Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: cross

My plan was to not post any photos this morning, as I have such a very early start for an out-of-city Christmas Bird Count. However, I woke up just after 4:00 am, nearly 45 minutes before my alarm clocks went off, so I quickly chose and edited three photos to post. The forecast is for a lot of snow today, sigh. With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the next 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day on 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. Looks like we could be getting around 20 cm of snow today, badly timed for one of our out-of-city Christmas Bird Counts. Two days ago, it was rather chilly, with a cold wind. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them. The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, even a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses. From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post. A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field. Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across. Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year. "Although the tiny town of Dinton, AB does not appear on most maps, it now occupies a place in motion picture history. Locations Manager Darryl Solly was asked to find a “small unadorned church” for the del Mar wedding scene in the movie, Brokeback Mountain. The unassuming Anglican chapel at Dinton, built by prairie pioneers in 1906, shown here in these exclusive pre-production photos, was the perfect spot for Alma and Ennis to be married." The movie stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams and depicts the complex romantic and sexual relationship between two men in the American West from 1963 to 1983. www.findingbrokeback.com/Albums/StThomasChurch.html www.ourroots.ca/e/roots/lh6/lh6b0057.jpg

On 18 July 2016, I had a wonderful day out NE of the city with my daughter. The last time I actually drove eastwards was about six months ago, when I was shooting Short-eared Owls near the end of January. The last time (also the first time) I had ever driven out as far as Drumheller was on 29 September 2014. A few times, I had been fairly close when I went on several botany trips out that way, but when you are carpooling, you can't just go wherever you want. So, my daughter and I had a great time exploring some of the roads between Calgary and Drumheller. There were a handful of things or places we wanted to check out, but many things were total surprises. We knew we wanted to see fields, yellow fields full of canola as far as the eye could see. No disappointment there as we took in the gorgeous colour and the perhaps not so pleasant smell of this crop. When we were driving through regular, green landscapes, it all seemed so 'ordinary' after being treated to vibrant gold. As well as canola fields, we also knew of a particular grain elevator and nearby old barn that we were keen to see. There was also an old, two-storey house in a hilly setting that we knew would have to be photographed from a great distance, but we were curious about it. There was also a small wetland that I wanted to drive by, just in case there was something to see. How glad we were that we went, as a magnificent Black-crowned Night-heron was posing nicely on a post, out in the open. This was the first time I had ever seen one close, so it made my day. At least, an adult - in October 2015, I had seen a gorgeous juvenile in Fish Creek Park. Continuing on our way, we stopped to take a couple of quick shots of an Eastern Kingbird and then my daughter spotted a dark patch just above ground level, hidden in the bushes. It turned out to be an Eastern Kingbird's nest, with what looked like three large babies in it. No idea how she caught sight of this, but it was a treat to see. Soon after this, we stopped to photograph two beautiful red barns and then stopped again to photograph a Western Kingbird. This is not a bird I normally see, so i was very happy to catch sight of this one. A short drive further, we spotted a shorebird standing on a fence post - and then a second one a few posts away. At first, we thought maybe they were Wilson's Snipe, but then realized that they were something different - two beautiful Upland Sandpipers. I had seen one a number of years ago, but it was too far away for a photo. These are uncommon in Alberta. So, another very lucky find. It was a pretty good day for hawks, too - so much so, that I got a gentle reminder form my daughter that I didn't need to photograph EVERY hawk we saw, lol. We had other places and other things that we wanted to get to. As well as birds and beautiful scenery, we saw several old barns, including a special small shed/granary. Each year, the farmer allows the graduating class from the local high school to decorate this old building in any way they wish. A fun idea and it certainly adds a splash of colour. I was absolutely fascinated to read a little bit of history from someone who was a contact of mine on Flickr two or three years ago. Her Grandmother was apparently born in this house/shed. It was later converted to a granary and now, of course, has become the canvas for local students. One of our main goals was to visit the old grain elevator at Sharples (not the one seen in this photo). I had wanted to visit there for quite a while and finally, we made it. Unfortunately, the elevator and nearby barn were in shadow, but it was great to see both old structures. We also passed the old elevator in the photo above when we were driving along the road north of the river, on the way to Drumheller. This, needless to say, meant another stop for photos. www.bigdoer.com/9124/exploring-history/prairie-sentinels-... A great day of fun, seeing and photographing such a variety of things. Beautiful weather and, best of all, a day spent with my daughter. Thanks so much, Rachel - glad you felt up to a day out, but sorry you got so many mosquito bites!

We walked around the Reader Rock Garden this morning, as well as walking the residential streets and alleys in the Rideau/Roxborough area. Good to see Wood Ducks on the River - my first ones for this year. Same with the Brown Creeper. The Union Cemetery is next to the Reader Rock Garden. Felt very different seeing this place in the fog. "Calgary averages twenty days with fog each year. Half of these normally occur in the fall and half in the spring. Environment Canada does not list which month has the most days with fog." We seem to have had more days of fog and hoar frost this winter than what I remember from other winters, but maybe I just missed them before. I had asked my oldest daughter if she had any statistics for this - she didn't, so she e-mailed one of our Meteorologists, Paul Dunphy, and the info just above was in reply to her e-mail. Thanks, Fiona and Paul!

This old church is south of Calgary.

Just a simple image of crossing car tire marks down in the parking lot of my local park. For some reason, the patterns in the snow really attracted me that day - was it a slow birding day perhaps?