Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: just S of Calgary

Happy Christmas, everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful day today, both today (Christmas Eve) and tomorrow ( Christmas Day). Here in Calgary, it's 12:00 pm noon on 24 December 2014. The temperature is 0C (windchill -3C), and we are supposed to get a bit of snow this afternoon - just enough to cover the ice that still remains in places, making things rather treacherous. Very mild, though, compared to the brutally cold weather we had last winter. Hope these bright Christmas baubles, seen at the Spruce Meadows Christmas Market on 14 November, add a bit if warmth and cheer to your day. 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 today and tomorrow will be happy ones for you. 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!

My youngest daughter and I went to the annual Spruce Meadows Christmas Market on 14 November 2014. This is where I saw this bright bunch of colourful Christmas baubles, hanging inside one of the small, temporary "shops". Afterwards, on a short drive SW of the city, we stopped to photograph the row of five old, red granaries that are popular with local photographers. Unfortunately, not a cloud in the sky - clouds make for a more interesting shot. The farm was recently sold, so everyone is hoping that the new owners will leave these granaries standing. The gate was open yesterday and we could see several contractors working on something way out in the middle of the huge field.

Posted partly to add a splash of colour to my photostream, but also because I suspect I am going to be short of Christmasy photos this year, as I’m so late doing everything. At least most of my overseas cards and letters are now done and in the mail today. So glad I didn’t need to buy stamps – the Post Office line-up was quite long. My youngest daughter and I went to the annual Spruce Meadows Christmas Market on 14 November 2014. This is where I saw this bright reminder of growing up in England. Afterwards, on a short drive SW of the city, we stopped to photograph the row of five old, red granaries that are popular with local photographers. Unfortunately, not a cloud in the sky - clouds make for a more interesting shot. The farm was recently sold, so everyone is hoping that the new owners will leave these granaries standing. The gate was open yesterday and we could see several contractors working on something way out in the middle of the huge field. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today, 16 December 2014, is the first Christmas Bird Count out of the city. We have to be down SE, ready to start the Count by 8:00 am. We end around 4:00 pm (maybe 4:30 pm), so it's a long day of searching. Just checked the weather forecast and found the following: “FOG ADVISORY. Persistent fog with visibility near zero is expected or occurring. Fog is becoming more widespread and is expanding westward. Many locations are reporting low visibilities this evening with near zero visibilities expected to develop tonight. As the fog continues to develop additional regions may be added to the advisory. Fog will be occurring with temperatures below freezing which may result in locally slippery conditions due to freezing fog. Fog will persist into Tuesday morning. Visibility may be significantly and suddenly reduced to near zero. Travel is expected to be hazardous due to reduced visibility in some locations. If travelling, be prepared for areas of near zero visibility.” Lol, sounds like perfect birding weather – yeah, right!

It's always breathtaking when, after seven months of brutal winter, one sees the first glimpse of brilliant blue : ) Photo taken on 26 April 2014, along one of the backroads just south of Calgary. It was taken on a heavily overcast, snowy morning with low visibility, and my camera kept focusing on the snowflakes instead. I was going to delete this image, but there was just something that I kind of liked about it : ) Different from all my close-up shots. We certainly had a mix of weather that weekend. On the day this photo was taken, a few of us had gathered to go on a birding drive south of the city, but weren't sure whether to cancel the trip. We drove to the edge of the city to check out a huge pond, but it was decided that the visibility was just not going to be good enough, so the trip was postponed. Two of us did drive some of the backroads just south of the city and the snow did stop for a while, but the light was not good. I really appreciated the drive, though, as we went on a few roads that I don't drive, but now will feel confident to do so. Thanks so much, Terry! We had a few nice sightings, including a Moose, a Snow Goose (possibly a Ross's Goose) that I didn't see, and a distant flock of about 60 Mountain Bluebirds which was a real treat. Feels so good to have them back again! In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays." www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...

tThe fact that this image came out OK amazed me, as it was taken on a heavily overcast, snowy morning with low visibility (26 April 2014). My camera kept focusing on the snowflakes, but I'm glad that at least one of the photos worked. We certainly had a mix of weather last weekend. On the day this photo was taken, a few of us had gathered to go on a birding drive south of the city, but weren't sure whether to cancel the trip. We drove to the edge of the city to check out a huge pond, but it was decided that the visibility was just not going to be good enough, so the trip was postponed. Two of us did drive some of the backroads just south of the city and the snow did stop for a while, but the light was not good. I really appreciated the drive, though, as we went on a few roads that I don't drive, but now will feel confident to do so. Thanks so much, Terry! We had a few nice sightings, including a Moose, a Snow Goose (possibly a Ross's Goose) that I didn't see, and a distant flock of about 60 Mountain Bluebirds which was a real treat. The Yellow-headed Blackbirds are now back, joining the Red-winged Blackbirds that I believe arrived first. Feels so good to have them back again! www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-winged_blackbird/id?utm_s... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-winged_Blackbird The weather forecast for the next five days is mixed precipitation, light snow or snow-rain showers. Not quite the way one wants to welcome the month of May, but we can't complain. Compared to all those people who are suffering and continue to suffer the loss of loved ones and loss of homes and businesses, thanks to air or sea tragedies and the tremendous nightmare from tornado damage, we here in Alberta are very fortunate. My thoughts go out to all those who are going through such terrible times. If I suddenly disappear off Flickr, it will be because of anti-virus software problems that surfaced this morning. No part of McAfee worked - anything I clicked on did nothing. There was no McAfee to be seen! When I bought my computer, it already had this anti-virus software installed on it. I have to remove it so that I can install Norton (that I've always used before). Just hope I manage to remove all the bits and pieces from the present one, or the new one won't work. Later: dashed out immediately to buy the software I normally use, and thank goodness, it seems to have installed successfully. Relief! Which was short-lived, as I find that now my printer won't work after installing Norton Anti-virus. Aren't computers fun?