The Beginning..

As I have mentioned in my post Things to Come, spring has been very slow to start this year. We all are rather tired of grays, dirty snow and cold, and long for things to change.  It is rather late, but finally, after almost 6 months the snow has finally melted off my flower beds and lawn and I can see growing things starting to come out, particularly in one, sheltered spot by my house.  First there were the tulips, sticking out shyly, followed quickly by delphinium foliage and then, I have seen some buds on the trees in the neighborhood getting nice and fat and finally my crocuses started to bloom.  I was so very happy to see them!!! I'm also very lucky because in most places in our city there has been no signs of spring yet except for an occasional, very rare pussy willow.. So here it is, for all of us in central and norther Alberta, a little color with renewed hope that soon our world will turn green again. :D Kasia

Winter Sunrise with Hoar Frost and Mists

I woke up yesterday to a promise of a beautiful sunrise.  Not having been blessed with those very often this winter I decided to go to my favorite spot by the river with my camera and see what I can find.  It was beautiful!! Cold temperatures combined with rather high humidity caused formation of hoar frost on all the trees and weeds and the beautiful pink light from the rising sun was just breathtaking.  Such a glorious morning!!! Gives us a bit of hope that the world is not such a bad place, regardless of the horrifying news coming from around it... Kasia

A Quick Visit to Elk Island - continued

As my lovely wife mentioned in yesterday's post, we took a quick trip to the Elk Island National park.  Yes it was completely empty.  Only evidence of living things in the park was their tracks left in the white blanket of snow.  We did spot a lonely bison, and three elks crossing a frozen pond, but because the setting sun hid behind clouds the world became dark really quickly.  I decided that my fish eye needed a bit of an exercise, so I took it with me.  Since there was not much of a sunset I trained it on my family.  I have to remember to take it with me more often.  Enjoy! Mac

A Quick Visit to Elk Island

We've taken a short trip to Elk Island National Park last evening to see if we can catch the sun in the act of hiding behind the horizon. I am certain you have seen Mac's wonderful sunsets from the park already, but it is such a lovely place that we don't mind going there over and over again to repeat the experience. The clouds, unfortunately, decided to cover part of the western sky and thwarted our plans. However, no trip is ever wasted! It was so quiet and so empty there.. The landscape with lonely snowshoe tracks made me feel infinitely small comparing to the vastness of the surrounding world.. The silence and the barren land covered in snow made me feel very grateful for the presence of my family... But there is always hope, for you see, the lonely snowshoe tracks resembled a string of hearts there in the emptiness of winter world.. So with hope I share these images with you today!

Kasia

Empty

Heart tracks

Hearts in snow

Solitude

Too late..