from The Sanctuary to The Pond

A few days in a row of smoke-free air is a treasured thing of late! No sucking on throat lozenges, no popping headache remedy pills and no dapping drips from my eyes! How sweet it is!  

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How sweet it was to also experience an out of the ordinary day at The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary!  While I did see the Full Sturgeon Moon very late on Monday night, I did not photograph it.  I did photograph the moon on Wednesday morning shortly after entering through the Sanctuary gate. The Sturgeon Moon was a supermoon and a blue moon too, so it still appeared big and bright two days after being full.  What I noticed this time was how defined the craters were on the right side and on the bottom.    

Just as I arrived at the lagoon, an Osprey landed on an adjacent tree top.  I was camera ready and in the right spot at the right time and able to capture it being perfectly framed by the pinkish orangish clouds.  I watched it for awhile and took many more photos after it settled and stayed perched there while the clouds danced behind it.  This silhouette shot was my favourite!  

I no sooner left the Osprey behind and began meandering along the trail when a Great Blue Heron flew away from its perch.  Another silhouette of a bird in motion framed by clouds is what I got when I was once again quick on the draw when being camera ready. 

I no sooner left the Great Blue Heron behind and began meandering along the trail when I heard that very distinct loud screeching song being belted out by a Belted Kingfisher.  It landed across the way and settled for a very few seconds which was long enough to capture this shot with my lens close to full zoom. 

Between the Osprey, the Great Blue Heron and the Belted Kingfisher, that was a lot within a very short time frame and so quickly upon arriving at the Lagoon.  Then just like that, the three were all gone off to better perches.  

It was time to take a few minutes to enjoy the scenery.  

Two hours of meandering the trails, I saw the Osprey numerous times from a distance and also saw the Great Blue Heron again just overhead. The Belted Kingfisher was no where to be seen nor were many of the little birds that had been in abundance the past few visits to The Sanctuary.  It's later in August, have they started their journey south already!  I will be back here soon and maybe once again it will be out of the ordinary experience, I enjoyed what today offered up!

Later in the day, I dipped into the paints to replicate my photo of the Osprey. 

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How sweet it was to savour some sister time today at Forgetmenot Pond! These kinds of experiences are out of the ordinary due to both of us leading busy lives.  We found a day that worked then put a plan in place for a picnic and to just hang out.  

Before picking our picnic place, we strolled around The Pond and along the trail to the pink suspension bridge.  The air was so mountain fresh with not a breeze.  The blues were so blue and the greens so green.  

walking along the Elbow River to the Pink Suspension Bridge

The menu was created by my sister who took full responsibility to bring all the ingredients and put them together.  I just sat and watched her do all the work!  We hung out, we ate our delicious lunch, we people watched and we got caught up on all that needed to be caught up on!  

I treasure out of the ordinary days of all kinds!

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