Sylvia's Simple Shots

I headed to the St. Albert Botanic Park early in the week.

Here's one of the last peonys in bloom.  Beautiful blush pink! 

The roses were in fully bloom.

The sunflowers are headed to great heights.

Not much on the river now that the babies have matured.

The heat wave continued this week.

With the fan running pretty much 24/7, soaking my head and shirt several times a day, managing the fan in windows at night to bring the cooler air in, and just hunkering down for the most part.

It was lucky that we were not laying floor this week because it was a cooker.

The Blue Noon by Robert Ryan based on a true story.

This is a WWII story set in Europe between 1938 and 1945. Harry Cole is a  rogue. Over this time he has had a few personas, worked for several different military organizations, and collaborated with many different regimes.

He has been hurt, shot, beaten and still has managed to fit in, hide in plain sight and serve his own purposed within the opportunities which came his way.

He has known love, settled down for a little bit and tried to become a better person.  

I found that at times I like him and other times did not.  The story was compelling and I read a good part of the book in front of the fan in the heat wave we are experiencing.

I washed my Keens this week.  With the very hot weather they were needing a refreshing.  

They suggest they can be washed in the washing machine but I was not prepared to do that in my new machine so I used Simple Green on them with a old toothbrush and then put them out on the balcony to dry.

They look and smell better.

The walk around Beaumaris Lake this week was wonderful.

The morning was cool comparatively to the rest of the week.  There was heavy cloud which threatens to rain down but it did not.

The sun came out at 10 am and the heat began.

I headed home.

I headed over the Muttart Conversatory this  week as well to see the new display in the feature pavilion.  Where Pyramids Collide.

Being the middle of summer there were many programs going on.  Several sets of small children all in the same colored shirt so adults could keep track of them, running around the narrow paths was no much fun.

Of course, none of the pavilions were cool as in temperature.

I always enjoy the flowers, plants and fish.

The process continues.  I have headed to the flooring store for more information.

Received feedback waiting for more information.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I went for a really long walk Sunday morning but a bit more about that later.

The fruit trees are all in bloom.  These are the blossoms of a small crab apple tree.  It was full of flowers.

I love the deep rich color of the blossoms.

I found these at a park I normally visit once or twice a year.  It  has a large man made storm water pond and generally supports many waterfowl.  

The trail that surrounds it is 1.7 miles long. It was originally built in 1977 so an upgrade is due.

Unfortunately, with the significant renovations done to the path way which goes around it things will be disrupted most of the summer.

My regular entrance was cut off so I had to walk a ways just to access the water and the start of the grey line in this picture. 

Then I got to the end of the grey line which is where I found this sign. It led me to the neighbourhood to the north.  I should have paid more attention to the map because I spent the next 40 minutes walking on city streets trying to get back to my car. 

The best option would have been to turn around and go back the way I came, at least I would have seen more birds and wildlife.  I have learned my lesson.

These are some of the birds I did find walking along the trail on the edge of the water.

An American White Pelican but only one.  Generally there are a lot of them here.  No Cormorants.  

The House Finch was singing her heart out which did my heart good!

Many Mallard Duck couples were feeding and swimming.

As you can see the Red Neck Grebe was sitting on her nest with her partner very nearby.  In the past I have had a hard time finding nests but I found 2 on Sunday.

This is the book I finished this week.  I can always count on Nicholas Sparks for a family friendly story with heart.  

True Believer is a story about a science journalist, Jeremy Marsh from New York who visits a small town in North Carolina to investigate mysterious ghostly lights in a local cemetery.  The phenomenon brings much needed tourism to the area. Lexie Darnell is the local librarian who has returned to live near family.   She has had her heart broken and is not interested in going down that road again.

Lexie serves as local guide for Jeremy and the sparks fly but Lexie is cautious about getting involved.  Jeremy is head over heels. He works out the mystery but can he convince Lexie his love is true?

It all works out in the end.

We have had some gorgeous warm +20C days in the last week.

It was time to dig out the trusty Keens sandals which came highly recommended by my niece when I bought them.  I can vouch for this brand of sandals.  I have had worn a pair for at least 10 years. 

When I put them on yesterday but the elastic on one of them broke!  With a closer examination there were other issues so they needed to be replaced and quick!  I search on line and found a store in my neighbourhood, called to be sure they had my size and headed out to purchase a new pair. Yellow with black and grey, perfect!  In all of 10 minutes they were mine. They were pricey but worth every penny.
 

I had a challenge this week on Flickr which was letters.  I decided to do a still life and put words out into the universe that are life giving.

I created a small bouquet with dried flowers and grasses.

The letters are by Tim Holtz and I have had them for a long time but lost them for a while and recently rediscovered them.

Love the letters.  Wood blocks at least 1/2 inch deep so they stand on their own.

As you can see a variety of colors.  Love them and I have added them to the photography studio props.

Deleted Blog Posts! 

Did anyone else lose blog posts this week?  I had 14 posts deleted due to possible contravention of Googles Community guidelines.  I later got followup emails saying the posts have been reinstated but they are still gone.

The challenge on Flickr Macro Mondays this week was soap.  This is one of a few shots I took for the challenge.  A lot of potential in this subject matter.  You can check out my Flickr Photostream (SMDPics) to see the shot I submitted.

I am  sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #131 and 

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #289.

Have a good and safe week!