Margarit headed back out to the cottage on Friday... my birthday. I celebrated by going to work. In the evening I was too tired to drive, so I stayed home, and headed out to Nordegg on Saturday morning. The spring thaw is well underway around Edmonton. Most of the snow out in the open fields is gone, and the creeks are running and the sloughs are full. The further west I got, the less advanced the spring conditions were. Up on Saunders Ridge and at our place in Nordegg there was about four inches of fresh snow. Hailey and her little sister had stayed out at the cottage through the week. They were more or less snowed in for a couple of days as they got hit with a big dump of six or seven inches . By my unofficial count I estimate that between 14 and 16 inches of snow fell in Nordegg since Good Friday...
I arrived out at the cottage around noon. I was still really tired, so a laid down and promptly fell asleep. I am not one to nap and can't remember the last time that I did. But this time I slept for a couple of hours. When I awoke it was mid-afternoon and was sunny and warm. The temperature was up around +7 and the snow was beginning to melt.
Hailey and I jumped in the truck and headed west up to Abraham Lake. Most of the campsites and picnic areas were barricaded and closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We made a stop at the Mt. Michener viewpoint and I dug out my camera and took a couple of photographs. Later we headed further west and stopped along the highway at an undesignated spot. We just wandered down to the lakeshore and explored for a little bit. The big camera came out again and I took a couple more photographs. It felt great to get out again with the camera as it has been many weeks since I have had a chance to do so. Between working long hours and poor weather conditions I just haven't had much opportunity this year so far.
By this time it was early evening and Hailey and I packed up and headed back to the cottage. We had dinner with the other girls. After dinner, still feeling tired I laid down again and once again promptly fell asleep. It was probably only about 8:30 when I crashed, and I slept right through to the next morning.
Needless to say I felt a lot more rested on Sunday. It was beautiful day and the sun was shining. The temperature got up to about +15 and the spring thaw finally got underway out at Nordegg as well. We went for a walk around the subdivision and then later in the afternoon I had to make the solo drive back to the city. The girls remained out at the cottage for another week of isolation, with the exception of middle daughter Annelise. She had stayed back in the city, at home by herself.
I didn't really do any work to speak of this weekend... in between all my naps. We set up a bed for Helena in the girls bedroom, and I shimmed the fir slab in the bay window. Hung up some decorative "trees" that my Mom made for us.... that was about it.
This panoramic shot is a digital version of the first setup I did with the big camera. Kind of hoping I get a decent negative out of this one as I have a spot picked out above our stairway that would be ideal for a long narrow panoramic image. This is followed by a view of Coliseum Mountain, as seen from the shores of Abraham Lake. The Nordegg subdivision is situated on the flanks of this mountain, at the lower right hand edge of this image.
This images is of Mount Michener as seen from the highway viewpoint along Abraham Lake. Some locals refer to this mountain as Phoebe's Tit. Apparently Phoebe was a bargirl at one of the taverns in Rocky Mountain House back in the day. Her tit is obvious enough. Her head is visible to the left, and her knee is further down the slope to the right.
This group of bighorn sheep, mostly young rams, was hanging around in the grass along the roadside, at the Michener viewpoint. Following this... some tags. The guardrail around the viewpoint has been tagged with grafitti dating back for some time. Hailey borrowed my sharpie and added a couple of her own... including a birthday wish to me. Have to stop by again in a couple of years and see if it remains.
Further down the Highway to the west we stopped along the shores of Abraham Lake. This shot of the aspen trunks beside the road was another image that I attempted to capture with my big view camera. I think I nailed it when the sun popped out and all the trunks were nicely highlighted. Then we wandered down to the beach and explored for a bit. Did one more set up of with the big camera down there... similar to the snapshot taken through the aspen trunks.
When I got back home to the city I found this chalk drawing scribbled onto the road beside the spot where I park my truck. Kind of fitting given the times...!
This panoramic shot is a digital version of the first setup I did with the big camera. Kind of hoping I get a decent negative out of this one as I have a spot picked out above our stairway that would be ideal for a long narrow panoramic image. This is followed by a view of Coliseum Mountain, as seen from the shores of Abraham Lake. The Nordegg subdivision is situated on the flanks of this mountain, at the lower right hand edge of this image.
This images is of Mount Michener as seen from the highway viewpoint along Abraham Lake. Some locals refer to this mountain as Phoebe's Tit. Apparently Phoebe was a bargirl at one of the taverns in Rocky Mountain House back in the day. Her tit is obvious enough. Her head is visible to the left, and her knee is further down the slope to the right.
This group of bighorn sheep, mostly young rams, was hanging around in the grass along the roadside, at the Michener viewpoint. Following this... some tags. The guardrail around the viewpoint has been tagged with grafitti dating back for some time. Hailey borrowed my sharpie and added a couple of her own... including a birthday wish to me. Have to stop by again in a couple of years and see if it remains.
Further down the Highway to the west we stopped along the shores of Abraham Lake. This shot of the aspen trunks beside the road was another image that I attempted to capture with my big view camera. I think I nailed it when the sun popped out and all the trunks were nicely highlighted. Then we wandered down to the beach and explored for a bit. Did one more set up of with the big camera down there... similar to the snapshot taken through the aspen trunks.
When I got back home to the city I found this chalk drawing scribbled onto the road beside the spot where I park my truck. Kind of fitting given the times...!
No comments:
Post a Comment