Edmonton without me

My camera went along to Edmonton to a Biology of Butterflies conference while I stayed home. The professor and our resident student went along to a field trip afterwards to see some of those big mountains-- Canadian Rockies. This is good, because so far our resident student has seen Winnipeg. That would be --the flat flat flat (did I say flat?) prairie around here..and a couple of beautiful rivers.

The field trip involved climbing mountains. Our resident student apparently fell several times into great mounds of snow (in early July) and got a little cold. She seems no worse the wear though, and it was definitely an adventure.


Also, the field trip was something like 35 biologists, and they did not hesitate when they saw this sign at the trail head. Apparently they all headed right down that trail. Word was they kept looking around to see if there was anyone slower nearby who they could leave as a snack to distract the bears while they ran away.

I heard all 35 biologists also came out alive at the end of the hike, so I guess the bears thought biologists were too chewy or something.



Even though cell phone access was a little dodgy and internet wasn't available for the second half of the trip, I could tell that the Professor was always thinking of us when I saw these photos. Harry and Sally, our dogs, are great fans of rabbits. In fact, at last count, we think they have caught (and eaten some or all of) three rabbits in our little Winnipeg backyard just this spring. A--not very smart-- mommy bunny seems to have nested underneath our shed and we're hoping the rest of the family moves far away really soon. The problem is that the dogs are very fast so it is hard to rescue bunnies from them. Also, I get the sense that these bunnies are top notch snacks. Like sushi for dogs. Rabbit jerky? Rabbit BBQ? Rabbit Steak? (Well, you know what I mean, with apologies to Peter Rabbit. I do feel bad about this...but there are a lot of bunnies around here...and it's about thirty seconds between an excited bark and the gulp that comes after that. Hard to stop sometimes.)

The Professor and his student saw a great many jack rabbits on the University of Alberta campus. Unlike the Manitoba variety, they weren't afraid of people and just sat there, posing for photos. Even though Harry and Sally the dogs don't really see photos all that well, the Professor just kept shooting photos of rabbits. You know, like how you'd take a photo of a really appetizing sushi platter, or some delicious barbeque? Yep. Mmmm good. (ahh, the call of the wild...)

I hope to get back to fiber arts posts in a while, but right now it's just beginning to be berry season, so along with teaching and editing, I feel some canning activity coming on...so prepare yourself for strawberry shots some day soon!