Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: hedge

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. I always stop and take a few photos of this beautiful little country church when I happen to be on this road. Actually, this tiny church was used in a movie - Brokeback Mountain. "Although the tiny town of Dinton, AB does not appear on most maps, it now occupies a place in motion picture history. Locations Manager Darryl Solly was asked to find a “small unadorned church” for the del Mar wedding scene in the movie, Brokeback Mountain. The unassuming Anglican chapel at Dinton, built by prairie pioneers in 1906, shown here in these exclusive pre-production photos, was the perfect spot for Alma and Ennis to be married." The movie stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams and depicts the complex romantic and sexual relationship between two men in the American West from 1963 to 1983. www.findingbrokeback.com/Albums/StThomasChurch.html www.ourroots.ca/e/roots/lh6/lh6b0057.jpg 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 looked on Google Earth last night and I now know where I went 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 3C, 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!

With our autumn colour pretty much gone, it feels good to be able to look back to photos from 1 October 2016. On that day, I finally had my very first visit to the Silver Springs Botanical Gardens, thanks to friend, Sandy. I first heard about this beautiful place from my daughter, but I had never been, because it is way out of my city driving comfort zone. In the morning, it was raining, at least in my part of the city, and I wondered if going would turn out to be a big mistake. However, the rain stopped and stayed away while we were there and, though the sky was overcast, I was still able to photograph to my heart's content. I was surprised at how many flowers were still in bloom on the first day of October and I was extremely impressed with how meticulously these gardens are kept - every inch of them. So many different kinds of trees and plants, and it was very obvious that each area had been planted with so much thought and care. Amazing that dedicated volunteers have been, and continue to be, the ones to thank for these gardens. Thanks so much, Sandy, for giving me the chance to spend an afternoon in such beauty and peace! We all knew that snow wasn't far away and about a week after this visit, Calgary had its first snowfall of the season, for the whole of the Thanksgiving weekend. At least I now have some bright, colourful photos that I will be able to post in between all the coming white, snowy images that will be taken during the long months of winter. "The Botanical Gardens of Silver Springs is without doubt one of the Seven Wonders of Calgary, Alberta. It boasts 1350 square meters (14 600 square feet) of gardens which includes a spectacular Wall Garden that runs an uninterrupted 1300 feet. In the gardens you will find an endless variety of annuals and perennials ranging from artemisias to zinnias. Here indeed is a place to stop and smell the roses and the peonies and the delphiniums and the chrysanthemums and the … What makes these gardens so very special is that they were created and continue to be maintained by a band of green-thumbed enthusiastic volunteers. These hale and hearty diggers, planters, seeders, weeders, mowers, waterers, pruners and community builders work two to three mornings a week to keep the gardens in primrose shape and their efforts are truly appreciated by the many walkers, joggers, and cyclists. On any given day, hundreds of people walk the wall garden with their families, friends and out-of-town visitors. It has become a treasured destination site for many. For anyone who has spent time in the gardens, it is hard to believe that they have only been here since 2006 when a humble ornamental garden (400 square feet) was developed within the existing BirthPlace Forest tree beds. The BPF, by the way, saw 7000 trees planted in the area. The project was accomplished through a partnership of BP Energy, Calgary Parks, Regional Health and Golden Acres." From the gardens' website. www.botanicalgardensofsilversprings.ca/

This is definitely not what most people wanted to see yesterday, 8 September 2014! An early snowfall that left something like 5" of snow. I was so relieved that I didn't have to go anywhere, as I would imagine the roads were not good. We must have had something like 4 months without snow this year, that's all! Took this quick shot looking through one of my windows at home. Calgary is under a Snowfall Warning and the following alert for today/tonight is from the Weather Network: "Snowfall, with total amounts of 10 to 15 cm is expected. Another round of snow is expected to develop over southwestern Alberta tonight as an upper disturbance moves in from British Columbia. Accumulations of 10 to 15 centimetres of snow are expected with the system, although local amounts over 20 centimetres are possible over higher terrain. The snowfall will taper off Wednesday afternoon as the system moves south out of the province." By the way, the small tree in the foreground is one of about six that have appeared from nowhere in my garden. Can anyone tell from the leaves what species of tree this is? They all need to be removed - can't believe how fast they grow! Later: the estimate given on the News this evening is that about 5,000 trees in the city have been damaged (some badly, of course). The main cause is that all the trees still have all their leaves, so the snow couldn't fall between the branches. There were power outages in parts of the city - I've been lucky, so far. Will probably get 5-10 cm of further snow tonight, so the roads will be really bad tomorrow. I have a volunteer shift, so have no choice but to go part way across the city. Fortunately, a lot of this first snowfall has now fallen off the trees, so tonight's snow will not be added to the first snow. Chris, from Friends of Fish Creek Park, added in an e-mail to me today that on the News, they said that "the last time we had snow like this on this date was 1921." Interesting! Temperature today has been 2C - far from summer warmth!!