two beautiful mules I photographed at a farm near Pine Lake, Alberta; September 2007