Saturday, March 27, 2010

Signs of spring

From the parrot tulips fully opened, to the clouds that look like a seal and its shadow slipping through the water, to the yearling deer that was in a section of wooded land that runs along St. Julien Road (the walk home from work) who looked up at Santi and I on the road - the deer must have thought Santi a giant dog, to the typical pose of Santi entreating Charley for a cookie - we keep the dog biscuits on top of the fridge and she knows it! and knows how to implore Charley for just one more, to the deer drinking from the puddles in front of our building....all signs of spring.
Though it is likely to snow one day, melt the next, snow again for the next month or two.
















Saturday, March 13, 2010

Enjoying the winter again

Well the el Nino effect didn't last long and the snow is fluffy, pure white, and beautiful
This first picture is of three deer tracks meeting as they come down of a slope to the road.
The rest are self-explanatory - just images that I liked of the snowy landscape - including the bright red stair outside our offices on a 2nd floor deck - with their own little mountains of snow on each...and the very last photo is of a group of artists moving the "Buffalo" down our hallway from one building to another...the buffalo had been in one of the artist's open studio show along with his paintings.












Monday, March 8, 2010

You could see it coming

What a difference a day makes - yesterday and Saturday, balmy, brilliant sunshine - the pictures at the dog park - then.....this sequence of photos shows my walk up the hill at 8:30 in the morning with vestiges of blue sky still visible...but you can see it coming.
I love the way the clouds roll over the mountains (photos 4,5,6).
The last 2 photos show my walk home at 5:30 tonight.
Lots of happy people in the Bow Valley - the snowboarders,
the skiers, and those of us who want the watersheds to have water.







Sunday, March 7, 2010

Intoxicated by Spring *** Puppies, Mud,Mountains, Clouds, Deer - A Miscellany of Moments

It has been unbelievably beautiful weather here for the past few weeks. Hard to believe it is March in the mountains...warm, sunny, bright...so these are photos from the last few weeks.
The dog park in Canmore is such a spectacular setting.
Puppies - the chocolate one - that looks like a little bear cub is part Malamute and she is only 4 months old. The dainty little husky was very sweet. Those two puppies were play-wrestling all afternoon.




The grey and black dog is a breed called a Shiloh Shepherd and it was such a beautiful dog - and I have never heard of that breed.
Deer are believing it is spring and I bumped into the one (in front of the stone wall) at work one morning. They are moving back into town now it is so spring-like.
The photo of Charley is him on his knees cleaning Santi's muddy paws (the downside of this mild weather)



















Monday, March 1, 2010

Street Celebration After the Gold


Immediately following the overtime goal of Sid the Kid...there were people on the main street of Banff playing a game of street hockey, flags waving, people cheering, traffic stopped, and everyone was just so overjoyed and so full of pent-up tension that the celebration went on for some time...We went downtown and Santi was a hit in her Olympic red hat (she borrowed it from me - I've had it since the Nagano games)
Is this the quintessential Canada photo...climbing a street lamp, waving a Canadian flag, mountain in the background...........we won hockey gold
and so much more. Oh! Canada!