Gratitude Monday --Mr. Spock Goes Home

Leonard Nimoy in Vulcan, Ab., April 2010

Leonard Nimoy came home to Vulcan (Alberta) in 2010 and for it I am grateful.

My friend and I went to the event, taking in the Vulcan Tourism and Trek Centre, the parade, and getting to see Mr. Nimoy himself, in person and up fairly close.

We had a blast.

We even drank Romulan Ale, brought in specially for the event.

And along the way we met a new friend with whom I engage regularly on Face Book.

It was a wonderful day. It will live in our memories forever.
Thank you, Leonard Nimoy.

Safe For Now

Along the David Thompson Highway.

Alberta is safe for now.
Premier Alison Redford was returned to power with enough of a majority to do most of what she wants to do.
Danielle Smith was elected and can now lead the Wildroses from the legislature. We can see her in action holding the PC's feet to the fire for not being conservative enough.
The Wildroses have enough seats to worry the Redford government in the way that a dog worries cattle.
This is healthy and good.
Redford accepts climate change is real and that human's take their fair share of blame for it. Smith said the science on this was unclear.
This leads me to my post title. Though hardly in the clear, Alberta's natural beauty and (mostly) fresh air and (many) clean (appearing) streams are (moderately) safe for now.

Gratitude Monday -- Alberta Summer

It's summer in Alberta and that means our provincial flower, the wild rose, is in bloom.
Our summer is all too brief. I'm happy it's here and I'm doing my best to show my gratitude by enjoying it as I can.

A View from a Hill

This is the hill above Fort Assiniboine, Alberta. It's been cut down some over the years and the bottom curve's been smoothed out, but those are minor changes.
It's still the hill I rode down every morning when I went to school and the hill we took to get anywhere that requited going through the Fort.

Something about this descent calms me. I look out over the vast green forest, gaze at the sure steady flow of the Athabasca River, and let my eyes rest on the faraway rise to the south and it could be any year, any season.
Time has ceased.
I am any age and every age, but mostly I am young again. As I look out over this scene and into the village I am reminded that anything is possible.

Griz Along The Parkway

We were treated to a rare sight the other day as we drove along the Columbia Icefields Parkway.
We were blessed to see a Grizzly Bear.
This one is a young adult, we think it might be about three years old. Despite it's relative youth, it was huge.
The photo above shows off its shoulder hump. That's one of the distinguishing characteristics for telling a griz from an ordinary brown bear or a cinnamon black bear.




This shows griz in profile. The dished in look of the skull is another distinguishing physical marker. Brown and black bears have rounder faces.

Alberta Grizzlies are a threatened species. There are only a few hundred left in the Province due to the massive oil exploration here and up until recently, they were hunted.

We'd be a much poorer people without the grizzlies.

Photo-Finish Friday --Summer in Kananaskis

Kananaskis

A beautiful summer's day in Alberta.

Still Burning Over Book Banning

Bastard Toadflax

I don’t like being told what I can and can’t read. My parents knew this so they commonly let me read almost anything when I was growing up. This was a good decision.
Generally speaking my sister didn’t care what I read either.
Except there was this one time, more than 40 years ago, and to this day it galls me.
We were coming back from visiting relatives in Salmon Arm, B.C., a trip that took a day and a half from Fort Assiniboine, Alberta, back then. My Uncle in Salmon Arm had given us some books to take home. He was a voracious reader and had hundreds of books, many of which were wonderful pulp science fiction.
On the car ride home I picked up a double novel, “Our Man in Space,” by Bruce W. Ronald and “Ultimatum in 2050 A.D.” by Jack Sharkey (Ace Double, copyright 1965). I still have this book in my bookcase.
My sister, four years older than me, started in on something called “The Parasite.”
I finished mine and wanted to read hers. She wasn’t reading it and what she had read of it scared her. Because of this, she told mom I shouldn’t read it.
Even then at age nine the unfairness of it burned me. What I read is my choice mine alone.
Now, before this gets any further, please understand. This has nothing to do with my sister looking out for me. This is my sister’s fear being so unreasonable that she couldn’t handle anyone else reading this book.
So mom took the book into the front seat of the car. I fussed a bit then decided I’d dig it out when we got home.
I never saw that book again.
I still have the one I read plus many hundreds of others. My parents had probably every other book ever given to them.
Within about a year a radio play came on that started with some guy telling his doctor about a growth on his shoulder. That’s as far as it got because my sister started screaming,“That’s ‘The Parasite’ I know it.”

Off went the radio.
I’ve tried to find this book through the Internet. I’ve found something by Arthur Conan Doyle with the same name, but I have no idea if it’s the same story.
It’s been more than 40 years since this happened. Whenever I search through used books there’s the small spark of hope that I’ll find it.
Maybe I’ll hate the story. Maybe it’ll scare me. But that’s for me to find out, not for anyone else to dictate.
Maybe this is why I hate book banning so much. It goes beyond being wrong, stupid, reprehensible, offensive, and inexcusable. For me, it’s personal.

**

As for the picture of Bastard Toadflax, it's not really related to the post other than it's parasitic, but it's name fits my mood.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Alberta Sunset

Astotin Lake, Elk Island National Park

Alberta has beautiful sunsets. The further north one goes away from the mountains, the longer the sunsets last.

It is a peaceful time of day. Life winds down for most of us while the night creatures stir. At the lake loons call, coyotes sing, and the lake empties as birds return to their nests.

In Elk Island Park the sunset was long and easy. We set out in our canoes after 10 p.m. and returned to shore just before 11 p.m. Here, the sun hides behind a cluster of spruce trees on at the end of its journey.

Twofer Tuesday -- The Bloom is on the Rose

A rose in bloom. It's Alberta's provincial flower. The photo is completely unrelated to the post. I just think it's pretty.

It’s Twofer Tuesday time. I have done some writing, but not much reading.
We’ve been devoting our time to getting through the complete Firefly collection on DVD. It has crisp, wonderful writing and sharp, witty characters. I consider it a writing class.

Here’s something I read:

“ 'Why’n’t Eddie bake a cake?' he suggested. 'Eddie used to be a fry cook at the San Carlos for a while.'
The instant enthusiasm for the idea drove from Eddie’s brain the admission that he had never baked a cake. "
-John Steinbeck, Cannery Row, Bantam Books, 1971 (originally The Viking Press, Inc. 1945)

Here’s what I wrote in A Fly on the Wall:

The mirror had the occasional flash of independent thought. It wasn’t sure what to do with it.


For more, or to get in on the action, please see the Women of Mystery.

What We've Got

Some days it's important to sit back, relax, and look down the road at what we've got.

Photo Finish Friday - A Rock and a Pretty Place

I loved the textured look of this huge rock on the hillside in the mountains out west.
Some day I'd like climb closer to it for more intimate shots of it. It looks like a lovely spot to sit and contemplate the scenery.

Early Springtime in the Rockies

Spring in the Rockies. The North Saskatchewan River is open and flowing while the land remains cold and dry. Snow huddles in the shade hanging on as long as it can and mountains rise from the plain to greet the returning warmth of the sun.

Whirlpool Point

This is called Whirlpool Point. It's along the David Thompson Highway (aka Highway 11) and it's where the North Saskatchwan River makes a whirlpool. Whirlpool Point is close to the Banff Park gate and almost a two-hour drive west of Rocky Mountain House.
I've lived here for 21 years now and it never ceases to give me a thrill to know this scenery is in my back yard.
What I can get to in an easy drive some people might only see once in their lives. I am aware every day how blessed I am to live here.

In Protest

It's finally here.

It's been snowing and it's all very fluffy and wonderful.

The temperatures are cold and normal and all is right with the world. It makes me happy.

There'll be other times for pictures of snow and cold.

Today, as a gesture of protest against the icy oppression of normality, I give you the above.

It's another peek at Abraham Lake from out west of Rocky about a half-hour from the Banff National Park gate.

Photo Finish Friday

Here's a typical scene from the farming area south of Rocky.
It's as good a way as any to top off the week.

Perspective

A trip along the parkway is good for the soul.

This is the summit of Sunwapta Pass in Jasper National Park and between Saskatchewan Crossing and the Columbia Icefields.

The road takes a long sweeping curve at the bottom of this pass and when I was young I was convinced that we'd turned right around and were heading back north.

Somehow, by dint of magic, we always ended up on Highway 1 and continued our journey south and west. It was years before I figured out how we did it.

Gratitude Monday - A Short Drive From Home

Renders a scene like this.



Even the trees have someone to lean on.

I am very grateful to live where I do.
Turning a corner or climbing a hill opens eyes and hearts to a new wonderful view. Nature has so much to offer. We need only take the moment we are given and enjoy it.

Happy Week, Everybody.

Gratitude Monday – Roads Go Somewhere

Buck Lake might better be called Duck Lake.

We went for a drive yesterday to check out some local lakes. It was my husband’s birthday and it was something new to do. We wound up taking a few gravel roads in the rain. It made for adventure and a muddy car, but it’s a great way to see birds and the land.

The best thing is in this province if you take a back road you will get somewhere. Unless it’s marked “Dead End” or "No Exit” it’ll take you to another road.

You will get back to a highway and you will find your way home and for that I am grateful.

The Merriest Month

Good morning and welcome to another edition of It's Snowed In Alberta In The Spring: How Unusual!



Above - I used the camera's night setting to slow down the snow as it fell. That's our backyard.



This photo shows snow on the morning newspaper as it rests on the front porch. It was delivered about an hour prior this photo being taken.

And this is the front yard. I took the pics a few minutes after 6 a.m.
I'm sure we need the moisture.

Open Spaces, Big Sky

Even in the majestic Rockies the sky is huge and the road goes on forever.