Garden flowers at the Rusty Bucket Ranch

Good news from the Ipernity Members Association (IMA) yesterday, 15 July 2017, for those Flickr members who are also on the ipernity website! I added it to yesterday's posts, but later in the day, after people had commented.

"Dear members,

We are absolutely delighted to share with you that the legal basis of our IMA goal to take the Ipernity platform over is achieved:

Ipernity S.A. (represented by Christophe Ruelle) and IMA (represented by Eric Desjours) signed the contract regarding the transfer of the Ipernity platform, the underlying intellectual property and associated rights from Ipernity S.A. to IMA.

We can share in short the following details of the contract and next steps:

The price for the transfer is 1 €.
IMA will cover 12,000€ of costs that had been incurred by hosting and maintaining the Ipernity platform during the negotiations.
Codes and passwords are being handed over as we speak.
IMA has a 15 days withdrawal right.
Ipernity S.A. will then start the transfer of the accounts of Amazon, Paypal, Google, etc.
Other necessary legal processes will follow.
The transfer process will be finished end of July.

We will keep you informed!

Best regards, William and Eric"

www.ipernity.com/group/2260604/discuss/187672

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not 100% sure, but is this Bittersweet Nightshade? I remember seeing someone's photo of these flowers recently and it was labelled as Shooting stars. I knew that was not correct and I had tried to find the correct ID, but had no luck. This morning, I did another Google search, and I came up with Bittersweet Nightshade.

"Solanum dulcamara, also known as bittersweet, bittersweet nightshade, bitter nightshade, blue bindweed, Amara Dulcis, climbing nightshade, fellenwort, felonwood, poisonberry, poisonflower, scarlet berry, snakeberry, trailing bittersweet, trailing nightshade, violet bloom, or woody nightshade, is a species of vine in the potato genus Solanum, family Solanaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia, and widely naturalised elsewhere, including North America, where it is an invasive problem weed. The berry is poisonous to humans and livestock,[citation needed] and the berry's attractive and familiar look make it dangerous for children."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_dulcamara

Two days ago, on 14 July 2017, it was a hot day, but our bio-blitz of the Rusty Bucket Ranch, west of Calgary, started at 8:00 am, to catch the coolest part of the day. This was the first time we had been there and we had such a great morning. What a beautiful place and area! Thirteen of us gathered to explore part of the land belonging to Liz and Alan Breakey - 160 acres, mostly wooded, with many streams feeding into Bragg Creek.

The gorgeous garden itself was full of bright, healthy plants, including these Bittersweet Nightshade flowers. Once we were in the forest, we came across all sorts of wildflower species and even a few fungi, including the one with guttation droplets that I posted yesterday morning. We all met the challenges of small, hidden logs along the trail, lying in wait to trip anyone who was not paying careful attention. One of the last areas was a bog, where the small, partly hidden pools of water were difficult or impossible to avoid - I nearly lost a shoe in there, lol! On the final stretch back to the house, we caught sight of a distant buck with its new growth of antlers; also, a few of the sheep that the Breakeys raise. A really fun walk for us all, with all sorts of things of interest. Many thanks to Liz and Alan for inviting us to the Rusty Bucket Ranch to explore and list all species seen! Thank you, too, for the very warm welcome you gave us, and for the muffins, delicious lemon drink, and coffee!

After the morning's hike, we all returned to the city and thoroughly enjoyed a BBQ lunch put on by our botany/birding friends, Dorothy and Stephen. I hadn't had a burger in years - and this one was so good! Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for all the time and effort you put into this. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon, chatting with friends and eating all sorts of 'goodies'. Happy to see the tiny Hummingbird that has been visiting your garden, and lovely to see the bright yellow American Goldfinch. It was quite windy, too, which felt wonderful on a hot day.