Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: interestingness#278

A few years ago, I used to take a lot of water droplet photos, some of which are in an album here and on Flickr. In more recent years, I guess I have just moved on to photographing other things. This particular photo has been floating around my hard drive since 14 May 2010. Happened to notice it last night and decided to post it this morning, just for something different and something that was a complete change of colour. I can't remember where I took it. The original photo is on one of my external hard drives and I didn't feel like trying to find out where it was taken, That day, several of us had been NW of Calgary and NW of Cochrane, to visit Keith and Sandy Logan's acreage. Not sure if I saw these flowers in their garden, or maybe I had flowers at home and took the photo later that evening. Actually, just realized that flowers would not likely be in bloom here mid-May, so maybe this photo was taken at home after all.

A photo taken on 3 October 2011, when friends and I went to Moraine Lake to hike the Larch Valley trail (a very strenuous uphill hike with 10 switchbacks, which nearly killed me!). The day was overcast for most of the time and the low light was not good for photography, but at least you get an idea of the magnificent colour of Moraine Lake and the spectacular mountains of the Valley of the Ten Peaks. "Moraine Lake is a glacially-fed lake in Banff National Park, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) outside the Village of Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. It is situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, at an elevation of approximately 6,183 feet (1,885 m). The lake has a surface area of .5 square kilometres (0.19 sq mi). The lake, being glacially fed, does not reach its crest until mid to late June. When it is full, it reflects a distinct shade of blue. The color is due to the refraction of light off the rock flour deposited in the lake on a continual basis." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moraine_Lake www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/9329240344

I'd never seen a Viceroy butterfly before, so was thrilled to spot this one today, when we were on a day walk at Nodwell Sanctuary (now called the Western Sky Land Trust Wheatland #1 Property), southeast of Calgary, near Carseland. It looks very much like the Monarch butterfly (which at first I thought it might be, as I didn't know about the Viceroy), but smaller, and both are relatively UNCOMMON in Alberta - this is the northern edge of their range. LOL, not quite the shot I would have liked to get, but still a record of an exciting sighting!

Though there is a very insignificant water droplet in this photo, I like the image because of the petal tips and the mix of white and orange. Can't remember if I used my Raynox 250 for this - maybe I did, but didn't zoom in the whole way. A quick couple of uploads this evening - have been out on a local New Year's Day Bird Count all day and I am SOOOO COLD. The kettle is on for a hot mug of coffee and hopefully I will stop shivering before midnight, LOL!! Hot soup sounds very appealing, too. I remember one day that I was colder, but trust me, today requires some serious thawing out! It was -22C (-35C with windchill) when I left the house before 8:45 a.m. and it was supposed to soar to a balmy -4C this afternoon, but certainly didn't. It's -14C right now at just after 6:00 p.m., but it felt like -30C all day! The last part of the afternoon was standing in more or less one spot for some of us, and I thought I was going to die, LOL. We were down by the river all afternoon, where of course the temperature drops, too.

This guy was sitting out in full view this afternoon when I turned a corner after trying to shoot a pair of Mountain Bluebirds. A Flickr friend had told me about this Great Gray Owl yesterday and I just couldn't resist the challenge of going searching for him/her. Wasn't long before a different friend pulled up behind me - I had found him in a ditch maybe 20 minutes before! Guess I should add that he was in a ditch with his camera, trying to shoot the Bluebirds, LOL! Thank you, Ron, for telling me about this owl - so very much appreciated! I took around 100 shots of him, and just grabbed one quickly to upload to Flickr as one of my "daily three". A SHARP photo of a Great Gray Owl had been at the very top of my Wish List - previously, I've taken blurry photos. Looks a little better in large size, if you have time : )

This beautiful, bright mushroom caught my attention on a recent walk in Fish Creek Park. The lighting was very difficult deep in the woods, but just enough sunlight shone through the trees to highlight the fungus, giving a dark background.