Trees, and a plug

I posted this photo back in 2009 - a favourite tree positioned in the middle of a field with a gorgeous Rocky Mountain backdrop.

The tree has become infamous in our family now, and even has it's own name.

It is the PPPP Tree.  

The Pride and Prejudice Perfectly Positioned tree!

On my way to work the other morning I saw a guy at the side of a road with his tripod and camera.  The tree was sitting in a blaze of canola and I thought to myself that this was going to make a stunning shot.  

I wasn't wrong.

Here is a plug for a local photographer who has taken some sublime shots around Calgary and further afield across Alberta.

His name is Neil Zeller and here's a plug:

http://neilzellerphotography.zenfolio.com

Check out some of his other gorgeous photos.

Camping near Banff

The summer weather has been fab - time to dust off the trusty yellow tent again.

First, put up tent in the only rain shower that has materialized for four weeks - someone was watching us and thought 

'Ah, yes, just in time for a wee downpour!"

Try out the newly purchased kayak.  So serene.

The skies have a been pretty hazy on some days due to the forest fires in Banff National Park.

Some of the wildlife is a little shy...

...and some of it is not. At all.

White Admiral butterflies, I believe.

Smores are essential when camping of course.

The dogs are well and truly pooped.

And it rains again, but we don't mind at all when it produces stunning rainbows reaching across the mountain vistas.

 Even a hint of a double rainbow.

Family photo album

and I even allow a rare photo!

Heading out to Vancouver Island next.  I get to play in an ocean for the first time in years.

I am SO excited!

It's wild out there

I haven't blogged for ages, so hello to anyone still out there - let's go and just sink into a wall of colour. You know how much I like colour.

May and June are classed as Spring in Alberta - this is much later than the March and April I would have been used to in the UK.

As winter finally (and this year, reluctantly) gives way to Spring,  the warmer winds slowly revive the dull landscape.

The town where I live, Cochrane, is situated in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and is an undulating landscape.

We have lots of different grasses here.

The ravine near my house is covered in Wolf Willow. It is a wild, invasive but reasonably attractive silvery green shrub, with the distinctive leaves like wolf's ears, hence the name. The strong bark can be used to make baskets. However, for about two weeks in Spring, it flowers - and in my very humble opinion, it stinks! It literally catches in my throat. Bleugh.

The official emblem of Alberta is the wild rose.  You see the low bristly shrubs everywhere with their small, bright burst of pink flowers.

The wolf willow and the wild rose are frequently seen in the company of each other.

I think this is a yellow clematis - not sure how "wild" this is really, but it was growing alongside the fence line of the municipal tip.  Anyway - I like this one.

The ground alongside the pathways beside the river are a carpet of dotted colours, and mish-mash of anything that can seed itself and get a foothold.

Ahhh - that will do me for a while.

What the internet is all about...

I've had little time to write or read blogs - I skim through my Facebook, and often wonder just how much time a teenager can dedicate to Instagram and Snapchat (it's a lot by the way). 

So things that have made me laugh out loud in recent weeks have a theme.  Cats.  Cats ARE funny.

And as has often be said before, no matter the advances in science and the internet, you can easily spend 90% of your surfing time looking a funny cat videos.  I get it.

There are grumpy cats, fat cats, cute and happy cats, scary cats, cats with different coloured eyes and the let's-beat-up-the-stupid-dog-and-steal-his-bed cats.

It's a long held opinion but a sad fact nonetheless  - we humans know we are merely tolerated.  Affection is doled out on an as-needed basis, and the reality is that cats will indeed inherit the earth. 

The sooner we get our heads around this fact, the easier life will be.

And so to my favourite cat video...



Know your place people.

Alberta is trying to melt...

Finally, at long bloody last, we have had a week with temperatures well above freezing, and as I ignore the growing slushy puddles, I dream of summer.

 Typical Alberta scenes.

The landscape is still marbled with patches of 

brilliant white snow, 

and dull lifeless fields of brown.  

Green shoots of life are a few weeks away yet.

But those skies keep on pleasing.

A Tuesday in March

Love that the clocks went forward because the evenings are beautiful and light.

Hate that the clocks went forward for a few days though - how can one hour make so much difference to waking up in the morning?

Er, it's still cold

It snowed heavily in December.

It's now March, right?  In my head it should be Spring.

Those exact same December snowflakes 

are still on my back deck.

Where were my warming chinook winds this year?

Yep - these pictures just about sum it up.