Thursday Theme Song...oh, I'm a...

This old song was suggested to me by my brother Clint, who loves to sing and loves to travel. The photos are taken from Clint and Maria's recent trip to the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The song is from our youth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0janfcZ8LUw

Photos by Maria Davies

I'm visiting with them, following a visit with our younger brother, and I'll be home sometime tomorrow. Looking forward to Dick and Lindy meeting me at our little local airport.

Posted for Thursday Theme Song
hosted by Hootin' Anni

Thursday Theme Song: Walkin' my...

© Photo by Maria Davies

Gee but it’s great never stayin’ out late

Walking my Lindy back home

Arm in arm over meadow and farm

Walking my Lindy back home.

I go along trying to think of a song,

While Lindy hopes to find a bone

Bluejays go by and they give us the eye

Walking my Lindy back home.

We stop for a breath and she rolls on her back

So I can rub her on her chest

I give her a pet, and that’s when I get

Her golden hairs all over my vest.

After I try to brush them away

She is all covered in leaves

I brush her then we continue again

Walking my Lindy back home!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUlKtLG7rGY

Song suggested by my husband Richard Schear and my brother Clint Davies. Photograph of Dick and Lindy by Clint's wife Maria, lyrics parodied by Kay Davies with no help from the dog whatsoever,

and posted for Hootin' Anni's musical meme,

Thursday Theme Song

To see other pictures and hear other songs, please click

HERE!

Explaining myself, for my friend Friko

I often refer to my husband, Dick, walking our dog, Lindy, "at the coulee" or "by the coulee" near our neighborhood. Once or twice I've remembered to provide a link to explain the word coulee to those of you who may be unfamiliar with it.
Because it is applied to many different kinds of places in North America, it is not surprising people in the rest of the world don't understand what I mean. My blogger friend Friko, who lives in England, has asked me, "What is a coulee?"
That is a very good question. There are many answers and, as a relative newcomer to the Canadian prairie, I find I cannot satisfactorily define "coulee" by myself.
If you click the link below, you'll find the following explanation, plus more detail, and some photographs, including one taken in southern Alberta.  The best I can do is provide illustrations, below, and I didn't even take them myself.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coulee (or coulée) is applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone.

The word coulee comes from the Canadian French coulée, from French word couler meaning "to flow".

The term is often used interchangeably in the Great Plains for any number of water features, from ponds to creeks.

Aside from those formed by volcanic eruptions, (coulees) are commonly canyons characterized by steep walls that have been shaped by erosion. These types of coulees are generally found in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada.

Coulees provide shelter from wind and concentrated water supplies to plants which would otherwise struggle to survive in the xeric sagebrush steppe. Trees are often found along streams in coulees and at the base of their walls.

© Photos left, and right, by Richard Schear

First three photos at the coulee
in our neighborhood.

© Photos above, and below, by Maria Davies

Photo taken last week by my sister-in-law at Police Point Park in the north side of the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta. The steep canyon wall runs above the south bank of the South Saskatchewan River opposite the park.
Many coulees in this area, such as the one where Dick and Lindy walk daily, have water in them only intermittently, sometimes not at all in a dry year. The ones containing large rivers such as the South Saskatchewan, always have water, although at widely varying levels depending upon the time of year, and the whims of prairie weather.
Below, my brother Clint Davies and his wife Maria at Police Point Park.

© Photo by Richard Schear    

Pet Pride: Lindy loves her daddy, and visitors

Posted for the
Pet Pride meme
hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo
and his family in Mumbai.


To see other pets as
their owners see them,
please click
HERE!


Lindy's favorite person is her daddy, probably because he will stop to rub her tummy any time she wants, no matter where they are. In the photo below, they are out for an evening walk with Lindy's Uncle Clint (her mom's brother) and her Auntie Ria (Uncle Clint's wife Maria) at the coulee, not very far from Lindy's home. Like her friend Bozo, Lindy enjoys having visitors.

© Photos by Maria Davies

Shadows surround Dick and Lindy

© Photos by Maria Davies

My husband Dick and our dog Lindy were out walking with my brother Clint and his wife Maria last week. The evening shadows were getting longer, but the skies were still a pretty blue as they followed the path around the coulee a short distance from our house.

Posted for  Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted every week by

Tracy at Hey Harriet! Thanks, Tracy!

To see other shadows as other people saw them, please click  HERE!

Skies over the South Saskatchewan River

© Photos by Maria Davies

My brother Clint and sister-in-law Maria visited us this week from western British Columbia. We had a great time. One afternoon we went into the city to enjoy what I humbly call The World Famous Kay Davies Unguided Tour of Medicine Hat. Maria took these photos (thanks, Ria) when we stopped to look at the South Saskatchewan River and across to the northern shore. There were plenty of fluffy white clouds in a lovely blue sky. Later, however, when we stopped to enjoy a meal in the Jungle Cafe at the Medicine Hat Lodge, we noticed the clouds had turned dark. By the time we were seated, torrents of rain had started to fall. I've seen plenty of rain, but have never seen raindrops that big. The rain had stopped by the time we finished. When we got home, we found the dog wet, but only on one side of her body, so I guess she had calmly taken the whole thing lying down. (Lindy will not go into her doghouse.)

Posted for SkyWatch Friday.

To see other skies in other places, please click HERE!

Also posted for Weekend Reflections.

To see other reflections this weekend, please click HERE.

Thursday Theme Song: Bye-bye...

© Photos of birds by Richard Schear    

© Photos of Richard and Lindy by Maria Davies   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfANFQOLGKA&feature=related

Pack up all my care and woe.
Here I go, walking slow,
Red wing blackbird.
When my puppy walks with me —
Lindy's sweet, oh so sweet,
Redwing blackbird.
Only Lindy loves and understands me.
Going on a walk with her is dandy.
Make her bed and douse the light;
We got home late tonight.
Blackbird, good night.

Co-authored (today only) by

Sir Richard of Schear, Sir Clinton of Davies, Lady Maria, and Kay.

Posted for Hootin' Anni's musical meme

Theme Song Thursday

To hear other songs and see photos by other bloggers, please click

HERE!

ABC Wednesday: Y is for Yucatan

© Photo by Richard Schear.

© Photo by Clint Davies.

In January, 2010, Dick and I went to the Mayan Riviera with my brother Clint and his wife Maria. One of our side trips was to the Mexican state of Yucatan to visit the Mayan city at Chichen Itza. If I look less than enthusiastic (or downright miserable) here, it is because my back was hurting. I wasn't prepared for Clint to take my picture, or I'd have smiled because I was very happy to be there.

© Photo by Richard Schear.

Clint's irrepressible enthusiasm, however, more than made up for my missing smile.

Posted for
ABC
Wednesday
hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt's talented team of alphabetical photo-bloggers.
To see how others have used the letter
Y please click HERE!

© Photo by Kay Davies.

© Photo by Clint Davies.

Dick and Maria strolling through the ancient Mayan ruins.

© Photo by Kay Davies.

W is for Warnings sometimes lost in translation

"Beware" it says on a fountain near the giant Three Gorges Dam in China.

"Please" it says to discourage people from climbing over the fence at the huge dam itself.

"Watch the escalator" where??? over my head??? This warning is in the Shanghai Museum.

A delicious warning sign at an ice cream shop on the pier in Clearwater, Florida.

Even with a sign in three languages, and staff working nearby, my brother Clint, the family clown,
 had to pretend to ignore the danger warning at this pool in Mexico.

Photos by Richard Schear, Kay Davies and Maria Davies

Posted for the ABC Wednesday meme. Other people, all over the world, have been playing around with the letter W. To see what they got, click

HERE

V is for Vancouver, host to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

I lived and worked in the Vancouver area most of my life, but when I tried to get Games tickets through the Vancouver Olympic Committee's lottery system of ticket sales,
I was a genuine gold-medal loser!
So I stayed home in Alberta with Dick and Lindy.

However, here's my brother Clint with a big fish in downtown Vancouver.
Dad would have loved this picture!

Clint, who lives in the suburbs, looks over his shoulder to see if he's being followed.
Nope, not a bit.

                                                                       Above photos by Maria Davies and Clint Davies. Photo below by Kay Davies.

This isn't Vancouver, this is the letter V in the clouds above the sunset at our house in Alberta.

Posted for the photo meme, ABC Wednesday.

To visit other bloggers and view their choices for the letter V, click

HERE

Q is for the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico

On our way from Cancun to Isla Mujeres, in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

I'm glad I didn't go to Tulum. Too many stairs, and I was very tired that day.

Dick making friends with the local iguanas in Tulum.

Who, me? You're waiting for me? I'm slower than Kay!

At Puerto Morelos, the water changed color constantly as the clouds moved.

No, this isn't Dick windsurfing, but I bet he could.

So glad to see we were staying at a resort with crocodiles. Ha, just baby ones!

I watched this bird for a long time, but I don't know what kind it is.

Photos by Clint and Maria Davies, Kay Davies, and Richard Schear.

Posted for ABC Wednesday. For other interesting takes on the letter Q,

CLICK HERE

Welcome to my blog

Hi -- I hope you're enjoying the chapters of An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel that I post every two weeks (more or less), and also the photos I post in between (often at random).

If you're new to my blog, take a look at the list in the sidebar. It can take you back to my first post. Click on 2009, when I was new to this, too.

If you have a Google account, LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad, AIM, Name/URL, please feel free to leave comments on my blog. You can also use 'Anonymous' on the "Comment as" list (click on comment number below to find the list.) If you're in a hurry, you can check one of the boxes at the bottom of each blog section. Otherwise, blog comments are very welcome at ourcopyeditor@gmail.com

Thanks for visiting. And thanks to Clint and Maria Davies for this photo of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

-- Kay