One of a pair

I have just watched this short (maybe 13 minutes?) video about a young girl who is removed from her home and placed in foster care. A friend had added it to her Facebook page and it is so beautifully acted by the young actress, and powerful. Maybe not to everyone's taste but, in my opinion, important to watch.

www.littlethings.com/removed-foster-care?utm_source=fbsp&...

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All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 22 May 2016, when my daughter and I spent a great day together, as a slightly early treat for my birthday : ) Always my favourite way to spend a day!

We weren't quite sure what we would be doing, as it depended on how my daughter was feeling - so much pain, while waiting for surgery. We did know for sure that we were going straight to the Saskatoon Farm for a delicious meal, though. Not a day for walking outside, as it poured with rain the whole day. In fact, it has barely stopped at all the last couple of days, with the added surprise of a few minutes of falling snow early yesterday morning. If we could only send at least some of our rain up north to help with everyone fighting the devastating wildfire that continues to spread! That whole area has been getting some rain apparently, but not enough to put an end to the destructive path. The whole province has been a tinder box, waiting to go up in flames, so we are very grateful for the rain that's falling. Just a shame that it is on our long weekend for Victoria Day. I haven't checked yet, but especially the mountain area was forecast to have a lot of snow, so I woud imagine a lot of campers will have returned to the city already. The temperature yesterday morning was 2C (windchill -2C) and it remained cold all day, just like the day before, when I was out with my camera all day.

After the Saskatoon Farm, we went westwards into Okotoks, so that we could visit the little rustic antique place, All through the House. From there, we drove various back roads, looking for any birds that might not be hiding from the cold and rain. I was so happy that we saw a couple of Snipe standing on fence posts, as they make such beautiful photos. We even saw several hawks - more than I usually see when I go for a drive. The one in my photo was one of a pair of Swainson's Hawks. Its mate was in a nearby tree. Very often, photos I take from inside the car tend to not come out properly and I get too many blurry shots. Thankfully, some did come out OK. In fact, I have been amazed at how some of my photos came out the last two days, despite the awful weather. Normally, I would have stayed at home on such wet, dreary days, as I get mostly blurry, grainy shots in bad weather with low light. Not sure how I ended up with lots of sharp images, but maybe I need to get out more, even when the weather is not encouraging at all.

"A classic species of the open country of the Great Plains and the West, Swainson’s Hawks soar on narrow wings or perch on fence posts and irrigation spouts. These elegant gray, white, and brown hawks hunt rodents in flight, wings held in a shallow V, or even run after insects on the ground. In fall, they take off for Argentine wintering grounds—one of the longest migrations of any American raptor—forming flocks of hundreds or thousands as they travel." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Hawk/id

Thanks so much, Rachel, for a much-enjoyed day and thank you for the (as always) carefuly chosen gifts and cards. Most of all, thank you for spending the day with me!