These are the last photos from our trip to the mountains.

For Shaun and Wendolene this is the longest car trip they

 have been on with us and they were very well behaved.

I always think of the mountains as the home of large animals

but I was surprised by how many plants had insects on them.
Plant identification is based on Plants of Alberta, Royer &
Dickinson, Lone Pine Publishing.

Feel free to disagree.

Mountain Fireweed

Mountain Goldenrod

Below we see a Hoverfly surrounded

by aphids Some Hoverfly larve feed

on aphids the adults feed on nectar

and pollen. Bugs of Alberta

Common Red Paintbrush

 

Twinflower ~ Linnaea borealis

"I stop in the gravel by the side of the road,

completely ringed by mountains so impressive

they must be fake."

                 Starting Out in the Afternoon

                                           Jill Frayne

Some more shots of our trip to the mountains last weekend.

Having seen the bears the only other

mammals we saw tended to be on the short side.

Columbian ground squirrels

An outgoing Golden-mantled ground squirrel

posing and begging by the lake.

A series of shots of the beautiful lakes we saw,

the lakes were incredible shades of blue.

"I talk the road that bears leaves in the mountains

I grow hard to see then I vanish entirely

On the peaks it is summer"

             The Dream Again

                      W.S. Merwin

Sunday my wife and I went on a picnic with two friends in
Kananaskis Country a series of parks covering the foothills
and front ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Since Helen and

I have not had a car in the twenty-five years we have been married
it is a treat to leave the city. More on this later. We also
took Shaun and Wendolene our two dogs. I hope to post a series

of pictures from this trip but I wanted to get these pictures
out first to share with our companions.

We had found a lovely spot for lunch by a small creek with a bridge.
We had just finished and had driven a couple hundred years
when we encountered a mother grizzly and her cub eating
berries. They were heading for the picnic area but whether they
bypassing it on the high ground or entered it I have not heard.
A number of the trails were closed due to bears but as far
as I know no one has been hurt recently.

These picture were taken from the car on the other side
of the highway always the best way to photograph
a grizzly. They are a little fuzzy but not wuzzy so here we go.

 "The Grizzly Bear is huge and wild
It has devoured the little child.
The little child is unaware
It has been eaten by the bear".

          The Grizzly Bear

                         Alfred Edward Housman

 

"Bears are not companions of men, but children of God, and
His charity is broad enough for both... We seek to establish a narrow
line between ourselves and the feathery zeros we dare to call angels,
but ask a partition barrier of infinite width to show the rest of
creation its proper place. Yet bears are made of the same dust as we,
and breathe the same winds and drink of the same waters.
A bears days are warmed by the same sun, his dwellings are
overdomed by the same blue sky, and his life turns and
ebbs with heart-pulsings like ours and was poured from
the same fountain....."

- John Muir

I liked the cheekiness of our back yard sparrow although

I think I might have to get my autofocus checked. I felt

the picture did go well with the Richard Wilbur quote below.

For of course for the many who find joy

or solace or excitement or revelation in nature

relevance or purpose as Wilbur notes is not the point.

"It's hard to tell the purpose of a bird:

for relevance it does not seem to try.

No line can trace no flute exemplify

its traveling: it darts without the word."

                         In a Bird Sanctuary

                            Richard Wilbur

When walking home from work last week

my wife probably found it slow going as I had

to record nature's attempts to reclaim the LRT

parking lot we had to cross.

This young white tailed jackrabbit gave me the eye.

This young magpie is still growing into it's feathers.

In this quote from by A.R. Ammons he

claims to be a bit overwhelmed by nature on this

particular day although I am not sure I buy it
from the author of Corsons Inlet.

" When leaving the primrose, bayberry, dunes, seaward

I discovered the universe this morning.

I was in no

mood                                                     

 for wonder                                               

                                                    the naked mass of so much miracle                                               

already beyond  the vision

of my grasp"

The Constant

          A.R. Ammons

A Harvestman on a Schneezwerg rose.

It looks to be missing a leg.

to paraphrase the Bugs of Alberta by John Acorn & Ian Sheldon

  

"There is a legend that if your cow goes missing you

pull the leg off a Harvestman and throw it on the

ground, it will point in the direction the cow went."

They also note there are eight species of

Harvestman in Alberta.

"Delight in the small,

those that inhabit

only a corner of the mind,

the ones shaped by wind

and a season: a slip of

grass, the nameless flower

that offers its scent

to a small wind."

                           Delight in the small, the silent

                             Lorna Crozier

This summer in Saskatchewan and Alberta I saw more

dragonflies and damselflies than ever before.

Boreal Bluet Damselfly

" I see the sky

Smile on the meanest spot,

Giving to all that creep or walk or fly

A calm and cordial lot."

                   To the Snipe

                                  John Claire

Friday a sudden summer storm.

Last week I was at the pond in the park near work

photographing damselflies. I had been noticing one

or two birds flying above the pond feeding on insects for

weeks and while they did not look like swallows I never got a

 good look. But now there were lots of them, all nesting on

a  small island. A closer look and I realized they were

cedar waxwings, I had never seen this behaviour

but a look at a reference book and the Cornell Lab

of Ornithology site confirmed it. There were eight or more

waxwings taking advantage of the protection offered by the

small island in the pond. I like watching birds but I really

like experiencing behaviours I have never seen before.

And it was another lesson in paying attention to nature and

the wonders of background reading.

"But nothing you ever understand will be sweeter, or more binding,

than this deep affinity between your eyes and the world."

Mary Oliver

Terns

"Senseless forest, special flower, sucking

beast, stay. In our certain fallibility,

be infallibly generous. Wait for us."

That's Why

    Pattiann Rogers

Yesterday we started work on the pond. Actually it started last

fall when I removed the dead Mayday tree, the third tree that

could not live in the same spot in the yard. Looking at the hole Helen

said pond, something we had always wanted.

Small beginnings

The last of the Mayday tree.

While it was sad to see the Mayday go there was

one tool from the set we bought for cabin building

left to try out. Yippee!!

Digging.

In goes the sand.

Liner and pebbles.

 We begin laying the rocks. Tip the internal shelves

in the pond and the rim around the outside

should be really really level.  Oops!

The pond was finished today.

The water is fairly dirty the sand should settle soon.

We still need to put in a small pump to circulate the water.

There will be no fish but we will have water plants next year.

``There are poems

that are never written,

that simply move across

the mind

like skywriting

on a still day:``

There Are Poems

Linda Pastan