Photo Finish Friday: Bokeh

Please click to enlarge

This is from last year, because frankly, I haven't had the time this year to go out and take any Christmas photos.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

PFF is the creation of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Happy

I stopped to take a rest while in the mall the other day and was admiring the decorations. I decided I had to share even if I only had my cell phone with me!

You may have to click to enlarge :)


Have a good weekend all!

PFF is the brainchild of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: What was old is new again

 

This is the Alberta Hotel, newly reconstructed in downtown Edmonton. It stood on this spot from 1903 - 1984, when it was taken down, piece by piece to be later rebuilt. The pink building that you can see behind it in the second photo is the reason for all that work. That is Canada Place and they needed the room in order to build it. Canada Place opened in 1988 and 23 years later, they have finally gotten around to rebuilding the Alberta Hotel.

This is a local photographers Flicker account of the reconstruction, take a minute to have a look (his shots are much better than mine). The only article I can find on it is here.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the creation of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Reflecting

Brake lights reflecting in a stainless junction box next to the LRT.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the concept of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: The Mac

This is the river side of the Hotel MacDonald. (I edited out the neon sign that was peeking around the chimney.) We had to go through the hotel and lounge to get to the patio, but, it was worth it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

PFF is the creation of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Remembering

This was a fun day we had sometime in the '70's! We managed to stuff Dad back into his R.C.N.V.R. Uniform - even though he couldn't get the top done up, the pants were fine! Mom even swooned all over again!

I am proud that my dad, a landlocked-farm-boy, volunteered to join the Navy during WWII. He spent a lot of time feeding the fish in the Atlantic.

I am happy to take the time today to remember all the men and women that have sacrificed their lives, that we may live the lifestyles that we have today.

Photo Finish Friday: City Bison

This is some art work behind the Shaw Conference Centre, discovered while wandering around with my friends from down east.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is brought to us by my brilliant cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Dawn patrol

Yes, I was up in time for the sunrise! This must have been the day of my surgery and here it is just over a month later and I feel so much better! Of course, the dawn is that much later, so it is not a problem seeing it now :)

Have a great weekend all!

PFF is the brainchild of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Baby

We went out to Elk Island Park again before my surgery and found this lovely pair in the paddock.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the brainchild of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: drive-by shooting

I liked how this tower looked in the dusk.


Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the creation of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Giving Thanks

It is Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend as most of you know.

This year I have plenty to be thankful for.  I am thankful the someone figured out how to replace bad hips; that I live in Canada and didn't have to come up with thousands of dollars to pay for a hip replacement. I am glad I chose to live in a city that has a new state of the art facility for hip & knee replacement - even though it is on the other side of the city, I didn't have to travel from another city to get here.

I am glad I have friends that were willing to give me a place in their home (and even give up their bed) so I could get a bit stronger before being on my own. They are being so good to me, they are even taking my laundry to their house to do it for me and still helping me in the shower. I don't know how you ever repay that much kindness, but, I intend to try my best. Neither of them want their names plastered on the internet, so I will leave it at that.

I am healing quickly and feeling like I could take on the world! Of course, I will wait the specified healing time of 6 weeks before trying anything stupid, like walking without the walker or the crutches! Lord knows I do not want to have another surgery on the same hip because of something I did.

That is what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving. Well, that and breathing and having a roof over my head and the usual list :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Gratitude Monday

I'm taking a page from my cousin Leah's book today and talking about gratitude.

I am grateful to live in Canada, where an elective surgery for replacing my hip with an artificial one is covered by health care.

I am grateful that Alberta Health Services & the Red Cross have a program called STELP (Short Term Equipment Loan Pool). So that I can get a walker and a bathing seat and grab bar for the tub, along with a raised toilet seat and handles to go with it, all without paying for it. I can then return it all in 3 months or less when I am finished and the next person can use them.

I am grateful to have good friends that are willing to take me to hospital and bring me into their home afterwards, so that I have help for the first few days after my release. They have already been helpful, running around with me to get the various pieces of equipment that I need, sitting in the Dr.'s office to learn what is going to happen with the surgery and afterwards. They will continue to be helpful for the next couple of months also, helping me with grocery shopping and whatever else I can't do alone.

I am grateful that my wait for surgery isn't any longer than the Dr. originally said it would be. Oh and here is an article on where I am having it done.

I am going in on Friday and probably won't post for awhile. I will let The Bag Lady know how things went, so check out her blog for news.

In the meantime, have a good week everyone!

Photo Finish Friday: Dragonfly

 

We had a picnic in the park the other day and while photographing a plant for my friend, this handsome fellow chose to land nearby. You can see his wings are a bit tattered, it was a very windy day. Amazingly this was shot with my only lens, the 18-55.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the creation of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Flower!

One of my neighbours handed me this flower as I was going past her place with a prospective tenant. Sadly I can't remember what she called it, but, it smelled heavenly!

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the creation of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: deflated

Inside the Shaw Conference centre the other evening with friends and saw this.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the creation of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Athabasca Falls

I must confess, this was my camera, but not my hand/eye that took the shot.

I was so worn out, I didn't dare try to go down to see the falls, I wouldn't have made it back up. My friend kindly took my camera and took a few shots with it. Darn good shots too! Click to enlarge.


Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the creation of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Flowers

This is the first time in years that we have been on the hwy when the flowers have been blooming in the ditch. It is either too early, too late, or the mower has gotten to them first. We have Indian Paintbrush, (Fireweed I think), Daises, Purple Clover and Wild Tiger Lilies. Probably more too, I just can't tell.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the creation of Leah at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Elk

And there were two more in the bush.

Have a good weekend all!

PFF is the creation of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Jasper's New Totem Pole - Part II

I managed to choose a good bench to park myself on, I was able to see most of what was going on and hear the speeches that were made after the raising. The sound system was not very good and there was no way I was able to hear the speeches that were made before the raising. I did mange to see all sorts of of lovely costumes, so here are some crowd photos from Saturday.

 

And from the speeches after:

The totem on Sunday when the biggest crowds and the ropes were gone.

Have a good day all!

Jasper gets a new Totem Pole

My friends & I went to Jasper this past weekend to watch the new totem pole being raised and we had a wonderful time. Up until 2009, there had been a totem pole by the railways in Jasper  (94 years actually). It was however about 140 years old, it had sat elsewhere for the first portion of its life and then been purchased by Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and placed in Jasper. The Jasper Raven Totem Pole was repatriated back to the Haida Gwaii in 2010.


Totem poles are not something the First Nations Tribes in this area create and there was a huge uproar over putting another totem pole in Jasper. Some links; here, here and here. It seems to have been settled out a bit at least as there were no demonstrations and lots of participation by the tribes of the area and the Gwaii.  Here is the story of the new totem and the brothers that designed and carved it.

And it wouldn't be a post by me if there weren't some photos ;)

They were still carving and painting on Friday when we arrived.  We spent so much time Friday night walking around the town and looking at the totem and the new site that I was pretty much useless on Sat & Sun for walking. We figured out from my friends pedometer that we walked about 6-7 miles (well, meandered) over the course of the afternoon/evening. I used my friends as walkers the next two days, or sat on a bench under a tree. (Very frustrating!)

I managed to hobble over and get these shots of the pole going up:

I heard that the people pulling on the ropes all got to keep a section of rope for a souvenir. It was hauled up by manpower, the crane was there only as an emergency stop should it fall.....it weighs 9600 lbs. There were only a couple of times that it seemed it was going go awry.

Sadly as I was stuck on a bench I didn't get shots of the procession of chiefs and other dignitary's. However I will post more tomorrow (or the next day) this is long enough for now.

Have a great day all. 

Photo Finish Friday: Fledgling

One of last weeks babies decided to try his(her?) wings. I'm not sure how long he was on my patio, but I had been hearing a one note peep going on all afternoon and it was driving me nuts!

I took a few shots then went outside to see if I could do anything, he scooted under my planter which gave me an opportunity for a better photo. I put a thin stick up at an angle to the bottom of the trellis, but he didn't figure that out. It probably wasn't high enough anyway. Mom and dad came by a couple of times to try to get him going, but, I didn't see them succeed before it got dark. Doesn't mean he spent the night under the planter though, but at least he would be safe from predators there. Here I was thinking of replacing that planter, I had better not ;)


Have a good weekend all.....I won't be around to reply as I will be in Jasper! Yes, I am going to the mountains ;) I'll catch up on Monday.


PFF is the invention of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Hungry?

 As close as I dared to get with my Sony.

Then I got out the Olympus to use the high powered zoom and managed to get two babies ;)

Have a good weekend all.

Pff is the creation of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Canada Day

Happy Canada Day one and all!

Photo Finish Friday: Enough with the rain!

This is the first time in the 6 years I have been here that mould (moss, lichen, whatever) has started to grow on the concrete that edges my patio (which faces East, btw). We are getting more rain tonight and showers throughout the weekend.

I also just discovered that I am even dumber than I thought. For the first time, I have deleted photos before I downloaded them....this was going to be a cute baby bunny photo! Ah, well! I am sure I will see another one around eventually.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the brainchild of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Pretty in Pink

This was taken a few days ago.  I noticed the other night they are all open, but didn't have a chance to get out again with my camera before the rains started. By the time the rains quit, they will probably be all done. Such is life ;)


Have a good weekend all.


PFF is the brainchild of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Edmonton Clinic

 

South

North

These two buildings are the new Edmonton Clinic at the U of A. It is to be a place for learning, research and patient care. The video on their website talks as though they are one building, but, there is an historical building (the old nurses residence) they couldn't tear down between the two.

Have a good weekend all. PFF is the brainchild of Leah at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Festive

Click to enlarge

University of Alberta Hospital. Not sure why the flags are up on the expanse of windows, but I thought it was interesting.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF is the creation of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Startled me, it did!

There is a small building across the school yard from where I live and it houses a gas line pressure release valve. I know this now, because it decided to release last night and startled me. I had just turned on my toaster oven and turned when the first venting occurred and my first thought was: what did I do? My second thought was: what are the tenants up to now? It sounded like it was right outside my patio door.

Being the brave (or foolish) person that I am, I put on a sweater and ventured outside and at first I couldn't see anything, but, it was so much louder! I was thinking: invasion? The air was vibrating, so maybe the air force was playing around, but they would have to have been really, really low and have figured out how to do it rhythmically. Then I noticed something between the branches of the trees (and the poor scared rabbit that didn't know where to go) so I walked along the grass and sure enough there is a jet of (what I thought was) steam shooting into the air every few seconds. I tried to get a video, but alas I had not yet used the movie feature on my camera and it was on the default setting of won't work on your computer AVCHD, which is for viewing on your HD TV (which I don't have) or making Blue Ray discs (which I also don't have).

One of the other tenants in the building got a pretty good video though and posted it to YouTube.

After listening to that for about 20 minutes, the knock came on the door telling us to evacuate, that it is a gas leak.... by the time I was dressed and stuffed Sibu into his carrier, got my cane and drugs etc. people were coming back in. It smelled worse outside and we were told to wait inside, they would knock again if we needed to go.

Another 30 minutes later.....it finally stopped! Five minutes later, doors were knocked on and we were told to get out, 10 minutes later we were told to go back in again.

Good thing we didn't have to go out again, I am pretty sure I would not have caught Sibu a third time. I am surprised I got him the second time.

I am pleased with the tenants in the building, there was no panic and I am pretty sure everyone left as they were asked to do. I am also glad to live in this wing as I believe the other wing got a bit of the odour, which I did not.

Have a good day all.

Photo Finish Friday: Buds

Sunset tipping the tops of the branches with gold.

Have a good weekend all.

PFF if the creation of Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Moon

This was from a couple of weeks ago, taken with my only lens the 18-55 ;) Click to enlarge please.


Have a good weekend all.


Pff is the creation of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: First taste of...

...grass!

This season's anyway ;)

Have a good weekend all!

PFF is the creation of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Photo Finish Friday: Holster

I made a holster out of an old bag and a bit of cardboard tube, to stop my camera from weighing so heavily on my neck and banging on my hip. I made it long enough (I hope) for a zoom lens when I get one.

Happy Good Friday/Earth day all :)

PFF is the creation of my cousin Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.

Installing Spring

INSTALLING SPRING...

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Install delayed....please wait.

Installation failed.

Please try again.

404 error: Season not found.

Season "Spring" cannot be located.

The season you are looking for might

have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

Please try again.

A friend sent me this and it was so appropriate, I had to share.

Have a good day all.

Hilary from The Smitten Image, very kindly bestowed upon me the Post of The Week award. Thanks Hilary.