A change of subject

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the start of September! Public schools here reopen tomorrow and no doubt many parents will heave a huge sigh of relief - and many kids will be happy to reunite with friends. Others will have very different feelings.

On a drive yesterday afternoon, it simply felt like fall. Two Magpies were the only birds I saw, and the landscape felt empty of living creatures. After a great summer of seeing so many things, it was a sad feeling to now see so little.

After posting the same kind of photo for a long time - flowers, forest findings, so much green - I really needed to post something that was a different colour and completely different subject. This textured find was part of a small, old shed of some kind, seen on Judy Osborne's property. Can't remember if it was built into the hillside, but it was partly covered with branches and leaves.

Six days ago, on 25 August, 10 of us arrived at a friend's house, ready to go north of Calgary to near Sundre, for a few hours of botanizing, This was the second visit to Judy Osborne's for a few of us, me included. The previous trip was on 30 June 2015. By now, of course, a lot of the wildflowers are finished, but I found enough other things to photograph, including a distant, beautiful Red-tailed Hawk, a Wood Frog, a Yellowjacket (wasp), and a mushroom or two, plus a few of the plants in our friends' garden at the beginning and end of the day. Their garden is one beautiful sea of yellow at the moment. No scenery shots during the day, as the visibility was so bad, due to the smoke coming from serious, widespread forest fires in the northwest United States.

Thanks so much, Judy, for having us out on your beautiful property again. It was a most enjoyable day, despite the dreadful, smoke-filled air. We look forward to being out there again next year! Many thanks, too, to Barry, who drove a few of us out there and back to Calgary. A long, long drive and it was much appreciated!