One year old ...

It's my one year Blogoversary this week. (This is how it all started.)

I've had such fun writing down some of my inane ramblings and comments - blogging is, afterall, a compelling but polite way of waving at the world and shouting "Look at me, look what I saw today, what do you think of this?" We share our world with others. We share where we live, what we do, what we can accomplish.

I've loved linking up with people new and old (well, kinda old - in the nicest sense of the word of course), and I am in awe of all the natural, talented writers and photographers out there in Blogland who make me feel humble, pointless and galvanised on a daily basis!

I hope to continue for as long as nature gives me a hearty poke in the eye, or random cluttered cupboards, garden renovations, lunatic dogs and bra-shopping inspire me. It's fair to say, however, that going out to earn a living now puts a slight damper on my ability to photograph pretty things so often, or come up with intelligent conversation half the time (only half?!). I think the contents of my office might only hold your attention for, ooh, say about 4 nano-seoconds. And on some days, the contents of my brain are not much more motivating!

Thank you for sharing my blog. Love and girly hugs, and a sloppy lick from my co-writer, Smudge. (And Honey says "huh?")

Now then, I think a large slice of celebratory cake is calling. Do you want some?

Scenic Sunday - Contrasts

Remember this picture from March? Overlooking downtown Calgary ...

Bleak, grey, colourless.

Look at it now ....

Hurray!

One more - the "Before" shot - bleached of life ...

And the "After" photo - born again!

Calgary has been rained upon for nearly three weeks solid - it is lush and green, vibrant and gorgeous.

But the rivers are really high, and fast flowing, and when the dogs go down to paddle, I nearly have a panic attack - 'cos I sure ain't jumping in to rescue them!

Have a great and super Scenic Sunday.

Mini rant for the week

It's been raining here for quite a few days - pouring with rain actually. It is, afterall, June in Alberta - the heavens open and begin to empty all over us.

And the reason for a mini-rant post this week is because I don't feel inclined or able to produce a nice, pretty SkyWatch Friday post - there's nowt out there but grey soggyness! My camera lens protesteth too much.

But the rain is not the cause of my mini rant. I don't mind it really - the garden needs it, the landscape needs it, the low-level rivers need it and how can we go white-water rafting later in the year, if the snow and rain don't all culminate downriver in July?!

And my local water supply needs it. So rain clouds - you have my gracious permission to fall for a few more days, then you must head off back to the UK or Vancouver or Seattle because they will be missing you by now.

I live in an area that is naturally pretty dry - sure we get some snow - but hardly any rain. Maybe a few days in October and then June is usually pretty soggy.

So why has my neighbour got her bloody irrigation system going morning and evening?! Ooh, it makes me cross!

I assume she has set it with a timer - I am unimpressed each morning as I take the dogs around the block, dodging rain clouds and puddles, to see her front and back lawns receiving another 20 mins of clean, fresh water taken from our precious supplies. Aaaghhh!

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a lush and spongy manicured lawn as well as the next person

In fact, I find my own lawn-care skills severely lacking and the dandelions are currently having an orgy in my back garden. It's disgraceful how quickly they can reproduce. Neighbours and bylaw-officers complain quickly if it gets out of hand - otherwise I kinda like their prolific bursts of yellow.

But the main reason I will never win the "poshest lawn in the street" award is that I don't really agree with irrigation systems blasting our precious resources all over the place, in pursuit of healthy blades of green-ness.

I'm happy to give my perennials a quick soak, or water my veggies and hanging baskets - but if you live in a place that is loathe to naturally water your garden for you, then I think you ought to try and work with what you've got.

So capture some water off your roof, divert your guttering to do the watering for you, plant some native stuff that happily grows where you live - and look up Xeriscaping on the internet.

Rain collectors, rain barrels, water butts - whatever you call them - come in all shapes and sizes now - I don't figure they will ever look truly attractive - how about one with a planter on the top?

DIY - paint your wagon?

Now this one is just butt ugly (geddit?) - but maybe you just go with a "needs must" approach (but does it have to be turquoise? subtle it ain't.)

My favourite, of course is this wee treasure - a simple water butt.

Mini rant over.

Dances with Humans - Dogs and Porcupines

Smudge here - how are you good folks doing?

Thought I'd tell you about my daft friend Honey, and what happens when she ignores my good advice. You can lead a dog to water, and all that .....

(I'm the tall, dark and handsome one.)

You remember Honey right, the stoopid one?

Cute as a button but, oh boy, not bright. At all.

So The Boss took us for one of our favourite walks by the Ranch House this week. It was a drizzly, cold day and though I hate to admit it, I was a soggy, shivering wreck at the end, let me tell you. Dignity goes out of the window when you've been rained on for an hour.

Old Honey-chops over there only went and stuck her nose into a dead porcupine. I told her to leave it alone, but does she listen? Nope.

And because she is so dumb, she didn't yelp or cry out at all, so neither The Boss nor The Reluctant Dog Owner had a clue she had done this, and to be honest I was so wrapped up in my own shivering misery, I was too busy looking for a good towel rub-down and a nice warm blanket. Call me selfish.

So it wasn't 'till the end of the day that The Reluctant Dog Owner finally found the porcupine spines sticking out of Honey's head - she had four in her chin, one on the end of her ear, one on her back and another poking out of the top of her head.

To be honest, I couldn't see them at all 'cos the spines were the same colour as her fur, and they were all small, broken ones anyway.

So, The Boss and The Reluctant Dog Owner get into a big conversation about what to do, how to get them out of her skin and how much it would all cost. There is no fee too high to take care of and pamper us, no?

And Ol' Honey-features just looked on blankly - completely unaware and well, just daft really. Totally not bothered that she looked like a walking pin-cushion. So they saved on vets bills and waited 'till the following day.

The next morning The Boss took her off for an hour - didn't invite me along - typical! I miss out on all the fun.

And then they came home again and Honey looked totally pissed. Like really drunk man, it was so funny. I sniffed her, I tried to mount her, tried to get her to play ball. Nada!

Her front legs couldn't hold her up (she is a wee bit on the heavy-side, it must be said), her back legs were really wobbly and she was just no fun at all - she just slept all evening, and snoring like you wouldn't believe. After laughing my ass off, I finally gave up and snoozed on the sofa.

Something about sedation, I think they called it.

But you know what, if we see that smelly old dead porcupine again, I bet she'll still go up to check it out. See what I mean .... D-U-M-B-O !

SkyWatch Friday - Billowy Clouds

Ooh - I fell in love with this cloud this week.

Sad, but true!

A short while later, the rain-heavy clouds blew over and you could see the bands of water falling ahead of us.

Have a great week.

More SkyWatch Friday? Click here.

Flowery My World Tuesday

More photos from this week's road trip. And this Tuesday, I am seeking help.

I wish to use and abuse my good readers for some floral knowledge! Please holler if you know the names of any of these ....

This lilac coloured beauty was using other plants for support, beside a rushing river ..... is it a kind of harebell?

..and in a pine forest ... isn't this bark just gorgeous? Again, I could not find any pictures with bark like this - it was very mature and tall version of most of the trees in the area - a tree with needles in bundles (but I forgot to count how many).

I'm frustrated that I haven't mastered macro yet - are these little blurred flowers orchids? (also under found on a forest floor while out walking off the beaten track)

A weed or a wildflower or a bit of both? Bright blasts of colour regardless.

And what are these feathery frongs at the water's edge? Will they flower?

Have a lovely week folks.

Click here for more My World Tuesday pictures from around the world

Road trip for the Victoria Day long weekend...

We headed out from Cochrane in Alberta to Kimberley in the south west corner of British Columbia. As the crow flies, it should be fairly quick journey, but those big mountains get in the way, so we had to put up with a four-hour drive along some of the most beautiful highways ever. It's a tough life.

The devastation caused by the dreaded pine-beetle runs for miles and miles and is a very sobering sight.

The whole eco-system must be changing as some animals and insects move to a new neighbourhood, and yet other creatures move in to the decaying and changing forests. Maybe it's an up and coming area for some kinds of insect yuppies?!

But it's good to see the little saplings making a bid for freedom - I wonder how many decades this will take to fix? Nature is great at sorting itself out, but it will take years for these dead tree carcasses to fall and rot down and feed the ground again.

We pass some mini hoodoos on the way down Highway 93.

Fantastic ripples in the rock.

We were staying with some friends who have bought a townhouse up by the ski hills of Kimberley.

Welcome to Germany!

Kimberley is a old mining town that decided, like many small towns, that it needed to re-invent itself to avoid closure and rot. Ski-hills and associated facilities were re-vamped, the old mines and railway are now a tourist attraction and the town decided to re-launch itself on a Bavarian theme. I don't really know why, but a town offering bratwurst and schnitzel in the shadows of the Canadian Rockies certainly offers a new theme!

And the nature ain't bad either ...

In fact, I was determined to hunt out some wild-life. I need moose to complete my photo album you see. Any moose out there?

Well, no - lots of deer - more than I have ever seen actually - absolutely everywhere.

A bad, blurry picture of a large heron-type fella - don't ask me for species.

And a cute picture of a fluffy squirrel - probably not that unusual really, but he's not quite grey, and he's certainly not black - not like the squirrels I am used to seeing around my way these days.

And my piece de resistance .....

My first black bear !

Again - slightly blurry photos, but one doesn't walk up close to these beautiful creatures and disturb them from their current meal, for fear of presenting oneself as dessert.