Not from our garden

We took a bit of a drive in the country yesterday, or what passes for country near Calgary. It's very sculpted in an acreage and paved road kind of way. It used to be actual working farms and ranches, but they've mostly been bought out by people that want a mountain view paid for by their buy out packages. Some of it is waiting for construction, as if there isn't enough construction already.

The point was to visit a greenhouse in Black Diamond that has an art sale. My big complaint about it is that they don't allow photographic art, but several of the artists put up excellent work. I like looking at landscape paintings, mostly.

On the way out the white of the mountains had this really weird yellowish tint. No idea what it was, but it wasn't attractive in the least. On the way back it was much nicer.

The other thing I was hoping to do is get some photos of flowers we don't have, and hope the light was interesting. They have a small pond that I wandered around for a while, but didn't see a shot.

Rock of the Day

Driftwood of the Day
I took this one almost as much for the sky as the log.

Critters

I was out for a walk in Fish Creek after the rains, just to see what I would see. This critter was calm. Aware of me from a fair distance, but not frightened. It walked off in a sedate way, and it's surprising how fast it vanished into the trees.

I startled this critter, and it splashed down the creek desperate to get away from me. I was so startled I didn't get the camera up to my face till it was some distance away. I'm pretty sure this is a coyote.

This critter recently had her right eye fixed. They removed cataracts and installed a lens, and now she doesn't need to wear glasses for that eye. It's a little odd for me to see her reading without them, with the book at a normal distance. Before the surgery she's been reading with the book right up to her nose, which is a bit disconcerting.

You get some recent green on green, and some red on green. I'm sure you can work out which is which. The rose is from our garden, one of the first blooms on that plant.

Somewhere in Fish Creek. Don't ask. I just like the pattern of leaves.

Rock of the Day
You may have seen this on Instagram

Driftwood of the Day
It looks more like sponge, I know. I think it's going to break down and fall apart soon.

Beneath the surface

Things happen for a reason. Or so we believe. The problem is that not everything is visible. So when something happens and we don't see a reason for it, we make one up. That can quickly get into tinfoil hat territory if you're not careful.

Even worse, we make up bad reasons. Often we ascribe the worst motivations to other people, that they are doing something out of malice. There's two sayings:

• Walk a mile in someone else's shoes.
• Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity/incompetence.

Yesterday was World Refugee Day, which I hadn't known till I attended to my social media in the late afternoon. I don't hang around particularly cranky people, but some of the reasons I've heard that 'explain' why refugees come here display a level of narcissism that is right up there with Trump. 

It ought to be well known what refugees go through. They are preyed on by some of the most vile people in the world. They undertake arduous dangerous journeys with little hope of achieving their goal. They don't have enough money or food. They put their children on leaky boats, hoping to follow later on another leaky boat. There's more, and worse. Why do they leave? Because all those uncertainties are better than what they have where they are.

So when someone tells me that refugees are terrorists, I laugh at them. These refugees have seen terrorism up close and personal, and I cannot believe they want more of it once they escape. Millions of refugees and immigrants to North America over the last several centuries came because they wanted a better life for their children, and a chance to make something of themselves. Is that so difficult to understand? Why wouldn't today's refugees want the same things? It's almost certain that at least some of your ancestors made that choice, so you getting high and mighty about it is a case of "fuck you jack, I've got mine."

What about criminals, they say. Aren't they all criminals? Crossing borders, stealing food, drugs, whatever? Well, maybe. But consider their other choices. When you support making conditions unbearable in their homeland by cutting trade and aid, and make legal immigration impossible, what is left? Why are you surprised?

This patch of water caught my eye during a walk along the Elbow. At first I thought it was a bird looking for food, and would pop up. I pointed the camera, and waited. And waited. Then a patch of clearer water came along and I realized there was a rock or a stick producing the ripple. I still liked it, and played with the colours a bit to liven up the muddy brown.

Rock of the Day
Linda and I have been imagining how the rocks got all those scars. Trying to imagine a rocky knife fight would have been much easier if I'd drunk more wine first.

Driftwood of the Day
This was one weird piece of driftwood. Normally it clearly looks like wood, but this was almost more like a piece of cast plastic. A huge piece.

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.

Flower catchup, colour to cheer you up

There I was, nibbling down a bison burger when I noticed the brilliant flower against the blue vase. I didn't quite put the burger down and run for the camera, but I thought about it. Right after, though.

Red is hard, but this turned out the way I had hoped.

All the hens and chicks look like they are doing well, and some are building towers. That's always neat to see.

Outside between rainstorms. The peonies will be soon.

A splash of colour from one of the baskets.

Even old tired petals can be interesting.

Rock of the Day

Driftwood of the Day
And here we are at the end of Feb 24. Not the typical driftwood shot as you've become accustomed to, but there is some there, and there is a beach, plus Linda if you look carefully, to say nothing of moody clouds and a rain shower out to sea.

Still too fast and deep, plus

A stroll through Fish Creek brought the following thoughts. It's still too soon to do one of my rambles through the creek. (Let me know if you want to join me when the time comes.) I saw lots of beaver food, and what looks like a beaver dam, but no beavers. Lots of children though, maybe they scared the beavers into hiding. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a big bird landing in a tree, and then it wouldn't leave again. This is one of the few times I wished I'd dragged along the behemoth lens. Experts suggest it's a Great Blue Heron. (The bird, not the lens.)

First bees of the year! They've been out and about for a while, which is nice to see. That particular pot of dirt attracts the bees like you wouldn't believe! I don't know what's growing, but it's like the boss bee wants minute by minute reports.

The Irises have come into season.

Rock of the Day
You may have seen this on Instagram. There's a similar shot coming with lot more colour. Stay tuned.

Driftwood of the Day

Wine and rainbows

There was a lovely rainbow the other day. Almost a double, with just a hint of the second. I did not scramble out to look for the pot of gold.

I haven't forgotten our garden.

It was a big day for wine, with everything coming together. Bottle one kit. Rack and stabilize another. Start yet another. Check up on another as it does it's thing, which is mostly sitting quietly while gravity does it's thing. The bottled white is a quite pale, and the fruitiness is right up in my face from the little taste I got, so it might take 6 months before we drink it.

Rock of the Day

Driftwood of the Day
I liked the end of this log, and was trying to get the seagull that was perched on it in focus, as well as the other end of the log.