Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: smiling

This photo was taken five 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 wildflower species, too. I found the whole day physically and mentally exhausting (a mix of stress and excitement). 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 treasures. 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, and are still getting, 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 up with 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 (or one of the last), maybe four years ago (17 August 2010, so six years ago - how time flies!), we had seen a beautiful Amanita muscaria / Fly agaric mushroom growing just a few feet from the start of the hike. 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 hallucinogenic, 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 (holding a beautiful Bolete mushroom to make into soup or sauce), for organizing and leading this trip and for sharing your knowledge with us! I have to admit that I always find a walk like this rather frustrating. It doesn't work too well when you have people who are photographers and people who are interested in picking mushrooms to eat : ) The latter tend to always be ahead and by the time you catch up to them, you can't see what has already quickly been picked and of course it is usually difficult or impossible to get a photo. This was private land and some of us know the owner, Rod Handfield. In places like the national or provincial parks, one is not allowed to remove anything from the area - but some people still do. You see people with large baskets full of picked mushrooms for cooking! This is especially an east European 'thing'. They have grown up with this tradition and seem to know which fungi are edible or not. Some poisonous mushrooms can look very similar to edible ones, which is why the warning is to never, ever eat any kind of fungus unless you are an expert! As our local Naturalist always says: "All fungi are edible, some only once!" 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 catalytic converter died about a week ago and instead of spending a fortune on repair (estimate was $4,999), 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! Update re: car. Yay, I finally did it! Three days ago, 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 about 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.

Yesterday, 20 December 2015, was a really long day out, taking part in the annual Calgary Christmas Bird Count. We did SO much walking, starting at 8:00 am, getting home around 4:00 p.m., and then I was out all evening at the potluck supper held for the many participants who covered various parts of the city. Our first stop was at a place with a great view looking out over downtown Calgary. The sunrise colours were beautiful and the whole day gave us good weather. The Calgary Tower, which used to be the tallest building downtown, is now dwarfed by others. At the moment, it has Christmas coloured lights around the top section. From this location, we then spent the day driving short distances and then walking round the various residential streets. There were so many White-winged Crossbills! The total overall number of species seen for the whole city this year was really good, though we haven't yet had the finalized number. The group of 4 of us that covered part of the NE had 24 species, which was also very good. Will add our small group's list below. Species 24: Canada Goose 200+ Mallard 100+ Raven 11 American Crow 4 Magpie 86 Rock Pigeon 38 Starling 2 Bald Eagle 1 Merlin 3 Downy Woodpecker 3 Northern Flicker 21 Blue Jay 2 American Robin 3 White-winged Crossbill 340 Red Crossbill 24 House Finch 134 Black-capped Chickadee 26 Red-breasted Nuthatch 18 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Common Redpoll 21 Dark-eyed Junco 5 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 House Sparrow 750 Eurasian Collared Dove 63 Tony T. My daughter and I are having a day out together today, which consists of driving out of the city with our cameras to see what we can find, first having breakfast at a really nice place IF there are any tables left!. The best way possible to spend a day : )

An old photo taken by my Father many decades ago, that I scanned last night on the spur of the moment. You didn't really think I'd put a date on it, did you, lol?? Not sure, but I guess this might have been taken on a camping trip somewhere - apparently, I learned to walk round a tent pole, ha. My Mother made my dress - how she used to love "smocking" embroidery. Hmmm, will have to Google that word, as I'm not sure if I've got the right word.

More detail later - I overslept by an hour this morning, so have to absolutely dash to get to my meeting place in time! This photo was used on the cover of the First Anniversary edition of "The Bicycle", a weekly newspaper for all cyclists. Date of this edition was 23 February 1937. Both of my parents loved cycling and spent a lot of time cycling and camping. My father also loved photography and was described as an "exceptional photographer". Tom Carden Bassindale (1907-1976), married to Vera Kathleen Bassindale (nee Neal, 1914-1998). Tom's parents were Albert Elijah Bassindale and Alice Gladwell Bassindale (nee Carden).

I had no idea that my father ever had a motorbike, lol, so imagine my surprise when I came across this photo of him amongst the old family photos that I received from England a few months ago! That's a sidecar on the far side. He and my mother cycled for many years and I have endless photos of them with their bikes - but a motorbike, ha? This is so unlike the father I knew : ) I moved away from England to live overseas when I was 22 years old and so missed out on family talks and sharing of my parents' lives. Very sad, but it happens to many people when family members move away. The main thing I remember about him is that he LOVED photography (not as a professional) and was an exceptional photographer (according to others). I also have the best memories of all the times my parents took my brother and me out into the countryside around Birmingham, UK, at the weekends, on our bikes. My mother loved wildflowers and instilled this love in me, too. My father was passionate about photography and I guess that's where I get it from : )

This old family photo amuses me and is a reminder of how important photography was in my father's life. There is no date on the back of the photo and I'm not sure if this was taken before or after I was born. (Later: this magazine issue came out in June 1939.) Vera Kathleen Bassindale (nee Neal), 1914 -1998 Tom Carden Bassindale, 1907 - 1976 They were married on 4th June 1938. Thanks to George (Dixon), I now have the following information: US edition; 25cents. June 1939. Bette Davis. Photoplay did not have its own publication in the UK until 1950. www.moviemags.com/main.php?title=PHOTOPLAY&amp ; etos=1939 "Photoplay first appeared in 1912, but was not initially successful. However, when James Quirk took over editorial duties in 1914 he implemented changes that would make Photoplay the top film magazine, one which by 1922 would boast a circulation of over two million." From collectingoldmagazines.com . The origin of the surname "Bassindale" from www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Bassindale