Sunday, April 17, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The robins came in droves over the weekend. It was also snowing the whole time. The whole scene was unusual. Robins and snow aren’t supposed to go together. Snow in April is not particularly welcome (though not at all uncommon). Robins in flocks, very unusual for me.

Friday, April 8, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada A quick trip to the airport yesterday. Since we were already up at the north end of the city, decided to go a little further up the road and check out the monster shopping centre, Cross Iron Mills. I’ve been there twice before. The first was to […]

Thursday, April 7, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Went out foraging for food at the big Safeway. Had a coffee in the Starbucks and while I was just sitting there minding my own business, a policeman rode by on a horse. I lept up, ran to the window and snapped a picture. The guy I […]

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Our Wednesday breakfast club has grown to three, at least for now, depending upon work schedules. Today we went to London Fog, in the same complex as the London Drugs on Macleod Trail at Heritage Drive. I really should go here more often. They do an all-day […]

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada The robins have been here for at least a couple of weeks, but now I’m hearing them at least once a day. I put 200 mealworms (dried) out for them to eat on Sunday afternoon. They were still untouched this morning. Need a more visible spot. North […]

Monday, April 4, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Up at the airport yesterday to drop my friend off, I saw the newly-closed Barlow Trail. The feds are expanding YYC, Calgary International Airport. This means building a runway where we now have a road, Barlow Trail. In fact it’s the main road for reaching the airport […]

Sunday, April 3, 2011 Away: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Drove back home to Calgary It was one of those blue Alberta days, the high-pressure, semi-euphoric air mass finally giving us an uplift. The winter dust and grime didn’t look so thick today. Best of all, the little gophers, aka prairie dogs, Richardson’s ground squirrels, were standing […]

Saturday, April 2, 2011 Away: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada What a nice day to hang out with good friends doing nothing in particular. It’s been a long time since I lived here. My Edmonton experience breaks into two periods. The first time, I was on my own, had just arrived in Alberta, didn’t know anything about […]

Friday, April 1, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Away: Drove to Edmonton I didn’t look forward to the drive north to Edmonton today. OK, let’s get it over with, no one in Calgary looks forward to going to Edmonton, thanks to our inter-city rivalry. But, shock, horror, I’ve lived in both places and each has […]

Thursday, March 31, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada How are robins supposed to deal with snow? They aren’t exactly tiny, fragile birds, but still, there’s just not a lot of food around for them yet and I don’t think they enjoy being out in the snow. Birds are such miraculous creatures. They can fly and […]

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Calgary’s Chinatown has a long, well-established history, though not without its dark moments. Stories for another day, perhaps. This Dragon City Mall, in the picture, is popular. I haven’t been in for a long time but I think I had Dim Sum at the Regency Palace there. I […]

Monday, March 28, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The picture shows the Westin Hotel on 4th Avenue SW, downtown. It’s still one of the leading business hotels, with a great location for people who have meetings right downtown.

I haven’t visited the Starbucks in there yet.

Sunday, March 27, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Shiny buildings, but not so shiny on a grey February day. It’s like that again today. Here’s a Google Street View picture, also downtown, looking at different buildings, in warmer weather. View Larger Map And a link in case you can’t see that . That clear structure hanging over the […]

Saturday, March 26, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Winter. Snow. If you’re getting tired of hearing me say it, imagine how I feel. I have been hearing robins over the past week or two, but today I saw my first one. Poor guy, up there in the spruce tree in the snow. The picture is […]

Friday, March 25, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Snow. Had lunch with an old friend at a Mexican restaurant with a pagoda-shaped sign where the Chinese restaurant used to be. Fun lunch, yucky weather. I took this picture in January. The old Chamber of Commerce building is the home of the Chamber, and a beautiful […]

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada White Spot is way more popular in B.C. than in Calgary, at least with people I know in both places. I think the menu is the same. I’ve ignored the Calgary White Spots for years, but I have a good memory of one that used to be […]

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

It snowed and snowed and snowed.

To quote Dr. Seuss, “Snow, snow, snow. All that snow has to Go!”

Monday, March 21, 2011 Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada A week ago I went to the Calgary Zoo for the day. It was bright and sunny, a perfect spring day. The lions were basking on the rocks. We ran into Kelly, a Zoo educator I’ve known for a few years and found out the lions can […]

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Big buzz on Facebook, friends waiting for this big moon.

Mother Nature was not kind to us. The skies were cloudy all day, all night.

Was there a big moon up there?

I’ll take it on faith.