Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: distant mountains

Thought I'd better post three more local photos today, instead of more green rainforest shots, before I lose all my Contacts : ) As far as my Trinidad & Tobago trip is concerned, I have more or less finished with photos of mangrove trees and other greenery, and will be posting a few (distant) bird images. On 13 December 2017, I was out on the road by 9:20 am, which is a miracle in itself. I find it almost impossible to get out early when I am going for a drive by myself. I didn't have any photos edited ready to post, which helped. Seeing snowflake icons in the forecast for too many of the days in the coming week, I thought I had better take a drive SE of the city while the roads were clear. I was lucky with the clouds in the morning, as you can see in this photo. I absolutely love driving this kind of road - at least, in good weather. My hope was to maybe find a Snowy Owl in this whole area, like I had done in previous years. I knew I would probably have more luck if I drove the back roads NE of the city, but I didn't feel like driving that far. No luck finding a Snowy Owl and, in fact, there were barely any birds of any kind to be seen - just a small flock of Common Redpolls and two or three Magpies. At least I knew that I would pass several old barns that I have photographed on previous occasions. It just felt good to be in such scenery on a beautiful, sunny day. That is, until I somehow got lost on the way back home. I think I know where I may have gone wrong. Seeing a huge road sign that said North Calgary, I wasn't sure if I would end up on the dreaded Deerfoot Trail, like happened last time I was out in that area. So, I kept driving straight and found myself in a fairly built-up area that I had never been in before. Ended up driving back the way I had come until I was on familiar ground. A long way and a lot of wasted time!

Two days ago, on 13 December 2017, I was out on the road by 9:20 am, which is a miracle in itself. I find it almost impossible to get out early when I am going for a drive by myself. I didn't have any photos edited ready to post that morning, which helped. Seeing snowflake icons in the forecast for too many of the days this coming week, I thought I had better take a drive SE of the city while the roads were clear. I was lucky with the clouds in the morning, but it did cloud over in the afternoon. My hope was to maybe find a Snowy Owl in this whole area, like I had done in previous years. I knew I would probably have more luck if I drove the back roads NE of the city, but I didn't feel like driving that far. No luck finding a Snowy Owl and, in fact, there were barely any birds of any kind to be seen - just a small flock of Common Redpolls and two or three Magpies. At least I knew that I would pass several old barns that I have photographed on previous occasions. It just felt good to be in such scenery on a beautiful, sunny day. That is, until I somehow got lost on the way back home. I think I know where I may have gone wrong. Seeing a huge road sign that said North Calgary, I wasn't sure if I would end up on the dreaded Deerfoot Trail, like happened last time I was out in that area. So, I kept driving straight and found myself in a fairly built-up area that I had never been in before. Ended up driving back the way I had come until I was on familiar ground. A long way and a lot of wasted time! Our temperature this morning, 15 December 2017, is -2C, much cooler than what we have been having the last while. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is for a few snow flurries, then a couple of nice days before the snow returns, just in time for the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Counts. Looks like we may be getting a white Christmas after all. Everywhere is bone dry and firefighters were battling a grass fire just the other day, so moisture is much-needed. Crazy in December!

Yesterday, 13 December 2017, I was out on the road by 9:20 am, which is a miracle in itself. I find it almost impossible to get out early when I am going for a drive by myself. I didn't have any photos edited ready to post yesterday morning, which helped. Seeing snowflake icons in the forecast for too many of the days this coming week, I thought I had better take a drive SE of the city while the roads were clear. I was lucky with the clouds in the morning, as you can see in this photo. I absolutely love driving this kind of road - at least, in good weather. My hope was to maybe find a Snowy Owl in this whole area, like I had done in previous years. I knew I would probably have more luck if I drove the back roads NE of the city, but I didn't feel like driving that far. No luck finding a Snowy Owl and, in fact, there were barely any birds of any kind to be seen - just a small flock of Common Redpolls and two or three Magpies. At least I knew that I would pass several old barns that I have photographed on previous occasions. It just felt good to be in such scenery on a beautiful, sunny day. That is, until I somehow got lost on the way back home. I think I know where I may have gone wrong. Seeing a huge road sign that said North Calgary, I wasn't sure if I would end up on the dreaded Deerfoot Trail, like happened last time I was out in that area. So, I kept driving straight and found myself in a fairly built-up area that I had never been in before. Ended up driving back the way I had come until I was on familiar ground. A long way and a lot of wasted time! Our temperature this morning is -2C, much cooler than what we have been having the last while. Tomorrow, we may be getting snow-rain showers and then, a couple of days later, the snow returns, just in time for the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Counts. Looks like we may be getting a white Christmas after all.

Yesterday, 11 January 2015, my daughter went in for supposedly day surgery, but phoned me after she was moved from the recovery room, to say that they were keeping her in overnight. She wasn't able to give me any details, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was all straight forward. Speedy recovery, Rachel! At least you are in the best place for the time being, but I hope it won't be too long before you can go home. On 21 December 2015, my daughter and I had our Christmas get-together. Like the previous year, she asked if I wanted to spend the day out of the city, looking for Snowy Owls (and other things). We were both so happy to at least see a (very distant) Snowy Owl, which she cleverly spotted, even though we had hoped to find a much closer one. Thank goodness, last year, my daughter and I did see and photograph beautiful Snowies E and NE of the city that were nice and close. Finding one of these magnificent birds of prey was not the only purpose in our minds, though. It was our Christmas get-together, and we had a great day, partly in beautiful sunshine, partly in cloud, and in one of my favourite areas to explore. We had first planned to go E and NE of the city, but my daughter, waiting for her surgery on 11 January 2016, didn't feel up to travelling that far. Once she has recovered from her surgery, maybe we can go E of the city and try for owls again. So, plans changed and instead, we went to the Saskatoon Farm for breakfast. This interesting place is maybe a 20-minute drive SE from the southern edge of Calgary. You can collect your own Saskatoon berries in season, look around their outside green houses, and their inside gift shop full of unusual things, and buy special baking, jams, teas and so on. They also have a restaurant that offers delicious food. www.saskatoonfarm.com/ Afterwards, we then went a bit further, to drive some of the roads east of High River, hoping to possibly find a Snowy Owl. We went as far as Mossleigh, where we stopped to take a few quick photos of the three grain elevators and then found a group of an old homestead and several barns that I don't remember seeing before. They were off the main road, but fortunately the narrow gravel road had enough snow packed on it that the short drive was very smooth. I always enjoy seeing the little red barn in this photo - Gothic Arch style? Is the old windmill a wind-powered water pump? I love the way the pretty much flat, endless landscape of the prairies is dotted here and there with an old barn or an abandoned farmhouse. Makes one want to photograph them all before they eventually rot and tumble to the ground. From there, we also stopped at the little wooden church at Dinton. Later in the afternoon, we couldn't resist the temptation to call in at Glamorgan Bakery on the way home and buy a few Christmas goodies, followed by a desperately needed food shopping trip. I just hadn't had a chance to go grocery shopping and had run out of even basic things. This was a huge relief, especially as I knew that I would be having a very long day on 23rd December, taking part in the Drumheller area Christmas Bird Count. Thanks so much for a great day out, Rachel. The best kind of day, as far as I am concerned : ) Many thanks, too, for the beautiful, very carefully chosen (as always!) Christmas gifts. Love the owl that looks rather like a furry, stuffed children's toy, that is in fact a wonderful heat pad (that you warm in the microwave), full of lavender. I know it will feel so good on my neck and shoulders that are painful from whiplash, thanks to the woman driver who suddenly came out of a parking lot exit and tried to cut across my lane of moving traffic! Nothing I could do, as I couldn't stop in time to avoid impact. So, I'm looking forward to having an owl on my shoulder : )

Six days ago, on 21 December 2015, my daughter and I had our Christmas get-together. Like last year, she asked if I wanted to spend the day out of the city, looking for Snowy Owls (and other things). We were both so happy to at least see a (very distant) Snowy Owl, which she cleverly spotted, even though we had hoped to find a much closer one. Thank goodness, last year, my daughter and I did see and photograph beautiful Snowies E and NE of the city that were nice and close. Finding one of these magnificent birds of prey was not the only purpose in our minds, though. It was our Christmas get-together, and we had a great day, partly in beautiful sunshine, partly in cloud, and in one of my favourite areas to explore. We had first planned to go E and NE of the city, but my daughter, waiting for her surgery on 11 January 2016, didn't feel up to travelling that far. Once she has recovered from her surgery, maybe we can go NE of the city and try for owls again. So, plans changed and instead, we went to the Saskatoon Farm for breakfast. This interesting place is maybe a 20-minute drive SE from the southern edge of Calgary. You can collect your own Saskatoon berries in season, look around their outside green houses, and their inside gift shop full of unusual things, and buy special baking, jams, teas and so on. They also have a restaurant that offers delicious food. www.saskatoonfarm.com/ Afterwards, we then went a bit further, to drive some of the roads east of High River, hoping to possibly find a Snowy Owl. We went as far as Mossleigh, where we stopped to take a few quick photos of the three grain elevators and then found a group of an old homestead and several barns that I don't remember seeing before. They were off the main road, but fortunately the narrow gravel road had enough snow packed on it that the short drive was very smooth. I always enjoy seeing the little red barn in this photo - Gothic Arch style? I love the way the pretty much flat, endless landscape of the prairies is dotted here and there with an old barn or an abandoned farmhouse. Makes one want to photograph them all before they eventually rot and tumble to the ground. From there, we also stopped at the little wooden church at Dinton. Later in the afternoon, we couldn't resist the temptation to call in at Glamorgan Bakery on the way home and buy a few Christmas goodies, followed by a desperately needed food shopping trip. I just hadn't had a chance to go grocery shopping and had run out of even basic things. This was a huge relief, especially as I knew that I would be having a very long day on 23rd December, taking part in the Drumheller area Christmas Bird Count. Thanks so much for a great day out, Rachel. The best kind of day, as far as I am concerned : ) Many thanks, too, for the beautiful, very carefully chosen (as always!) Christmas gifts. Love the owl that looks rather like a furry, stuffed children's toy, that is in fact a wonderful heat pad (that you warm in the microwave), full of lavender. I know it will feel so good on my neck and shoulders that are painful from whiplash, thanks to the woman driver who suddenly came out of a parking lot exit and cut across my lane of moving traffic about three weeks ago! Nothing I could do, as I couldn't stop in time to avoid impact. So, I'm looking forward to having an owl on my shoulder : )

This photo was taken in the evening of 10 September 2015 in South Glenmore Park, down by the Glenmore Reservoir. A feeing of peace and freedom - which I, for one, am so grateful for, each and every day. Normally, I tend not to go out in the evenings, especially as I now find night driving too difficult. However, I did go on that evening, as I wasn't sure if this was going to be our last botany walk for this year. Also, someone who went on a different day that week said he had seen a mushroom growing on a log down at the edge of the water and I was hoping to find it. Well into our walk, there it was, lol! Not the most beautiful fungus in the world, but I was still happy to find it. The city had released more water into the Reservoir and the narrow "shore" was now under water, unfortunately.

All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 7 September 2015. After about four days of rain, I made myself go for a walk (which so rarely happens any more) and saw more than I was expecting to see, including a few reasonably photogenic mushrooms. Just as I was leaving the park, I noticed the dark clouds rolling in and I wasn't sure if some Mammatus clouds (sagging pouch-like structures) were forming. Most unlikely, but I wanted to be sure, so drove out towards the SW edge of the city. None to be seen, but it still felt good to see the very distant mountains. A word of warning: if you don't like potholes (and I mean a LOT of potholes!), avoid driving along 146th St (that then becomes 69th, eventually getting on to 22X)! The temperature is 4C early this morning (8 September 2015), though it is supposed to get up to 16C this afternoon. There was a frost warning for last night. It's really feeling a lot like fall.

Yesterday, 30 March 2015, I went SE of Calgary, driving the backroads through the farmlands. I had been meaning to drive further than I'd driven in that area, and yesterday went as far as Vulcan. Just like I have done a few times before, I went on Google and Google Earth beforehand, searching for any barns that were in the new part of my drive. Nothing truly spectacular, but I did manage to find a few that made the drive worthwhile. 234 km total, 5 1/4 hour trip. As you can see in this photo, the weather was beautiful, with a sky full of clouds for at least part of my drive. What you can't see is that it was very windy, as it so often is in this area. You also can't see all the bees that were buzzing round my car a couple of times when I got out to take a few photos. My daughter e-mailed me an Alberta Emergency Alert notice this evening, about a grassfire SE of Calgary. Actually, the Alert ended about 10 minutes ago. Yesterday, I was driving just a matter of minutes south of the fire area. A good job I went yesterday and not today. "Fire crews have brought a large grassfire near Blackie under control. The Municipal District of Foothills had declared a local state of emergency due to concerns about the fire, which is burning northeast of the hamlet of Blackie. An alert issued by Alberta Emergency Alert indicated the fire is burning near 482nd Avenue and 304th Street East and is moving quickly due to the high winds. “Winds in the area are gusting at high speed and shifting direction,” the alert reads. “People are asked to avoid the area and prepare for possible evacuation. Smoke may severely reduce visibility and create hazardous road conditions.” calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/wind-fuels-large-grassf... "No homes, buildings or animals have been affected but one firefighter is injured and receiving treatment at the High River hospital."

This view and the old, unusual homestead always take me by surprise, because I can never remember exactly where this location is. We came across it again yesterday and I always have to stop and take a quick shot. Yesterday, 21 January 2015, my daughter and I spent the day together, out in nature. I know I needed to get out myself and the fact that my daughter asked if we could do that, told me that she, too, desperately needed to get a break from all the sadness and reminders of her big sister/my older daughter for a few hours. Friends who know me well have been telling me how important it is to be outdoors with my camera, especially at a time like this, and I know they are right. Much as it would have been great to have gone looking for Snowy Owls, I just didn't feel up to that long of a drive. Instead, I drove to a much more familiar, closer area, SE of the city. The day was a mix of sun and cloudiness, and though the sun was in the wrong position for some of our shots, we did OK. Normally, I never walk from the road on to the surrounding land, even when there is not a "No Trespassing" sign. There was a very short, rough road leading to where a beautiful Great Horned Owl, spotted by my daughter, was sitting, and we walked a few steps closer to it. She had already spotted a different GHO along one of the backroads and later on, she spotted our only Snowy Owl of the day. I was reminded exactly why I never set foot on someone's land - though I had taken even more steps on this track with friends for the Christmas Bird Count. Guilt came flooding in when a truck with two young guys came down the gravel road and turned in at this very spot! Needless to say, I apologized and told them that normally, I never do this. They were so pleasant and told us, no problem at all and to go much closer (which I didn't). People like this really help make one's day, so Thank You to these two guys. The rest of the day, my daughter and I drove mostly roads that we had driven before, except for one short stretch where we found not just one beautiful, old barn, but two. The first and larger barn was one that I had wanted to get to for some time. I think being out with our cameras, driving the backroads, was therapeutic - certainly for me as I could enjoy my daughter's company, and hopefully for her, too.

As you can see from this image, the weather was simply beautiful yesterday. I was so lucky to be invited to go SE of Calgary to the Blackie area with friends Cathy and Terry, to do some exploring : ) Blackie is located approximately 70 kilometres (or 85 kilometres, depending on where you read it) southeast of Calgary. We stopped at this particular spot to admire this old homestead. The snow drifts were untouched, pristine, and with glorious bright blue patches and you can just see the very distant mountains. Believe it or not, we saw 17 owls, 12 Snowy Owls and 5 Great Horned Owls!!! We were thrilled at this spot that a Horned Lark was perched on the fence, singing its little heart out : ) The first photo I uploaded this morning - Red Fox - shows how our great day started off! Thanks so much for a great day, you guys!

As you can see from this image, the weather was simply beautiful when I was so lucky to be invited to go SE of Calgary to the Blackie area with friends, Cathy and Terry, to do some exploring : ) Blackie is located approximately 70 kilometres (or 85 kilometres, depending on where you read it) southeast of Calgary. We stopped at this particular spot to admire this old homestead. The snow drifts were untouched, pristine, and with glorious bright blue shadows and you can just see the very distant, snow-covered mountains. We were thrilled at this spot that a Horned Lark was perched on the fence, singing its little heart out : )

Can anyone tell what this very rare (in Alberta) bird is - I do know, but I just wondered if anyone else can tell, ha? Taken at Frank Lake (which will probably make it very obvious to those who know that area) on September 3rd. I think this bird image is brilliant in two ways - brilliant lack of closeness and brilliant lack of feather detail. However, I did just want it for my own records : ) Highly zoomed and ccropped, needless to say. Always a thrill to see this species. "The White-faced Ibis is a fairly recent addition to the bird life of Alberta. It has nested at Pakowki Lake since 1974 and now also breeds at Frank Lake and at Blizzard Lake, south east of Calgary. It spends the winter months in California and Mexico. It arrives at its Alberta colonies in early May, and leaves in early September. There is some dispersal of individuals after the breeding season, when they have been found as close as Namaka Lake. While there are no records yet from the Weaselhead delta, it seems likely that the first will occur in the fairly near future. The White-faced Ibis eats aquatic invertebrates and amphibeans. It finds these by probing in the mud of extensive marshes. The colonial nests are hidden in extensive stands of bulrushes. They are constructed of various kinds of course vegetation, lined with finer material." Written by Andrew Slater on the talkaboutwildlife website.