Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: broken

This is a long weekend here, thanks to a Civic Holiday on Monday. "In 2018 Civic Holiday is on Monday, August 6. The Civic Holiday is celebrated on the first Monday of August and it's a public holiday in some provinces and territories. The civic holiday is not a statutory holiday although it's a day off for many employees across the country." www.statutoryholidays.com/civic-holiday.php Last night, I happened to check the weather forecast for our city and was shocked to see a very hot week coming up, with 34C for next Friday! This morning, that has gone down to 33C, which is still far too hot without air-conditioning. Today is a dreary day, but the temperature is only 16C this afternoon, which is great. So thankful for some cool air coming in through my window. Yesterday morning, 3 August 2018, I left home around 7:45 am and drove SW of the city to Rod Handfield's acreage. For a number of years, this has been one of my favourite places to explore, as Rod's forest tends to be full of all sorts of beautiful treasures. It is one of the two best places that I know for mushrooms, though I am sure there are many others that I have never visited and don't even know about. Our last fungi foray at Rod's was one year ago, on 6 August 2017. That was such a dismal year for fungi everywhere - we saw maybe three very small mushrooms that I didn't even bother to photograph, plus a little cluster of Oyster mushrooms. Yesterday was much better, as we have had a number of rainy days recently. Certain species were missing, including one of my favourite kinds - Fly agaric / Amanita muscaria. Two years ago, on 6 August 2016, we found a wonderful display of these mushrooms deep within the forest. There was one small group of Magpie Inky Cap / Coprinus picaceus. So delicate and gorgeous. The photo above shows one of the participants holding up one of two beauties that were trodden on by our main Naturalist. I was taking photos of them when suddenly a boot appeared and came to within an inch of them. I told him not to move, but after stopping for a second, he then accidentally trod right on top of these and crushed them, to our 'horror'. I asked someone if she could hold one of them for me, so that I could take a shot or two, seeing as the stem had been broken in two. While I was taking photos during the morning, I suddenly noticed that the image seen in my FZ200's viewfinder was smaller than it should be and also that I could no longer take 48x zoom, just 24x. I had no idea why this was happening, until I got home and downloaded my photos to my computer. Somehow, no idea how, I must have caught the "burst" button, setting my camera to take multiple shots at a time - and when I say multiple, I mean MULTIPLE! I couldn't tell that the camera was taking more than one shot. I found that the default setting in my camera for burst was 60 images. So, every time I thought I was taking one photo, my camera was taking 60 basically identical shots. Sigh! Normally, I never use burst mode. Worst of all, the resolution of each shot is ridiculously tiny, so they are useless for anything other than displaying on a computer screen. The photo above is only 1920 x 1440 (1.38 MB after processing). Many thanks, Karel, for leading this foray and for identifying some of the mushrooms that were seen. Others would need tests such as spore prints, etc. in order to be identified. Our thanks to Rod, for once again inviting us to explore his amazing forest. He and his wife are such hospitable people, and we really appreciate their generosity in sharing their beautiful land that is so rich in diversity.

I'm never sure if "talus" is the same as "scree", when it comes to describing a hillside of broken rocks. Anyway, these broken, jagged pieces were photographed at Rock Glacier, Kananaskis. The whole mountain slope is covered in large and small pieces of rock, many of them covered in wonderful lichens. The only time I had ever driven to Kananaskis (the mountain area closest to Calgary) was on 10 September 2016, when my daughter came with me. I wasn't too impressed with the photos I took on this first drive, especially of the little Pikas (Rock Rabbits) that we went to see, so I wanted to go back and spend a bit more time with them. A drive like this also helps me get a bit more used to my new car - before the roads are covered in snow and ice! Actually, we have had snow since then, but I stayed home a few days and waited till it had all melted : ) There were a few small patches of snow on the ground in places close to the trees when I got to where I see the Pikas. I left home at 8:45 am, later than I had intended, and drove southwards via Millarville and the back way to Highway 40. When I Googled the distance via that route, it gave me 134 km, 1 hr 41 mins from home to the Highwood Pass. Needless to say, I kept stopping to take photos, so it took me much longer than that. By the time I got back home around 5:00 pm, I had driven 299 km. This day was a Monday, so not much traffic anywhere, which makes a huge difference. This time, I only drove as far as the Pikas, just north of the Highwood Pass, especially as I wanted to make sure that I wasn't driving home in the dark. The Highwood Pass, at an elevation of 2,206 m (7,238 ft) is the highest paved pass in Canada. In past years, I have hiked the Ptarmigan Cirque, Pocaterra and Arethusa Cirque trails, but can no longer do hikes like these. The scenery is breathtaking in this whole area (indeed, for the whole drive), some mountain slopes covered in forest and other mountain faces displaying bald, breathtaking folds above the treeline. There was only one 'scary' incident on this trip. I had stopped to take a few scenic shots when I was on the backroad to join Highway 40. I didn't push my car door completely closed and when I went to open it, I discovered it was locked! Pressing the fob to open all the doors did nothing. I just could not get into my vehicle. Thank goodness, I had read on the Internet that there is a key hidden away inside the fob - otherwise I would never have known and might still be standing there, lol! Feels SO good to know that I am now comfortable enough to do this drive on my own, after so many years of wishing I had the courage to do it. Thank you, little Pikas, for being so adorably cute, that I was determined to drive back to see you : )

This is one of two Great Horned Owl owlets (or is it Great Horned Owlets?) down at the east end of Fish Creek Park in the SIkome area. Occasionally, when you are lucky, either one or both will pop their little white head up above the front edge of the nest cavity. More often than not, though, Mom will be sitting in the cavity, blocking the owlets. Here, you can see part of her tail feathers on the right of the nest. Before too long, though, things will change, as these little guys grow so fast. Each year, it's interesting to see which of two broken tree trunks they will decide to nest in. This is the best one, as it is not as tall and has no branches at the top that block the view when the leaves start to come out, and so one gets a much better view. Still taken from a good distance, using full zoom.

Towards the end of our botanizing walk at the Bearberry Prairie Natural Area/Sundre Natural Area four days ago, friend Doug handed me this broken mushroom to photograph. Definitely past its prime, but I don't remember seeing a fungi like this one before : ) It had been growing in moss and grass. ID provided by Doug Waylett - thanks! Wooly Inky Cap, Coprinus lagopus.