Adventures

 Thanks for the adventures, Now go have another one!

In the middle of March, 2023, Maria was very tired and weak and wanted to watch a show that would make her laugh and smile. We picked the Pixar movie Up!  Perhaps not our best choice; for the first half of the show we were both crying -- this old man having to go on after losing his life partner. At about the half-way point, he was reading his wife's adventure book that she had started in high school. On the last page she said the above (or close to it). and Maria turned to me and said "that's what you have to do, have some more adventures". 

We were lucky, we had some wonderful adventures!

• In 1992 our first adventure was when you were brave enough to invite me to a family wedding. What an adventure. Part way through the evening I asked you to dance, and it felt like we had been dancing for a lifetime.  It really scared me; I took you to your home and ran away. You gave me two weeks to call, and I called on the 13th day. Lucky me!
• In 1993 we shipped two motorcycles to Germany - presold. When we got to Germany we rode motorcycles all around Germany; what a great adventure. Going somewhere where there is no speed limit and riding a motorcycle was thrilling!

• You always dreamed of flying, so for your birthday in 1995 I gifted you a tandem sky-diving experience. I stayed with both feet firmly planted on the ground. 

• In 1995 we also took a family holiday in Germany. One of my best vacations ever. It was so much fun staying in Berlin with all of us!
• In 1996 we started an adventure that is still warming my heart. We started our married life! Such a beautiful bride! Such a happy day!

• In 2001 we traveled across Canada in our truck and camper. My goodness you loved that camper.  We spent 9-weeks on our travels and only ate out three times. Talk about being compatible!

• In 2003, in  San Francisco, California, at the annual conference of the American Association of Medical Colleges, we gave a workshop together on using Microsoft Word and Excel to manage databanks of examination questions rather than more expensive proprietary software. You were a star, and will always be listed as a presenter at that conference. We extended that adventure by going to Kauai, the only time we were in Hawaii at the same time. You loved this beach picture and I am glad I can post it here. 

• In 2004 we had the privilege and honour of attending our son's graduation from Stanford. Such a good day, and you got such a sunburn - sitting in the football stadium in the hot sun. 

• In 2002 and 2003 we adventured down the Washington and Oregon coasts to visit the family in Mountain View, California. We fell in love with the aquariums down the coast - especially in Newport, Oregon. 

• In 2007 we adventured to Yellowstone National Park for the first time -- and definitely not our last. For a while it was our favourite vacation; until we went to the Yukon. On our first day in Yellowstone we found Bison babies. So fabulous! You said that they babies were frolicking! 

• In 2012 on our way to AVCA exams, we adventured to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, both near Moab, Utah. I remember looking at the view and being overwhelmed that I could share it with you. You hold my heart!

• In 2015 we adventured to the Yukon. You always said it was the best vacation ever. In Whitehorse one day you walked 50,000+ steps; best walk day ever! We walked everywhere! We saw more black bears than black flies as we arrived in the Yukon in late May. An amazing adventure. 

• In 2015, for your birthday I gifted you (and me) a balloon ride in Columbus, Missouri. It was a magical morning with fog covering the ground. We had a wonderful adventure together! Look how tanned we were! Look at that smile!

• We adventured on so many camping trips, near and far.  Tunnel Mountain in Banff, Interlakes and Elkwood in Kananaskis, Lions Campground in Red Deer, Writing on Stone, Drumheller Badlands, Jasper, Basin in Montana, Cape Lazo on Vancouver Island, Riverside in Cochrane, South Dakota Badlands, Yellowstone, Amana Colonies, Miami OK, Ennis in Montana, Roosevelt National Park, Moab in Utah, Interstate in Davenport, Kentucky Horse Park, Clear Lake in Iowa, Dawson in the Yukon, Kathleen Lake in the Yukon, Whitehorse in the Yukon, Clinton State Park in Kansas, Mystery Cave State Park in Minnesota, Wallace Campground in Idaho, St. Malo in Manitoba, Linden Coulee Campground, and countless Walmart parking lots. 
• In 2020 we ventured to Linden, Alberta because covid was placing greater demand on the mountain parks. We fell in love with Linden and adventured there for the next three years. In 2020 you were feeling pretty well and you walked and walked and walked every day. The locals would say "Hi, oh you are the folks that walk everywhere!". It became your favourite place to go camping and you loved the village.

Simply too many adventures to list them all, but these are a few.  Love you sweetie!

Thanks for the adventures, Now go have another one!

Wood Duck Ducklings

One of the most colourful ducks in Alberta, and probably the cutest ducklings! On my walk at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary I saw two hens; one with six-ducklings and one with ten. These good size ducks nest in trees (I have yet to see one fly into its nest) and when the ducklings hatch, they leave the nest and bounce when they hit the ground. At that time it is good to be light and fluffy. The website allaboutbirds.org states that the ducklings can fall as far as 50 feet without hurting themselves. 

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/640, f/14. May 31, 2023, 9:55am.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/400, f/14. May 31, 2023, 9:05am.

The hens were very cautious and stayed at the other side of the pond.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/500, f/18. May 31, 2023, 9:55am.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 456mm, ISO 2500, 1/320, f/14. May 31, 2023, 8:55am.

Just in case you think the duck doesn't know you are there...

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/800, f/14. May 31, 2023, 8:55am.

Here is one of the males. They were off by themselves.  Apparently not being involved in the rearing process can be pretty tiring.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/1000, f/18. May 31, 2023, 10:00am.

LaFarge Meadows

Yesterday morning I went for a walk at LaFarge Meadows off of 194th Ave in the Cranston community of Calgary. It was quite a hot morning, the birds were active and lots of calls and songs.  When the sun hit the Silverberry (Elaeagnus commutata Bernh), the smell was amazing. We are lucky to have such pretty green spaces in Calgary! Both of the following pictures were taken with my phone: your best camera is the one you have with you.

iPhone 14, ISO 50, 5.7mm, 1/4444, f1.5. May 29, 2023, 9:20am.

iPhone 14, ISO 50, 5.7mm, 1/4831, f1.5. May 29, 2023, 10:15am.

The roses are just starting to open and the colours are very rich.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/2000, f/13. May 29, 2023, 9:35am.

This Yellow Warbler was singing its heart out.  Usually these birds are so busy that they don't hold still for a picture. This one posed for me and he is such a pretty bird! Such a happy yellow.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 437mm, ISO 2500, 1/2500, f/13. May 22, 2023, 9:40am.

Pound for pound, I don't think another bird makes as much noise as the House Wren. This little bird was very vocal and hard to ignore.  Can you get that beak any wider?

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/160, f/20. May 29, 2023, 9:25am.

The Osprey nest is still occupied. You can see the head of one osprey, but you can't see any babies yet!  This osprey was opposite the nest in the trees. It seemed to be itchy as it was grooming quite a bit.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/1250, f/14. May 29, 2023, 10:00am.

Remember

Come walk with me, Hold my hand, and Remember other walks.

(day 60)

Olympus OMD-M5II, 14-150mm, 15mm, ISO, 3200, 1/50, f/5.6. May 21, 2023, 7:00am. Fernie, BC.

We would walk every morning. We would start our walks together for 2-kms, I would then run and then join you for the last 3-km to home. Best start to the day ever. Now that I am walking again, it is not the same; but it will have to do. Remember all the places we would walk?

• Linden, where we spent our last three summers. Our first year there you would walk two 5-km circuits every day. I would take pictures on my walks during the day and share the pictures with you when I got back to the bus. The reason for this blog.
• Prairie Winds Park, Calgary, where we would walk every day. You got in your 10,000 steps before breakfast. Every day you would wave to me when I ran down the ramp at the McKnight pedestrian bridge. As I cross that bridge now, I look to where you would wave and wave to the memories. 
• Whitehorse, where one day you walked for 50,000 steps! Amazing! We would walk four times a day; once for ice cream.
• Katherine Lake, Yukon, one of the prettiest places to walk anywhere. We were planning on travelling further, but once we saw the campground we just stayed. 
• Blackfoot, Idaho (around the lake, behind the Walmart), where one day you walked at a pace of 8 minutes, 34 seconds per kilometer -- best ever!
• Banff, Alberta, where we would start our walks together around the campground, then I would run and finally join you to end our walks. We would also walk downtown for ice cream! Maybe we burned off some of it by the time we walked back up the hill to Tunnel Mountain Campground.
• Orlando, Florida, where we walked to Sea World and had the best tour ever of that facility and then walked back to the hotel. 
• Tampa, Florida, where we walked along the water; usually heading out in the dark and enjoying every second of it. We saw Winter, the dolphin with no tail at the Clearwater Aquarium. We were so impressed that we left a donation. 
• San Antonio, Texas, where we walked along the river into downtown San Antonio, walked along the canals, toured the Alamo and then walked back. When in downtown San Antonio we bought a ceramic tulip, which I look at every day and think about our trips with the AVCA. 
• Arches National Park, where I was overwhelmed that I could share something so beautiful with someone so beautiful to me.
• Moab, Utah, where you got the biggest blister ever and couldn't walk for days. 
• Fountain Hills, Arizona, where we walked in late March and enjoyed the desert flowers; and avoided the coyotes. You walked with your headphones on and I couldn't believe you would walk underneath a tree covered with bees. I guess the sound of the audiobooks covered up the sound of the bees. 
• Boppard, Germany, where we walked along the Rhine; all the way to St. George and back. Such a beautiful country to visit! 
• Hiawatha Trail, Idaho, our first rail to trails experience. Such a beautiful place. If we went again we were going to take our e-bikes.
• Kananaskis, Alberta, where we would add on a walk to Boulton Creek at the end of the day for ice cream.
• and Miami, Oklahoma, where we spent so many of your birthdays. You would walk at Rotary Park with its 1-mile loop. We visited our great friends -- a relationship starting with you picking up the phone and saying "yes, I will help".

Come walk with me, hold my hand, and remember.

 

68th Street Wetlands in May

This morning I went for a walk at the 68th Street Wetlands in Southeast Calgary. By the end of the walk 21 different bird species were identified (there were more as I didn't focus on the gulls). With birding you never know what you will see, and I was amazed to see four Blacked Capped Night Herons by the ponds. I have never seen so many at one time. They were all on the opposite side of the pond hunting.  Good day not to be a frog! I love the "tail" of feathers off of the head. Wasn't this a style in the 80s?

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/640, f/16. May 28, 2023, 9:20am.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/800, f/14. May 28, 2023, 9:20am.

The Canvasback is one of our larger ducks and is declining in population. It was nice to see a few of them on the ponds.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 2500, 1/2500, f/13. May 28, 2023, 9:05am.

There were a few Horned Grebes. These are a fascinating diving duck with very red eyes.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 800, 1/2000, f/14. May 28, 2023, 9:45am.

The American Avocet are a great looking looking shorebird with pastel colours on the neck. 

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 800, 1/2000, f/14. May 28, 2023, 9:45am.

And just in case you think it is too quiet out there; this Raven was expressing its opinion.  

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 10000, 1/4000, f/12. May 28, 2023, 8:50am.

Hooded Merganser

Not as common a sighting as the other mergansers, these Hooded Mergansers were seen in two separate locations. The first picture is a female and she was seen in Fernie, BC, the second is a male and he was seen at the 68th Street Wetlands in South East Calgary. These are such pretty diving ducks. 

Olympus OMD-M5-II, 14-150mm, 150mm, ISO 1250, 1/80, f/10. March 20, 2023, 7:05am.

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 800, 1/500, f/14. April 16, 2023, 10:30am.

Old Homestead

On a drive to Vulcan yesterday, I saw this old building by the side of the highway.  I stopped and took a few pictures. It had rained the previous night, so the air was clear of smoke. The puffy clouds on the horizon add a nice element to the picture. 

iPhone 14, 6mm, ISO50, 1/444, f1.5. May 24, 2023, 11:20am.

The shadows on the inside of the building and an interesting study in contrast as the shadows fall across the beam.

iPhone 14, 6mm, ISO40, 1/228, f1.5. May 24, 2023, 11:20am.