Pictures Galore....Visiting Devonian Gardens

My goodness it has been a while since last posting, didn't realize it had been so long till looking at the date. Then an idea popped into my head for something to post that could be of interest, with plenty of pictures. You guess it, it's my excursion out to Devonian Gardens, just south-west of Edmonton on the Devon Highway. 

The University of Alberta Devonian Gardens is a 200+ acre property that showcases different gardens, featuring plants of Alberta, wildlife sanctuary areas, trial/test plots and indoor facilities which houses tropical plants with beautiful butterflies (my favorite); another house features arid climate displaying many kinds of cacti; I believe there is one other, but the theme eludes me at the moment. Hey, I'll never admit to "actually" forgetting, after all that would totally wreck my carelessly dropped statement of have a phenomenal memory. 

There is a huge variety of flowering gardens, which of course being more into the Fall, sort of missed all the beautiful flowers. Nonetheless there remains many other beautiful things to see.

The excursion to Devonian Gardens is pretty much on my agenda every three years sometimes two. Each time going out, my plan is for only a couple of hours, without fail it ends up being three/four hours just wandering about, which isn't hard for me to, ranks right up there with procrastination. Definitely could spend more time, if touring the wildlife sanctuaries.




The day I went it was perfect in every way, warm with a very light breeze creating a perfect setting. The autumn golds, reds and yellows was showing in the leaves showcasing an abundance of color creating a beautiful backdrop. Nature in it finest.

Regardless Spring, Summer or Fall it never disappoints with its beauty, in fact over the time I've been going out - it only gets better. Everywhere you look there is a picture screaming to be taken. There are times when just moving a few feet, will lend itself to entirely a different vantage point with the casting shadows and changing light.  As beautiful as the entire area is, Kurimoto Japanese Gardens has to be my favorite go-to-place, it's as though I'm in another part of the world.

While roaming about, marveling in my mind at the amazing landscaping, thinking all the while of the time and work that has gone into the Kurimoto garden. Easily, in my mind it's the signature area.  It is very easy to forget about the hustle and bustle of life for one becomes so immerse it its tranquil setting.

I was somewhat intrigued by this tree which has the appearance of  having been severely trimmed back, maybe. 

Out of control Bonsai?

Could this just be the way the tree grows, perhaps an out of control Bonsai, maybe not. Regardless it was definitely alive, for upon closer inspection there were green leaves on the tree itself just not on the branches as one would expect. 

Bell Tower

 Just before departing the Japanese Gardens to finish off the stroll, had to take a picture of the the Bell Tower.  Here is a little triva about Bell Tower that I found.  The top of the bell tower has a black ornament on the top. This is called a giboshi that is said to represent the top of a Buddha's head. The 1,500 pound bell symbolizes the bonds of friendship between the UofA and the university founded by Dr. Kurimoto, Nagoya Shoka Diagaku. The goal they share is to foster mutual understanding among Canadians and Japanese. Each time the bell is rung bonds of friendship are strengthened. So there you have it, a little history lesson.

Calla Water Pond

At this point headed over to the Calla Water pond, unfortunately the water level was down considerably this year, due to the dry conditions this past several months, so used a picture that I took a couple of years ago with my most favorite camera of all time. 

Then continued on the path to the Patrick Alpine Garden area which is home to the many indigenous coniferous trees/shrubs of Alberta. Walking over that way, saw what looked like a medieval tower in the distance, yes I do have a bit of an imagination, so took the turn on the path heading towards the tower with great interest.  It's a triangular shape, with arches on each side.  Decided to do a more interesting perspective from inside the structure.  What we won't do for a picture, was just hoping nobody would come along thinking I was crazy or at my age had decided to lie down for a nap!!

Following the path from there I came upon one of the little residents 
 that was busy eating  little pine cones covering the ground.  Mr/Ms squirrel for the most part was oblivious to my presence.  So it was pretty cooperative when taking it's beauty shot, unfortunately it's little paws/hands were very busy as well as it's mouth.

Native People's Garden

Continuing on the path went over to the test/trial plots where there was a variety of different plants.  There was a bumble bee busy getting the last little bit of nectar from what flowering plants were left.

carved out of wood

From that point headed towards over to the Native Peoples garden. Not sure what the statues were symbolic of, most certain there is a bit of history associated with each one.

There were so many things to see in between featured areas which is why each time I go out - there are always things 'new' to me.

Guess there was a moose wandering around out here as well, sorry I missed it. I'm sure it's a regular happening for there is an abundance of wetlands surround the gardens. It's all about being at the right place at the right time.

Further down from the Native People's Gardens there was a cute little place in the Iris Dell.  Taking advantage of the afternoon sun streaming through the trees giving me the opportunity to catch a nice flare.  Thought it rather cool. Always looking for ways to be innovative and somewhat creative. Besides it was a great reason to take a picture as if I need a reason.

Wild Flower - Blue Bell

Flare

Although it seemed like I had barely gotten there - my internal clock knew time was ticking by. Which prompted me to check the time, already three hours had passed. How had that happened?!? Then again that is what retirement is all about. Right!

What would Alberta be if it didn't have a Canada Goose sitting on any and every pond within it's provincial boundaries.  So not to disappoint, there were three of them on the Calla Water pond that must of landed since my first past by. Yes, just another photo opportunity waiting to be taken.  The reflections were kind of cool though.  As if I haven't already taken a few hundred pictures of a Canada Goose this spring/summer!  LOL Just look on my FB page. BORING!  You have to admit they are in great abundance and they really don't move that fast, just my kind of photography subject!

 To wrap up the afternoon it was time to move on to the show houses. Since I didn't have a macro lens on me it was rather questionable that I'd be able to get a close up of the butterflies. It isn't like these little creatures sit and pose, would be nice though.  Did manage though to get a couple whereby you can tell they are butterflies, unfortunately nothing outstanding. There was a lovely bird of paradise in bloom which was quite pretty.

 This sums up the trip to Devonian Gardens for 2015.  Next year, I just may return but earlier to capture the beauty of the flowers while in bloom.

Bird of  Paradise

In my wanderings out there, I met a nice young fellow, who is the Devonian Gardens photographer we had a very interesting conversation talking about what else...cameras!!  He went on to mention that the last Saturday of each month in the morning, people interested in taking pictures of the Devonian Gardens more or less have the park to themselves for a few hours.  I just may have check into that further and put it on my "to do" list for next year. This option runs from Spring to Fall.  

Take care all....

It's all about Latte

Overall View

This past winter while in Yuma, my mission was to do a Latte Quilt. Really didn't get the quilt completed but did manage to get the 16 blocks plus the center medallion completed. Pictures of its beginnings were posted in a previous blog. What is the Latte Quilt...well it's an machine embroidery quilt designed by Kerrie Hays from Australia.. It was quite popular several years ago.  My first go at it was in 2005 or so.

First go around

When arriving home this past April, the next step was to prepare the borders, sashings then put it all together and move on to the fun (or so I thought) phase...the quilting. Not really having a set plan as to what or how much was going to be done, initially only the borders, sashing and larger open spaces were quilted. Unfortunately the quilt still wasn't moving me "it wasn't talking to me", in reality it was screaming for more of something, just wasn't too sure what or how much.  Quilters have this very strange affliction about looking at the backside of a quilt (wish they'd quit), they always turn it over, not sure where this comes from, unfortunately what it does do is make one to strive to make their work look as good on the back as it on the front.  

just a "little" more please

Darn, can't hide as many mistakes anymore!!! :-((

what it looks like from the back

Just a little background regarding the Latte Quilt.  I believe many of the core designs utilized are of Sue Box origin. The stitching in between the main designs is based on what your sewing machine has available in it's repertoire of stitches which is incorporated into the main design through the design software. Once the overall design is completed in the software, it's then divided into three sections making it small enough to fit into a large hoop to be stitched out.  

Before

After

The center embroidery portion of the medallion requires about 10 hoopings. Just to give you an idea as to time, each hooping takes approximately 60 minutes to stitch out, so each block that is stitched takes about 180 minutes providing all goes well.  Hence, it doesn't take long to chew up a lot of time. Something moi is very good at.  LOL

Parasol Block Before

Each block (16 in total), with the exception of the center medallion, is 14 inches square.  The embroidery portion of the center medallion  is 36 inches square, with the added triple stitched triangles, it works out to 46 inches square.  It has been very interesting over the years to see many variations of the latte quilt and how people put their own personal touch to this lovely quilt.   

Parasol Block Corner After

For myself, this is the third go at the quilt, the other two were given away for extra special gifts.  I had 'just' enough duchess bridal satin fabric left over from the last latte quilt (2007) to squeak this out with some modification along with another chunk of fabric that was sitting in my stash, just knew there was a reason it was waiting.  So the previous two quilts were made by quilting the blocks as you go and then stitching in the ditch on to the backing all of which is done on a domestic machine, which was not a simple task given the size and bulk the quilt is about 90+ inches square.  

The one thing missing from my earlier quilting accessories was a longarm quilt machine and a 10 foot frame.  So given this was the third time around, I thought I'd try and do something special with the quilting end of things.  Pretty much all of the quilting has been done free hand and rulers which for me is no simple task.  In saying that, my feathers are starting to come together and the comfort level has grown considerably.  

Border Corner Block

To work around the embroidery designs it pretty much demands that you do it freehand.  It totally taxed my brain to come up with creative ideas as to what to do, thank goodness for the internet to get ideas elementary enough for me to be able to do, it is not an easy task to fill blocks up with stitching and have it look like it means something afterwards. I  have the greatest admiration for those wonderful talented people who can fill a quilt with block after block of beautiful quilting. A skill that requires a lot of creativity not to mention dedication to practice, practice and more practice. 

 Now all that is left is the label and binding!! Woohoo!!  Until till next time....

Here's to Birds, Flowers and whatever else that comes to mind....

Afternoon Moon

I can't believe that I'm starting this entire blog over again.  Pretty much had the post wrapped up last night, and "thought" (obviously I shouldn't have thought, grrrr) today was just to be, a matter of  proofreading and some tweaking.  Well, tweaking it isn't, rewriting it is; oh well, isn't that what retirement is all about.  Can't get fired, not doing it for someone else, nor being paid...thank goodness!! With all this practice it should be twice as interesting!

Paul removing tiles

We are in the process of getting our deck re-tiled.  It won't be completed when we leave, but at least we will see it get started.  We've seen work that they have done at other places and it looks impressive, so we feel confident that they will do a respectable job.

Paul was busy last week removing the original porcelain tiles. Had we realized the original tiles were in such good shape, and came up so clean we would not have purchased nearly as many of the contrasting colored tiles for the old tile could have been used. There are approximately 300 of the old tiles and being that they are porcelain they last a lifetime. Maybe when we get back in the Fall we'll think about selling the old tiles.   The other project that we completed was insulating the aluminum roof in the new room we had built last year.  Never expected the room to be so cool in the winter even with a space heater running it was still cool. Certainly hope this resolves this issue.  Do hope it stays up through the summer heat.  Another bonus, quickly realized, it isn't as hot inside the room on warmer days.  Mind you I'm quite positive, during mid-summer it wouldn't make a difference, air conditioning would be the only solution.

Removing termite damage

The deck people arrived at long last. Yeah! When they removed the old cement board it was discovered there was old termite damage in one corner, so this meant running to the lumber store to purchase new plywood.  The good news - was realizing the original plywood is 3/4" thick not the 1/4" as previously thought. It was good to find out the problem was not too thin of ply wood, but the cement board used was of very poor quality i.e. thin, in addition to a very lousy job of tiling, not really sure if that is good news but its better than what we were thinking.


Our last week of clogging was fun filled with lots of eating.  Since being self anointed paparazzi, my thoughts were to take pictures of  all the food that was consumed.  There is always lots of pictures of dancing taken by other ladies.

Picture of the crazed ladies

One day that particularly stands out in my mind is the day we jumped into Westwinds swimming pool after class and lunch with our clothes on. Security had even been called to kick these crazed women out of the pool by a unknowing gentleman, and to think that he didn't even stick around so we could take his picture. hehehe  Little did he know that there was prior approval from Westwind management to do the dirty deed.  I'm sure this will be brought up at the Resort meeting if there is such a thing. Let me tell you the water felt amazing, which made it doubly hard to leave.  Initially when the idea was brought up, must admit that I wasn't entirely sure it was such a great idea, but now in hindsight so glad I did, was totally liberating!  WooHoo!!  A person needs moments like this just to keep life on the lighter side.

Sonya, Wilf and Paul

Two of Paul's sisters and one cousin with their husbands, made it down this way and dropped in for a visit.  It great to see them, they looked well and were definitely enjoying the nice temperatures that Yuma was offering.  On average Yuma has been 10 degree warmer this winter than the norm.  It has been like this since early February.  Did take pictures of everyone when visiting, unfortunately some pictures can't be found.  Not too sure what happened.


While thoroughly appreciating the warmer temperatures for our own
personal reasons, the desert flora is is thriving with the warmer temps.  All the cacti plants are blooming way ahead of schedule.  This year we got to see our one cactus plant in full bloom.

When out walking about there is an abundance of cacti blossoms, the most common colors are the various shades of yellow and pink.  Even though a number of the varieties have yellow blooms, the flowers themselves are different.  The bees and hummingbirds are extremely happy regardless of the color.

Neighbour's Yard

The other day I climbed (that sounds rather challenging, really it wasn't - it was more like lifting my leg) over the neighbour's fence and took pictures of one cactus, even the neighour hasn't seen it in bloom. They have lived there for a few years but always leave before it blooms.  I feel rather privileged to have seen it; not to mention take a picture of the elusive bloom.  It is quite large in comparison to the other cacti blossoms. So must share with her in the Fall. Another cactus in their yard has rather attractive wine color pinkish blooms which is particularly attractive.

Day 1

Day 3

The only cactus in our yard that is blooming, has bright yellow blooms very similar to the above yellow blooms but after a couple of days it changes to a more coral color that is most attractive.  Kind of strange, it looks as though it should be from two different cacti.  Our Oleander hedge is now coming full bloom.  Oleander bushes remind me of honeysuckle bushes, minus the fragrance.  I remember so very long ago when I was 12 years old living in North Bend, Ore, there were honeysuckle bushes in our backyard and their fragrance filled the yard.  It was amazing.

The hummingbirds certainly like them.  I never realized how noisy hummingbirds are until we moved here.  When ever going out the back door you can hear the little birds chattering and making lots of noise. If not trimmed the Oleander pretty much blooms year round, the blooms do appear to be more abundant at this time of year.

Mentioning hummingbirds for the fourth or fifth time, it's very interesting to watch how itchy and scratchy these little critters can be.  They are constantly preening, poking and scratching.

Their long beaks make it very difficult to get to those little itchy spots.  The other day I took a series of pictures showing the little birds in their finest moments.

We did not put feeders out this year, because towards the end of last year after noticing one hummer with a severely twisted beak and his little tongue just hanging off to the side I decided to do a little research on the Internet to find out if it was a birth defect that could have caused such a deformity.  Unfortunately it was a man made defect.

The problem appears to be hummingbirds contract a fungal infection from the feeders that are not cleaned regularly and starvation is the end result.  Unless a person is prepared to empty and clean the feeder a couple times a week this can very well happen.

In another day, we will be making the trek back to Canada.  So the past few days have been making decisions about what is going back and what is staying.  Inevitably we take back stuff and ask ourselves why we brought it back, then almost in the same breath we ask ourselves why we left behind other stuff.  It will be good to get home and see family and friends and get back into the routine of things.  I'm looking forward to quilting the project that I made this as well as doing some quilting for others.

so until next time...."What we 'think' determines what happens to us; so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds." Author Wayne Dryer

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