Alberta's Legislature

I took so many wonderful photos last week when I was looking for material for the WWC, that I thought I should do a post on Alberta's Legislature building and grounds.I am going to just touch the surface here and provide links for anyone who might be interested. I may also have to break this into a couple of posts there is so much ground to cover after all ;) Sorry!

Alberta became a Province on September 1st, 1905, when we split from the Northwest Territories and became the 8th Province in Canada. Our motto is Fortis et Liber (Strong & Free), our Flower is the Wild Rose, our Tree is the Lodgepole Pine, our Bird is the Great Horned Owl and our Stone is Petrified Wood. There are other emblems that represent the province, but I can't recall them right now.

Construction began on our Legislature building in 1907 and by November 30th of 1911 was complete enough to have the first assembly held there. The official opening didn't take place until September 3rd of 1912.

For those interested, this link has all sorts of info and on the left of the page a link to a virtual tour of the Legislature. I started it, but, I have an old machine and not enough virtual memory. What I saw though was very interesting, on the drop down menu in the centre of the page there is "Quick Access" find Citizens Guide and it brings up a PDF document that along with telling you how the gov't works has details (starts about page 78) about the construction, architect and where the stone and marble came from.

This is the Grand Entrance, on the North side with a fabulous park in front of it. The park, fountains and other grounds were started in the 1970's and completed in 1983. Locals refer to it as "Peter's Pissing Pool" after the Premier that had the work done. Some thought he was pissing away money on it, but it is well used by the public. Click to enlarge.


This art work is one of many that adorn the grounds around the bldg.


The central fountain and pool.


Looking North to downtown, to where the first photo was shot from.


A closer shot of the Grand Entrance, I appear to have cut off part of the dome - oops!


I have so many more photos, but I think this post is long enough already. I will continue this soon.



Have a Good day all.

WWC - Penultimate & Entrance

Tuesday! We all know by know that that means it is time for the Weekly Word Challenge. It is hosted by the ever-daring, ever-darling Tink over at Pickled Beef . If you want to join in the fun, drop by her blog and she will tell you all about it.

The words this week were quite challenging: Penultimate ("the last but one" - according to Oxford) and Entrance. You would think Entrance would be easy enough - HA! However, here are my photos for the week!


These two are both Entrance and Penultimate. (If you stretch) Fort Edmonton Park is where bits of The Assassination of Jesse James and other movies have been filmed. It is made up of rescued houses and Inns, and things like a blacksmith shop and the actual Fort Edmonton. I will do a more thorough post on it over the summer. In the meantime you could say that it was the penultimate, as Edmonton is now the ultimate.

Here is the other sign for the entrance to the park. I will post a longer view on my flickr site, but you can't read the sign very well on it.



Entrance:

This is one of the side entrances to our Legislature Building, this is the one where a lot of brides and grooms get their photos done in the summer.


This is one of the other entrances to the Legislature...under the stairs at the front.


This is from an elementary school built in 1923. I imagine back then they did need to separate the boys and girls.


Us girls are such delicate little things and well, as you all know, we don't learn so well when there are boys around. You can imagine they didn't need the metal grates back then though.




Penultimate:

As we all know, they eventually talked her into doing #4


And them into doing #4


And he found backers to do #4


And of course, my penultimate french fry! Well, for that meal anyway. What! Give up Fries!


There we have it! To see more photos from the challenge, visit the Group Page on Flickr. Of course I took more photos than are here, if you like you can look at them on my Flickr page Here.

Have a great day all.

Tying up loose ends.

This is what the office looks like now. Yep, a lot brighter than before, but I really like it.


Of course it doesn't really look like Honey anything, more lemon sherbet, but, after three coats, it is staying this way for awhile. (Yes, Sis, you will recognize the paintings. I figured if there was something decent up, maybe she wouldn't go too tacky.)


This flower popped up in my friends front flower bed (on the North side of her house). anybody have any guesses? We haven't got a clue what it could be, but it is very pretty.


We were walking around taking pictures for Tuesdays challenge and I snapped this and thought it turned out rather well. I should know what the red bush is, but can't think of it right now.



Further to my creepy neighbour. I remembered last night, that there had been a fellow not too long ago in one of the other bldgs that I had to let the cops into his suite. It turns out he wasn't the guy they wanted, but, while I was standing there, I noticed he had a chain (like the kind you attach children's stuffed toys too) hanging in his front closet. From this chain the man had hanging huge knives and a very large butcher's chopping blade. I found out later that he was in fact a butcher, but still, you use that kind of thing at work, and you leave your tools there.

I doubled checked this afternoon at work and it is the same fellow who is now my creepy neighbour! Needless to say, I will be ignoring & avoiding him, and treating him with kid gloves. Our maintenance man said he has been in the suite and there is nothing like that there now, but, on the other hand this guy would know when the maintenance man was coming in.

My friend and I are going tomorrow to buy a Shade Sail, they are on sale at a local chain outlet and I think I can afford it. The best part of that, is it can be put up right away.

I am being asked, very persistently to please go outside, so someone can eat some grass, so I guess that is it for today.

Good evening all.

Do you have more than one persona?

I think we all do. I have the face that I use when I have to deal with the public. You know the one, charming and pleasant, helpful, somewhat friendly. Well, that is my job, or at least part of it. I work in the rental office of my apt. complex and have to deal with my neighbours all of the time.

My other face is the one I try to portray here. I say try, because I am not a very good writer and don't know how well I do at conveying myself. I am friendly - to an extent. I am helpful when I can be. I do try to not be a bitch, but my that is hard sometimes! I don't really like a lot of people, I never have.

I was very hesitant taking the job, I don't really want to know all of my neighbours. I like to keep to myself and now, I may have to move! We'll see if this guy turns into a stalker, or if he takes the hint.

He is a new tenant that moved in a couple of months ago and up until two weeks ago, he had been dealing with the manager. Well, he came into the office while I was working one evening to get information and I was my usual charming self. Short of being rude, I couldn't get him to leave after I gave him the information. No big deal, the job is rarely busy enough that I can't chat for a few minutes.

He apparently spoke to the boss the next day and then came back the following evening to drop off the forms. Again, short of being downright rude, he wouldn't leave. He lives in my bldg - one floor up and one suite over from me!

Two days later, I am out with Sibu taking pictures and watering my pots (I have poppies that have re-seeded themselves) when he pops out on his balcony and starts to talk to me. Fine, he'll just say hello, how's it going and go away. No such luck. I was taking pictures and trying to ignore him and he just kept chattering along. He has a beautiful dark grey Persian cat, so I took a picture of it. Then made my escape inside.

The next day or so, I was working on the pictures and decided that I would see how this printer does printing out photos, by using his cat's photos. That way I wouldn't be as disappointed as if it were something I wanted for myself. Then, I made the mistake of giving them to him. Well, he had to come down and get them, rather than letting me hand them up over the balcony. That way, he could give me a hug. Remember when I said I don't like people? I really don't like touchy-feel-y people! Our family are not big huggers, I do hug family and some friends though. Then he had to touch my arm (the one in the lympho sleeve) to ask how it was. WTF?

I couldn't get rid of him, again! I thought, well, if I start digging weeds, he will go.....no, he had to get down beside me and help. So, then I had to offer him water, I think that is the first time water has passed his lips without scotch to chase in a long time. About this time, I am getting a bit beyond irritated, so I decide well, if I water my plants he will go. No, he had to stand right beside me, while I was watering, making silly remarks about how I had better not splash him. Then the dip-shit, because I hadn't taken him up on splashing him, decided he should get me wet. What, are you 12?

I was telling the boss this a few days later....she told me that he was asking her all kinds of questions about me and that he thought "we made a real connection". Oh GREAT! So, far, every time I have gone outside, he has popped up on his balcony, now if only I had a big stick, we could play "Whack-a-mole".

Seriously though, I don't want to spend my entire summer inside! I am going to have to make a roof/cover for my swing so I can at least sit out there without having him staring at me. I have ignored him twice now and if I have to I will just be rude. I think he was trying to get my attention last night when I was out talking to friends, by whistling, the short noise you would make when trying to get the dogs attention. Uh, if that was him, that is no way to get my attention, I am not a dog and do not respond to whistles. (I am too old to get many wolf whistles these days, so I just assume when I hear one that it is for some young person in the vicinity.)

If necessary, I will pull out the third persona, the one I try to keep buried very deeply. That is the one that can verbally tear you to pieces, make you wish you had never been born, let alone met me. The one that can wither all hope within a 40 miles radius. Okay, so maybe I exaggerate a bit, but, I can certainly make him wish he had chosen somewhere else to live.

I really hope it doesn't come to that, I don't like that I am capable of that kind of meanness. It is a weird kind of comfort knowing that I have that in my defense arsenal though.

I hope everyone has a good stalker free weekend.

Rhubarb Pie Plate

All this talk of rhubarb has reminded me of this pie plate. I think the other must be in the Bag Lady's possession as there were originally two.




Yes, it is an odd shape for a pie plate isn't it? I asked mom & dad when I was quite young why it was shaped like this. They almost had me convinced that it was a "Rhubarb Pie Plate", so that you didn't have to cut up the rhubarb, you could just lay it out and cook it. I say almost, because "smart-alec" runs rampant in my family and by whatever age I was then, I had learned to think before accepting wholeheartedly what I was told. Besides, I remembered helping mom cut rhubarb just that summer.

We were eating my favourite Lemon Meringue Pie at the time. My mom made the best pie crusts I have ever tasted and the best thing about this pie plate is the two end pieces. As you can see, the design is such that the end pieces got extra crust. You can also see the raised bumps on the edge of the tin to show you where to cut to get 6 even pieces and from the scoring on the bottom, just how often these plates were used.

I don't like rhubarb pie, there I said it! I know - heretic! I like to eat it raw, with sugar in my hand like we did as kids. I don't like apple pie either....cooked fruit is just not my thing. Likewise most veggies are better raw.

How about all of you? Do you have any weird pie plates or other strange cooking apparatus from your past?

Have a good afternoon.

P.S. it was always referred to as the Rhubarb Pie Plate.

WWC - Regret & Pure

I went over and had a look at the paint job in the office this morning, it could use another coat, but we can get away with just touching it up in places. The trim needs another coat though.

The person that I said called the fire department yesterday, actually pulled the alarm, he thought it was propane or gas he was smelling. That would explain the response of four fire trucks. I spoke to the boss this morning and apparently the tenant was waiting for his cleaning lady to come today to clean it out! STUPID!

So, now that you are all caught up, on to the WWC! This week's words are Regret and Pure. No, I don't have a photo of the toxic freezer.

REGRET:

This is all that is left of a mall that was built sometime in the 1980's (I can't remember the year) and has been sitting empty now for at least a decade. Less than a 25 year life for a mall is something the investors probably Regret! I never thought that I would see a mall built, work in it and then see it torn down in my lifetime.




This is the colour that was Regretfully put on the office walls.



This is what happens when I spend two days on my knees with my ankles crossed and then sit back on my feet. Um, that sounds bad...how about: I regret the position I was sitting in while painting!


PURE:


This is an old photo from my point and shoot ('84 - Jasper National Park) Pure Elk.


This is also from my point and shoot about the same time. Pure Majesty!



This was a few days ago, with my digital. Pure Beauty!



Last night, PURE BLISS!


If you want to get in on the fun that is the Weekly Word Challenge, visit the fresh from holiday Tink at Pickled Beef, she will tell you all about it. Don't forget we now have a Flickr Group where you can check out more of the submissions in one place.


Thanks for stopping by.

Three Coats, A BAD Smell and Four Fire Trucks!

Thank you all for your comments & good suggestions yesterday. I discovered that we forgot to paint this, it hides behind the door and I think we should leave it as a grim reminder. Just picture a room with that colour all over the walls and trim, then look at the next photo.


This is the counter top and the carpet that are in the room, oh and rubber baseboards. The carpet is actually a green blue blend and lighter than shows in this photo. The counter top is lighter than the walls were but is fairly accurate in the picture. Don't you love how they didn't bother to edge it?



The yellow is the "primer" that we put on (the actual colour is darker) and you can see here how the green/teal is bleeding through. The white on the door is one coat of "Varathane Colours in Plastic" and the green/teal is bleeding through more on that than on one coat over a black cabinet she had us paint!

So, two coats of the intended colour and another coat of the white and we will still have to be back tomorrow after the office closes to paint some more! I think we are going to leave the walls though as they are. We have already put in 14 hours on this project and the owners are cheap so they will try to pay us less if it takes too much longer.

So, yesterday, Steve's wife made us lunch and as I was standing there knocking on their door, I thought "Yuck! This hall stinks, I hope that is not lunch!" Thanks all the PTB"S that is wasn't! Steve told me today, that the hall was worse last night and he was banging on doors trying to figure out where the smell was from and he hoped no one had died. (Yes, it was that bad.) He went around this morning too to try to get someone to open up as there had been an altercation in the hall with two other tenants about the smell., Of course, no-one bothered to call the office and leave a message, after all we were closed.

His wife was working today, so we had lunch in my suite which is on a different floor, unfortunately same building. He had to run home to get something in the afternoon and when he came back, he said the smell is even worse and had me phone one of the tenants, that he suspected as the source. No luck. Then he asked if I would come up when we were done and we could bang on doors and find it. He didn't want to find a dead body by himself if that is what it was. I don't blame him! I don't want to have to find one ever thanks! Especially one that has been stewing for a few days and it has been warm here.

Round about 5.30 p.m., we were just cleaning up, washing brushes and so on when we hear fire trucks. So, as Steve has left his stove on before I asked him if his oven was on! Sirens are not frequent enough here that you ignore them when they stop this close. Steve was at the window and could see the trucks - oh, they are across the street, no they are turning around. The only truck we could see from where we were was parked in front of the bldg between the one we were in and the one we live in. Nothing we could do, it is the managers bldg and she would take care of anything, if she needed us she knew where to find us - we just continued on, cleaning up.

The fire trucks were still at OUR bldg 1/2 hour later when we finished and were headed home! As I am blogging, you can guess there was no fire. It was the smell! It finally penetrated to my wing of the bldg and one of the tenants simply called the fire department. They sent FOUR big trucks!

The source of the smell, was a dead freezer and the meat rotting in it. Now, that meat has to have been rotting for quite some time for it to have gotten as bad as it did! These are big buildings and the fire men had to get out their blowers and the spray thing they use to get smoke smell out. They also told the manager that the suite was full of open air fresheners and aftershave and incense, they figure he was trying to cover it up. They insisted that the freezer be duct taped shut and removed to the garbage immediately and gave the manager the name of a company that will take it away and dispose of it properly. In all the fire men were here for over an hour just because one man was to stupid or lazy (more likely) to do anything about his freezer. This man just moved in & the freezer looked pretty new. I think (as there are no plug ins in the storage rooms) that he got an adapter for the light bulb to plug in his freezer and then turned off the light! Hello?

However, he has to pay for all of this, so maybe he will pay more attention in future. When I returned to my suite finally, I let the cat out for a few minutes and was promptly accosted by all of my neighbours. Spent a good hour telling them all that there was no fire, that it was a dead freezer and rotten meat and was all taken care of.

Now that the smell is cleared out of my sinuses, I think I might be able to eat, so I am off to see what I have for food - thankfully nothing rotten!

Good night all. I should be able to catch up on blogs tomorrow!

Oh, WWC tomorrow, I better take some pictures!

Exhausted!

So exhausted, I just sat here for ten minutes after typing the title. At this rate, I will be here all night trying to type a post.

Steve (the handyman at the complex here) and I just spent the day painting the office - the primer coat. Yes, we have to go back and do it again tomorrow. We are getting paid for this, over and above our regular pay, which is a good thing, because, OMG I had forgotten how hard it is physically to paint! Of course, I had also forgotten just how out of shape this body has gotten in the last couple of years. I suspect my arm is going to be quite swollen by the time we are done.

I should have taken a photo of the colour before we started. It is a DARK teal, more green, but not quite green and was badly painted to start with. All of the trim was painted the same colour! This is in a room that is 10' X 14' with one window that faces East. Not bad in the morning, but in the afternoon, especially in the winter when the sun sets at 4.00 p.m., it is just too dark.

We are painting it a honey yellow colour with white trim on the windows and doors. It will look soooo much better. In fact it does already, there was a can of mystery yellow left by the painters, that is not the colour that is in the building that is painted yellow, so we used it as the first coat, knowing that it would takes lots to cover that existing dark colour. It may still take two coats of the good paint, but it will be so pretty when it is done! It won't feel like a dungeon or anything.

Now if I could only convince the boss that there is something called Privacy Laws and she can't have the computer positioned so the tenants and anyone coming to view suites can see it (and anything on the desk) we might just be making progress. Of course, it would be nice to get her to stop decorating (to use the term loosely) in tacky-kitchy, but I suspect that will never happen. Oh well, at least it will look better!

I am going to have supper, a bath, then off to bed.

Have a good evening all.

Putting my money where my mouth is

The other day, I was writing about a Flickr group I had found called Memento Mori and was asked if I had put my photos up in the group. Well, I hadn't, so I have now put them on my Flickr site, if you are not squeamish about scars, fresh ones with a bit of blood through the steri-stitches, go ahead and have a look (click on cancer on the right).

I did discover that there is a group (or two, or 583) for cancer and I may put these there rather and let the first group think they are reminding themselves of their mortality.

I will warn you that these are not good photos, all I had was a very old web-cam, so they are a bit grainy and not very clear. I will also warn you that I have marked them as "moderate" for content, as you may catch sight of a nipple in one or two shots.

If any of you have not read my cancer journey and would like to, you are welcome to read it: here, here, here and here.

There are many Groups on Flickr for Cancer, just type cancer in the search box and they will come up.

Thanks.

WWC - Earth & Seven

Once again it is Tuesday and time for the Weekly Word Challenge Hosted by the vacationing Tink of Pickled Beef.

This is the last of the numbers and elements theme and the last element of course is Earth and the number is Seven. Funny she should pick that, my grandmother had seven sons of which my dad was the youngest. (She did have one daughter, the oldest.) I thought I had a copy of the only picture that shows all seven of them, but alas, I can't find it. My mom had seven sister's, which made for 8 girls to their one brother.

Earth:

They are moving a lot of EARTH to put the LRT in my neighbourhood.

A small EARTH mover sitting idle.


You can see the EARTH hidden in this little copse - across the road from the construction.

A week later, almost all of the EARTH is moved back into place.



Seven:

SEVEN amber coloured marbles from a game.

SEVEN eggs on a plate.


SEVEN boards make the top of this rotting picnic table.



If you want to join in the fun, visit Tink at Pickled Beef and she will let you in on the details. Just a reminder that several of the WWC players have set up a group at Flickr and you can enjoy their contributions there. Of course, I took more pictures and you can see the rest of them on my Flickr site. (probably much later today, as it is having troubles loading)


Thanks for stopping by.

P.S. LRT - Light Rail Transit, downtown is subway, ground level elsewhere.

This & That

I was on my Flickr account last night and (for those that don't have one) when you click on Groups, it will bring up any you belong to and on the side a random selection of other groups out there. Last night, one of the random ones caught my eye and I decided to have a look.

It was called "Memento Mori" - Latin for "Remember, you must die". The Group instruction was "Please post what reminds you of your mortality". There were several beautiful photographs, mostly of graveyards, skeletons or various bones, some of the church in Europe that is made from skeletons. Pictures of dead animals, all beautifully photographed. Some photos were of sun breaking though clouds, others had more of a horror film promo feel to them and some just were very nice photographs.

Maybe it is just me, but I wasn't once reminded of my mortality looking at these pictures. We see graveyards on a regular basis, the beauty of the sun breaking through after a storm doesn't remind me that I will die. I think the group administrators could have come up with a better name, as the instructions indicated they would accept this type of photograph.

Personally, I expected more along the lines of this:


Or any of the photos I have of the scars and bruising that accompanied my ordeal. Maybe I just have had a more personal look at my mortality than most.

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My friend is having as much fun with the WWC as I am. I got a phone call this morning asking what the words were for next Tuesday as she had just discovered something that was great! It might work too, we have to research a bit. If not, I am sure I can make it work for something else later on.

***********************

My sister the Bag Lady has named a calf after my blog! If you look on my side bar, you will see a picture of "Pegasus the Calf"! Isn't that the cutest thing you ever saw?

**********************

My boss is stupid! She can't even buy a cardboard file box the correct size! Of course, she asked her husband if they were the right size and he said yes, so they must be! The blind leading the stupid! AAaargh!

**********************

I got my bike out of storage last night and the chain promptly fell off. I have not had to put a chain back on in an eon! I got it though, then I locked up my bike and went in and washed the grease from my hand. I am not very bright, I didn't take the compression glove off of my right hand before I started! Trying to replace a chain left-handed, then having to try to wash the grease off one handed...it took three goes of soap before it was clean enough to get the glove off so that I could wash with a nail brush and both hands. I still haven't gone for a ride and from the sounds of the wind whistling through the gaps in the windows, I won't be going today.

I think that is about as much randomness as I have for today. Take care everyone.

WWC - Fire & Three

Well, it is Tuesday again and that means it it time for the Weekly Word Challenge hosted by Tink from Pickled Beef. We have been doing Numbers & Elements and this week the theme continues with Three and Fire.

THREE:

I actually took this a week or more ago because I though it looked funny. Then, when Tink chose Three as the number for this week, I realised I could use it here.

You have to cut holes in the bread dough to help it fry evenly. Grumpy face!


The sign at the apartment complex - again.



Three of the pyramids at the Muttart Conservatory and three Spruce Trees.

These lovely dragons, consented to have their picture taken together, just for this WWC. They live in my friends yard and their names are (L-R): Skybolt, Chronos, & Mystery.


FIRE:

I had soooo much fun with this - I took a total of about 270 fire pictures. Then of course I had to pare that down - that was hard!

Fire Writing.

Fire swirling & jumping.


Fire remains.


Something you should never do.



Something you should have on hand.



So, as usual, I took many more pictures and you can click here to see them on my Flickr site, or you can click here to see mine and several other contributors shots on the WWC Group on Flickr.


If you think you might like to join the fun, head on over to see Tink at Pickled Beef and she will tell all about it.

Have a good day all.

P.S. the words for next week are Earth & Seven.

This and that

This is the little bird that is nesting in the house outside my apartment. I think it is a sparrow of some kind, but isn't it cute?


So, I finally made it to the Muttart Conservatory here in Edmonton! In the 29 years of my adulthood, I have lived in Edmonton three time for a total of 16 years. Oh, that must be someone else, I am not that old! The years I didn't live here, I visited at least 4 times a year, probably more often.

I am pretty sure the Muttart is about 30 years old, but may only be 25, I can't seem to find anything on the date it was built. So, I say finally! I have planned visits only to wind up doing other things. The Muttart is closed for renovations - for the next ten months. I knew that before we went though, we only went so I could get photos for tomorrows WWC. In the meantime, here are some extra shots taken from the river valley.

This is a gazebo at the Muttart. I imagine in summer it is very pretty.

This Magpie is sitting on the sign that tells you about the really ugly Peace Dove that sits above the hill from the Muttart.


This is the dome of the Legislature building across the river.


This is called Canada Place and yes, it is pink! (Sorry no website) The black glass structure in front on the left is called the Shaw Conference Centre and is built down over the hill toward the river. On a bank that is notorious for sliding. As it is still there 30 some years later, I guess they did a pretty good job.

This is the Hotel Macdonald. I love this building, it was built in 1915 and is so elegant. There was an unfortunate addition built in the 50's on the other side and Edmontonians took to calling the whole thing "the Mac & the Box it came in". The box was torn down in the 80's thank God! It is the Fairmont chain now, but originally this was one of the CN Rail Hotels that are strung across our country.


So, that was my Sunday morning, then I had to go to work.

Take care all.