In the garden

It's gonna be another HOT weekend and our plan is to spend most of it just hanging out at home. Works for me!
30 degrees, and Taz chooses to lie in the sun, silly dog.




My choice is the shady patio.







I've spent 2 months looking for a bamboo spout to replace the fally-apart one that lasted a record 3 years. Finally found one at a little garden place that assured me 2 months ago that they probably wouldn't be stocking them anymore because of their inherent fally-apart nature, but they would certainly phone me if they did get any in. If it wasn't the only one in the city, I would've left it there.




Every year I say I'm going to replace the dish that I use for this fountain because the spout isn't a good fit for this one, but I never do. I like this one, and as long as I don't lose the rock that holds the spout in place, this one works just fine.




This is my favourite corner! Or it will be once the transplanted bleeding heart recovers and the day lilies are bigger.




I'm not sure why I don't have more lupins, they're such cool looking plants.




The hollyhocks are a pretty colour, but not very tall yet. There are TONS of buds on them, and I'm expecting them to grow another few feet yet. Coulda sworn I planted singles, but these appear to be doubles. Drives me crazy when greenhouses mis-label things.




I also planted a bunch of pink lavatera seeds - surprise! Most of them are white. I only got one pink plant out of the bunch.







I spend a lot of time yanking morning glory seedlings out of my garden. Not that I don't like them, I do, but they're so prolific that they've been choking out the clematis vines. This little volunteer popped up beside the hose, so I've decided that if it can survive beside the dryer vent, it deserves to live. I'm pretty sure I'll have 6000 plants here by next year.




The hostas at the side of the house are doing well this year.




I thought I'd lost this jackmanii last year. It was the middle of August before it even popped it's head out of the ground, but it appears to be just fine this year.




This day lily just gets better every year.




On the other hand, the monkshood that was transplanted from Lesley's garden is struggling. They're blooming, but they don't look very happy.




This is my breakfast view from the kitchen window.




Dan's home! Dan's home! I heard the car! Taz patiently waits for the garage door to open.




All of Taz's Flickr friends have wading pools, and because it's been such a hot summer, we broke down and bought one for Taz too. So far her enthusiasm has been underwhelming. She has to be coaxed in one paw at a time, and is usually in a hurry to get out again. It makes a great water dish though, she stops for a drink on her way to the park and again on the way back to the house.










Oh well, Muñeca is coming to visit for a week, maybe she'll enjoy it.


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Flickr friends

I joined Flickr about 3 years ago after lurking on the fringes for a few months.
Flickr is kind of a social network for photographers. People post their photos, and comment on photos belonging to other people. It doesn't take long to make contact with people with similar interests. For example, most of my original contacts owned Golden Retrievers.
After awhile, the personalities of the dogs and their owners emerge and before you know it, you're fast friends with a bunch of people that you've never even met. You celebrate their joys and you grieve their losses.
Some of those friendships have spilled over to Facebook, and I can honestly say that some of my closest friends are people that I don't know other than through the wonders of the internet.
One of my Flickr friends, known to me only as Red Golden, lives near San Francisco with her husband and Golden Retriever, Rico. Red Golden doesn't just post photos, there is always a funny caption and a cute story to go with them. From the photos, stories, and the comments that she's made on my photos, I filled in the gaps of her life. It didn't seem like she had children, she loves her dog and she is well educated and well travelled. (I was right on all counts.)
A random comment on one of her photos indicated that she was visiting her Mom in the Canadian rockies. I contacted her through Flickrmail and discovered that her Mom actually lives in Radium Hot Springs. Well, that's practically in my back yard, so we arranged to meet there. Turns out that her Mom owns a motel in Radium, and Taz and I were invited to stay there even though her Mom has recently retired and closed the motel.
Road trip!!!








We stopped along the way at the off-leash park in Canmore, because it's just too pretty to drive past.












No park fee because Radium is just outside of the park, so we were just passing through.




Thoroughly enjoyed the drive




And the scenery












We pulled into Radium, and the first thing I saw was this beautiful bighorn sheep just standing on the side of the road. I couldn't believe my luck! Of course it didn't take long to figure out that this is a VERY common occurrence.








In the 24 hours that I was in town, I saw probably 30 of these guys!
Anyway, I pulled in to the parking lot of the Columbia Motel, and Yuchun came flying out the door to greet me like a long lost relative!
The Columbia Motel is very basic, but spotlessly clean. I'm sure you've all been in identical motels - maybe in the 60's.
















Yuchun is a hoot! She's super friendly, has lots of great stories, and is just plain nice!








We had a nice dinner and Taz was even allowed to come with us because the restaurant had an outdoor seating area. After dinner we took a long walk and met this lopsided guy. I guess he must've lost a battle.








We talked for hours when I got there, we talked all through dinner, we talked all along our 3 hour walk, slept for a few hours, then talked all morning until it was time for me to leave!!








We did the long drive home on Friday morning. It was a tiring couple of days, but totally worth it, we had so much fun!








I've now met 2 of my Flickr friends. Yuchun from California, and Daniel Lopez from Mexico. What's weird is that one of my Flickr/Facebook friends lives in Calgary and we've never met. We have to fix that!
Sorry if the spacing and the picture sizing is off, I'm still learning how to blog
on the iPad.

Canada Day

We went to Canmore for the Canada Day parade. It doesn't look too bad in this shot, but the highway was crazy busy.




There's a giant flag at Dead Man's Flats and I really wanted to get a good shot of it against the mountains on accounta it was Canada Day and all, but it's a split second, one shot deal, and I blew it. Grrrr!




Finally, our exit. I've never been so happy to get off the highway.




Wandering down the street looking for our group...I'm pretty sure the population of Canmore doubles (at least) on parade day.




This little girl had her hair colored for the occasion. I'm guessing it
was supposed to be red.




This little guy has the drill down pat. He's got his loot bag all ready to scoop up the treats that are thrown into the crowd. Someone (Mary, I think) said "it ain't his first rodeo"




And here's our group. Back row from L-R: Bill, Vi, Dan and me. And in the front row: Mary, a space for Cari-Ann, Marj, Robin and Andy.




Well, what's more Canadian than the Mounties?




There were cowboys...




...and Indians...




...and horses.




I love a pipe band.




These Andalusian horses and their riders are gorgeous.




Beautiful!




Marching bands




The firefighters were having fun spraying the crowd. They especially enjoyed soaking the young guys watching from the roof. The kids had the last laugh though. See the firefighter wearing the backpack? He stooped to pick up something on the ground, and when he bent over, the water gushed out of his backpack and right over his head! Poor guy was drenched!




And of course the perennial favorites. The hopelessly tuneless Arabs.




There was dancing in the street and a good time was had by all. There's just something about a small town parade that has such a feel-good vibe!




Oh, I should mention that our premier, Alison Redford, was in the parade too - riding a horse. No pictures of her, she took me by surprise.

After the parade, we went back to Cari-Ann's place for a wonderful lunch in the sunshine on her deck, then a nice long walk with the dogs.



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On a different note, I've been having fun with an iPhone app called Marblecam. It's a cool filter that does this:



I've marbleized just about everything in our house and garden.




Don't worry, I'm sure I'll tire of it soon.




An early morning walk up on Tom Campbell's hill. The flax are out. Not as plentiful as in previous years, but still it's pretty.




We wrapped up our 52 week photo project this week, and without a break, we're right into the next one. This will be my 3rd year with this group, and I love it! I'm proud of most of the photos in my album - there are a few duds that I'd like to swap out, but I'm pretty sure I'll never get around to it. There's also a blank spot where week #47 is supposed to be. The theme that week was Military, and I drew a complete blank. Any ideas?




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