Yesterday's summer hail

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Just had an email from a lady in England, so that she could confirm my address before sending me a DVD that had been made from a very old cine film that my Father had taken of the Liverpool Dock area, possibly just post war, around September 1946. In a previous email, this lady (Anne Gleave, Curator of Photographic Archives, National Museums Liverpool), said that the film "is full of maritime references and clearly identifiable as Liverpool. There is a strong focus on shipping and docks along with some lovely shots of a carter and the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Obviously a much clearer image could be obtained if it was projected using the correct spool; also if it were copied to CD or DVD more detail could be viewed." So, this cine film was sent to be transferred to DVD and now it is completed. The film has been deposited with the North West Film Archive (NWFA). Anne told me: "We now have a high definition version of your father’s film which means that we can use it for display in exhibitions (it has already been included in one exhibition, On the Waterfront, which featured your father’s film on a television screen), it really is an excellent addition to our collections." So, thank you so much, Anne (and everyone involved)! And thank you to my wonderful friends, Linda and Tony, for saving all my parents' personal belongings after my brother died in England a few years ago and shipping them out to me here in Canada. Also travelling to various places in England to personally deliver various films and photos that were lovingly taken by my father many years ago. It means so much to me and I will forever be grateful for all you did for us.

Yesterday, 30 June 2016, was a rather weird day : ) In the morning, I just made it in time for a botany visit to our naturalist leader's home and garden. He and his wife have an amazing garden, full of so many kinds of flowers, including a good variety of native plants. One of my favourites is Showy Milkweed - love the cluster of individual flowers growing on a rounded head. These plants have spread over a lot of the front garden. All they need now is for Monarch butterflies to fly a bit further north than they usually do and discover this little bit of butterfly heaven. In 2012, though, it was very unusual, as people were seeing a few of these amazing butterflies in Alberta, including in Calgary. I even got to see and photograph a few Monarch caterpillars in this garden, for the very first and last time.

Our leader also has a large vegetable garden. One thing that always fascinates me is the Egyptian Walking Onion. Each one seems to take on its own artistic shape and I love to photograph these - will add a photo or two, eventually.

After this enjoyable visit, which included a welcome cup of coffee at the end, I went home, spent some time on the computer,. This is when a storm blew in, bringing winds and hail! At least this time I did see the storm. Two days earlier, there was apparently a terrible storm, with masses of hail and flooding in the city and its surrounding areas. Not sure if my area missed this storm or maybe it was less severe right where I live, but I heard nothing and saw no evidence of it! For once, I fell into bed around 5:00 pm, unable to stay awake one minute longer. Maybe I was in such a deep sleep that I slept right through the storm.

Thankfully, the hail had ended and the weather brightened up by early evening, when I headed out for the annual Bluebird route trip led by Don Stiles. I always look forward to going with Don on his nest box route, checking on a few of the boxes and finding either Bluebird or Tree Swallow eggs or babies. Don records all the information about numbers and dates, and also demonstrates how he carefully bands the young birds. Thanks, as always, Don, for an enjoyable evening outing and thank you for all the many, many years (must be somewhere around 35?) you have spent helping to preserve our beautiful Bluebirds. We all enjoyed seeing the various other bird species during the evening, too.