Electric no more

Bits and pieces.

I have not had my camera out for months so went down a nearby road to relearn the controls. Lots of downed fencing…thanks to snow plows and neglect. The first four photos are around a field that hasn’t held cattle for several years.

Tangled in the fencing: Ross Road, Vernon Bridge, mid-April

Knocked over by a plow; Ross Road, Vernon Bridge.

End of the line. Ross Road, Vernon Bridge,mid-April

The last one is at the corner of a horse paddock where they intentionally dropped the wires for the winter and will put them back up when they bring the horses back from their winter barn.

A place to park your recycling – Vernon Bridge mid-April

I’ll be taking a two month break from Wordpress, except for a few pre-scheduled posts about Cuba.  I will also take a break from looking and commenting on other people’s blogs. We’ll be on vacation, attending a graduation, and doing some major downsizing and work around our house.  Thanks to all my followers and friends. I will be back.

Cuban Seniors #2

Just in case you’re confused, this is house #631!  

Well maybe they’re not seniors, but he does have gray hair!

As does this man, walking down Calle Neptuno under our balcony.

At the corner of Calle Neptuno and Calle Campanario, Central Havana

Havana Cuba Day 1 – Just look at the trim on these houses!

Cuba Day 2 – A willing subject

Prosit! – Central Havana February 2016

Banff – Bow Falls

Banff, Bow Falls

Continuing our western Canada road trip, we spent one night in Banff, Alberta – the developed service centre for Banff National Park –  before continuing our westward journey to British Columbia and the Pacific coast.

The Bow River tumbles over a falls within the town, and so, since we saw the river’s origin below Bow Glacier, it seemed apt to check out how big the flow had grown. You can walk up a path – which you can just see on the left of the first photo – and some steep stairs to look over the falls.

I’m forever chasing rainbows….

Turning and looking it the other direction gives you an idea of the town’s beautiful setting.

Banff, Bow Falls

I didn’t take any pictures in Banff that evening. The following morning we had breakfast in the the Juniper (Hotel and) Bistro with its beautiful view of the Vermillion Lakes. It was too cold outside to eat, but not too cold to grab a shot from the patio.

Vermillion Lake from the patio of the Juniper Hotel and Bistro.

Since we had not booked ahead I was pleased to get a room at the price we did.  Someone had recommended this hotel, which is just off the Trans Canada Highway and north of the town.

Red Canoes and Turquoise Water

Lake Louise, Banff National Park

I confess: the red canoes were my favourite photographic part of the whole trip through the Rockies. As I’ve said before, this wasn’t a trip to take pictures but rather to see the Rockies slowly, by car.  If I got some photo time, that was a bonus.

Looking towards the head of Lake Louise.

Banff National Park:  Lake Louise, looking across the lake.

Still too cold at the beginning of May.

26, 40, 24…23.

Red Canoes, Turquoise Water.

Lake Louise, The Mountains.

Banff, Lake Louise

As we walked around Lake Louise, there were majestic views of the surrounding mountains offset by the startling blue-green of the lake itself. Perhaps because it was a cloudy day, I was more aware of the danger and oppressiveness of the mountains. At the base of the mountain in all three of these first photos, you can see the results of a landslide, which must have created an immense wave as it fell into the lake below.

Banff, Lake Louise

Banff, Lake Louise

The photo below was taken when 3/4 of the way around the lake, looking up towards the snow-covered mountains and the glacier at the head of the lake.

A glimpse of the glacier at the head of Lake Louise.

And finally, a shot from the hotel looking towards the not-yet-open-for-the-season canoe rental and mountains enclosed in snow clouds.

Banff National Park, Lake Louise

More canoe shots in the next post!

Lake Louise, Hotel and Climbers

Fairmount Hotel, Lake Louise, Alberta

Lake Louise is one of the most iconic locations within Banff National Park. At one end of the lake is the expensive Fairmount Chateau Lake Louise hotel and at the other, though high above the level of the lake, a glacier. Most photos that you will have seen are from the far end of the lake looking back towards the hotel which once had a more fairytale-Alpen facade, or from high on the mountain behind the hotel looking across the lake.

We didn’t climb the mountain, but we did walk along one side of the lake to the far shore and back. These first three photos all incorporate the hotel. Other views in subsequent posts.

Banff National Park: Lake Louise and the hotel.

Banff, Lake Louise, in Black and White

At the business end of Lake Louise are a number of memorial tributes to famous and unfortunate climbers who were attracted to this area at the end of the 19th Century and in the first decades of the 20th Century.

Philip S Abbott, who fell to his death in 1895

Tribute to Georgia Cromwell at Lake Louise

Bow Lake and Glacier

Bow Lake Alberta in black and white

Bow Lake Alberta in its natural muted colour. The glacier is in the distance at the head of the lake.

Just a few minutes south of Mistaya Falls on the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park is Bow Lake, which is fed by Bow Glacier. Bow Glacier, like all glaciers, is receding as the world warms. On this day in May there was still ice on the lake.

Ice in Bow Lake, Icefields Parkway, Alberta

A few tourist buses had pulled up and a few people were taking photos, but it was cold, and most tourists seemed to be anxious to get back on the bus!

Tourist outlook – Bow Lake Alberta

Bow Lake Alberta – Looking south

And finally, a rarity for me, a selfie, with an entirely out-of-place baseball cap.

Bow Lake Alberta. A rare selfie.

All photos shot with an iPhone 6 and only slightly edited in Lightroom.

Mistaya Canyon

Mistaya River in light snow

Our hosts told us to visit Mistaya Canyon on our way to Banff and a hiker coming back out of the canyon as we arrived, confirmed that it was well worth the steep downhill path and the (equally steep!) trek back up.

We had also been told to visit Peyto lake, which is an amazing colour of azure, and the source of the Mistaya River. The road into Peyto Lake was not marked, so it was probably not yet open for the season.

Read all about it! The forces of falling water.

Juniper berries

Mistaya River and rapids

Snow in Alberta in May

Snow on the Mountains.

After three days based at the fantastic Aurum Lodge near Nordegg, Alberta, we headed for Banff National Park and the continuation of our drive west. It was snowing when we got up but, hey, it’s only May, in Canada, and we’re hardy.

These photos are all from the western end of the David Thompson Highway and were taken with my iPhone through the car window while Mr. IDWE was driving.

Snow on the Mountains.

The forest fire here had burned several years before but we were all very aware of the tremendous damage that had befallen Fort McMurray, Alberta, earlier in the month.

Forest Fires were here.

Forest Fires were here.

The snow continued until noon but the day remained gray and overcast.

The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney

Last scene, Act One

ACT (a community theatre) is presenting A.R. Gurney’s The Dining Room – a standard of American theatre – in five houses and a theatre during the month of February 2017. The house productions were sold out, and a huge success. Tickets for Le Carrefour Theatre can be bought at TicketWizard.ca  Shows are February 17 and 18 at 7:30 pm and February 18 at 2:00 pm.

Learning to fold the newspaper.

Architect meets Psychiatrist

Aunt Harriet has invited…

The Birthday Party

Nick wants to go to boarding school

Six actors play 55 roles in 19 scenes.  These photos are from a dress rehearsal in one of our house venues. Photos taken with a Sony RX1003 and a makeshift paper deflector to bounce the flash off the ceiling.

Because I am the producer of this show, I have been missing from my blog for several weeks – except for scheduled Thursday posts from Cuba.