Canola

This time of year there are lots of yellow fields.

It's canola in bloom. The plant used to be called "rapeseed" but that's way too negative. Several years back the Canadian government trademarked "canola" oil (a made up word coined from Can for "Canada" and Ola from Mazola) and the name stuck!

The canola flowers make a splash of vibrant color across the green fields.

 

Wild Rose

The wild rose started to bloom this morning! They are always a treat to see.

The Provincial Flower of Alberta

Even the bugs like them!

Just so pretty!

 

Summer Flowers

I have a love affair with wildflowers...and right now I'm in love! I know the flowers are not showing off for me, but it's a great conceit to think they are.

The wild geraniums are in bloom. If you look closely they have a similar leaf to the "domestic" geranium, but not the showy bloom.

The bugs seem to like them maybe as much as I do.

The Indian Paintbrush showed up yesterday. The politically correct name "Paintbrush" was officially changed last year. It's still the state flower of Wyoming.

The salsify will become a giant puffball in a few days, but right now it's a gorgeous patch of yellow happiness in my wild garden.

This little guy is called butter and eggs.

I don't know what this egg mass will become, but it was still wet and glistening when I took the picture. I'll watch it for the next few weeks to see what happens.

The coneflower is just beginning. Right now the plant is growing a lot of superstructure to support this not very showy flower.

Can you find the coneflower among all the leaves? It's really there!

This is what happens when I start playing with my watercolor app...

Then there is the poppy! This monster flower is not a true wildflower as they were planted in the valley...but they have spread. The blooms have a 4-5 inch diameter and are drop dead gorgeous. I can picture Georgia O'Keefe painting one on a large canvass. 

Number 9

I finally finished my ninth blanket of the year! It took a long time. I finished the last blanket on May 11. Since then we've been to Italy and back. 

Blanket #9 is a collection of bright colors--red, yellow, blue, orange and green. It's not for the faint of heart or the person who is afraid of color...it's bright and cheery and LOUD! Tomorrow I'll start on number 10.

 

Solstice--Eclipse--Jet Lag

Today is the longest day of the year...the summer solstice. That means we will have 15 hours of sunlight. What a treat

On August 21 this year, we will have another treat...the eclipse that should be viewable from my home! We are right under the path of the sun...and at 11:36 AM the skies will become black

...so I bought a t-shirt celebrating this rare event. Apparently people have been planning for this special eclipse as the local hostelries are overbooked during that week in August. 

 

On another note, I'm still jet-lagged

The flowers are in full bloom but I'm not there yet.

Home

We're home but I have no idea what time zone my body is in. I fear it will be that way for a few days. I have a "jet lag theory"...it will take a day to recover from each hour of difference, minus 3. We had an 8 hour time difference, so we'll need 5 days to get back to "normal." We are in day 2.

The Rialto Bridge was a highlight...but there are many others as we sailed up the "back of the boot" of Italy. 

I visited another country...the 3rd smallest in the world. I always wonder how these small places exist? What is their real purpose?

The ancient mosaics of Ravenna and Venice are wonderful. I wanted to spend hours looking at their beauty, deciphering their symbolism and wondering about how they were created. Alas, such time was not available.

The great cathedral of St. Mark in Venice is more than over the top. It's too bad you have to share it's beauty with thousands of tourists at any given time. Even though St. Mark's Square is large, Venice should take a tip from the folks who rule Machu Picchu...limit the number of tourists so all of them can enjoy the spectacle. I know that will not happen, but I can dream.

Italy is a huge living museum. Art and architecture from thousands of years ago to the present are on display. All you have to do is find them. It's more than old churches (which I love to look at too)...I'm grateful we had guides and transportation to figure out a path that was logical and beautiful.

Sleepy villages in the south of Italy told of a different life style. Quieter, more laid back, and less affluent from northern Italy.

Southern farms with ancient olive trees give way to 

Venice and all the hustle and bustle of a large city built on water.

The trip was great! Now it's time to get over jet lag and enjoy the beauty of being at home.

 

 

   

Shower?

As you know, we travel a lot. We see a lot of new and unusual things...and for the past two days we saw a brand new way to build a shower. Picture your basic bathtub...now picture a "telephone" nozzle in the front third of that bathtub...now picture a glass door...that's rounded...and encloses about half of the tub...

The shower walls are marble

I put the towel on the top of the glass door to give you an idea how unusual this shower door is...  

That's the door part-way open. To get into the shower you have to step all the way to front of the shower...face the room, grab a knob on the rounded door and skootch in so the door will not attack you while you are closing it. Then to open the door need to stand in the rounded part of the door and move with it. Not well figured out...and not for the chubby as there's hardly any room in this shower. If you drop the soap, you cannot stoop over to pick it up!

There's a new invention out there all the time...some of them are even good inventions...then there is this shower door?? 

PS...the rest of the bathroom was marble and sleek--just the shower was weird.

Venice, Day 2

There was only one thing I wanted to do in Venice...and that was to see the Rialto Bridge. I saw it and...

...it was a good as i imagined it to be. In fact i saw it twice today. I'm a happy camper.

St. Mark's and the Doge's Palace 

Old Clock Tower which has the Earth as the center of the universe instead of the sun. Therefore it's pre-Copernicus!

St. Mark's square...its huge!

Bovoli Tower in the backyard--you have to know where to find this beauty

Gondola on a canal

Traffic Jam Venetian Style

The Symbol of Venice

Grand Canal

Grand Canal, again

 

Venice

We disembarked our little ship today and said hello to Venice! You either love or hate this city as it's beautiful but hard to get around in. The lagoon and the islands and bridges make it a maze that is not for the faint of heart. Our guide says a map is not useful in Venice...and then he gave us a map!

My first view of Venice from the bow of our little boat. 

We left our ship, walked thru customs, collected our luggage, then started the next part of our adventure. We sailed to the island of Torcello...the first island to be settled in Venice.

Torcello has 15 full time residents and few visitors, so it's a perfect place to start as Venice is always crowded.

We walked down a canal until we came to the 11th cenury Cathedral. Plain on the outside, but over the top on the inside. We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside, but think about the mosaics in Ravenna and then make them a bit fancier. The back of the church was a 30 x 100 foot wall of mosaic tiles in golds and blues and every other color in the rainbow depicting glorious heaven and horrible hell.

Torcello is picturesque. When you come to Venice, try to see Torcello.

 

The next stop was the colorful island of Burano. It's famous for 2 things...the colored homes and lace. The men woukd go fishing...and their wives woukd repair their nets. Sometime later, the wives perfected the making of lace. 

No one knows the real reason for the many colored homes...one story says the fisherman would come home at night and drag their tired bodies to their homes...and if they were painted diffferent colors they could find their particular home. 

Our last stop was St. Mark's Square with the famous bell tower and the Doges Palace. We were able to walk thru the enormous square while not running into 50K of our closest friends. The square is remarkable but by the time we got there today, we were too tried to truly enjoy it. That will give us something to do tomorrow.