Wildflowers – Page 6 – Skelton Sketches

The Ole Buck and the Troll…

Posted on April 29, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

I’ve just begun to discover Kananaskis Country in spring…thanks to some long-time local hikers who are introducing me week by week to new places…

Here we are in the Sibbald Lake region venturing out to the Ole Buck Loop.

Spring is just barely springing. Its new green is such a refreshing sight!

We gained 500ft. before stopping for lunch at what used to be a viewpoint, before the pines grew tall…

It was lovely nonetheless and even boasted a geo-cache which we duly signed.

My PB&J sandwich was all the better for the lovely setting ( :

This Crocus chorus greeted us along the way back.

But that was last week’s hike. The following day a grizzly was reported in the area making advances toward a hiker and the trails were closed till further notice.

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Today our hike took us to a lovely falls, also in Kananaskis Country.

These trails double as cross-country trails when the snow falls.

The leader of our expedition has a very long history here; she’s written books about the area and one of the trails is named after her—a downhill stretch that’s sure to be a ‘screamer’ on skis!

This is Ruthie. She is fast approaching 80 but still on the move and still very much in love with Kananaskis Country.

She names for me the flowers along the way…

(names I am disappointed to have now forgotten…)

And points out the spot where she would like a bench placed in her memory…

As we near our destination, the effects of the 2013 flood are clearly in evidence despite extensive clean-up. This area was hard hit.

Troll Falls is our destination–

Named for the troll who keeps watch as it tumbles…

The nearby Nakiska ski slopes were built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics…the meadows we traverse used to be full of wildflowers but they have yet to recover from being used as parking lots for this event.

But the valley is lovely still, from beside…

and above…

…and has become a popular setting for wedding parties.

We, though decidedly less glamorous, pose for a picture anyway.

In 2002, top world leaders met in this out of the way place for the G8 Summit of 2002.

It became the largest peacetime security operation in Canadian history.

For today though, we have the place almost to ourselves! Though over the weekend the Prime Minister and his cabinet were here for a cabinet retreat!

These and other bits of trivia I hear as I walk for the first time in Kananaskis Country…, but it’s the flower names I wish most to remember!

And I have it now…Calypso Orchid is that flower’s name!

–LS

The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Ps.93:3-4

Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. Ps.98:8,9

No want of places to hike…

Posted on April 17, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

Well, I am a few hikes behind in posting pictures here. There are a world of hikes to be had here and scenery everywhere!

I have joined up with a little group of regular hikers for a couple weeks in a row now. They are older than I but still hitting the trails every week. They’ve been doing it for 11 years faithfully so I have lots of places to discover.

We strolled to Middle Lake in Bow Valley Park one Thursday…

And I learned all about Scotland on the way thanks to this gal’s great story telling…

(She’s also quite a photographer!)

There are hot springs active here…

And less active one-legged geese (lol)

And migrating swans…

And the first wildflowers are just making their appearance… The “Prairie Crocus”, also known as the Pasque flower, is the first harbinger of spring, though it’s not a crocus at all, but an Anemone. We are now officially acquainted ( ;

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The next of “Ruthie’s Hikes” took us into Banff on a cool day with weather brewing! We walked the circuits surrounding Johnson Lake…

This was once mining country…all traces of the town that lay below this overlook are now gone.

We stopped by an old hermit’s cabin along the way—seems he lived here for 27 years avoiding society.
I’m sure there have been many more visitors to his cabin since his passing than in his lifetime!

A few of us oldies tried out a trailside swing over the bluff. Eeks!

Despite the day’s chill spring is making headway here…

I for one will be glad to see it warm up a bit. I have not yet learned to dress just right for the fickle weather. I ended up borrowing a coat!

–LS

The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Ps.24:1

2015 in Retrospect

Posted on January 30, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

It was a year ago this week that we made our initial move away from the coast to limboland. It was the day after my 53rd birthday. We left house and home with just a little trailer full of home-making essentials…

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…to set up housekeeping with Jim’s Dad in the Kootenays for a bit and see where God might lead us all.

It’s been a year of discovering seasons and nature’s bounty in a new place,

of connecting more often with our grandkids,

of making a few new friends and

of learning a few new skills. It’s been a good year.

Discovering Seasons and Nature’s Bounty…

The snow receded early in the Kootenays…

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and we began to discover the world at our new doorstep.

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By early April we were out on our tandem–

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This is quite the place to cycle—lots of hills, and mountains!

With the coming of spring, I realized that flowers I thought I’d left behind, bloom here too…

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And there were new ones coming up in profusion among the pine needles…

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Out my window a young oak replaced my beloved willow… P5060558

With the coming of spring a buyer was found for our left-behind- house. So April found us back in Powell River boxing up 12 years of family life.

We had moved in as a family…

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We left as a two-some…

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The day we moved, our last fledgling flew, off to Alaska to join her Grandma. P1170307

Good-bye Powell River… [IMG_20150418_200559630_HDR%255B4%255D.jpg]

Our nest here has been lined with boxes every since, as we wait to see what will be our next home…

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Summer here was hotter and drier, which we didn’t mind a bit!

Familiar faces bloomed in my wee bit of garden

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And we went to our second Tandem Rally—back to the coast, Bellingham, Washington.

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In all, we pedalled 2,000 miles together in 2015!

One perk of pedalling down the highway was catching sight of all the wayside fruit! Free for the picking—Cherries, Saskatooon berries and delicious apples! [IMG_20150625_1113018584.jpg]

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And then summer had passed…

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But fall was so beautiful we coudn’t begrudge its coming P1180820

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The glory of yellowing larches was new to us…They extended the fall color.

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It has been good to be nearer extended family too. Thanksgiving was a great feast shared with siblings, nieces and a host of progeny…

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The visitors to the yard have been different here. The black bears have brown noses and are very clever…

And the turkeys come gobbling just in time for Thanksgiving…

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and Elk come looking for winter grub…

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Enjoying the Grandkids

We now live ever so much closer to our favorite little people—a mere 8- hour drive away through some of the most beautiful Parks in the world…

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We have been back and forth to Calgary more than half a dozen times this year trying to keep up with birthdays and such.

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six

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We even got in our first camping trip all together! And our first family bike ride too!

Spray Lake panorama

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Discovering New places with New friends…

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Despite the want of ocean views, the Kootenays have some pretty spectacular scenery and we’ve made a start at discovering trails and the people that walk them…

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A new friend introduced me to a new hobby– birdwatching!

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Learning New Skills

Pine trees rise all around us here, and some of them have foot-long needles!

[P1180721%255B3%255D.jpg] [IMG_20150824_173245682_HDR%255B3%255D.jpg] So… I tackled something I never imagined I could learn…

IMG_20150916_204904808 And now I suppose just about everyone in the family owns a hand-made pine needle creation! If you don’t and you’d like to… you know who to ask ( :

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Living in snow country, we figured it would be better to enjoy winter than to languish indoors wishing it away, so within a week of arriving last winter, we had purchased cross-country skiis and commenced to learn how to use them!

IMG_20150204_112235753_HDR The season ended early last year but this year we’ve put in many miles (135 miles for me at last count!). It’s been terrific for morale to get outside and glide along through pristine wilderness. And for me it has been a personal triumph over unwarranted fears.

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That pretty much brings us to the present. I expect we’ll be out skiing again tomorrow…This re-cap of the year has been too long but there is just one note to add…

FERRIES.

When we left the coast we thought we were done with ferries—but no, there are three of them in our vicinity. They have short runs, crossing rivers rather than ocean straits. But the best part is, they’re free!

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And that concludes my year of being 53 without a home to call my own. I expect we’ll look back on it fondly, though now it seems like a perplexing bit of limbo for us. We are in Good Hands.

–LS

“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!” Ps.23:6