Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: friend's neighbourhood

The five photos posted this morning were all taken yesterday, 11 September 2018. Our botany season has come to an end and so our main Naturalist had a group of us visit his amazing garden and a walk to look at wild and garden plants in his neighbourhood. Not the greatest weather, but at least the rain kept away. I think rain is in the forecast for the next week, which is a pity, as the fall leaves will all be on the ground before we know it. Mixed precipitation tonight. This painted cow, now residing in someone's front garden in Calgary, dates back to the year 2000. The story behind this and many other cows is given in the Avenue magazine article below. "If you’ve ever noticed large, strangely decorated cows that seem to dot the city and wondered, “what’s up with that?” wonder no more. The story goes back to the year 2000. A group of charity-minded individuals, led by artist and businesswoman Bonnie Laycock, thought Cowtown was lacking in cows, and so the Udderly Art: Colourful Cows for Calgary project was born. Taking inspiration from similar CowParade projects staged in Chicago and Zurich, the volunteer driven, not-for-profit project began creating large cow statue canvasses to be decorated by local artists and strewn about the city for a six month period, with its stated goals being to: - Generate artistic creativity and showcases for Alberta artists, - Bring smiles and chuckles to the faces of children and adults, Calgarians and visitors alike, and - Raise funds for many charities. The molded fiberglass cows were originally white, clocking in at 54 inches tall from head to hoof; 84 inches long from nose to tail; and weighing 90 pounds. (Though that number shot up to 900 once the concrete bases were added). Individuals and companies who initially purchased the cows for $5,000 each chose which artist would work on their bovines and, starting May 15, 1999 the cows were on display everywhere in the city from the airport to the zoo." www.avenuecalgary.com/City-Life/The-Story-of-Calgarys-Cow...

On 19 September 2015, I went to an Open House at the home of our main leader for both birding and botany. This was to mark the end of the botany season, which is always sad. We went on one last walk, around the neighbourhood, stopping to look at various plants in people's gardens, and then went back for tea and coffee and yummy snacks. This photo is of a flower whose petals have all fallen to the ground, leaving just the flower centre. I believe those are aphids climbing up and down the stem. It's hard to believe that spring is almost here - time is passing much too quickly for my liking! The Prairie Crocuses are apparently in bloom, though I haven't been out looking for them yet.

On 19 September 2015, I went to an Open House at the home of our main leader for both birding and botany. This was to mark the end of the botany season, which is always sad. We went on one last walk, around the neighbourhood, stopping to look at various plants in people's front gardens, and then went back for tea and coffee and yummy snacks. This beautiful display of flowers in a huge, glazed Chinese jar, was near someone's front steps. This jar looks like a modern version of the old Chinese egg jars, used for holding a number of 100-year-old eggs. They are originally called "Pi Tang Kong" and the majority are from China, though a few may be from Taiwan. ""Pi Tang" are Chinese preserved eggs. These eggs are rolled in a combination of rice husks and clay and then, preserved. "Kong" means container thus the name literally translates into "Container of Preserved Eggs"." gotheborg.com/qa/bigjar.shtml

A couple of days ago, on 19 September 2015, I went to an Open House at the home of our main leader for both birding and botany. This was to mark the end of the botany season, which is always sad. We went on one last walk, around the neighbourhood, stopping to look at various plants in people's gardens, and then went back for tea and coffee and yummy snacks. This photo is of an ornamental grass seen in one of the gardens - I don't know its name, but it was quite attractive. I suspect the mushroom season is over, too, as I went to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park yesterday afternoon. The grasses and plants have withered and, along with fallen leaves from the deciduous trees, have covered anything that might just be hiding underneath. The very few fungi that I did see were mostly old and definitely not photogenic, though I did post a photo of one of them today. Most of my photos came out blurry, too. I didn't see many birds on this drive, either, not a single raptor, and mainly Magpies. Can't wait for next spring!!