This park, located about 8 miles (12.5 km) from home is a great place to experience the Sonoran Desert. Today, I went for a short walk along the Slate Trail, pausing to take a few photographs along the way. There was one thing I wanted to see, the Michelin Man Saguaro cactus. One needs only to look…
The Flowering Hedgehog
Hedgehog is the a name of a family of cacti. We have a few on our property and much to our surprise, one of them flowered today. That’s the first time we’ve seen it flower in the three years we’ve been here. And, it’s autumn. The cacti usually flower in springtime. This species is known as Echinocereus, a…
“A Good Walk Spoiled”
The title for today’s post is a quote attributed to Mark Twain. It refers to golf and on some days I heartily concur. I played yesterday and although my play was “so-so”, it was anything but a walk spoiled. I chose to bring along a camera, intending to capture the beautiful colour of the purple…
Chinook
Today’s blog will be very brief. It’s about a weather phenomena we experience frequently in Alberta, most commonly in winter. It’s referred to as a “Chinook”, a low pressure system coming off the Pacific Ocean that brings warm weather. We first experienced a chinook when we first moved to Calgary in 1985. We were quite…
Last Round of the Year
We’re enjoying a beautiful Indian Summer. Alas, we are in autumn and each day brings us closer to winter. Winter begins early at our elevation in the mountains and normally we can expect permanent snow, beginning anytime after November 1. The greenskeepers need to get the course prepared for winter before it strikes, so yesterday marked…