Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: No people

Though the sun did manage to come out later today, much of the day was cold and snowing. I was out walking all morning and I think it must have been one of the worst, if not THE worst, day underfoot that I've experienced. Snow had melted and frozen into an endless sheet of ice, and the freshly falling snow was hiding the treacherous conditions. You had to watch your step almost every inch of the path and, in the end, I cut short my walk. Not worth the risk of so easily slipping and falling! What a difference compared to my walk a few days ago in the same area - warmer, with a coating of beautiful ice crystals on everything. This little Black-capped Chickadee flew down as I crossed the small, wooden bridge at Burnsmead, Fish Creek Park.

This is what everything looked like on Saturday morning, down near the Bow River. It was one of the most beautiful mornings I have ever seen! Every plant, bush, blade of grass, metal railing and fence, etc. was decorated so delicately with gorgeous ice crystals. By the time we turned around to retrace our steps, it had all melted : ( I would love to be able to watch these crystals grow under a microscope. Hey, Machel - if you look really closely and use a HUGE amount of imagination, you can see the faintest suggestion of dotted bokeh : )

I did actually use this photo to make one of fd's flickrtoys Motivator "cards" quite a while ago. It was shown in a much smaller size and the actual file size was just tiny. Thought I'd post the original photo to my Photostream, to keep safely. We had a lovely sunny day today (just when I had to spend the afternoon indoors, doing a volunteer shift), but snow is in the forecast for tomorrow, yet again. LOL, I found out the colour of my car today - yes, I washed it, after months of grime, snow, and dirty slush. Just hope all the car doors don't freeze shut overnight!

Not as cute a photo as the standing one I uploaded the other day, but at least you get to see the whole (more or less) animal this time. These Long-tailed Weasels move incredibly fast and it's a miracle to get a photo : ) He didn't move quite fast enough, though, to prevent a predator catching him by the tail at some time and pulling off the end half (?) of his lovely long tail with the black tip. You can see a straggly bit of white fur hanging from the tail stump. I hope it wasn't one of "my" owls that tried to have him for dinner! They all share the same little area.

A Carnation that I bought about a week before Christmas. There was just one different flower in the small bunch and really that is why I bought them - a lovely white one with red edges.

I came across these four very young Gophers (Richardson's Groundsquirrels) on my walk to see "my " baby Great Horned Owl this afternoon. I was able to get quite close - these innocent little things simply froze. I guess they have a lot to learn, as their parents disappear down into the burrow like a shot. When I was back home, a friend phoned to say that if I wanted to get some really good shots, I should go where he had just been - a picnic area in another part of the park. He said he had seen young Gophers who froze and in fact he was able to gently reach out and stroke one of them. I said that I had just been taking photos of other little ones. The way nature works, though, is that these cute little animals will perhaps provide "my" Great Horned Owls with a few meals!