Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: ceramic

Happy Halloween to anyone who celebrates! If you are on the roads this evening, drive safely and do remember to keep an eye open for any little goblins, witches and so on, who might be crossing the road. This 'Halloween' photo was taken at the Saskatoon Farm on 23 September 2018. My daughter finally had a day free for us to get together on 23 September 2018. She suggested we could go to the Saskatoon Farm, a place we both love, for breakfast and a wander round the grounds with our cameras. After that, we drove west to Granary Road. Though the Active Learning Park had closed for the fall and winter, it was open for the day on the day we went. It covers a large area and has all sorts of educational areas, including a mushroom area and a farm animal area. We had fun trying to photograph a group of funny Alpacas there. I had been hoping to get over to Granary Road all summer, but it just didn't happen. This is a fairly new market garden, SW of the city, with an Active Learning Park, too. Before this, the area was simply a huge, empty field, except for the row of five old, red granaries/sheds. I was very disappointed some time ago, when I first saw what was being planned for that particular area. Most of all, I and many other photographers, were horrified when we discovered that the row of old granaries had been removed from the landscape. Some of you may remember my photos of these granaries, which I called "The Famous Five". They have been replaced by five new, red sheds which, I have to say, look better than I had originally thought. There was thick fog in places on this day, but it didn't seem to affect photographing objects that were close. It was still an overcast, dreary kind of day, though. My favourite kind of day, spending time with my daughter.

Happy Christmas, everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful day today (Christmas Eve) and tomorrow (Christmas Day). Here in Calgary, it's 11:00 am as I type. The temperature is -12C (windchill -17C), and there is a Snowfall Warning in effect. Yesterday and today, I think we've had more snow than we've had all 'winter', and it's still snowing. A quick look through my window and I think I've decided that I can survive my Christmas dinner without roast parsnips - in all these years, I have never forgotten to buy them before! Blame it on the dizziness that I've had for at least 10 days now, lol, though it's not as bad as it was before. For many people, Christmas is a very difficult time, for various reasons. My thoughts are with them and, as always, with those who for one reason or another will spend Christmas alone. To those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a happy weekend, anyway. Wishing you all a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and all the very best in the New Year! If you will be on the road, please don't drink and drive! Two days ago, on 22 December 2016, my daughter and I had our Christmas together, as she has to work on Christmas Day. We went to the Saskatoon Farm and had a delicious breakfast. She is in so much pain that we can't go for a drive to look for Snowy Owls or old barns. She has an appointment next month and is more than ready to take the absolute earliest date for her major surgery. The Saskatoon Farm is an interesting place that is maybe a 25-minute drive SE from the southern edge of Calgary. You can collect your own Saskatoon berries in season, look around their outside greenhouses, and their inside gift shop full of unusual things, and buy special baking, jams, teas and so on. They have a restaurant that offers great food. This little snowman was in the gift shop and gave me the chance to finally take a photo that I could use for Christmas. www.saskatoonfarm.com/ On the way to drop my daughter off at home, we called in at the Glamorgan Bakery - a well-known bakery that we have used for the last few decades. It always feels good to see their traditional cookies, Cheese Buns, cakes and pies. Thanks, Rachel, for a lovely few hours spent together - the best Christmas gift possible.

We had the chance to call in at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta, for lunch when we were spending the day taking part in the Horseshoe Canyon/Drumheller Christmas Bird Count. Just inside the main entrance is a long, fascinating mural. I will add in a comment box below a previously posted photo, taken from further away and showing one end of this artwork. "The Story of Life is a ceramic mural by Canadian artist Lorraine Malach, located just inside the entrance to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Alberta, Canada. The mural consists of ten panels, each four feet wide and eight feet high; ten tons of clay were used. It depicts life forms from the Precambrian to the Cretaceous, as told by human-based figures. After the death of Lorraine Malach in 2003, the two remaining pieces were fired in a kiln and the mural was completed by Janet Grabner." From Wikipedia. www.timelessspirit.com/MAY05/aboutthecover.shtml en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Life en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Tyrrell_Museum_of_Palaeontology www.tyrrellmuseum.com/exhibits.htm I will add our leader's report from our trip on 23 December 2015, to the Badlands of Alberta (land of the dinosaurs). Three of us travelled from Calgary to Drumheller very early in the morning, where we met up with two people from Drumheller. It was the annual Audubon Horseshoe Canyon Christmas Bird Count and our group of 5 people covered Territory #7 of the count circle, which included a walk along the river. We stopped to eat our lunch at the Tyrrell Museum - plus delicious Sweet Potato fries bought at the Museum : ) Later in the day, from 2:00 pm till 4:00 pm, we also covered an extra, different area, Territory #4. On our second territory, we saw one male Snowy Owl that was just a tiny white speck in the distance. Later, on the drive back to Calgary in fading light, we passed a Snowy Owl sitting on a power pole, but we didn't stop, especially as it was not on our territory. I had left home at 5:45 am to allow plenty of time to get to our meeting place, and I arrived back home at the end of the day around 6:30 pm. I had ended up not going to bed at all the previous night! When I saw that I would need to get up in two hours or so, I knew that it would be most likely that I would sleep right through my two alarm clocks and kitchen timer and miss the Count. Needless to say, I was very tired by the time I got home, but so happy that I had the chance to be out in such a fascinating landscape for a day. I didn't take a lot of photos, as I knew it was a birding day, not a photography day, though Phil had told me to say if I wanted to stop for a photo : ) Unfortunately, at two of the best locations, the owners were not home, so we didn't walk around their yards where there were so many things to photograph : ( "Horseshoe Canyon CBC, Territory #7, N of Red Deer River, including Royal Tyrrell Museum. 0830-1230, Wed. 23 Dec.2015. Sunny, light west wind, -22 to -15°C. Early morning light fog. Red Deer River 99.99% frozen. 6cm snow on ground. Bald Eagle-1 ad. Rock Pigeon-4 Eurasian Collared-Dove-3 Downy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-1 Horned Lark?-1, heard flying over by Phil Quinn. Blue Jay-2 Black-billed Magpie-37 Common Raven-2 Black-capped Chickadee-22. ALSO ONE HEARD SINGING "SPRING'S HERE." White-breasted Nuthatch-1 Bohemian Waxwing-270 Pine Grosbeak-10 House Finch-12 White-winged Crossbill-5 Common Redpoll-303 PINE SISKIN-65 House Sparrow-13 Coyote-1 Mule Deer- 4 Total party kms by car: 65 ; Total party kms on foot: 3. Total party hours by car: 4 ; Total party hours on foot: 1. -------------------------------------------- Horseshoe Canyon CBC, Territory #4. Eastern pie-shaped Section. 1400-1600, Wed. 23 Dec.2015. Sunny, North wind-10kph. -17°C. Northern Goshawk-1 Rock Pigeon-19 Snowy Owl-1 m. Black-billed Magpie-13 Common Raven-3 Common Redpoll-258 House Sparrow-16 Mule Deer-5 Total party kms by car: 56 ; Total party kms on foot: 0. Total party hours by car: 2 ; Total party hours on foot: 0" A most enjoyable day, as I knew it would be! Thanks for taking over most of the driving, Phil, getting us safely there and back.

Yesterday, 24 May 2014, my youngest daughter treated me to a wonderful day out with our cameras. It was a birthday treat, one day early as today is the annual May Species Count, which I always take part in. I knew I would have to limit my driving and be cautious about not taking too many photos, thanks to my very painful arms and shoulders. We went SE of the city, to a familiar spot or two, and we were lucky with certain birds, but not with others. A pair of Great Horned Owls were where we had hoped they would still be, but I'm sure they will be fledging before long. I had hoped to find a White-faced Ibis to show my daughter – various friends had been seeing and photographing them from fairly close. We bumped into friend, Greg, at the birding blind, and I had just told him that I was hoping to find an Ibis. I had barely got the words out when Greg swung round and pointed way up, saying: “You mean, like that one?” I'm sure I would have missed it. So, at least my daughter saw one, even if just a distant bird. Thanks, Greg! After driving along a few of the backroads, we then went to the Saskatoon Farm for a delicious lunch and to wander round the greenhouses and gift shop. A weekend day is perhaps not the best time to go – or should I say that a weekday would probably be quieter. So many people out enjoying a warm, sunny day before the coming rainy days (it rained a bit yesterday evening). Thanks so much, Rachel, for such a great day spent with you, and thanks for everything else, too.

This is just one small section of a mural inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta. The small group of four of us called in at the museum for lunch and a washroom break on a long day of birding. Our territory (section of the huge circle for the Count) was on the north side of the Red Deer River, including the Tyrrell Museum area. The day started off cloudy, clearing to beautiful sunshine, calm and a temperature of -14C soaring to 6C (yes, that's +6C!). Left my house at 5:40 a.m. and got home maybe 7:45 p.m. (?) Just in case anyone is interested in what species the four of us found, this is the list for the day: Rock Pigeon-1 Eurasian Collared Dove-24 Great Horned Owl-1 Snowy Owl-1 Downy Woodpecker-5, Hairy Woodpecker-4 Northern Flicker-4 Pileated Woodpecker-1 Blue Jay-4 Black-billed Magpie-38 Black-capped Chickadee-17 White-breasted Nuthatch 3. Bohemian Waxwing-96 White-winged Crossbill-2 Common Redpoll-139 House Sparrow-42 We actually saw a total of six Snowy Owls; one on our territory; one each about 2 miles E and W of Horseshoe Canyon on Hwy 9, and three others on Hwys 9 and 72, outside of the Christmas Bird Count area. As far as photos for the day is concerned, all I managed bird-wise was a Eurasian Collared Dove, a Red Crossbill and maybe a couple of Snowy Owl photos. However, the scenery covered in snow was beautiful (and, as usual, my photos don't even begin to do it justice) - and we found 36 wild European Rabbits at one place we stopped in Drumheller! This Count was the last one I am doing for the 2012/2013 annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count season. There is another one going on today, but 5th January is the final day. I am SOOOO tired and pretty useless for anything now : ) I really want to thank all the people who did the driving on these various Bird Counts!! Without them, I wouldn't be able to take part in any of these Counts, except for the two in the city. Thank you so much! "The Story of Life is a ceramic mural by Canadian artist Lorraine Malach, located just inside the entrance to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Alberta, Canada. The mural consists of ten panels, each four feet wide and eight feet high; ten tons of clay were used. It depicts life forms from the Precambrian to the Cretaceous, as told by human-based figures. After the death of Lorraine Malach in 2003, the two remaining pieces were fired in a kiln and the mural was completed by Janet Grabner." From Wikipedia. www.timelessspirit.com/MAY05/aboutthecover.shtml en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Life en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Tyrrell_Museum_of_Palaeontology www.tyrrellmuseum.com/exhibits.htm

This is just one small section of a mural inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta. The small group of four of us called in at the museum for lunch and a washroom break on a long day of birding. Our territory (section of the huge circle for the Count) was on the north side of the Red Deer River, including the Tyrrell Museum area. "The Story of Life is a ceramic mural by Canadian artist Lorraine Malach, located just inside the entrance to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Alberta, Canada. The mural consists of ten panels, each four feet wide and eight feet high; ten tons of clay were used. It depicts life forms from the Precambrian to the Cretaceous, as told by human-based figures. After the death of Lorraine Malach in 2003, the two remaining pieces were fired in a kiln and the mural was completed by Janet Grabner." From Wikipedia. www.timelessspirit.com/MAY05/aboutthecover.shtml en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Life en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Tyrrell_Museum_of_Palaeontology www.tyrrellmuseum.com/exhibits.htm

Happy Christmas, everyone! Just waiting for my Christmas meal to finish cooking, so thought I'd upload a few images. Needed the bright red of this Pointsettia to brighten up my white, snowy photostream : ) This ceramic angel is maybe 10" or 12" high and is one of my favourites, and actually stays out all year round, keeping an eye on me, LOL. I tend to prefer very simple, more abstract things rather than intricate, frilly, sparkly things, hence this choice : )