A hint of wildlife ...

I was awoken on Saturday morning by a God-awful noise. A racket. As I slowly came to, and opened one eye, I tried to focus on what it was.

Geese. Canada Geese to be precise. Laughing and honking and generally adopting the role of farm cockerel and being a rude awakening for any bed-lover on a weekend morning. I swear they were three feet above my roof, shouting obscenities.

They were flying over the house by the dozen. Several dirty dozens. Hundreds of them in the end. They gathered all morning, having sent out a secret missive the week before - and all pitched camp on the golf-course lake not far away.

I presume they were carrying out their pre-flight safety checks. They were no doubt debating the merits of the recent chinook winds, their ETA for warmer climes and the quality of in-flight entertainment.

They cackled and honked for a good few hours and then set off mid-afternoon for destination unknown. By that, I mean I don't know. They obviously knew 'cos they were talking about it loudly enough.

Talking of wildlife, we have a lot of deer around here too.

Last night we were just getting ready to go up to bed (spot a theme here? - I love sleep!) when I looked out of the front window and saw the silhouette of two pointy ears. A cute deer was right up against the front of the house, happily chomping on the remnants of my annual pots. Obviously she was cute at this time of year - if she'd shown up earlier in the season, and eaten my flowers, she wouldn't look cute at all, except through a scope perhaps!

By the time I found my camera and sneaked up to the window, I only got a shot, sorry, a photo of her derriere wandering back up the street.

Waterton National Park

More photos of more lakes and mountains, just in case you needed another fix. One can never get enough of beautiful views I think. Food for the soul.

View over the village, taken from the car park of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton. Love the change in colours of the water. I think this might be more spectacular in about May when there must still be snow on the mountains. Note to self to re-visit at other times in the year.

And the building in the background of this daft picture of prancing children is the Prince of Wales Hotel. Old by Canadian standards really, opened in 1927. Looked nice, too pricey for our budget at this time, and potentially more in keeping with an adult weekend away with no kids in tow!

Doe, a deer, a female deer; Ray, a drop ...... oops, came over all musical there. Here is my inspiration. There is a notice at the entrance to the park to keep away from the deer. The females are apparently pretty aggressive in protecting their little ones at this time of year. Mind you, they are obviously very comfortable wandering around the streets of the town, I lost count of how many we saw (or maybe it was just one or two of them playing their favourite game of hide and seek with the dumb tourist).

Excuse quality of next couple of photos, but you don't like to hang around.

One 'downside' to having these four-legged ladies and gents wandering the residential areas is that they probably don't have a too discerning appetite. I suspect they will happily munch on just about anything that anyone plants and tries to grow. Hence, virtually every tree and shrub, and all the planter boxes were wrapped in chicken wire. Kinda goes against the point of making it look pretty!!

For my botanical friends, this is the lesser spotted Milliner's Tree, part of the Hataceae family. The non-fragrant flowers open spontaneously throughout the year and can be different colours, sizes and shapes depending on location. Some sightings in other areas have been reported and include small five-fingered flowers similar to gloves, long colourful leaves resembling scarves, and small, hard cased and colourful nuts similar to a children's drinking beakers and dummies.

And finally, oh cootchie coo, a picture of cuteness. Isn't he (or she) gorgeous? I didn't see mum around this time, but she was probably lurking in the shadows, sharpening her hooves, just in case ...