Best of October 2024

Our beautiful fall continues into October. There were lots of beautiful sunrises and sunsets. This first picture captures some reds; not that common in Alberta. This picture was taken along the north side of the Bow River, between the Bridgeland/Memorial C-train station and the Skipping Rock pedestrian bridge.

Toward the end of the month I was lucky enough to travel with an expert birder to Pine Coulee Reservoir, west of Stavely, Alberta. The next two pictures are of the reservoir.

 

There were not that many birds on the reservoir, but the northern loop around the reservoir did not disappoint. A few of the sloughs had an abundance of birds and we saw over 500 swans. These were mostly Trumpeter Swans, but we also saw some Tundra Swans. The first picture is of Tundra Swans.

The next two pictures are of Trumpeter Swans.

The month ended off a little cloudy, but for October -- amazing.

All pictures photo-edited with On1 Photo Raw 2024 

Pictures September 2024

There were big changes in September. I moved to the inner-city mid-month, and the scenery on my walks changed -- dramatically.  These are some of my favourite pictures from my walks around the neighbourhood. One of my first walks was along the ridge north of the river and I took this picture of the Lion overlooking the Centre Street Bridge.

One Calgary's iconic images is the Peace Bridge by 10th Street NW. On a rainy day I took this picture.

A couple of days later I returned to get a picture of the bridge with the sun in the background.

Early one morning I was able to take this picture facing west from the top of the LRT station in Bridgeland.

Moving took a lot of my time and I didn't do as many birding trips. This Common Merganser was seen early in the month. Its amazing to see the serrated "teeth" in its bill that are sloped toward the back of the throat so that fish can't easily escape. 

This American Kestrel was seen on a birding trip toward the end of the month near Carseland. I love the colours on this juvenile male.

All pictures photo-edited with On1 Photo Raw 2024 

Best of Summer 2024

Over the summer I took a bit of a break from social media. I also wanted to leave the last post of Maria's paintings first online for a while. As the summer is ending, this post will include the best of my summer pictures. This Great Blue Heron is one of my favourites. This was taken at Frank Lake and the bird was backlit. I thought that I would just go with it and create a silhouette of the GBH in post-edit.

This Cedar Waxing was photographed at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and I love how the blurring of the background separates the waxwing and helps it to stand out. There was a lot of waiting until the waxwing moved around the tree and finally posed in the right spot. They are such a beautiful bird. 

This Cliff Swallow was photographed at Ralph Klein Park in SE Calgary. Despite being in the shade under the visitors' centre, the detail and colours really stand out. 

My favourite scenics of the summer include this picture of Saint Patrick's Island in downtown Calgary. I was co-leading a birding group for Nature Calgary and stopped to take this picture with my phone.

On one of my shifts as a volunteer steward at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, this Calgary Fire Department rescue boat was heading upstream. 

We have lived in Rundle since 1995 and I have taken many pictures of sunrises. This picture was taken during one of my morning walks. It is always good to have a camera with you.

While driving to a wedding and reception in Cranston this summer, I dropped off some donations at the Women in Need Society and swung by the ridge on 26th Street South East. The ride has some great views of the city skyline.

In my file system, I categorize pictures by subject. In a miscellaneous grouping, is this picture of a Boreal Chorus Frog taken this summer at Frank Lake.

Finishing off my summer favourites is this picture taken in Edson while attending a wedding. This horse is a year old and was born during the forest fires in Edson. She is aptly named Ember.

Those are some of my favourite summer photographs.

 

All pictures photo-edited with On1 Photo Raw 2024 

 

Maria's Art

This post is dedicated to Maria Lawson, the artist. When we traveled, I would take pictures and later at art class Maria would paint many of them. Not everyone can come to my home and see these paintings, so this post is Maria's Gallery. I hope you enjoy them. I will try to give some background to each painting. Some, however, were practice painting and were taken from a magazine or out of her imagination. These are an electronic reproduction, so they are not as good as the originals, but at least it is an introduction to Maria the artist.

The first picture is the first painting Maria did at her art class. This was a chance for the other artists and her instructor to see how she painted.  

The next two paintings are from the park right across the street from the house. Maria obviously took some creative license when she painted them. We do not have a creek running through the park.

We used to go the The Max Bell Arena to walk during the winter. The view from Max Bell inspired Maria to paint the next two.

Kananaskis was one of our favourite places to camp and hike. The next three paintings were inspired by that area.

Maria loved to travel to Germany. I think that she had about 23 trips to Germany. The first painting was from our morning walks in Emlichheim. The second painting is from a hike with Maria's cousins (Dorla, Benno, and Elisabeth) in what once was East Germany. The painting is of Dorla's favourite tree.

We had many trips visiting our friends in Miami, Oklahoma. One year we stopped in Moab at the end of August and spent a week hiking and traveling around the National Parks. The first painting is at Arches National Park, and the second is from Highway 70 as we approached the east side of the Rocky Mountains.

When visiting friends in Miami, we walked every morning. Maria liked walking at the Rotary Park. These paintings were inspired by the flowers at the campground and at the park.

We traveled with our friends from Miami in our volunteer work, and they took us to some amazing places. Each was a new place to walk and experience the neighbourhoods. The first painting is from Orlando. We had just had an wonderful tour behind the scenes at Seaworld and were walking back to the hotel when we saw this flower. The second painting is from Tampa during an evening stroll.

The next two paintings were inspired from our holiday travels. The first if from a camping trip with our daughter and son-in-law in BC, and the second is from our first holiday in Yellowstone National Park.

The next painting comes from the Grande Tetons National Park. We were driving home from Miami and took the scenic route. It was a cloudy, rainy day and we had stopped at a rest-stop by this lake. 

Of all our travels, we really fell in love with the Yukon most. This painting is from Kathleen Lake, just south of Haines Junction.

Maria did like to practice new techniques. The next painting is from a magazine so that she could practice Folk Art.

Of the many practice painting that Maria tried, she really liked this fish. I have to confess that I just don't get it; but that's art!

Here are a couple more of Maria's practice paintings; and again, these come from magazines.

Maria also practiced techniques on glass coaster sized boards because she could finish them in one sitting. These are four of them.

The final painting that I will share is the last painting that Maria touched. She was unable to finish this painting before she died, so her art instructor did the final touches. This is from the Highwood Pass in Kananaskis, one of our favourite drives.