As I stood on my uncle's back verandah I caught this little guy checking me out in the dusk. Apparently he and his progeny create all kinds of havoc in the gardens of the gated community in spring, causing trees to be wrapped in wire and flowers to be hung in pots. No-one knows where their burrows are, I suspect under someone's house.
One of Canada's religions is ice hockey. Here can be seen some of the kit of a goal keeper. Haven't got either the helmet or the stick in view in this pic. As you can see, quite a lot of gear even for a neighborhood knock-around bout. It's all fibre glass and modern materials, so weighs next to nothing despite its bulk and impact absorbing qualities.
I spent last night on the edge of suburbia in the home of a cousin and his family. Not far from where they live march this great line of overhead transmission wires. It's a great big swathe, which the locals use as a throughway for non motorised transport and to walk their dogs. From the warning signs, beneath the wires are oil pipes.
Looking out from the fourth floor condominium that I spent the other night in (thanks Ethel!) was a magnificent Spruce tree, laden with cones. Apparently it's a sign of stress in the tree, perhaps due the relative lack of snow they've had this past winter. Pretty, never-the-less.
Here's where I spent last night after my rather uninspiring tour of the downtown area. As you can see, quite comfortable. Which is not surprising, it being inside the 'Comfort Inn'. Probably the most comfortable night I've had and, as you can see, in a certain style. Cost was in similar league to all other places, with the buffet cooked breakfast this morning as part of the deal - making it good value. Not that I wish to turn this into an advertisement, but they were there when I needed them. Still, it's nice to be in suburbia for a while now (!), will fill you in on the next post.
The North Saskatchewan River cuts through central Edmonton. It is flanked by parkland and roads. I'm sure it looks pretty in summer but at this time of year (late winter) this frozen in-boat and the ice are perhaps the most scenic aspects of this showcase wildlife corridor. Good on the Edmontonians for keeping such large 'green' spaces and wildlife corridors. In my experience it's like a cross between Kings Park in Perth and the Brisbane River (Brisbane), functionally speaking.
In the nineteen seventies and eighties a lot of Edmonton's old buildings were torn down. The headline replacements were the huge corporate houses that one sees everywhere in the world. The more practical outcome was lots of parking lots in the spaces the mining companies haven't decided to build their corporate dog boxes on. This is one of the lots that surrounds my motel.
The deciding factor in my coming here now was that my cousin Randy was getting married to AJ on 24 March in the Recreation Hall of the hamlet of Ardrossan (about 20 kms to the East of Edmonton). So it's only fitting I include a picture from the evening on this blog!
Although the mountains were cool, the prarries were cold. I got off the bus at Edmonton at 10:30 pm, windy and -7. Waking up the next morning in my motel I could see it was sunny outside before opening the curtains. This was the view that greeted me. Sunny and -7.