Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: restaurant

Again, all three photos posted today were taken two days ago, on 19 November 2017, when I spent a few very enjoyable hours out with my daughter. This is the time of year, of course, when Christmas Markets and Fairs spring up everywhere, within the city and in various hamlets outside the city. There were two that we ended up going to - Granary Road and Bragg Creek. This was the very first Christmas for the newly opened Granary Road. Bragg Creek market has been held for many years, but we had never been out there to one before. Both felt calm and were far less densely packed (at least when we were there) than some of the bigger markets in various towns. I had been hoping to get over to Granary Road all summer and fall, but it just didn't happen. This is a brand new market garden, SW of the city, with an active learning park, too. Before this, the area was simply a huge, empty field, except for the row of bright red sheds. I was very disappointed months ago, when I first saw what was being planned for that particular area. Most of all, I and many other photographers, were horrified when we discovered that the row of five old, red granaries/sheds had been removed from the landscape. Some of you may remember my photos of these granaries, which I called "The Famous Five". They have been replaced by five new, red sheds which, I have to say, looked better yesterday than I had previously thought. Link for my album, "The Famous Five" - 25 images of the original, old row of five, red granaries. www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/albums/72157648910659879 The huge main building, seen in this photo, is full of various permanent, carefully chosen vendors, and a restaurant. Very nicely designed, I thought. Three huge greenhouses stand next to the main building - fresh produce is sold from them and from local farmers. A small petting Zoo was being held in one of the greenhouses - Alpacas, goats and bunnies, all very cute. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpaca The huge, outdoor educational area looks like a lot of fun, and I want to go back next summer to wander round it, when this part reopens for the season. www.granaryroad.com/ Thank you, Rachel, for an enjoyable few hours spent with you! Always the best kind of day. See you in December.

These beautiful Irises were growing in a flower bed at a very popular restaurant that friends Sandy and Heidi and I stopped at, on our way back to Calgary from a three day trip down to Waterton Lakes National Park. "With its merging landforms, connected ecoregions and its mild, moist, windy climate, Waterton Lakes National Park is an amazing meeting place for an abundant and diverse collection of vegetation. Despite it's small size (505 sq km) Waterton is graced with over 1000 species of vascular plants . Over half of Alberta's plant species are found in this tiny place. The park's four ecoregions - foothills parkland, montane, subalpine and alpine - embrace forty-five vegetation communities. Sixteen of these are considered significant because they are rare or fragile and threatened. Waterton also has an unusually high number of rare plants - over 175 are provincially rare (e.g. mountain lady's-slipper, pygmy poppy, mountain hollyhock), and over twenty of these are found only in the Waterton area (e.g. western wakerobin, Lewis' mock-orange, white-veined wintergreen). Over 50 species are rare in Canada (e.g. Bolander's quillwort, Lyall's scorpionweed, Brewer's monkeyflower.)" From Parks Canada website. www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/waterton/natcul/natcul1/f.aspx I was so lucky to be invited to join friends Sandy and Heide on a three-day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park, from 19-21 (inclusive) June 2015. We met up with other members of the Alberta Native Plant Council for their annual Botany Alberta weekend. Most people who attended stayed at the Crooked Creek Campground, a 5.6 km drive east of the Waterton Park Gate on Highway 5, but my friends and I stayed at the Crandell Mountain Lodge on the edge of Waterton town. The ANPC people had a list of species that they hoped to find, and they were very successful. Our stay down south overlapped the annual Waterton Wildflower Festival, but we came across very few people on our various drives and hikes. Needless to say, I was extremely fortunate to spend three days with people who are very knowledgeable about plants and many other things. This meant that I got to see many wildflower species, including several that were new to me, such as this gorgeous Mariposa Lily. It was one of the flowers that was on my mental Wish List - and there were hundreds of them to be seen! Our two main hikes of the weekend were the Bertha Lake Trail as far as the Bertha Falls (on 20 June), and the Crandell Lake Trail (on 21 June). Makes me smile when a described "short, easy hike" in a book or on the Internet turns into a full day of exploration along the trail, taking hours to reach the destination, though returning to the cars in a much shorter time. The wind made photographing plants a real challenge, including the beautiful Mariposa Lilies in the meadow along the Hay Barn road. Though I took plenty of photos, I wasn't sure that I would end up with any that were sharp enough. Trying to catch a quick shot when a flower is blowing in and out of the viewfinder is not easy! I tried to find a list of plant species in Waterton Park on the Internet, but had no luck. I do have the book, "Wildflowers of Waterton Park" by Jacinthe Lavoie and Ian Wilson, which has an Index of Plant names, but I had hoped to find a list that I could print out. Thank you so much, Sandy and Heide, for a great three-day trip in such spectacular scenery, surrounded by amazing nature. The wildflowers were top priority, but I was so happy to see insects, scenery and even a bit of wildlife that included a very distant female Grizzly with a cub from last year and two Black Bears, one of which was along the Crandell Lake trail at the same time we were there. Thanks, too, Sandy, for doing all the driving - so much appreciated by Heide and myself! Also have to thank you both for being so thoughtful as far as my limitations go and for your patience in allowing me to take lots of photos! Thanks, Heide, for all the reminders to stay hydrated while hiking! Two other people to mention - Arnold, it was so good to see you at the meeting place. Been a long time since our paths crossed. Jerry P. (from Calgary), good to bump into you in Waterton, and thanks so much for telling us about various sightings and even taking us to several of the locations, despite the fact that you had just returned from a major mountain hike that day. Loved seeing the distant Loon lying in the grass at the edge of one of the wetlands. Great trip, great company! How lucky I am.

This moth was resting on a lovely bright orange wall of a restaurant that we stopped at in Vulcan (south east of Calgary), after our long birding day to the Majorville Medicine Wheel. Haven't identified it - not sure if it can be identified with its wings closed! Not very spectacular, but I loved it against the orange. Another dull day today, but thankfully it has stopped raining and snowing.