Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: cream

All three photos posted this morning were taken three days ago, on 6 August 2016, when I went on a mushroom foray at Rod Handfield's acreage. Though this was a fungi day (well, morning), we also came across a few wildflowers, too, including this white Scabious. It was growing by the old, wooden gate at the start of the rough road that leads up to Rod's property, and friend Sandy and I saw it when we were leaving around lunchtime. I think I have only ever seen Scabious growing wild twice before. Once was way out of the city somewhere quite a few years ago. The other time was when we saw a few purple/mauve ones growing at the edge of the forest on Rod's property in 2010. The field on the other side of Rod's barbed-wire fence was one mass of these purple flowers! On Saturday 6 August, I found the whole day physically and mentally exhausting, and I'm still feeling the effects three days later. It was a great day, too, thanks to friend, Sandy! She very kindly picked me up around 8:15 am and we drove SW of the city and SW of Millarville 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 finds. It is one of the two best places that I know for mushrooms, the other being Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. This year has turned out to be great for fungi, thanks to all the endless, torrential rain we have been getting the last few weeks, apart from the scattering of sunny days. This year has so far had such weird weather - a very mild, dry winter, a spring that was as dry and hot as a summer, and now a wet, thundery summer. We were expecting this year to not be good for mushrooms. We met a group of other interested people, most of whom we didn't know, and we searched the land for fungi. Right at the start, I was telling Sandy that on the last visit there, maybe four years ago (17 August 2010, so six years ago - how time flies!), we had seen a beautiful Amanita muscaria mushroom growing just a few feet from the start of the walk. Sure enough, there were several growing in exactly the same spot on Saturday, which was so exciting. Later in the walk, we saw two other patches of absolute beauties of this poisonous species. The rain was spitting during our walk, and the forest was so dark, but amazingly, some of my photos came out well enough. Thanks so much, Karel, for organizing and leading this trip and for sharing your knowledge with us! Sandy and I left the group around lunchtime, to go looking at vehicles at one of the dealerships. In the last year and a half, I have had to put far too much money into repairs for my poor old 17+ year old car and finally, I knew that I had no choice but to replace it. The muffler and a few other things died several days ago and instead of spending a fortune on repair, I decided I would rather put that money towards a new vehicle. I had been thinking about replacing it the last few years, but now, enough is enough! Just hoping that my car lasts long enough for the drive to the dealership. The noise it makes is just awful, from the broken muffler and from a dreadful rattling noise, so it will be a most embarrassing ride, lol. I'm down to deciding between two models and it is not an easy choice. Update re: car. Yay, I finally did it! Yesterday, friend Sandy and I returned to the dealership just after lunchtime. I had to drive my old car there so that they could do an appraisal on it and tell me how much I would get for a trade-in. Before I went, I was feeling more confused and uncertain which car I would decide on. The few that the dealership had were not a colour I would want to drive or else they didn't have the right things installed. I was so relieved when I was told that I could order one to my liking and that the waiting period would be 2-3 weeks. Longer than I would have liked, but bearable (though I know I will be climbing the walls by the time my new car arrives!). The very patient, non-pushy salesman said why not take my old car home and use it just very locally till then. So, thankfully, I still have a (very noisy!) vehicle with which to go and get groceries, which was my main concern. No birding or mushroom trips, though, which will not be easy to bear. Having said that, I need to add that I know I am very fortunate that I am in a position to be able to replace my vehicle - feel very grateful and lucky. Thank you, again, Sandy, for helping me through this highly stressful (to me) ordeal!! It made an enormous difference .... THE difference.

Update on my daughter: I went to the hospital to visit her for a few hours yesterday (22 August) and was just so thankful to find her sitting up in bed, fully alert and looking well! The IV antibiotics seem to be working, as her pain is subsiding. Hopefully, the rest of her recovery will go smoothly. As you can imagine, I had a few flashbacks to January of this year, when our older daughter was taken off life-support in the same hospital. I am just so very thankful that this very scary situation looks like it will have a happy ending. Thank you to everyone for your very thoughtful well-wishes! I can't, for the life of me, remember what plant this was, but it was taken on 23 July 2015, in a greenhouse. When I was editing it last night, I was thinking that it was a Queen's Cup flower photo taken in Waterton. Oh, well, I thought it was a pretty flower anyway, whatever it is. If anyone recognizes the species, please do let me know - thanks! All three photos posted this morning were taken on the same bio-blitz day. One month ago, five of us spent the day botanizing the land belonging to Darryl Teskey, SW of Calgary and W of Millarville (maybe a 40-minute drive from Calgary). This was the first time I had been there and I'm so glad I was invited to go - I would have missed all sorts of things, including a family of Ruffed Grouse and several fungi. These Grouse were the rare rufous-morph, and we startled them when we were walking through the forest in their direction. Usually, you don't see Grouse because they are so well-hidden. When you get fairly close (sometimes very close) to them, they suddenly "explode" from the tangle of shrubs and plants of the forest floor, making ones heart beat fast! We were taken by surprise when we came across a nearby statue of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment. A nice idea, I thought. Our walk took us over grassland and through forest, many places treacherous with so many fallen logs which were often barely visible. I have never, ever seen so many tiny Skipper butterflies - there must have been hundreds or even thousands of these bright orange beauties that were flying or perched on flowers of every colour. Fortunately, the rain stayed away until we started driving back to Calgary. Quite a lot of black clouds, reminding me of the tornado that passed through Calgary just the day before (22 July 2015). Our purpose, as always, was to find and list everything that we saw - wildflowers, trees, grasses, birds, insects, fungi, etc.. Our leader then compiles an extensive list of our finds and this is later sent to the landowner, along with any photos that we might take. Always a win/win situation, as the landowner then has a much better idea of just what is on his property, and we have a most enjoyable day. This summer, with quite a few botanizing outings like this, plus two 3-day trips to Waterton Lakes National Park, I am so far behind with the photos that I need to edit and e-mail! Most of my Waterton photos are still not posted.

This photo was taken on 24 July 2013, at the Reader Rock Garden. Last summer, 2014, was not a good year for photographing flowers, partly because parks and natural areas were closed some of the time due to weather damage. This particular day in 2013, though, was a good day to go, with a large variety of summer plants in full bloom. "These open woodland plants grow 40 cm (16 in) to 80 cm (31 in) tall. The leaves are coarsely toothed with deeply lobed margins. Plants commonly have hairy veins on the undersides of the foliage. Each stem will have either three leaves that branch near the top, or will have three compound leaves and one upright flowering stalk from one point on the main central stem. Plants produce one to a few ternately branched stems which bear clusters of flowers having 3 to 5 sepals that are petal-like and obovate in shape and remain after flowering. The petals are deciduous, falling away after flowering is done. They are clawed at the base and 2.5 mm to 4 mm long and spatulate to odovate in shape. Flowers have numerous stamens and they are white in color. After flowering green berries are produced. The fruits are ellipsoid shaped berries containing several seeds. In mid to late summer, the berries turn bright red or white (forma neglecta). The berries also have a black dot on them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actaea_rubra

This photo was taken at the Reader Rock Garden on 25 June 2014.

This photo shows two flower heads of Early Yellow Locoweed, growing near the path along the Bow River, in the Pine Creek Water Treatment Plant area. These pale yellow flowers grow in clusters at the end of a stem and are growing in so many places at this time of year. It blooms May to June on prairie grassland, dry hillsides and roadsides. It is a member of the Pea family. Taken on 3 June 2014, when I actually got as far as going on a botany walk. I've been missing almost all the walks, partly because of a very painful back, plus the inflammation of my rotator cuffs (shoulders), plus muscle relaxant pills to treat this, that have knocked me out recently, AND I just can't get motivated to get out, lol. This weekend, though, I must make the effort. This time last year, we had no idea that we were in for devastating flooding, with the Alberta Flood of the Century, around 22 June. Missed pretty well all the wildflowers last year, as almost all the parks and natural areas in the city were closed all summer. Likewise outside the city, too, out in the mountains.

I was lucky to find one single Gardenia flower still in bloom in the new Enmax Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo. The scent from these flowers is just incredible and delightfully pleasant, not overpowering. "Gardenia is a genus of 142 species of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, southern Asia, Australasia and Oceania. The genus was named by Carl Linnaeus after Dr. Alexander Garden (1730-1791), a Scottish-born American naturalist. They are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1–15 metres (3.3–49 ft) tall. The leaves are opposite or in whorls of three or four, 5–50 centimetres (2.0–20 in) long and 3–25 centimetres (1.2–9.8 in) broad, dark green and glossy with a leathery texture. The flowers are solitary or in small clusters, white, or pale yellow, with a tubular-based corolla with 5-12 lobes (petals) from 5–12 centimetres (2.0–4.7 in) diameter. Flowering is from about mid-spring to mid-summer and many species are strongly scented." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardenia

Just couldn't resist buying one when I dashed out to do some food shopping a short while ago. I definitely do NOT need things like this, but I find that in the winter months I am far more likely to give in to temptation. And yes, I've already eaten it. My excuse this time was that when I bought one before, my photos were blurrier than I thought : )

I liked the soft colours of both the flower cluster and the bokeh in this image : ) This is Early Yellow Locoweed, a native wildflower which blooms May to June on prairie grassland, dry hillsides and roadsides. It is a member of the Pea family.

I really made the most of the unsual Gerberas that I bought recently from Safeway. They were pretty from every angle, LOL. A good thing I took photos straight away, as they lasted only a few days. I just loved the colour combination : )

Paintbrush is partly parasitic and so should not be transplanted. It comes in such a beautiful variety of colours; everything from red to orange, peach and pale yellow, often with a mixture of colours in the same flower. Not sure if this photo shows Stiff Yellow Paintbrush.