Ruby Tuesday

We were just looking for a little break from driving.  A cup of tea and a snack. The cafe at the end of the main street seemed to promise just that.

Here's the first thing we saw when we walked through the front door.  It really works...the steering wheel is exactly where you would expect it to be on such an unusual ride.  Since it was already mid-Tuesday when we found this, I saved it for today.

Have a great Ruby Tuesday and enjoy all the red that can be found here, at Mary T's place.

Mellow Yellow Monday

One of the things that you see plenty of when driving long distances is yellow.

As we drove east through the mountains, there were lots of warning signs for animals on the road.

Mostly, these were deer but the further east we went , it seemed that the antlers grew!

Some of the signs looked like hunters used them for practice.

Some of the animals had very graceful styles...

others... well, not so much. 

We didn't actually encounter any of these animals on the road but the signs gave us hope of seeing wildlife.

We didn't even see one of these!

If you want more yellow from around the world, visit Drowsey Monkey here.

Sunday Wonders - D

D is for Dance.

Last Sunday I was in Lethbridge and we had a bunch of things to do and sights to see.  One of the sights was the Southern Alberta Art Gallery which had a display of works from all the school district's art students.  These were fun, interesting and amazing - sometimes all three at once.  It is exciting to see that potential talent just ready and waiting to be developed.

But, the sun was shining and, as you all know, we've not had a lot of that here at home.  So, instead of looking at the rest of the grown-up artist exhibits, I slipped out to enjoy the sunshine.  As I walked along the sidewalk, I could hear music and decided to follow the sound.  I soon found myself in a small city park where it looked like a band was setting up for a performance.  The music playing was contemporary pop music, so of course I stayed.  But they kept playing the same piece over and over.  "Is this a band practicing?"  I wondered.

But no, a few of these young people were dancing. They had amps and humungous speakers set up in a kind of performance bowl - looked like an empty pool to me.  The dance group was growing, too, as people kept arriving, throwing off their coats and joining in.  Cool...I'll just stand here and watch.  Eventually, the rest of the family found me and the four of us found a bench and settled in to watch for a few minutes.  As the minutes stretched on,  and the rehearsing got kind of old, we wondered what was really going on.  One of the young men did, after a while, take the mike and announce that his friend was going to propose to his girlfriend this afternoon.  Well!  Did you think I wouldn't stay to the end after that news?!

After about half an hour, Keith (the proposer), grabbed the mike and announced that Kate (the proposee) was on her way.  "Places, everyone!"  Onlookers were welcomed as potential flash-mobsters or they could remain and watch.  The instructions were to hide if she knew you, or otherwise just be there and look random.  So, there we sat on our park bench...how random can four adults squeezed on to one bench really look?  Nevertheless, the girlfriend showed up on the last leg of  the scavenger hunt - that's what she thought was going on, apparently.  She found her clue and this is the video of the rest of the proposal.

Best wishes to Keith and Kate!  You've provided me with a memory, too:  my very first flash-mob!

Hurry up and grow!

This is our newest rose. We were flying by a display of climbing plants at the nursery when this one caught my eye.  Not because of the flower, since there were none then.  No, it was the name:  Dublin Bay.  Knowing nothing of this rose, I had to have it in our garden.  It was a climber so  that was good.  It was red -  a lot more scarlet than my photos can capture.  It's not really pink at all. Another big plus:  the tag said it was a scented rose.  OK...I'm buying this one.

While we were away, the two earliest buds decided to open up.  The flowers are huge and I rushed out between rain showers to get a photo. I can hardly wait for it to climb up beside the white clematis that we planted last year.  However, I've since read differing opinions on its scent:  either it has none, it's slight or it's lightly perfumed.   My opinion?  I think I can smell these flowers.  Just wishful thinking?

I have no idea why it's called Dublin Bay.  Maybe the original rose breeder, Sam McGredy,  was homesick...he lived in New Zealand.