April 6 Photo: Air

Not able to see all 58 stories of The Bow in downtown Calgary

An unusually foggy day in Calgary

The Bow on the left - the Calgary Tower straight ahead - Suncor Energy Centre on the right. 

Riley Park, Calgary

I wasn't sure what I would do with the theme of "air" but the weather gave me a hand providing these atmospheric pics.

It is General Conference weekend and so I typically wouldn't plan to be out and about and less so when you consider the weather.  However, I love this kind of day. I do wish I were reading a book and curled up by a fireplace. Or in the case of the day, curled up on the sofa watching a session of Conference. Not the case - I was taking care of one of my presidential responsibilities and meeting our treasurer to co-sign a number of cheques. I had a bit of extra time before the second session so I slipped down to MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) to view the University of Calgary student exhibition. Some pieces I would have loved to exhibit on my walls. I found out one of my favourites was sold to a fellow Artist Trading Card collector, who had picked up three of the student works.  Next year, I'll have to pay attention and stop by sooner (after breaking into my toonie jar)!

I didn't take any pictures inside the gallery but the following was taken just outside.

A twist on Knit-bombing?? Outside of MOCA in downtown Calgary.

Tomorrow's theme is "Dreamy".  Can today's pictures count twice??

April 5 Photo: Something Good

Something good: The fact that it was Friday would have been enough but turned out I ended the night with a movie night with my mom and niece! And I had thought I was coming home from work to sit at my computer again. I will be online most of Saturday instead but this was a good end to a busy work week.

Flickr Friday: Lighthouse at Church Point

Lighthouse at Church Point, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

originally uploaded by whistlepunch

I decided to get back to sharing photos from my Flickr account since there are 9,238 photos posted there and it isn't likely that anyone is browsing these in their entirety. I like that I can share and search my photos on this site as well as finding my photos used on random blogs and websites, even in a couple of published books.

So the formula I used was to add up the date 4/4/13 and that landed me on page 21. Then I just picked my favourite photos from this page.

Two years ago, I traveled out to Halifax for a TESL Canada conference and added an extra week onto my trip to drive around the south tip of Nova Scotia. This lighthouse is located at Church Point, the home of the only Francophone university in Nova Scotia and the St. Mary's Church Museum, the largest wooden church in North America.

St. Mary's Church Museum

This lighthouse was built in 1874 and stands 9.4 metres tall. The lamp was lit until 1984 and since that time the University has been responsible for its maintenance.

I thoroughly enjoyed my drive around the province, stopping at as many lighthouses and wooden churches as I could.

Post script:

So I obviously didn't have my talking calendar this morning to get the current date set in my mind. It isn't the 4th today - it is the 5th. So I should have been looking at page 22.

I guess that means a bonus picture - I won't change my entry but include another photo from the same trip.

St. Alphonse de Clare, Digby, Nova Scotia

Another wooden church for you to enjoy!

April 4 Photo: This Happened Today

Wellness Drumming Circle at MRU today. 

Nothing too exciting to report today. I could have taken a picture of my car encased in a shell of ice or a photo of all the piles of paper that I sorted through today to get ready for the next term start. There was food to eat and dishes to wash. Emails to answer,  Skype meetings with students and opportunities missed.  I wish the picture had been from the ward temple trip or a birthday dinner with a friend but the responsibilities of life took over. 

April 3 Photo: Something Beginning with A

A is for Adjustment

I've had a pinched nerve in my neck for a few days now and so the timing of this adjustment couldn't be better. I work too many hours at my computer and what always helps put me right is a visit to my chiropractor at the Calgary Centre for Health.  Today it was combined with an hour massage. Heaven.

At work, we have been invited to participate in a 5 week Wellness Challenge. One of the weekly challenge activities was to enjoy a holistic treatment.  I was excited to join in this event and see what kind of difference it would make. Ironically, I spent Week 4 mostly in bed feeling lousy and the late night on Monday definitely didn't fit the challenge requirements of getting 7 hours of sleep, but despite that set back, I've enjoyed doing the tasks associated with the challenge.

The challenge covers five different areas of wellness and in each area, we have to track whether we have done different tasks each day, once a week or once over the course of the challenge:

The areas are

• Physical
• Nutritional
• Psychological
• Intellectual
• Social/Community

Climbing stairs at work counts as one of the Physical tasks. 

Daily tasks in Nutrition include drinking 2 litres of water and
eating 5-6 servings of fruits and vegetables. (photo by HossainKhan on Flickr)

Weekly Psychological tasks include appreciating beauty and art
and clearing clutter. 

A one time Intellectual task is attending a play or musical event.
I wish it had been more, I could have earned this one almost weekly!

Volunteering is one aspect of the social/community activities.
With all the volunteering I do on boards or serving at church,
 it was an easy way to earn points as well. 

So with the Wellness Challenge coming to an end on Sunday, I have seen improvements in some areas of my life and some challenges I have yet to move forward on. But it has been a worthwhile event to participate in. I just hope I can get back on track after the set back I had last week.

Take some time to find some "wellness" in your life!

Photo by Hotel Der Oeschbergh

April 2 Photo: Blue

Blue

Oops, only Day 2 and I'm late in posting.  I actually had this ready to go on my phone but wanted to get on my computer to check if it worked correctly and well, I fell asleep in my chair after a late dinner. (Stayed late at the office for a provincial teleconference)  Have you ever done that? I had only had about 3 and a half hours of sleep the night before. And should have known not to lean back for a minute... or what I thought would only be a minute after a late supper of Easter dinner leftovers.

So okay now it is 12:50 and I am awake and dragging myself up to my real bed. Not one of my better nights - a waste of an evening. Or not - I guess I should have gone straight to bed instead of even trying to salvage anything left of the night.

Blue - I didn't meet anyone today that was acknowledging the theme for this choice - World Autism Awareness Day.  Glad to see that the Atwood boys wore their blue to show support for this cause.

At work, blue is a pretty common colour though. It is our school colour and I took a bunch of pictures of items in the bookstore that are blue but I liked this picture best. Blue lockers. These are the lockers where I set up the popcorn machine for our annual Technology Testdrive along the main hallway in the University. With new policies against serving open containers (bags) of food, I assume I won't be setting up next year in this location. As you walk around the campus, you will see many banks of these blue lockers.

My initial plan for the post was to take a picture of my blue bear. But I guess I used that picture already when I participated in the March Photo a Day in 2012. It was for a different theme but my blue bear still was a prominent feature of the post, including his larger counterpart in Denver. If you missed that photo and would like to see both blue bears again, you can click on the link below.

March 8 Photo: Window

Tomorrow the theme is "Something beginning with A".  I already know what I am going to take my picture of... or should I say "of what I am going to take my picture".  (No, I don't think I should really say it that way.  It is a reference to the play I saw last week.  If you haven't seen "The Ends of the Earth" at Vertigo, you should... if just for the trek-inspired battle between self-appointed grammar enforcer Frank Gardener and perpetually unlucky Henry Walker.  SO Funny!!!)

Goodnight! (humming this music as I go)

April 1 Photo: Play - Board Games

April 1 photo of the day. "Play"

I would have had a great opportunity to capture this word if I had gone ahead with my original plan for today and had two special little boys over to my house, but with feeling under the weather last week and hosting Easter dinner yesterday, it just didn't happen.

So instead, as I looked around me for inspiration, I ended up with a picture of just a few of the board games I have stashed in my office closet.

I used to love playing board games. 'Used to' not because I no longer enjoy them but because it has been ages since I played any.

As a kid, I remember playing board games as a family. Probe was one of our favourites. You lay a word out letter by letter in front of you and then take turns guessing letters. A more formal, multi-player kind of Hangman. Pretty simple to play since as long as you knew your letters and how to spell a few words, you could join in. Good for all of us to play together.

Another favourite was a game Mom brought back from Hawaii.  Sunka is a shell game for two that involves taking turns moving the shells around the board to add as many to your "home" as possible. Each round continues until a side of the board is cleared. The shells are then redistributed  from each home base and play continues. Half the fun of this is the feel of scooping up the shells and the clicking sound from dropping them into the bowls.

Sunka by Island Capture Photography on Flickr

Sounds are important when playing games. Whether it is marbles moving around a board or the sound of dice shaken to try to make Yahtzee, I have strong memories of hearing the sounds of games we played with the Rhodes family.  I spent one of my summers living with my grandparents when I worked at Valley Ridge campground and remember listening to my grandmother playing Yahtzee as I fell asleep on the fold-out couch in the adjacent room. Yahtzee is still a favourite with my family.

photo from jking89 on Flickr

Family home evenings always had a game - it was one of the assignments. Lesson, game, treat... all parts of a fun night and even more special when cousins joined us.  Here we are playing Mousie, Mousie made from rolled up newspaper on a string. I can't tell who has the pot lid to trap the mice. Maybe it was me.

Playing our homemade version of Mousie Mousie with the cousins

I had some favourite board games to play with my friends. I remember asking for board games as a birthday or Christmas gift. I remember playing Payday, Careers, Masterpiece and Clue. 

When I went away to University, Trivial Pursuit took board games to a new level. I remember so many fun nights with just a few friends, good food and lots of laughter as we played Trivial Pursuit all evening. I have to admit, playing board games with a guy I was dating was always a good measure  of whether he could be a good sport about the game. I didn't like it if he were too competitive or a sore loser. It's okay to want to win but to get angry, mean or pout after were always signals for me. 

Later, Pictionary was added to the mix and you knew you were at the right house when someone had a white board especially for playing with a group. That ramped up the game to a pseudo professional level!

Back in Calgary, my roommate and I watched Jeopardy every night after work together and this extended next to playing it as a board game. The game was a gift and we had fun re-creating the show. 

And it seems so long ago now but I used to play games a lot when I lived in NW Calgary. Ingrid and I would get together Saturday mornings to play games and do laundry or meet at a coffee shop for breakfast.  Where did I find the time? Saturdays seems so leisurely back then. 

Now it seems like all we play is Phase 10. I travel with Phase 10 cards, I have the app on my iPhone. And if we pull out any game after a big family dinner, it is Phase 10.   I like Phase 10 but I miss board games. I think I need to plan a games night. 

Check out the clip below from Simon and Martina in Korea. There, you can go to a cafe and play board games with friends.  Many young people there can't easily entertain in their homes so they often have to find places to go hangout and this is a great alternative to the many coffee shops that are everywhere. 

Wonderful Adventure Now Korea - Board Game Cafe

Playing the Building - Art Installation by David Byrne. Roundhouse, Camden Town, London.

Posting at 11:57 on April 1st!! I just made it in time!

What games do you like to play?