Garden Update IV: 100g Bag!

Yesterday, I had a strong craving, one that I couldn't satisfy with any old mass produced, chemical laden product of a southern state. No, I needed me some U of C No. 1 green, and I needed it BAD. So, I grabbed a baggie, hopped on my ride, and headed down to the patch...
It was nice to collect some of our own edible greenery (had wilted spinach with some chops tonight).

On Saturday, Tammy and I placed some bamboo poles and twine around our patty pan squash and pole beans, in anticipation of training them as they climb.

Below are a couple of photos of the garden in general. As can be seen, some of the more experienced veteran gardeners are further ahead, but we're doing okay.

I was also glad to find out that two seedlings we had almost given up on, a pumpkin and squash plant, are actually showing new growth. The squash, seen below left, is further ahead, but still it will be iffy to mature in time. Below right are the edamame beans with neighbouring marigolds.

Noctilucent Clouds, Luminescent Celebrities

These are photos I took of noctilucent clouds about 1/2 hr before sunset on Wednesday at Nose Hill Park. They are named noctilucent because they are usually only visible just prior to sunset and into deep twilight. I was able to distinguish them while wearing sunglasses, and altered brightness and contrast to approximate that effect. These tenuous, ripple textured bands and layers of ice crystals exist between 50 to 70 degrees latitude in the uppermost part of the atmosphere, the mesosphere. They are seen mainly during the summer months. Their existence has really only been known for a little over 100 years, and are becoming more common, perhaps pertaining to climate change.

I mention luminescent celebrities, because as one of many thousands of teenaged fans that owned one of the famous "red swimsuit" Farrah Fawcett posters, maybe, just maybe, one can visualize the textures of that famous mane in these skyscapes.

Head for the Hill

On Sunday, we went out for our first official hike of the year, with some friends from Cochrane, John and Rebecca. We decided to start with a short, fairly easy walk with some scenery, climbing the hill overlooking the Station Flats area of the Elbow Valley. It was a gorgeous day, and we found a good scenic spot for lunch.

Below, Yola relaxes in her "private" shade, Tammy extols to Rebecca the benefits of a hat to prevent the "bleached blonde" look, and John demonstrates the here to for undiscovered use for dried apricots that have become soft and malleable in one's backpack.

And despite being somewhat late, there was floral abundance along the trail. Below, orchids, violets and Indian paintbrush.

Garden Update III: The Harvest Begins!

As you can see above, our exhaustive toil in the garden patch has been rewarded by the beginnings of great bounty. The radishes are crisp, tasty, and fairly mild, with a slight zing at the finish.

Below are photos indicating the state of the garden today (thanks to a cool June, growth is slow, but improving). The spinach is coming along nicely, however, and we'll soon be noshing on that.

The young patty pan squash and edamame beans have interesting leaf patterns:

In Honour of Father's Day Yesterday...

...ducklings! Lots of the flapping, frantic little fuzzballs. Last week, I took the first two pictures along the Bow River in South Calgary of a Mama merganser and her(?) brood of 16(!). I was since told she may have been running daycare.

The following two pictures of mallard ducklings were taken at nearby Confederation Park last week. The mother remained close by.

Calgary Enters the 21st Century! Hurrah!

It's been a long time coming, but finally, the city's curbside recycling program began in our neighbourhood this morning.
Never mind that we're nearly a decade behind Edmonton, and even Red Deer - at least it's here. It may take a couple of weeks to clean up the backlog we have stored up - as we used a private recycling firm through March.

Now, if the city would only find some cajones to put some proper bike lanes in areas of the city away from the river paths, so cycling to work doesn't have to be considered an extreme sport. By that time however, the only wheels I'll be propelling will be the ones on my walker.

Burnt Pine (not Sienna) Sunset

I took these photos back on May 29 when a prescribed burn to attempt to limit the pine beetle spread occurred near Canmore. In the first image, I was able to capture the smoky orange glow at sunset on Nose Hill, with the reflection on a seasonal pond that will usually disappear by July. The camera was equipped with my wide-angle lens, and set on a tripod to record multiple exposures, which I used to create this pseudo HDR image and bring the trees out of total silhouette.











The second image also used multiple exposures up a Nose Hill coulee, but was hand held, so the HDR image is a little more "jittery", but I still like the effect.

Clothesline Art to Art that Grows

Last Sunday, as we did on the last Sunday in May last year, we went for a drive south of Calgary to the Leighton Art Centre's Clothesline Art Sale, where they have painting from local artists pinned in and outside tents around the old house that serves as the main gallery. There was also a short sculpture walk in the nearby woods, with stumps serving as dais's (daisi?). The view on such a nice day was also terrific, and wagon rides were also available.

Afterwards, we stopped down the road at the Priddis Valley Garden Centre, a work of art in itself, with funky, warm colours, unique sculptures, structures, doodads, a welcoming host and warm atmosphere.

Snowbarb!

Well, we did get snow on Saturday, not a dump, but still, snow - on June 6! One should not be surprised however, with Calgary's multitude of micro-climates, not just by geography, but by calendar, too. We had probably our third or fourth micro-spring for 3 days last week, now a few days of our fifth or 6th micro-winter since the equinox... I'm staring at a full moon as I write this, and I'm sure there'll be a lovely blanket of frost by dawn.

Garden Update 2

It's the eve of a potential early June snowfall (why do we try to garden here again?), and I'm wondering how all the fresh young shoots I observed sprouting up on Thursday will fare. The radishes and spinach were first to appear over a week ago, then the beets, the patty pan squash and pole beans, and Thursday the bush beans, edamame beans and carrots. Pictured here in order are the radishes, spinach, pole bean, patty pan squash, and (look closely) beets. The marigolds we chose may not have the insect repellent qualities (witness our friend here) of some other varieties.