Griffith Woods 1

At the end of a recent walk at Griffith Woods, I happened to notice this colourful pair of sunglasses by the parking lot, covered with a fresh layer of snow. Couldn't resist a quick shot of them, it was so nice to see a splash of colour in an otherwise white world : )

Macro shot of a gorgeous Yellow Lady's-slipper wild orchid, growing at Griffith Woods on 23 June 2011. One of the ladies pointed out this particular flower as it had a red rim, instead of being plain yellow. I had seen this before with this species, but I'm not sure if I have a photo of a previous red rim. I wonder why some of these flowers are plain yellow around the rim and others are like the one in my photo. When several of us spent a wonderful day yesterday, exploring a forest north of the city, that is under The Nature Conservancy of Canada and belongs to Joanne Susut, we saw more Yellow Lady-slippers than I have ever seen before. It was interesting for us all to see both yellow- and red-rimmed flowers. Does anyone know why this happens? Joanne inherited this land, which she has named Spirit Rocks Sanctuary, from her parents and has donated it to the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It was about two and a half hours' drive north of Calgary, to near Rimbey. The day started off with rain and ended with rain, but luckily not a drop fell while we were walking. Four of us went from Calgary and we met up with three delightful and very knowledgable ladies there. Thanks so much, Joanne, for letting us explore your land - we appreciated it greatly and enjoyed spending this time with you and your friends. Off with friends to Bow Valley Provincial Park (very eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, west of the city) for the day today - a lovely, leisurely day, searching for beautiful things and taking photos : ) We are so lucky that within an hour, we can be in such a beautiful place.

Reminding me of a delicious glazed doughnut, this fungus was growing at Griffith Woods on 5th August 2009.

Can't remember what plant this seedhead belonged to, but I saw it at Griffith Woods. Not sure if it perhaps Hawkweed, or maybe Sowthistle? Much more dense and whiter than a Dandelion seedhead.

A wildflower, Nuttall's (?) Sunflower, growing at Griffith Woods and being visited by a little bee all dressed to match : ) Taken on 3rd August 2008. Had intended going to get a 'Flu shot this morning, but then I wasn't sure if I was starting to come out in a slight cold. So, decided I'd better leave it and instead went to wash my mud-caked car that I hadn't washed for months. While I was sitting waiting for the person ahead fo me to finish with the soap and rinse, I realized I was getting Migraine, so it's a good job I didn't go for my 'Flu shot. Now I have a splitting headache, so not sure how much I'll be on Flickr this evening.

Photographed (macro) these tiny flowers at Griffith Woods on June 20th. These very small, native wildflowers belong to the Primrose family, Primulaceae. Also called Rock Jasmine.

This wildflower is most likely a Flodman's Thistle, seen on a walk at Griffith Woods this morning, before going to the Calgary Stampede Grounds for the afternoon.

We were lucky enough to see this enormous Pileated Woodpecker just a few moments after seeing the Hawk that is in another photo that I am uploading at the same time. These prehistoric looking Woodpeckers are not seen all that often, so it is always a thrill when one is seen. For some reason, they often seem to end up in trees that have a million tiny branches, hence the background mess : )

A beautiful little Violet that looks a little like the Early Blue Violet. There are no leaves at the base of the flower stem at ground level. Photographed at Griffith Woods on June 23rd.