Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: P1060005 FZ200

No pumpkins or witches from me today, but the glorious colour of these autumn leaves was more beautiful than any Halloween jack-o-lantern! My photo didn't capture the glow, but I still liked the colour and the reflection of the trees growing on the small island in the smaller pond at Carburn Park. I'll add a couple of photos taken by my son a few years ago (2005), from Halloween in their front yard, just to wish those of you who celebrate Halloween, a happy, safe time. I've only seen two houses with any sign of Halloween decorations this year. Maybe people's minds are focused more on SuperStorm Sandy. Also, fewer and fewer children go from house to house hoping for candy, anyway, as there are now special Halloween events held in shopping malls, Community Centres and the like.

Lol, when I was down in Waterton National Park on the final day of a week's holiday with friends, Linda and Tony from England, I happened to notice that Tony had a lovely reflection of the old Prince of Wales hotel in his sunglasses. Before I had finished raising my camera to take a zoomed in shot, Tony had removed his glasses at top speed to avoid having his photo taken - not as fast as I would have removed mine, though, I can tell you!. Had to take this shot instead : ) "Built in 1926-27 during one of Waterton’s windiest and snowiest winters, the Prince of Wales Hotel is the park's most recognized landmark. During its construction the extreme weather conditions and poor access created many problems for contractors Douglas Oland and James Scott, from Cardston, Alberta. On December 10 1926 hurricane-force winds (estimated at 145 km/hr) blew each of the hotel's wings about 7.5 cm off their foundation. The men managed to winch the sections back in line. Three months later winds reached speeds of over 129 km/hr, again pushing the building off its foundation. This time Oland feared structural damage if they tried to pull back the now fully-framed building so he decided to leave it slightly out of plume. The hotel is named after Edward, Prince of Wales who later became King Edward VIII, and, like its namesake, it has a colourful history. If its Douglas fir pillars could talk they would tell you a tale of American imagination and money, built with Canadian grit and patience. Today, many people recognize the Prince of Wales as a railway hotel, but few realize it was built by the Great Northern of United States ... and not the Canadian Pacific. In February 1993 the Historic Sites and Monuments Board approved the Prince of Wales' designation as a National Historic Site, recognizing its architectural style (rustic design tradition, with peaked roofs, gables, balconies and timber-frame interior that give it an appearance of a giant alpine chalet) and its contribution to tourism in the mountains. On July 23 1995 a commemorative plaque ceremony was held at the hotel." From Parks Canada. www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/waterton/natcul/natcul4.aspx

This was a really quick shot, which luckily came out OK. I pushed myself out the front door yesterday, as the forecast was for cloud and sun. I have done barely any walking for months - actually, all this year - and I'm supposed to do those 10,000 steps every day. After deciding to drive over to Carburn Park again, just in case the Clark's Grebe was still in the area, by the time I had eaten breakfast and got myself ready, the sky was overcast. By the time I reached Carburn, it was snowing and completely overcast. Decided I would still just walk around the small pond - my body was still feeling the effects of a long walk three days earlier, ha. Bumped into a fellow birder and we got talking and ended up walking round the large pond, too. I had just said something about deer in the park, turned around and there was a White-tailed Deer right behind us ; ) Then two more appeared from amongst the trees. Just managed to click in time to catch this sweet moment. No sign of the Clark's Grebe (same as the day before), so I feel really lucky to have seen this bird on Sunday - a bird that is not usually seen in Alberta. By the way, the wire netting you can see in the background is actually wrapped around a tree, in hopes of protecting it from local Beavers. These animals seem to be cutting down an awful lot of trees in our natural areas. It's -6C (21F) this morning and snowing. Forecast for this afternoon is -3C (27F) and ice pellets. Sounds like it might be a fun drive for my volunteer shift, ha. What just happened with Flickr? All I could get was a blank, white page and then I had to try three times to get Flickr to load at all. Anyone else have the same? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer www.hww.ca/en/species/mammals/white-tailed-deer.html