Sandhill Cranes

We are blessed to have sandhill cranes around here.
They can be found in fields in the late afternoon.
One evening a few years ago my husband and I went for an evening bike ride and saw two of them dancing in a small stream. Whether it was a mating dance or something else I may never know, but it was a beautiful sight.
There are two spots, both near local lakes, where it is almost a given we'll see them.
I found two of them feeding the other morning when I went out to Twin Lakes to check what was blooming.
They stayed well back from the road so this was the best my lens could do.
I took more than 30 photos of them. I cropped and blew up the second pic as much as I dared.

Gratitude Monday -- Nature's Symphony

Spring is blooming.
The nanking cherries are blossoming in the front while the crabapple trees are starting to flower.
The pine siskins are back and loud and happy. My early mornings are filled with songs of wrens, swallows, robins, chickadees, sparrows, the occasional call of the red wing blackbird, a flicker from time to time, and a nesting pair of merlins across the street.
The world is living and vibrant and full of promise.
I can sit outside in the front and enjoy full sun in the afternoon, or rest on the back porch at sunrise with my coffee and the feathered symphony.
For all of this and more I am grateful.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Prairie Servant

We saw this old barn south of Livelong, Saskatchewan last weekend.
It had such character that I had to stop and take its photo.
The barn, servant of a prairie farm, sat on a green hill by a road left to weather the wind and storms and to take in what sun it could get.
Whatever it did, however long it was a working entity, is long lost to the dust. Today it takes the rest it earned during its working life as it slowly surrenders to the soil.

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 ETA:

Hilary at The Smitten Image  made the above one of these:
 
 Thanks.

Photo-Finish Friday -- A Common Scene

If you ever want to see mountain sheep come to the West County.
We usually see them in a spot along Abraham Lake, but like this fine fellow, they can be anywhere in the mountains along Highway 11.
Sheep like the company of their own kind. There's another one a bit lower on curve and behind the fence.

Gratitude Monday --Merry ChristMays Edition

What's Christmas without a picnic?

We had our Christmas with our friends Bob and Sylvia over the weekend.
It was our latest observance yet, but between commitments and vacations, this was the first opportunity.
We pounced on it.
We had roasted turkey with all the usual suspects Saturday night including German Red Cabbage made by Sylvia.
Sunday was a beautiful spring day. We threw together a picnic with the turkey leftovers and other goodies and went to the National Historic Site.
We walked the trails and down by the river enjoying the sun, the park, the birds, and the company. It was a perfect day and for it, and the Christmas weekend, I am grateful.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Security Bureau

I took this out the bus window during our trip to Guatemala.

You work with what you have. The roads are rough. This must have been more secure that it appeared.

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I may be stretching the definition of bureau. 

Happy Coke Day

Coke debuted today back in 1886. It's inventor brought a jug of the syrup into a pharmacy on this day in and into history.
It was meant as a medicine and I can assure you from personal experience, it does the trick.
I drink Coke (R, TM, whatever) whenever I travel. I don't get sick.
The exception was in Cuba in 2010 when I drank the local knockoff "Tukola."
It tastes the way Coke did back in the heady days when cane syrup instead of the miserable high fructose corn syrup was the sweetener. (In Canada look for glucose-fructose on labels. It's Canadaspeak for HFCS.) I will not make that mistake again.

My husband used to get sick when we traveled. Our guide in Egypt last year advised the consumption of Coke or Ouzo to ward off travel illness. He tried it. It worked. He is a convert.

Thank you, Dr. John Pemberton, for mixing caffeine and coca leaves with other ingredients and giving the world Coca-Cola (R, TM, whatever). 

Coke as served in Guatemala.