Showing posts with label Alberta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alberta. Show all posts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Sunny Afternoon

On my way back home later in the day I stopped to see the little fallen down church again...this time in the sunshine. 



Congregational Church was photographed near Gros Ventre-Tothill on March 14, 2024.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Foggy Morning

Was out to Saint Margaret's to help take down the Christmas decorations a few days ago.  There were patches of fog along the way there making for a new photo opportunity when I stopped the little fallen down church...I'd never seen it in a foggy landscape before.  Enjoy!





Congregational Church was photographed near Gros Ventre-Tothill on March 14, 2024.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

In Good Spirits

Update:  I'm sure anyone who reads this blog knows Dale Stewart and about the bad car crash he was in last weekend.  I'm in contact with him and he is in good spirits.  He'll be undergoing a fourth surgery at a different hospital tomorrow.  I wish him all the luck in the world. 

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Monday, February 19, 2024

Some Bad News

Dale Stewart (aka BWBandy on his blog "The view from here") was in a bad car accident this past weekend.  He is pretty banged-up but currently in stable condition in the hospital.  It will be a long road to recovery.  Wish him well.

The accident was no fault of his own.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Saint Aidan and Saint Hilda at Rexboro

Tucked into a dense grove of trees is Saint Aidan and Saint Hilda Anglican Church and Cemetery.

The church was originally constructed of logs in 1910 with a belfry on the front corner of the building.  In 1914 a vestry was added, and three years after that, the original belfry was dismantled and a prominent central porch entrance and belfry was built.  

Also of note in the early years were the addition of horizontal tongue-in-groove boards to cover the interior walls and horizontal drop-siding on the outer walls.  As it now stands, you'd never know is was of log construction.  And something of a personal favourite is the cedar shake roof...a little something that adds a touch of charm to this handsome historical building.  

And last but not least, and as is seldom the case, the church was established before the cemetery with the earliest burial in 1912.

Information courtesy of Canada's Historic Places.      

Photographed at Rexboro, Alberta on February 22, 2021.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Happy Valentine's Day


Johnny Jump Ups may be an understated way celebrate Valentine's Day, but pretty sweet.

Photographed in Medicine Hat, Alberta on May 24, 2020.

Monday, February 12, 2024

Wheat Stalks

Out for a drive with Miss Daisy...


It was a warm winter's day and while driving through the Connaught area of town I spotted this metal wheat sculpture.  An unexpected find in suburbia.  Nice!


I think Miss Daisy enjoyed her ride around town.  She had her window open, got a few treats and a tummy rub or two.  A lovely way for both of us to spend a Sunday afternoon.     

Photographed in Medicine Hat, Alberta on February 12, 2023.

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Flashback

This winter there's barely any snow at Saint Margaret's... 


...but this is what it looked like fifteen winters ago.  Lots and lots of snow.  Kids would have loved it!     

Photographed by David Carter near Eagle Butte, Alberta.

Thursday, February 01, 2024

Holy Ascension at Wasel




The area between Smoky Lake and Two Hills is rich in Ukrainian pioneer heritage.  Holy Ascension Russo Orthodox Church and Cemetery near Wasel is one of many I like to visit when in the area. 


The churchyard is a mile and a half north of the North Saskatchewan River and covers about eleven acres of land, making it one of the larger churchyards I've seen in my travels.  In most cases, the cemetery is directly beside the church but here it is on a raised plateau five hundred feet northwest of the church...just a nice walk on a fall day.  I love the view across the cemetery, past the church and over the vast prairie landscape.    




In past times being a member of a church congregation was an important part of life for most everyone...

...and since there were only monthly services conducted at Holy Ascension, a little girl named Matushka Vasylyna Ungurian would walk barefoot with her family over four miles north to Saints Peter and Paul at Dickie Bush to worship most every other Sunday.

Not many years later and all grown up, she married Vasyl Ostashek at Holy Ascension.  They homesteaded, farmed and raised a family near the church...and later on in life Vasyl became an ordained priest and he and Matushka served Holy Ascension along with several other nearby temples for the rest of their natural lives.  

Then at the age of one hundred and five years, Matushka joined Vasyl, who had passed away twenty years earlier, at her home church of Holy Ascension.  God bless them.  I love a happy ending. 


Walking barefoot all those miles?  That was in order to save her "Sunday best shoes."

Information courtesy of the Canadian Orthodox History Project.

Photographed near Wasel, Alberta on September 19, 2021.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Spring 2017

A flashback to mostly spring blooms...flowers make everything better, n'est pas?


May 21, 2017
A clump of buffalo beans alongside the highway just north of Simpson, Montana.  It's not spring without these cheery golden yellow blooms.  



May 28, 2017
At one time it was common to plant irises at the grave of a loved one...especially in country cemeteries on the prairies.  A lovely way of remembrance.  The grass was just barely turning green at Kincorth Lutheran Cemetery but these irises were already in full bloom.  They're tough and hardy. 
   


June 2, 2017
Fleabane is a native plant throughout the prairies.  This clump of happy white flowers was just outside the entrance to the Empress Cemetery.  The town of Empress is in Alberta, but the Empress Cemetery is just across the border in Saskatchewan.  



June 11, 2017
I'd stopped in Hilda, Alberta to take a few shots of the grain elevator and while doing so, came across this beautiful orange butterfly amongst the alfalfa flowers. 



June 17, 2017
If you're lucky enough to be traveling along Eagle Butte Road near Woolchester, Alberta at just the right time you'll be rewarded with the visual delight of these masses of pink flowers.  I always look forward to seeing "the pink fields" in full bloom.  I believe they are a species of vetch. 
 


June 21, 2017
A bee foraging in the blooms of a froebelii spirea in one of the gardens I tend in town.  Bees really are the busiest little guys.



June 24, 2017
Flowers and butterflies aren't the only spring delight...a doe with her fawns just across the lane from the Post Office where I pick up my mail.  The second fawn is hidden mostly behind mama deer.



June 24, 2017
A pincushion cactus flower on an acreage where I tend to some gardening.  The resulting fruit is sweet and delicious.  Leave some for the animals and birds...they need a treat every so often too.



June 28, 2017
The waxy yellow flower of the native prickly pear cactus.  I found this one high above the southern bank of the South Saskatchewan River in southern Alberta.



June 30, 2017
Bunchberries blooming in the Cypress Hills of Alberta.  They are the smallest variety of the dogwood species I've seen anywhere.  The unique four-petal flowers later develop into brilliant red berries that are enjoyed by a variety of wild animals and birds.

An interesting fact about bunchberries...when a bee or other insect lands on a flower it stimulates the flower to open at the incredible rate of half a millisecond...spreading the pollen at a few thousand times the force of gravity.  Imagine that.

Hope you enjoyed the somewhat belated spring tour of 2017.

Photographed in Montana, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Saint Paul's near Gros Ventre-Tothill


A long forgotten cemetery about ten miles northwest of the Cypress Hills in Alberta. 
 

It was active from 1914 to 1947 and, at one time, there was also a small church on the grounds.   


"Heaven is my home" reads the epitaph on this child's headstone.     

Saint Paul's Lutheran Cemetery near Gros Ventre-Tothill, Alberta was photographed on September 9, 2023.

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Big Prairie Sky

We're currently in a deep freeze here in southern Alberta...definitely not good road trip weather.  So, in the meantime, here are a few pictures taken when it was good winter road trip weather.  

Gotta love the prairies...wide open spaces and an even bigger sky.


A five-minute drive will get me out of town and into the countryside.  Everyone should have that luxury.


Photographed near Winnifred, Alberta on January 28, 2017.

Friday, January 12, 2024

New Bruises and Broken Boards


As soon as I pulled up I knew something was distinctly different from my visit of just a few months earlier and quickly realized just what it was...the landowner had let cattle into the area to graze.  


Cattle are not particularly kind to old wooden buildings so the old church endured some new bruises and broken boards.  Sad to see.  


Glad the small cemetery nearby has a sturdy new barbed-wire fence that will keep it out of harm's way for many more years to come.


The Congregational Church near Gros Ventre-Tothill, Alberta was photographed on November 8, 2023.

Tuesday, January 09, 2024

Vapour Trails

I've always enjoyed watching the vapour trails of jets taking people to faraway places.  And this time the event was quite spectacular.  




The sun was just rising as two vapour trails intersected in the sky...what a beautiful way to begin the day. 



Photographed at Congregational Matthaus Cemetery near Schuler, Alberta on December 10, 2017.

Sunday, January 07, 2024

"Щасливого Різдва!"

According to the Julian calendar, it's Christmas today.


"Merry Christmas!" from Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church.

Supper tonight will be perogies and farmers sausage (with all the fixins, of course) followed by traditional Ukrainian honey cake for dessert.  And after all that good food (and something far from traditional)...popping a fine bottle of champagne just seems like the thing to do.  Happy Christmas!

Even though I'm only half Ukrainian doesn't mean I can't celebrate this special day whole heartedly.  Enjoy the holiday! 

Photographed near Boyle, Alberta on February 19, 2021.

Friday, January 05, 2024

Amaryllis Flowers


A few photos of some showy amaryllis flowers that bloomed in my indoor garden a few weeks ago.  Each flower was over six inches in diameter.


The highlights on the blooms were created by narrow slats of light streaming through the Venetian blinds.  

Photographed in Medicine Hat, Alberta on December 17, 2023.

Monday, January 01, 2024

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Indoor Winter Garden and Friends


A few months ago I decided to assemble an indoor garden for the winter months.  Most of the plants had spent from mid-spring to late-fall out on the balcony so, when the time came, I picked my favourites and brought them inside.  The remainder of the plants were given to a friend who is planning to incorporate them into a living wall.  



Having plants indoors really does make each and every day better...gloomy weather days are more bearable, and sunny days feel glorious.  And to further augment the visual aspect I placed a few of Tim Paul's exquisite Nuu-chah-nulth red cedar carvings painted in black and white amongst the greenery.  They fit in seamlessly to  create an indoor winter garden of delight and wonderment.

Behind the garden are Tim's totem pole and moon mask, completing the scene.




Photographed in Medicine Hat, Alberta on December 11, 2023.