In order of Interestingness, Flickr

A lot of people have a photo of Bleeding Heart flowers in their photostream, but they are beautiful flowers : ) Saw these and many more at the Reader Rock Garden on 5 June 2013. This garden is situated on a hillside and it often tends to be windy whenever I go there, lol, so these delicate branches of little pink hearts are a bit of a challenge to keep in the viewfinder. "Lamprocapnos spectabilis also known as old-fashioned bleeding-heart, Venus's car, Lady in a bath, Dutchman's trousers, or Lyre-flower is a rhizomatous perennial plant native to eastern Asia from Siberia south to Japan. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus Lamprocapnos. It is a popular ornamental plant for flower gardens in temperate climates, and is also used in floristry as a cut flower for Valentine's Day. It usually has red heart-shaped flowers with white tips which droop from arching flower stems in late spring and early summer. White-flowered forms are also cultivated." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamprocapnos I posted several photos to ipernity, this one included, and then I transferred almost 9,000 images from Flickr (thank goodness it's done!). The first few shots I posted are now duplicates and I'm not sure how to deal with them. For now, I've just copied and pasted the kind comments people made on the original posts, as obviously I don't want to lose them. I was just about to add this new copy to the groups I posted the original photos in, but that would be double posting, which would be really annoying to other members of the groups : )

Just a simple photo, but there is something about it that I liked. For one thing, the sun was shining, and that is always a pleasant thing. Taken at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary on 22 November 2012.

About a week ago, on 10 November 2012, after two or three weeks of horribly overcast, dreary weather, I went for a drive to take some snowy scenery shots. I was surprised to find that there was not as much snow out in the countryside as I had expected. Found myself on a road where I had seen a Great Gray Owl before and was hoping and hoping that I might just be lucky again - and there it was! Still had a smile on my face at midnight.

Yesterday was sunny, after two or three weeks of horribly overcast, dreary weather, so I went for a drive to take some snowy scenery shots. I was surprised to find that there was not as much snow out in the countryside as I had expected. Found myself on a road where I had seen a Great Gray Owl before and was hoping and hoping that I might just be lucky again - and there it was! Unfortunately, it was perched on the side of the road that wasn't in the sun, but I was so happy to just see an owl : ) Still had a smile on my face at midnight.

On our recent week's trip down to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, US, we pulled off at a viewpoint and, as the time for the sun to set was approaching, we decided to stay there and witness sunset over the Grand Teton Range. It's -5C (23F) in Calgary this morning and, though I haven't yet dared to peer through my blinds to see if more snow fell overnight, I've just heard the dreaded sound of snow being shovelled from the sidewalk. I have a three-hour walk, looking for birds, so I have no choice but to scrape the snow and ice off my car before I can go anywhere. And so, winter fun begins .... 6:15 p.m.: it's -4C and I've just noticed that there is a Heavy Snowfall Warning in effect for Calgary, with close to 20 cm of snow from this evening (Monday) to tomorrow evening. I was a bit late getting to my walk this morning - my car door locks had completely frozen, so I had to wait until I could get into my car. Despite being a very overcast, dull morning, it was a very enjoyable walk along the southern edge of Glenmore Reservoir. There were roughly 10,000 birds in view on the Reservoir today, every single one of them no more than black specks in the distance, lol. Useless for photos, but I was so happy to notice after the walk that there was a row of withered, snow-covered Sunflowers along the fence by the parking lot : )

Finding it hard to get myself moving since returning from my wonderful week with friends, Linda and Tony, driving down to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. Wish I was still down there and that my special friends were still here - they should be back home in England by now. However, made myself take off for a couple of hours two days ago (23 September 2012), driving a few of the gravel backroads SW of the city, before all signs of fall have disappeared. Discovered that there was an unpleasant haze, presumably due to forest fires, and the mountains could barely be seen. By the way, there is a For Sale sign by the fence, so I really hope that any eventual buyer lets this beautiful row of five old granaries remain standing.

This is a photo from 11 September 2011, of a beautiful Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). The huge white petals are breathtaking, but I love the flower centre at this stage and, later, the bare seedpod. Taken in the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo. Lol, I wasn't tall enough to look down on the flower. "The lotus was of great significance to many ancient cultures, and in particular to the Eastern religions. From ancestral times, the lotus regularly appears as a symbol of purity, peace, transcendence, enlightenment, rebirth, beauty, and fertility. In India, the lotus flower is considered to be of divine origin and is viewed as sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists. Buddha was said to sleep on a lotus six months of the year, and Shambala (Buddhist heaven) is sometimes represented as a field of flowering sacred lotuses." Taken from the first link below. www.holisticaroma.co.uk/shp/TheSacredLotus.htm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera

Sorry, lol, I know I said that I was done with posting photos of the tiny Northern Pygmy-owl in Fish Creek Park, but - I saw it again yesterday : ) I had bumped into a group of friends when I arrived at the parking lot and they told me they had seen it. Well, it took a lot of looking, I can tell you! When I finally did spot it, it was towards the top of probably the tallest tree in the area, but it eventually flew to the other side of the path, to the top of the second tallest tree. Again it flew and disappeared. After looking and looking and looking, there it was, not too far away, but in a tree with a tangle of small branches, thankfully with none across the owl itself. These little fist-sized/popcan-sized owls are just about impossible to see : ) I think this was only about the third time I'd had any fresh air at all in the last 5-6 weeks, which is so bad and, though sunshine would have been really nice, I'm sure the short walk did me some good. The owl certainly did : ) These little guys are just so beautiful - and fierce! They are rare to uncommon here in Alberta. www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Glaucidium&species=ca...

Another photo of the tiny Northern Pygmy-owl from the same day as many of my other photos of it, in Fish Creek Park - November 13th. A zoomed in and very heavily cropped image, so I'm amazed that it is as sharp as it is. This rare to uncommon (in Alberta) owl is fist-sized or popcan-sized. Really, when you are looking at this image, the owl appears just about life-size : ) Pretty much impossible to find if you go looking - you just have to be extremely lucky - maybe it will fly (but it's so small, it could look like just another small bird in flight to most of us), or perhaps a bunch of Chickadees will be making a lot of noise in one area. Or maybe, just maybe, your eye will catch it perched in a tree. If you are lucky ....... : )