Too white

Three white, actually. Different flowers in our front patio, after a rain.

Early June and what were we getting. Frosty nights, and hail. Sigh. And you guys think photography is a tough hobby.

Linda had a sudden hankering for BBQ yesterday. I'd just come off a semi-brutal massage that had much needed work on my feet. It felt good after the fact, but I nearly screamed like a little girl during the fact. I think a side effect of the long drive on Friday was my knee and calf muscles were all cranky and that extended into my right foot. I'm told I should roll my foot on top of a golf ball. I think I still have one of those around somewhere.

So the BBQ. I was amenable and we set off to try the BBQ place in Okotoks. I once upon a time thought Okotoks was a long drive in the country. Not so. Once we had friends move there and we visited periodically, it's not such a long drive after all. Little of it is country anymore, alas. There are lots of places in Calgary where it would take longer than the drive to Okotoks, with or without construction. Some people that live near us prefer to drive to the Costco in Okotoks rather than the one just off Heritage.

Along the way, dodging much construction everywhere in south Calgary, there was a sign reading "Township, a shopping destination." It starts as shopping for the newish neighbourhoods of Belmont, Walden, Legacy, and Yorkville. Such is the sprawl and pace of development that I had never heard any of those names before in reference to Calgary. They evoked other references in my mind.

• Walden, of course is famous. I hope I don't have to explain why. I don't know if this Walden has a pond.
• Yorkville is a mall in Toronto, except that it's not, as I learned when I fact checked this blog. I'll bet you didn't know I do that for my devoted readers. So few facts out there in the world. It's Yorkdale, one of the oldest malls in Canada. I've even been in it, back in my feckless youth when I had nothing better to do. 
• Belmont is a lovely diner in Marda Loop. Haven't been there for a while now. Hmmmm. Now I'm hungry, but let's press on. 
• Legacy is normally one of those buzzwords that indicate a high BS content for the surrounding words. If someone is trying to involve me in a project they say is going to create a legacy, I keep a firm grip on my wallet.

More fact checking. In 2013 there were 198 neighbourhoods in Calgary. With the pace of development that number could now be almost anything between 200 and 300. You pick. By the time you pick, and counted to see if you're right, they'll have added more to the endless suburban sprawl. They will be connected by roads under construction.

Back to the shopping destination. It's gonna be BIG, they promise. Built in phases, they say 1.5 million sq feet, which if I'm comparing apples to apples is a bit bigger than CF Chinook, which is currently the biggest mall in Calgary. I think Township will be in Calgary, but I confess I don't know exactly where the south city limits are. Probably further than I think, what with all the sprawl.

Their blurb mentions the new ring road and they note they are poised to capture some of the traffic flowing along it, when it gets completed. They want to have people driving in from all over the city. As if they don't have enough places to shop in already. I guess that's why it's a destination.

I wonder if it will be physically possible to safely walk to this mall? What with the huge roads needed to get cars (except it's not cars, it's mostly bloated SUV's and big-ass pickups) in and out, they might have forgotten about sidewalks and crosswalks. Wouldn't want to slow down the cars, after all.

Then again, even if it was possible, how many people would actually walk? I have to admit I'm pessimistic about this, on two fronts. One, most people are lazy and won't walk more than 100 m if they can possibly avoid it. They'd rather circle the parking lot, waiting for a closer spot to open. Two is the ability to carry home all the cheap shit made by slave labour in China that they bought using money they don't have.

It's not like Calgary doesn't already have shopping destinations. Even I know that they have turned perfectly good farmland into mall blight just north of the airport. Probably other places too, if I paid attention. I don't do malls much. In fact, Linda and I are discussing when we were last in an enclosed mall, and we aren't sure. I think it was my last eye appointment, or when I got my current cell phone. I'm not counting walking through the downtown mall, since that was mostly going to or from work.

I think of shopping as a chore. Something to be done because I need to buy something. I plan it a little like a commando raid to minimize the chances of the ordeal going bad for me or others. Get there and get home again without being killed in traffic or road construction. Find what I need, pay, and escape with it. Such a simple straightforward desire, you'd be surprised how complex it is sometimes. I cannot conceive of going to a mall as recreation.

Now, to calm you down again, and help you regain your serenity you had when you looked at the flowers above, something that is as close to eternal as humans get.

Rock of the Day

Driftwood of the Day
Even though the photo says it's the 25th, I think the date line is playing games with my camera. This is still the beach north of Napier, for at least a few more shots.