making doors open

This morning I made a conscious effort to be outside somewhere, where I could watch the sunrise.  I've not done that since back in May.  The time felt right for this door to open and welcome events of this type back into my life.  With sunrise time at a more reasonable hour, it allows me more time to accomplish what I have to do at home then get to Nose Hill and hike up.  I was out the door during darkness.  As I hiked up the main big trail, I watched behind.  

When the sun began cresting the horizon, I found a spot to sit and watch.

After the sunrise, I hiked to the top to cover distance on the flats.

 A big loop was in the plan which included passing by the pond.

This is my watercolour painting documenting my first sunrise along this journey as navigation gets more accessible and becomes more comfortable.  The plan is to keep this door open and go places to witness more sunrises. 

😃

There was so much slipper time these past few months that I wore holes in two pairs.  They were slippers I knitted last winter.  Since then I completed other knitting projects but nothing since May. The thought crossed my mind, did I have enough range of motion to knit again.  The only way to find out would be to try.  I collected my supplies from the basement and they sat on my table for a few days.  On this day, I tested the waters.  I am happy to report that another door opened and I am back at knitting again.  I picked an easy slipper pattern.  My technique right now is not pretty but the knitting gets done.  I am good for about 15 minutes at a time for now so I will not be whipping these up.  I am going to say "stay tuned" yet this time I may have a finished product in a month.  

🌅

Once again, I made a conscience effort to get out somewhere to watch the sunrise.  Due to a limit to the time I can sit behind the wheel, I opted to head back to Carburn Park. I watched the sunrise between the trees.  Two ducks swan in the early morning light.  Being a long weekend, it was very quiet at the park.  It's the last weekend to escape the city before school starts up and routines get back to normal.

This is my watercolour painting documenting another sunrise along this journey

end of summer shades paired with end of golden glow moments

Into the forest I go to find a Mom and her fawn.  I wondered was this the family I saw the last time I was here.  I think not, this was the only fawn which stuck very close to the Mom.

Not far away were these two fawns!  I believe these would be the two I saw the last time. Their Mom was in the brush snacking away on breakfast and not paying attention to her little ones.  These two would have been born in May of this year.  They were still quite small. The second one was a bundle of energy and entertaining to watch.

It's a good feeling to have doors open up again.  I do realize it takes work and time to get to where I can make the doors open, I am putting the work in with patience.  

🛬

When our world changed back in 2020, I became interested in the unusual planes that I could see parked at the airport which were visible out my front window. I joined a local on-line plane spotting group.  I had been capturing photos of planes from my front doorstep using the full zoom on my camera.  I have not been able to carry my camera and use it since May, so I plane spotted but did not capture shots.  That was until today.  I saw a plane out my picture window and I wanted a photo. I cannot carry my camera or yet raise it high enough to capture photos.  My mind wandered and it wandered to a way I could make this work.  Today another door opened! I can carry my camera attached to my tripod with my other arm. I can place it in the passenger seat of my car.  I can get it out and carry it a short distance, set it up, lean down and snap a shot!  This is what I captured! In this photo they are removing crates that contain the horses. It brought horses from Belgium for the Spruce Meadows Masters which takes place from September 3rd to September 7th. 

I am already wondering what other doors can I work at to open them!

all walk no talk

They are calling it a "long duration heat event"!  Who the heck comes up with the terminology these days to describe what our weather is. Simply put it's hot!  I wanted to be by water and where I could let my mind wander to days gone by!   

Yesterday was all walk plus all talk as we worked our way along an eleven kilometre route through Bowness, Baker and Bowmont Parks.  We had lots to catch up on so I was not paying particular attention to the scenery nor was I snapping shots.  We shared  stories of the past, the present yet more excitingly the future for each of us, as we follow our journeys which are on the very opposite ends of a spectrum. 

Today was "all walk no talk" as I returned solo to follow the same route, with a veer off here and there, this time with a couple of motives in mind and also to snap shots. I began as the golden glow hour was coming to an end by walking down a trail I had never been on before.  I saw others on this trail during the winter months when I skated along The Canal which is to the left of the trail in the photo, and also during the summer months when I kayaked down The Canal. The time for me to hop back in my kayak will come next summer.  

Once again I wanted to capture a scene that I could paint.  I was motivated to do this after what I shared in my last blog post.  The above photo was the first shot I snapped and I knew it was the one to paint.  This is my painting.

While walking that new trail, I stopped, I closed my eyes, I let my mind wander back to January 2nd of this year when I skated along The Canal. In my mind I felt the cold against my face and I could see my breath.  Aaaah!  So cool! 

When I came back to reality, I continued along the trail to witness the last of this morning's golden glow.  No the leaves are not changing colour yet, well not to this extent.  I did an out and back along this trail.  My turn around point was where the ice ends when skating here. 

Not a breeze was to be felt.  The Lagoon was like glass.  That's a very young duck sitting on the end of the dock where you launch your watercraft into the water.  As I approached, it did not move, it was not living its best life. Eventually it awkwardly shimmed into the water where it slowly swan away.

I worked my way over to the trail that follows along the river. 

Once again I stopped, I closed my eyes, I let my mind wander back to.....

.....January 24th of this year when I skated here, along The Ice Trail. 

This was the view when I skated along The Ice Trail two weeks later on February 7th.  In my mind I felt the cold against my face and I could see my breath.  Aaaah!  So cool! Walking the trails that I skate in the winter was another motive for returning to this area again today.

With cool on my mind now, 

I continued on with covering some distance 

all the while admiring the scenery and snapping shots.

By the time I arrived back at The Lagoon,  I felt I had my fill of being near water, capturing many beautiful seconds in time and covering the distance I set out to cover, it was time to head back to my vehicle and head home.  By now the heat was hitting.  This is my last photo of the day and it was my reality.   

...only in my dreams!

Aaah so cool!

a plan with goals August 23, 2025

Before I laid my head on the pillow last night, I put a best laid plan in place for today that was filled with goals. The first goal was to be out the door by 7:00 am.  I failed at that, when I looked at the time once closing the door behind me, it was 7:05 am.  Between waking and getting out the door, I checked the news plus the weather.  I did my first round for the day of recovery exercises.  Breakfast came next then cleaning up, dressing and finally walking out the door.

The additional goals were to walk 12 kms, to relax my shoulder and arm while walking, to capture some kind of moody photograph worthy of a painting project and finally to arrive back at my vehicle with a smile knowing I reached all my goals. Then there are always the goals of admiring scenery and being one with nature. 

I picked a route that included walking around the ponds at Carburn Park and then aiming for Fish Creek Park doing an out and back.  That route would give me the 12 kms I was chasing.  I walked away from my vehicle under a clear blue sky with not a cloud to be seen.  The early morning glow lit up the trees and shrubs.

The sun was rising over the tree tops casting out rays that stretched over the pond.  Ahhhh I thought!  This is the scene I was after!  It looks worthy of a watercolour painting project.  Stick around to see if I had luck with accomplishing this goal! 

The plan was to loop around the ponds but as I passed by this trail, it called out to me!  Seeing as I was already down there in one form, I went for it, I answered the call.  Doing so paid off!

At the clearing there was Mom and her two fawns.  

I saw them before they saw me.  

I was not able to get a photo of the second fawn as it was deep in the bush. 

They saw me!

I stayed where I was and just waited.  They went about their business savouring morning snacks.  Mom moved along and her fawn followed along.  These were very special moments in time experiencing such beauty.

I left Carburn Park behind and aimed for Fish Creek Park.  While walking that stretch I put  my iPhone away to focus on covering the distance and letting my shoulder relax and my arm swing freely.  I am still not at the point yet where I can carry my camera so all the photos are taken with my iPone. It felt very natural and comfortable, so much so that a few times I forgot about the titanium that is holding parts of me together.  Goal accomplished!  

I reached Fish Creek Park and continued further along for a short distance knowing the return trip would give me my 12 kms. This was my turn around point. The focus walking back was once again covering the distance at a good clip and letting my shoulder and arm, just be!  

I arrived back at my vehicle feeling happy and fulfilled which brought a smile to my face.  Goal accomplished!  I looked at Strava and it showed 12.12 kms as the distance I covered.  Goal accomplished!  

So nice that you stuck around!  

This is my watercolour painting of the moody photograph I took.   

Goal accomplished!

During normal times in the past, these goals would be very simple easily accomplished goals.  These days they take focus, commitment and perseverance.  Down the road, I won't think twice about them and they will once again come naturally and easily.  Oh by the way, this is the first blog post, since back on May 23rd, that I typed with two hands!     

good to be bad

With a title like "good to be bad" I can only imagine your mind is wandering in all directions wondering where the heck is she going with this! Well, stick around and you will find out!  My goal this morning was to hit the hills up at Nose Hill to work on my stamina with elevation gain and to cover ten kilometres.  I had success with both!  It was great to get back at being out the door early where I could experience the golden glow and long shadows.  You can see the trail meandering up to the right of my shadow, that's my first goal, to get up there.

A large swath of Nose Hill is fenced off by an electric fence.  

That's to contain the goats when they are out working.

A dirt trail follows right beside the fence. 

The last of this season's Alberta Wild Roses.....

.....were looking vibrant and healthy!

I made it to the top of the main hill and aimed for the pond.  I was shocked to see how full it was for mid August. Then again, after all the rain we had no wonder it has a very early spring time look. 

I watched these two Sandpipers for quite some time! 

Once again, I used my iPhone for all the photos.  

I cropped the photo to get this look. 

It was early when I was here having an autumn chill in the air.  

It felt nice plus it was cool enough to keep the bugs at bay.   

Along with the Sandpipers, Merlin also suggests I heard these.  Well I did hear them and see them, all except for the Northern Cardinal which I doubt very much there was actually one up on Nose Hill.  I saw many other birds and hawks.  I saw four hawks hoovering and circling around a small area.  When I looked closer, I saw a porcupine making its way through the grass below them.  I also experienced a pair of Cedar Waxwings dive bombing me, I knew then to move along quickly.  At this point in August it seems late that they would be protecting young ones.  They wanted me out of there and I skidaddled away!

Good to be Baah'd

Thank You for sticking around!  After covering the elevation and most of the kilometres I had planned to do, I followed the dirt trail back to the parking lot.  As I rounded the corner what to my wandering eyes should appear but the goats!  When I was up there last week, they were no where to be seen.

two Shepards in the top right corner

The goats were right there on the other side of the electric fence.

One of these things is not like the others!

Can you spot it?

It made my morning to see the goats up close.  I watched them for half an hour along with many other people who came to see them.  As I neared the parking lot, I looked back up the hill to have one last glance of them at work.