April 7 Photo: Dreamy

Looking out through 'Wonderland' by Jaume Plensa. 

Today's photo theme is dreamy.  So I'm pulling this one from the photos I took downtown yesterday.

When this sculpture was being installed in front of The Bow, I happened to be driving by on a dark winter night in January. The area wall lit up by tall spotlights and a crane was lifting the top of the head  into place.  There were crystals of snow floating in the air and if I hadn't been with other people, I would have turned my car around to stop and watch the event unfold. 

Yesterday was the first time I have taken the time to go down and walk around this sculpture. You can stand inside and observe the world through the metal grid. I love this new addition to our city's public art.   

'Wonderland' by Jaume Plensa

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??

Elephants in Downtown Calgary

Elephants in Downtown Calgary, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

I know it is traditionally time for there to be a lot of horses in Downtown Calgary but this is is one of my favourite pictures of animals with the "Husky Tower" in the background. This was taken a while ago... and that is me with my cousin Michael and my Grandpa. Did Grandma take the picture? We were attending the Circus! I can't figure out where that would be now.

As an adult, I now know that having elephants in a travelling circus xclearly isn't the best existence for them. Even our Calgary Zoo has decided that they can't serve the needs of the elephants as well as they should. I'm sad that the elephants will be relocated from our zoo but if we can't change the circumstances and provide them a healthy environment that they can thrive in with enough other elephants for their social needs as well, then it is a good move. At least you can see them for the next 4 or 5 years before this will happen. I missed out on the Bathtime with the Elephants program.

I think my love of elephants comes from watching "The Jungle Book" as a kid. My FAVOURITE Disney movie. I even remember collecting the toys from cereal boxes that promoted the movie. Instead of the linking barrel of monkeys, they had linking panthers, Mowglis and snakes. I never found a snake but you can buy one on Ebay!

That movie had such great music (I still think it is the best of all the Disney music - who can go wrong with Louis Prima!!!) and Colonel Hathi's March is just so much fun. What little kid can resist marching around when that scene comes on the DVD!

Wouldn't it be fun to hear one of the bands in the Stampede parade play that as they marched along? A Stampede / Jungle Book mashup! Yee Haw!

Here's a different mashup of the march. Enjoy!

Just missing the gelato

Four cheese pizza with honey truffle oil

Sticky Toffee Pudding

After the work week, it was nice to start off the weekend with dinner at Una on 17th Avenue. I had seen someone post pictures of the food on Instagram and since my friend and I wanted to try somewhere new to us, we headed there after work. The pizza was delicious - although the sweet hint of honey may not be to everyone's taste. It reminded me of the pizza I had my first night in Venice. So while the Sticky Toffee Pudding was tasty, I was thinking of how a walk and a gelato would have been a nice way to end the meal. We did fit in the walk as we had some time after dinner and so we headed downtown to check out the newest addition to the city.

Prince's Island (west end)

I like what has been happening with the arts and culture scene in this city. When I travel, I love checking out the unique architecture, structures and public art of a city. This bridge will become something that is featured in photos by visitors from around the world.  I know this was a controversial project --including the length of time taken, the money spent and its location less than 300 metres away from another pedestrian bridge, but now that it is here,  I like the addition of this geometric design to the riverway.

Calgary's Peace Bridge by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava

After our walk, we ended up at Eau Claire Market Cinemas to see the movie "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen". Directed by Lasse Hallström, who directed another favourite of mine, "My Life as a Dog" and written by the screenwriter of "Slumdog Millionaire". 

It is a sweet story about a crazy plan to establish a salmon run in Yemen by a sheik with enough money to make the impossible plausible and the British team of Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt who are charged with helping him.  While it may not be around much longer, add it to your list to watch when the DVD comes out. You can check out the movie trailer below.

April 9 Photo: Younger Me

Younger me at the Calgary Zoo. Wasn't I cute? I have always loved going to the zoo. I especially loved seeing Dinny the Dinosaur. He was so amazingly BIG to little me.  My favourite animals were the elephants and monkeys. I had seen a picture of my cousins' spider monkey (they were living in Guyana at the time) and also loved reading Curious George so it just made sense that a monkey would be a wonderful pet. When I think back, I don't like the small cages the lions, cats and bears were in. But I didn't know any better at the time. And even though I thought it was boring, I looked forward to going into the Conservatory and getting a soft icecream cone.

The zoo has had a lot of changes over the years and now we have PENGUINS!! I haven't been yet but hope to get there soon. Any one want to lend me some little ones to take?