Sunset seen from every direction

NORTH

The window above Lindy's window seat faces north. When I noticed pink clouds in that direction earlier this week, I was reminded how impressed I was when I first moved from BC to Alberta.
There are some lovely sunsets in BC, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't until I came here that I saw sunsets in every direction.

EAST

These were taken with my little camera, which is fine in afternoon light but, by evening, wants the flash, so the quality isn't very good, but we can see pink clouds in every direction from our place in southeastern Alberta.

Posted for
Skywatch Friday
hosted by
Yogi,
Sylvia
and Sandy

SOUTH

WEST

NORTHWEST

Reflections from my archives this weekend

Richard Schear photos

Joining James of Something Sighted for #211 in his Weekend Reflections meme, I've chosen two photos my husband took when out with the Grasslands Naturalists.

Fireblossom Friday in the Garden

At the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Fireblossom has asked us to write a poem on redemption. She said redeeming a coupon wouldn't be a very exciting write, but she didn't say we couldn't mention coupons.
As some of you already know, I'm working my way out of a head cold that started as a chest cold (gotta do everything backward) so today's poem is short. Some of the lines I didn't even write, but quoting them fit the word count I randomly imposed on myself.

I took my life,

exchanged it for a new one,

as if I’d been a coupon in a store.

Got rid of strife,

found serenity instead,

but must still recall what life was before.

“Those who cannot

  remember the past are

  condemned to repeat it.” Santayana

Heading for the beach or extinction

Apparently, I posted the wrong link on the Toads site, and am attempting to fix that right now, nearly midnight, Mountain time.

I wrote this poem, then went to Wikimedia Commons to see if I could find a photo of sea turtles on the beach. Instead, I blundered across a story from March, 2010, and found it related to what I had written.
At the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Peggy, down in California, asked us to write a poem from the point of view of an animal (neither dog nor cat) and I immediately thought of the tiny turtles we used to have as "pets" when we were children. They were about the size of a Loonie or a Tooney (Canadian one- and two-dollar coins, about the size of silver dollars). We thought we were taking good care of our "pets", but they inevitably expired.
But once I had turtles on my mind, the poem pretty much wrote itself, as these things do sometimes.
So here it is.

Olive Ridley Turtle,
GreenFudge.org

I'm the last

in a long

line of turtles:

if I last

I will lay

my eggs soon,

in the sand 

near the edge

of the water,

and this year

I know I’ll

have room.

We used to fight

over egg-laying space,

for places to dig

in the sand.

There were many of us

and we made such a fuss

you’d think we were

going extinct.

But the laugh is on us...

or at least it’s on me,

because extinct is what

we are going to be.

If I don’t reach shore

and get my eggs laid,

I’ll empty them out

in the water,

and food for the fish

is all there will be

of my last son

and last daughter.

But don’t cry for me, people...

please, don’t you see,

it happens to all

late or sooner.

We think we’re so great,

the world ought to know

to protect us from 

all of the dangers.

 We’re all just the same

and I think it’s strange,

we’ll all be extinct—

but still strangers.

by Kay Davies, October 9, 2013               

His world was fascinating last Tuesday

My husband stopped at Dinosaur Provincial Park last Tuesday, on his way home from a business trip.

He hiked 4 of the park's 5 trails, and took many photos of the badlands scenery.

As the sign says, this kind of terrain is unusual in most of Canada. In southeastern Alberta, not as much.

Posted for 

Our World Tuesday

Photos
by
Richard
Schear
October 1,
2013

Red Deer River

Now I remember Mellow Yellow

I had forgotten about the Mellow Yellow meme until a blogger friend called Lily Hydrangea posted a photo of a very mellow yellow truck. Then I remembered how much fun Mellow Yellow Monday can be. So I gathered together a few very mellow skies photographed here in southeastern Alberta.
Tulip photo by Kay Davies 

Sunrises and a mellow yellow moon.

Photos by Richard Schear

Man with his head bowed low

Image by crilleb50, provided as prompt at The Mag

time passed 

as he sat,

with his head

bowed low,

slowly

and painfully

passed.

time waited

as he sat,

in sorrow

bowed low,

painfully

slowly

time passed.

the passage

of time

brought an end

to the pain,

slowly

the pain

decreased,

til he lifted

his head

and looked

at the world,

and found

that the pain

had ceased.

by Kay L. Davies, October, 2013                                                               

Posted for Tess Kincaid's

Mag 189

and

for Open Link Monday at the

Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

In the garden, we meet Denise Levertov

Each month, Kerry introduces or re-introduces members and visitors at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, to a poet whose birthday is in that month.

Denise Levertov
Wikipedia photo

This month's poet is Denise Levertov, someone with whom I was unfamiliar, but when I read some of her poems via links Kerry provided, I understood what she was saying, and imagine I understand what she was trying to say.
Kerry also provided a video of Levertov reading from some of her work, but the video came through on my computer with no sound.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the poems I read, especially these lines that spoke to my own life experience:
"...mountain, 
 cut of limestone, echoing
 with hidden rivers"

Now, after midnight, as usual, and with the dog snoring behind me, I found one particular poem spoke to me. My favourite lines are:

"a thousand times,

  till death finds them, 

  they may discover it again,

  in other lines"

This led me to write, not a reply, but a poem that somehow tells how I feel about reading and writing poetry, now that I have read her poem.

to find

the secret of life

read a poem

you’ll find

it’s all there

between the lines

between the words

hidden in the spaces

between the words

between the lines

it will come to you

as you dream

as you forget

the name of the poem

the name of the poet

as you waken

as you forget

what you have dreamed

you'll find

it all there

in the spaces

in between

Kay Davies, October 5-6, 2013                                                                  

Hello Toads and visitors, and followers of my blog. I've just discovered this is my 1700th blog post. Whodathunkit?

Lindy waits for her daddy's camera

Richard Schear photo,
September 17, 2013

Lindy has learned to wait patiently during walks with her daddy. He drops her leash so he can take pictures of things like the sunrise shown here, and she lies down to wait for him. He doesn't have to worry about her running away.

Posted for
Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family at their Pets Forever blog in Mumbai, India.
Lindy says, "Hi, Bozo. My dad has taken lots of photos of me waiting for him. This one was taken last month. It might look like many of the others, but it isn't."

Shadow shots in Dinosaur Park

On his way home from a business trip, with no wife and no old Golden Retriever to slow him down, my husband stopped at Dinosaur Provincial Park to hike some of the trails (he did 4 of the 5) and take some photos. Many lovely shadows lurk in the Alberta badlands, as you can see here.

 

Photos by
Richard Schear
October 1, 2013

NE of
Brooks, Alberta

Above,
self-portrait
of the
photographer
especially for
Shadow
Shot
Sunday 2
hosted
this week
by Gemma.

Critter bones in Dinosaur Park

Don't think Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park doesn't have dinosaurs, because it really does. It has been an active paleontological site for a long time. Many of the huge critters were killed as climate change swept the Canadian prairie, making it one of the world's richest deposits of dinosaur bones.

We visited there once, with our dog Lindy, who is only slightly more active than I am in the hiking department. That meant my husband couldn't see as much as he wanted to see, so he stopped there by himself this week to hike 4 of the 5 trails and bring home, not bones, but photos.

Photos by Richard Schear, October 1, 2013

Posted for Camera Critters,
hosted by Misty Dawn. Thanks, Misty!

Real Toads: a short story for Corey

In the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, we who love him call him Corey, but on his blog he is known as Herotomost.
Corey has presented the Toads, and visitors to the garden, with a list of words—not just any words, but names of alcoholic beverages. Some of them even I can recognize, but some I am seeing for the first time.
Nevertheless, I thought I could use them for something because Corey didn't limit us to poems. No sonnets specified... he said we could writing anything we want, even an ad for the top of a cereal box, if we like.
I have created a short short story in the old mode, with an unnamed hero, his young sidekick Juan, Juan's beautiful sister Corazón, and a villain.
I've used several of the words Corey provided, changing some around, changing the spelling perhaps, basically just mixing them up. I usually leave the word list to the end, but here it is to start things off for a change:

Wikipedia photo, so I'm not
responsible for its quality

Middle Sister
Jameson
Belvedere
Corozon
Apothic
Rang Tang
Arrogant Bastard
Green Flash
Barrio
Johnny Walker
El Presidente
Captain Morgan

     He’d been courting Juan’s middle sister, Corazón, and then that arrogant bastard Johnny Morgan drove by, just like a green flash, in his restored ’67 Plymouth Belvedere 2-door hardtop, with Corazón in the passenger seat.

     “Johnny says Richard Petty won the NASCAR Grand National in a Belvedere,” said Juan, as if it were information fascinating to everyone.

     “I don’t care if he won it in a bloody Barracuda. Now shut up,” he growled. “Where’s your sister going with that bum from the barrio?”

     “I don’t know where they're going, man, I’m just the kid brother. You think my three sisters ever tell me anything?”

     “You know something, muchacho. You call him Johnny, like you were old friends.”

     “Well, yeah, I guess we are, kinda, but he's old, though his dad and my dad were distant cousins or something, and his mom and my mom are friends.”

     “Hrmph,” he snorted, “so Corazón has known him a long time?”

     “Sure, all her life.”

     “You suppose they have a date?”

     “I don’t think so, man. That would be kinda gross, I think.”

     “And Johnny Morgan is no Captain Morgan?” he said, feeling a bit better now.

     “Hell, no, man, he isn’t even Johnny Walker!”

     “And it’s a good thing his name isn’t Ron.”

     They were both laughing and didn’t notice when the Belvedere rolled to a stop in front of Juan’s house. But they turned around in time to see Corazón get out of the car and say, “Thanks, Johnny. I really needed to pick up this new dress. I think I’m going to get a marriage proposal tonight and I want to be ready.”

     She turned and ran up the steps without looking back, not spotting the young man and her brother where they stood across the street.

     They heard Johnny call, “Good luck, mi hermana!” before he drove off.

     “Okay, man, it looks like you’re really El Presidente now,” said Juan, “and you better have a ring ready for my sister.”

No reflections of actual dinosaurs

The land, the clouds, and the sunlight made beautiful reflections on the Red Deer River where it passes through Dinosaur Provincial Park in the Canadian province of Alberta.

Photos by
Richard Schear
October 1, 2013

My husband visited Dinosaur Provincial Park on his way home from a business trip, hiked 4 of the 5 trails and took 'a few' photos. It's a good thing the dog and I weren't there to slow him down.




I'll post more photos soon, including some of the dinosaur bones found in the park, which are now on display there.

Posted for Weekend Reflections
hosted by James of Something Sighted. Thanks, James!

Dinosaur skies for Skywatch Friday

Photos by Richard Schear, October 1, 2013

My intrepid photographer, after a long business trip, drove home via Dinosaur Provincial Park this week, and hiked four of the five trails, camera in hand. There were so many wonderful sky shots, I could only narrow them down to twelve, so we'll have six today and six another time, perhaps next week.

Posted for Skywatch Friday

This is a mini-post

I don't know if I've ever done this on my blog, but I'm thinking probably once or twice when I couldn't resist.
I saw the first photo in this series and I fell in love. How do people get photos like that? I know, by patiently waiting for hours and hours, lying on their stomachs in places without air mattresses, never mind beds. I know. So I will never be one of them.
But click the link, see the photos. They are beyond wonderful. I promise.

http://seriouslyforreal.com/amazing-world/the-35-most-spectacular-wildlife-photos-from-the-national-geographic-photo-contest/

Photo illegally snaffled from a website about
a nature photo contest in National Geographic.

Come on, everybody, family, poets, writers, photographers, gardeners, whoever you are, whether you like me or not, you owe it to yourself to click on the link. This is National Geographic, after all.

Sigh.

So beautiful.

Guest contributor has Toads write of neighbours

We welcome a guest contributor today at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads.

Patricia McGoldrick offers us a list of words from which we can choose three or more to incorporate into a poem. She says her list "is inspired by actual neighbours in our community and life, in general."
I didn't attempt to use all the words in my poem, although I did use several. "These are words that go together well" as a song once said.
Patricia's list may be seen below, after you've looked at the photo I chose (Teresa might like it) and after you've read the doggerel I've written.

Wikimedia Commons photo "The Neighbors" by Jeffrey Pang

good fences make good neighbours, they say,

unless they are nine-year-old boys,

in which case they’ll climb right over the fence

to fight or to argue or play

a handshake will make good neighbours of men

while laughter and tears bond the women

athough if pets like to wander or stray,

men might have to shake hands again

weather is good for discussion;

or hometowns, or parents, or children,

especially if somebody’s teenagers play

loud music with lots of percussion

Kay Davies, October, 2013

Here's the list. Thanks, Patricia!

Neighbor / Neighbours

Fences

Handshake

Barbecue Potluck

Borrow

Return

Garden

Weeds

Trees

Snow

Weather

Laughter

Tears

Children

Parents

Birth

Death

Teenagers

Stoop

Deck

L is for photos of lilacs in autumn

Just thought I'd post a couple of photos of my spring flowers now that it is autumn in the northern hemisphere. Autumn and spring are my favourite seasons of the year. Summer is too hot (for me) here in southeastern Alberta, and winter is famously cold.

L is for Lilacs after a spring rain, because, after someone once posted L is for the Louvre, how can anyone else top that?

Posted for ABC Wednesday, with thanks to Denise, Roger, and the team, and especially our friend Wil, known to bloggers as Reader Wil, in the Netherlands. Thanks for hosting today, Wil! I'm glad you went to Australia to visit your family, but I know you're sorry to go home and leave your grandchildren Down Under.

Kay Davies photos

I'm just waiting for you to eat something

Photos by Kay Davies, September 27, 2013

You never know, it's a dog-eat-food world out there, and someone (even though no one is home except Lindy's mom) might drop some food from the table onto the carpet.
Much has been dropped on this carpet already and it will be removed as soon as Lindy's mom gets more flooring to match the kitchen floor, which is washable, Lindy-coloured, and doesn't show spots.



Posted (late) for Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo
and his family in Mumbai, India.
Lindy says, "Hi, Bozo, when they change the other floors to look like me, no one will ever be able to find me."