The Season Opener

Tomorrow, 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.

And July 1st is traditionally the first official day of the CFL (Canadoan Football League) season. Here in Calgary, our Stampeders will play the Montreal Allouettes at McMahon Stadium...which is where I shot this picture of the advertising board.

I'm a hockey fan myself but I hear that Canadian football is a pretty good game!

Downtown at night

Apologies for missing a day...life is a little busy right now!

This shot shows downtown Calgary on a summer's evening If I remember I'll try to take another one of the same view in the middle of winter when it's -30c - it looks a little different then! This is 9th Avenue (I think). Calgary is laid out on a grid system for the most part. All the avenues run East/West and all the streets run North/South.

Watching

And finally...the 'other' creatures at the zoo - the humans. These ladies caught everyone's eye! There were four of them together in a group, all dressed in red and purple. I'm guessing that they were members of the Red Hat Society out for a day at the zoo. I kept crossing paths with them...we liked the same animals I think.
Watching people 'on display' in a public setting is always fun.

Squirrel Monkey

Another creature basking in the sunlight...this time it's a spider monkey. She was peering down from her perch at all the human activity below her. I like how the sun highlighted the fur on her tail and her ears.

Lemur in the limelight

This little guy was just sitting, watching carefully as folk went by. He was in a shadowy corner of the rainforest exhibit caught in a shaft of sunlight that lit him up beautifully.

Working Wednesday - Getting Ready for Stampede II

Working Wednesday #10

It's a little over a week until Calgary puts on it's spurs and chaps and parties like a cowboy!
The Calgary Stampede is coming to town a week on Friday....that's when we have the huge parade through the downtown core and for ten days the city goes cowboy crazy.

So Calgary is getting it's annual makeover ahead of the anticipated visitors from around the world. These individuals were planting up the cities many flower beds...always a last minute job before Stampede since we get overnight frost into the early part of June fairly frequently being in Canada and so close to the Rockies and all!

Not sure whether the cowboys will appreciate the flowers...but I like them!

Where did you get that hat?!

Another of the characters I met at the Calgary Zoo...this one is the East African Crowned Crane. I can't decide if she's having a bad-hair-day or if she is just modelling the latest fashion!

Punkey!?

I was at the Calgary zoo again this past week...this time focusing more on the animals than the street art...so I thought I might post a few candid character shots this week!
This punk monkey caught my eye! He reminded me of Sid Vicious! Worth a post for that alone I thought!

Street Art Sunday - Family of Man

Street Art Sunday #10

These statues are some of my favourite street art ever...anywhere in the world.
Partly it's their scale (these figures are 21 feet tall!), partly it's their obviously hand-built, rough-hewn appearance but mostly it's their skinny, fragile elongation. They remind me of refugees...and we have many communities of refugees here in Calgary, trying to create a better life for themselves and becoming part of the rich fabric of Canada in the process.
I can't really explain it...but I love them.

The sculpture is called "The Family of Man" and was created by Mario Armengol for the British Pavilion of Expo 1967. The figures that comprise this piece are timeless, however. There are ten of them in all, standing in a circle - hands almost touching but not quite. They are male and female, all naked, but of no specific race and all reaching out...to one another and to the world.
I think that's what we should all be doing more of.

Check out my other blog for more pictures of this piece of art work.

Toys For boys

I met this gentleman as I was cycling to work along the Bow River pathways. He was out for a morning flying his remote controlled helicopter. He was very happy to chat about his hobby. He explained that this flying machine was very complex and difficult to maintain. He built it himself using parts from three different models and it's close to the weight limit for flying which makes it a little difficult to control. He has the control panel in his hand in this shot and it was very complicated. He built it because he wanted to learn how to fly choppers.
I hung around to watch him take off. He was pretty good!