Thursday, March 21, 2013

winter is back with us

Thoughts of sunny summer days and birdsong fill my thoughts as I view the whiteness of falling snow that lie silent on my world today. Hugs and warm wishes to all.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Back in the saddle again

Well truthfully there is no saddle involved but we did go out to the countryside for a winter picnic yesterday afternoon and what a wonderful day it was. To begin we had bright sunshine, o-so -glorious sunshine. Its a wonderful day when there are no chem-trail clouds blocking the sunlight.
I moved to Alberta years ago even though I don't relish the cold I loved the bright blue clear winter sky, sadly these days planes crisscross dumping who knows what all crap into the environment that causes cloud formations. If you don't believe watch the sky for a year and see how some days planes leave spurts or trails that form cloud cover rather than dissipate and dissolve as regular plane trails do. Its unbelievable I know, but I believe what I can see and I have watched these plane systematically checker the sky with trails or grids or spurts and an hour or so later, voila, the sun is not seen only man-playing-at-God-cloud-cover. Is this the cause of Asthma and sensitivities being on the rise? Our environment is continually under attack by greed;  one day maybe our Mother (earth) will give a darn good shake and toss us mutants off her back.

When one realizes that great civilizations have come and gone throughout history one must wonder did they bring about their own downfall due human greed of always wanting more, of wanting whats our neighbours, of wanting "all" there is to one selves rather than sharing. Greed, its a consumptive illness and it surrounds our lives like an ever eroding disease. This time of year its so apparent with the garbage that is uncovered by snow melt, we are a disgrace to the wonderful planet God gave us to live well on. As society on the whole we have failed at the living well part haven't we? Grassroots people are rallying more and thats a good sign, a sign of change, and hopefully our leaders will see there is a better way to live than raping and pillaging our Mother. Lets bless her with love and giving back in a good way in return for all she graciously gives. For without clean air to breath, fresh water to drink and unpolluted earth to grow our foods in we have nothing.

I didn't mean to go on a rant this morning it all just came out, and more, thank goodness there is delete, lol. Onward now with yesterday; that thought is kinda like living in the past isn't it?
Mom and last years young-un.
There was a group of eight does and young out in a field but they saw us coming from miles away and headed lickity-split for the shelter-belt. Arriving near the abandoned farm we were lucky enough to spot these two stragglers momentarily in the open. 
 Love this image of curiosity.

 Porcupine, this is the best shot I could get through the tree branches. Such sweet creatures to behold. I find it exciting to meet these cute fuzzy spiky rodents. I was hoping for a bit of action or a face shot at least but he casually shifted position, curled in his head, then went to sleep, so we trudged through the snow back to the road and left him be.

 Fore-bearers of spring, the Horned Lark migration is in full force, we saw three separate groupings of them, smallest was a group of three and largest was about eighteen. You can see their heads poking up out mid field. We had our lunch and afternoon tea while watching them, ah I love going on picnics.

Further along the gravel road we came across more larks, don't they blend well. These are real long shots as the larks kept quite a distance. I was shooting 7D, 300m lens with extender and this is a highly cropped image as well.

Headed homeward we encountered a winter squall, it was quite beautiful watching the wind stream snowflakes past the window. This drive by shooting is a keeper only for photo reference for paintings for the effects it captured of blowing snow.

Going past Elk Island Park the buffalo were within view of the highway so we stopped to watch them for about 15 mins, such magnificent beasts.
Well its snowing here again, so much for the three days of sun forecast. May all have a great week, I know I will as I am busy painting for an upcoming exhibition in Calgary this spring. 
Hugs!