Busking

Downtown with fountain

Working Wednesday - River Rescue

River Cafe

Buffalo Cafe

Street Art Sunday - touchy-feely sculpture

Summer In The City - keeping cool anyway you can

Building the Caille

Walking the Dogs

Working Wednesday -Setting Up

Setting up the finish line for the Run for Life. Working hard in the hot sun!

Summer in the City - lunch

Cup Cakes

Street Art Sunday - Pregnant

Reflections on Canada

I do all my own stunts

A view of the city

This shot was taken looking south down the Bow River into the heart of downtown.

Working Wednesday - Bicycle Repair Man

Works 14 hour days in the summer. Right next to cycle path into downtown. Regards take up and set down of tent etc each day as his rent.

Weird Blue Building

This building is on the Bow River Pathway as you enter downtown...it's new and as yet not in use and it's wrapped in this weird reflective blue paper. I have no idea why or what it's going to be!

Boating on the Bow

Street Art Sunday - Nellie

Inglewood - fun for shopping

Down by the Riverside

Fly-by-Wire!

Just to let you know that this blog is going on auto-pilot for the summer as I head out of town!
There will be a photo each day but I won't be responding to comments until the end of summer as I'm heading to areas with no easy access to the internet.

Working Wednesday - Getting ready for Stampede III

Time Out

Really the photo says it all.
I went hiking yesterday...out into the Rockies.
It was a glorious day and it was wonderful to leave the city behind for a while.

Street Art Sunday - Is it a Bird...a plane...?

Street Art Sunday #11

I have no idea what this sculpture is nor what it's supposed to represent...but I quite like it. I think it looks like some kind of friendly chicken!

There are a series of odd pieces of art along the Bow river pathway. They provide food for thought as you run or cycle past. This pathway is well used by many daily commuters who cycle downtown to work each day. This shot was taken early on a Sunday morning so there were only a few folk about but on weekday mornings this pathway is buzzing.

1886 Cafe

This is a great little cafe located in the heart of downtown Calgary close to the river. It's called simply '1886 Buffalo Cafe' and it serves great breakfasts.
1886 is actually the date the Eau Claire & Bow River Lumber company was established making this one of the oldest buildings in Calgary. Dwarfed by the tower blocks surrounding it, this little place is a real survivor.
In 1884 (the closest year for which I can find records) Calgary's population was a grand total of 504 souls. Today the city is home to well over 1 million people and still growing. This is an amazing transformation from the Calgary of 1875 the year in which the first settlers (a couple of families only) and the Northwest Mounted police came to town!
It's fascinating to sit in this little cafe and look at the old photographs on the wall and try to imagine the Prairies when they were home to only the First Nations people and the buffalo. I often wonder if all the cahanges in between are really any improvement on what was here before.

Canada Day 2009

Today, July 1st, is Canada Day - when we celebrate "Canada's birthday".
What we are actually celebrating is the Date of Confederation (July 1867) when four provinces joined together into a federation and became the Dominion of Canada. It celebrates one of the major milestones in the long but peaceful political process that resulted in the Canada of today.