A photographer's dream clouds

There are very few new photos from My Contacts this morning and things seem to be very slow, so maybe my photos aren't showing up on other people's pages, either. Hope this isn't a repeat of the very recent problem, that lasted several days.

Another landscape photo taken at Red Rock Coulee in SE Alberta. We left Calgary on Monday morning, 20 September 2013, and had to reach Elkwater in the Cypress Hills (not that far from the Saskatchewan border), several hours' drive away, where we were going to stay in a little rustic cabin for three nights. On the way there, we stopped at Red Rock Coulee, which is just 56 kms (35 mi) southwest of Medicine Hat. Actually, this particular photo was taken on Monday, 23 September 2013, when we called in again, this time walking down the hillside and into one of the coulees. While my friends searched for Lichens, I wandered around, taking photos of the scenery and anything else I came across. These eroded, layered hills are similar to some of those seen in places like Drumheller and DInosaur Provincial Park. The extremely high winds were not pleasant at all, to say the least! In fact, strong winds were everywhere in many parts of SE Alberta. I was expecting a lot of my photos to be very blurry, as I could barely keep my balance or hold my camera. Amazingly, most seem to be OK to use. This is Rattlesnake territory, too, but fortunately we didn't come across any, thank goodness! At least, not here, but one was seen (not by me!) at the Pinhorn Grazing Lease, when we were monitoring the Yucca plants.

"The main feature of this natural landscape is the huge red boulders; some measuring 2.5 m across. They are scattered over a relatively small distance. Bedrock is close to the surface in this area, covered by only a thin layer of soil. Water erosion has carved the landscape over time and a badlands topography has formed in places. The bands of colour visible in the exposed bedrock are made of dark gray shales, greenish and gray sandstones, bentonitic clays and thin bands of ironstone.

The round reddish boulders are among the largest in the world. The boulders were formed in prehistoric seas as layers of sand, calcite and iron oxide collected around a nucleus formed by shells, leaves or bones. The concretions grew larger as the circulating waters deposited more layers. The reddish colour comes from iron oxide." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rock_Coulee

I have an appointment today to go and get my stitches out - not really looking forward to it, as I've been a little concerned about one end of the 3" incision the last two or three days. Guess I'll soon hear what the surgeon thinks - too squeamish to look myself : )

www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/13085588535