Positively Spontaneous 2

People always ask me, " Do you have anything exciting planned for the summer?"  I usually respond, "Not really, but I love the idea of not having a daily schedule and being able to be spontaneous, to go where I please, when I please!"

In the spirit of being spontaneous, these photos show a celebration of being spontaneous, of walking around a corner always having my camera at hand "just in case", or hopping in my vehicle and driving down a range road  that I haven't ever had reason to venture down, or having a need to revisit a place only visited before in a different season.

To me exciting is capturing single moments of time, things that others may have never seen or bothered to pay attention to, even it is in my own backyard or close by.

Waxwing

 This fellow was hanging around with about 5 others one day.

He performed for me for quite a while.

Posing, he knows he is handsome!

The light here was cooperating.

I witnessed the neatest thing.  The waxwing facing you caught an insect (I can't think of the name right now), and shared it with the next one.  Back and forth they passed it to each other until it was gone!  We can learn a lot from nature and taking care of each other!

This picture of the gull was snapped when I was flood watching two weeks ago tomorrow.  I was standing high above the river and gulls kept flying by showing off.  They are actually quite beautiful, it is too bad they can be so annoying!

Can you see the seagulls in the distance.  They would appear from behind the cliff and suddenly pass by.  Look out, here they come!

A storm was looming as the river water was rising.  At this point, Tucker and I were getting ready to make a 500 metre dash to the vehicle, so we wouldn't get soaked!

Later in the afternoon, on down a different road, we saw the river from a different perspective.  A little closer to the river.

 Here the water is encroaching on some acreages.  The river is very muddy and is moving very swiftly.  People are warned to stay out of the river all across southern Alberta.

Wild, scary, but also beautiful!

Here you can see the river water is now on the other side of the trees and is rising closer to the homes.  The farmers built berms around their homes. Some had been working day and night for several days, remembering the floods of not too long ago.

Down another road for an even closer perspective.

This perspective is the scary perspective.  A friend's house is right behind me.  The night before, the water was at the base of the far trees and the pump house was fully visible!

The signage here is quite ironic.  Just a few days prior, they were worried about fires, and now fires are the least of their worries, and there is no river bank to be seen.

Further down the road we go!

The ancient Plains Cottonwood trees are threatened.  They were standing on an island called Galt Island.  The island had completely disappeared.  As we were standing on the river's edge, we could hear trees cracking and breaking, falling to their death into the river and heading for the city bridges.

Fortunately, the houses in this area did not take on water.  A local business that we helped to evacuate, also was fortunate to not get any water.  Unfortunately, many people farther down the river in Medicine Hat weren't so lucky.  

We drove through that area of the city on Canada Day, and that area was like a ghost town.  It was so sad to see all of the appliances and personal belongings sitting on lawns and in big dumpsters.  It was even more sad to see signs posted on houses, "Unfit for human habitation."  So as many of us were sitting watching the fireworks being annoyed by the pesky mosquitoes, other families were wondering if they would be able to return to their homes and live in them.

There have been many people volunteering throughout the flood regions, and it is wonderful how people were and still are spontaneously volunteering to help others.

So if people ask me again, " Are you planning to do anything exciting this summer?"

I will respond, "No, but you never know what excitement may occur, and I am ready for the spontaneous to happen!"