Moving In

Our friends Inge and Jens are moving today. They have sold their nice house near Vernon and are now to live closer to us in West Kelowna. They have a new condominium in a great location overlooking a golf course near Shannon Lake. Down-sizing seems to be the trend at our age. Des just gets her lawns replaced. However, lawn-cutting, tree-trimming, eavestrough cleaning, house-painting, and window-cleaning still remain as hazardous occupations for older folk.
On a different note, Hanne and I had an argument about the plural of bus. By the school next door there is a sign that says "School-Busses Park Here". I said it doesn't look right. Hanne said it looks perfectly fine. After we looked up the spelling, both plurals are correct! So, we were both right! A rare occurrence for couples...

Jens and Inge's Front Door

The View Over the Golf Course

The Condos

Bus, buses, bus, busses, busing, bused, bussing, bussed... Take your pick!

Black and White and Abstract

Lady with no Head? Probably recent, look at all the blood!

Chop Bar with Chop Stick?

Keep It Genuine Hanne!

I had a bit of fun making black and white photos on our trip. The first one is a close-up of one of the old grain elevators near Drumheller. If you look closely you can see all sorts of things from bullet holes to foot prints to peeling and spilled paint. The restaurant from Calgary I enjoy because of the parking mistake with the fallen pole: and the one with Hanne outside the Greek Restaurant "The Broken Plate" is much better in black and white than in color, in spite of the colored flowers.

A Few Churches from Our Alberta Trip.

Irricana United Church

The Sharon Danish Lutheran Church, Calgary seen through our tour bus window.We attended the celebration service for the inauguration of the new combined congregations of two churches.

Drumheller's Little Church

I thought today I'd mention a few churches seen on our recent Alberta Adventure. The first one was spotted on our journey from Calgary to Drumheller on highway 9, at a little place called Irricana. The second was the one in Calgary mentioned on an earlier post, the Sharon Danish Lutheran Church. The third is a tiny church in Drumheller. You can just make out Hanne reading the lesson inside if you look carefully! And the last one we were shown around was in the hamlet of Dalum, again a Danish Lutheran Church. I don't have a still of this one, but you can see it here. It is absolutely in the middle of nowhere, at some crossroads, but folk come from miles around to attend.
We were also shown around the original 19th C parsonage....
On the wider world scene, we have to remark on the "Momentous Millinery" seen recently at Ascot, the horrible and destructive post-Stanley Cup Ice-Hockey Final riots that took place in Vancouver last evening after the Vancouver Canucks lost the cup to the Boston Bruins 4-0; and on the opening of the first day's golf in the US Open held this year in Bethesda, Maryland. Lots to keep an eye on, not to mention Wimbledon....

A Diversion.

Digital Rendering of the White-Breasted Nuthatch

Whilst at the Pigeon Lake cabin, one day I took the i-Pad out to the picnic table, and started playing recordings of the bird songs I was hearing. The one that had the most diverting effect was the sound of the White-Breasted Nuthatch. The targeted bird came flying over and tried to find where the foreigner was located. He flew round my head, up and down the surrounding tree trunks, back and forth, until I had to turn off the recording in self-defence! You can hear the recording here. It was lots of fun. The only other bird that showed some interest in his competing call was the Red-Eyed Vireo. He sauntered over but stayed shyly behind the poplar leaves...

The Road just Travelled.

Alberta Road around Pigeon Lake. Fields and fields full of dandelions abound...

Delegates to Danish Seminar in Drumheller (Minus Michael taking the Photo) N.B. Red and White are the colors of at least four flags: English, Danish,Canadian,and Austrian; and others?

David and Don

Some Hoodoos a few miles from Drumheller.

Just a small sprinkle of memories from our trip. The road picture is typical of the ones we drove, wide and empty of traffic. The group photo is of our Drumheller Seminar folk from all over Canada, from New Brunswick to Vancouver Island. The next one is of David Thomas and our teacher Don Mowatt playing a Danish duet for our entertainment. The last one is of some hoodoos near Drumheller.

Second Tallest Mountain; Longest Journey.

Mount Robson

Yesterday we packed up and went home. It was a fantastic journey from Pigeon Lake  Alberta to Penticton BC, through towering Rocky Mountains, torrential downpours of heavy rain, warm sunshine, along miles and miles of pristine river shores full to overflowing with spring rain and snowmelt. We enjoyed a delightful picnic lunch beneath one of Canada's highest mountains, Mount Robson. ( see photo ) We arrived home after 14 hours and 1085 Km, glad to be back in the swing of things at Athens Creek Lodge once more. We did see a few elk, some mountain goats, a mother black bear cross the road in front of us with two cubs, near Blue River, and had to stop for a parade of five Canada Geese near Peachland, I was too slow for photos, but otherwise we had a safe journey....