Saskatchewan... 3rd Day, 2nd Visit... and BP 13.1

On September 18th Margarit and I headed out for yet another Saskatchewan day trip.  We started out by heading southeast to Mankota.  There I pulled out the big camera and took a couple of photographs of some of the old buildings.  Everywhere we went, we saw evidence of the heavy rain the night before.  There was mud washed across the road in places, and the creeks and washes were all full and running.

A few times along the way we stopped to look for milkweed seeds.  Margarit has been trying to grow some in your yard back home, with the hope that it might attract some Monarch butterflies.  That is highly unlikely, as we are beyond the northern limit of their range.  But we thought we would give it a try... and besides the milkweed plants look kind of cool.  At one stop we found a number of enormous spiders, jewel spiders I believe, on the plants in the ditch.  This one was at least the size of a small grape, not including its legs.  I know more than one person that would have been freaked out by this....  

The photograph of the willow tree in the stubble field was actually taken on September 17th, when we were on our way back to the apartment, just before the storm hit.

Later in the afternoon of September 18, we headed over to the Limerick Hotel.  I wanted to reshoot a couple of portraits of the owners, that I messed up when Chris and I previously visited in June.  The owners, Doug and Sandy, were very accommodating.  It seems this location is a little jinxed, at least in terms of my large format photography.  Perhaps that is because it is location number 13 of the Beer Parlour Project.  Not only did I mess up my portraits the first time around, back in June.... but this time I also messed up the exposure on a couple.  Fortunately I realized my error while I was there, and was able to take extra shots.  I'm sure hoping that when I get around to processing the film, that I have at least one good one...!!  The visit officially becomes BP 13.1

This time around, I would not allow Doug and Sandy to pick up our tab.  Margarit and I had a great dinner of steak, salad and baked potato.  Probably the best meal we have ever had at a small town tavern.