Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: cheery

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!

This bright yellow Lily was in bloom on 25 June 2014, when I called in at the Reader Rock Garden on my way home from a volunteer shift. There were a lot more flowers than on my previous visit in May.

A tightly closed Tulip growing amongst a few trees and bushes at Reader Rock Garden fairly recently.

I've kind of been saving this image for "something" special, but I wasn't sure what. Then I thought this vivid, red Sunflower might be a bright and cheery way to wish all my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday. Decided to post it a little bit early, in case some of you are so busy either travelling or preparing things ahead of time for your delicious turkey dinner, that you won't have time to check in to Flickr closer to the time. Have a happy, thankful and safe time - and my special thoughts are with those of you who are unable to be with family or friends on Thanksgiving. I know I am thankful to know all you great American Flickr friends : ) Stay safe. (Note to self because I have such a lousy memory: in Explore #72, but Scout didn't pick it up).

These brilliant yellow flowers are always a delight to photograph - taken in a friend's garden a few days ago. I'm posting really early (for me) today, as I am planning on driving west into the mountains a little way (once I get off my computer and start getting ready). I haven't yet had a chance to get to the place I want to reach this year, even though it doesn't take all that long to drive there. I know I will be fighting to keep my eyes open by the time I get back home, so thought I'd better post my "daily three" before I go. I'm also hoping to give my shoulders a break from the keyboard, too - one is very painful from struggling to get into my backpack for many months, and the other is, I suspect, from too much mouse-clicking : (

When I saw this almost perfect flower blooming in a friend's garden, I just knew I had to photograph it, LOL! I love those petals : ) Our weather has been beautiful for the long weekend - though it is rain that we need! This afternoon, the Weaselhead Society held its annual Volunteer Thank You Barbecue in North Glenmore Park. A very enjoyable afternoon, with great food provided by the same gentleman as previous years - it felt so good to have a proper meal for once, LOL! Afterwards, I went to the Reader Rock Garden which wasn't all that far away, to take a few photos of bright, colourful flowers. It was horribly windy, so a real challenge to catch any flower head in the viewfinder, LOL. Have a bad feeling that I'll find a lot of blurry shots when I get them on to my computer. Hope you've all enjoyed a great long weekend!!

Oh, boy, I think I dazzled my own eyes as I scrolled down on this image, LOL! These very pretty Echeveria succulent flowers caught my eye when we visited a gentleman's cactus garden here in the city. He lovingly brings in all his pots of cacti each winter and then digs holes and puts them all back outside each summer. He kindly allowed us to return again recently and proudly showed us each and every one of his plants. He is an elderly man and I think either one or two of my friends have offered to help him with this massive task that has become too overwhelming for him to do on his own. Sorry the actual quality of this cropped photo isn't better - grainy doesn't begin to describe it, LOL - but I needed something bright on this gloomy, wet day..

Guess where these were from ...LOL! Bright and cheery - and with snow in the forecast AGAIN, looks like a good dose of sunny yellow will be more than welcome.

You'll be sick of seeing yet another photo of this beautiful tulip, but I just had to post a shot of the whole centre pattern. These tiny red hearts fascinate me - I don't remember ever seeing hearts in a tulip before. I feel like reaching out with my hands to get some warmth on yet another bitterly cold day. Back to -30C with windchill at the moment. This WILL end, this WILL end, this WILL end ...... This image was included in the book "FOCUS: LOVE: Your World, Your Images" book, published by Lark Books. I received a complimentary copy about 30th December 2009. A delightful book!