traditions

The Wonderful Winter
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The Wonderful Winter

Hail, all you awesome ones!

The temperatures fall.  It’s cold outside.  Time to pull out the woollies, change to thermals and warm, specialized fabrics.  Time to pull out the sleighs, toboggans, skates, skis, snowboards, snowmobiles and snowshoes.  Time for winter!  Time for that specialized season of cold!

The sidewalk is bare from constant shoveling, drifts pile high and the car won’t start.  The giddiness of the festive season is upon us.  Bright lights, holiday cheers, warm welcomes, smiles and gifts.  A fabulous start to the quiet of winter, as we spend our money, plan our holidays and wish each other well, as winter’s nasty colds poke their way in. The headiness of a bustling summer is behind us.  Time to take a break and relax by the fire, bake up a storm and be happy.  Happy to relax, to watch our favourite sport, to sing holiday carols and to play in the fantastic snow!  Our economic wonder, snow!  A blessing that we don’t pay for, brought to you by the great planet.  Enjoy your winter!

We head off to ice caves, ice water falls, frozen rivers and slippery surfaces.  We head off to natural wonder, to awesome delight in the planetary change.  We are tourists in our own town, visiting the sites, bragging about the awesome wonder of the scenery, drinking the local brew and listening to the home grown bands.  We know everyone. Every face is familiar.  Each store has it’s unique specialty and the restaurants offer discounts to us starving hoards, who savor the goodness of every bite.  Laughing and playing, we love this season.  It gives us time to visit.

As wonderful as life is in the carefree summer, winter brings it’s own delight.  For those of us here in this tiny, multicultural town, winter brings us time.  Time to refresh, time to enjoy, time to stay awhile, to visit and to reunite with each other.

The festive season is starting, preparations are being made.  Holiday parties, good friends, family and cheer.  The warmth of the season, when the cold is put at bay.  A change in season is good for us.  It lets us rejoice in a whole new splendor.  Indoor coziness, outdoor frigidness, harmony, balance and avoiding frostbite.  We love this cold winter weather, when the great outdoors turns on the lights early, and we can view the splendor of the stars, planets, even the northern lights in an early, after dinner hour show.

The moon shines a path of white and the glistening snow sparkles and shines our way.  The sun sets early and rises late and the dark is upon us.  We rise in the dark, go home in the dark, and are thankful for the blessings that inventors make.

Hot chocolate and ginger snaps, sweets and treats, this is the time of year to be happy.  A blessing to share, carols to sing, a jingling of jingle bells, rings and rings.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

November 29, 2015

A Simple Country Life
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A Simple Country Life

Hail Oh Brilliant Ones

Muscle and brawn, determination and might.  The power of the body and the mind in a challenge for victory for us all. Strength and will, focus and mindset, the power of the objective is a lure of contentment.  Bring on the bull, bring on the market, bring on the challenge that proves the might of this power.

Ride for your lives, oh glorious ones, a challenge unusual, but necessary for a culture of unique bravery and unique courage.  The fight between man and beast in a contest of wills to tame the savagery out of the wild.  Bring on the bull, the market is waiting, for this is an animal of fierce power and fierce mindset.

As in all wild things, the thought of taming it,  is an exciting interest to some of us.  The challenge to ride an unusual animal, who’s interests are for protection and preservation of it’s own kind.  Bought and paid for, the bull is owned, but not really tame.  A bull is a powerhouse of strength and musculature, with a brain focused on survival.  He is the fittest, the rightful, the protector of the herd and his temper and adrenalin flair with anger.  From intruders and strangers, the bull protects it’s land with seething contempt for outsiders.  Nostrils flair, stomping and pounding, steely gaze and snorting breath, the bull challenges.  Run, you cowards, save yourselves!  This animal will not allow a trespasser.

A mild farm animal, to the unwitting and unknowing, this is an animal of unpredictable nature and immense girth.  Stay away, stay out of the paddock, don’t go near the bull.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocX5EXgHmGU  bull riding in Canada

Hop on board, you daring cowboy.  Ride the vicious bull.  Tame the wild beast of farmyard passivity.  The quiet country way, the rolling landscape, the picturesque farm nestled into a hillside, the pastures dotted with grazing animals, all tame and well fed, all quiet and calm in the peaceful countryside.

A challenge is upon us, to beat a vicious and untameable foe, an animal of fierceness and endurance, power and meanness.  The bull will fight for it’s life and kill it’s adversary.  Stomping and flailing, sharpened horns and massive body, who will ride the bull?

An interesting and exciting diversion from quiet country life.  The birds sing in the trees and nature plays out it’s everyday fascination.  Ponds filled with ducks and waterfowl dot the landscape, marshland is preserved for it’s own sake and the wild encroaches with timid apprehension.  Sometimes foxes, sometimes deer, the pastures in the farm attract the more daring of the wild, who linger along it’s fringes.  A simple co-existence, usually without distress.

But the bull is an adversary.  A wild and difficult animal.  He exists for himself. For his powerful genetics win the show ribbons and he’s the champion of them all.

Ride on, oh cowboys.  Laughing and daring, rope in hand.  Farm life is not for simple minded folk.  Your own  strong, agile bodies, tested against the steel of a bull headed animal. Determined and stubborn, willful and massive, ride on, you cowboys, to glory and courage and to conquer the wild of the farm.  The massive bull.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 20, 2015

Dream of Peace
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Dream of Peace

Good Day, you Awesome Human!

Splendid day. Warm and snowy. The birds are singing gaily from their roosts. The elk lie in the meadows, relatively calm, after a long autumn of elk battles and rutting. The peaceful does with wombs full of the promise of another successful spring of calving. The big horn sheep, also resting, caring for the silent burden of their soon to be offspring.
The great wild! The drama of the wild as it plays out its role, in the never ending cycle of creation. Born to this place, the wild entices us, with its riches of spectacular views, muscle strengthening climbs, varieties of lifeforms and the gift of providing us with natural wonder to explore.
A peek into this place, of grand beauty and grand design, which fills out hearts and souls with wonder. Oh mighty planet, to give us this gift, from a highway, cut through the mountains. Those of us who have time, will exert ourselves more and climb to a pinnacle on a well traveled trail, for a look at what lies on the other side. A steep bit of climbing, a scramble, an effort, but where it takes us is to the grand view of the wild. A view of what lies on the other side of that mountain range. More forests and rivers, cascading waterfalls, animal tracks, mountains and valleys to explore. We are the hungry. We thirst for more and more. Show us your splendor, oh great planet earth, as we strive to reach your mountain tops and intrude into the land of your wildlife, to photograph those elusive species, and brag.
The world turns for us, on these snow covered days, as we strap on snowshoes and venture out to play. A daunting world of snow and ice, but for us to trudge through, a winter’s delight. Animal tracks. There’s plenty of life in this snow covered domain, but no one shows their faces today. Instead, it’s us, joining the tracks in the snow, plodding and chatting and breaking trail. These small few hours of exertion, to remind us of by gone days and years of exploration, as the well traveled adventurer set off to discover this new land. Tracks of snowshoes in the forests, tracks along the winding creek. An easy day of healthful activity, to fill our lungs with pure, clean air, to strengthen our bodies and refresh our minds.
The luck of an easy day of refreshing activity. The joy of adventure into the quiet winters solitude. A brush with nature as she plays out her part. The wild calls us and the wild whispers. Save us, oh mighty ones. Don’t plunder here. Spare us from the weapons of mass destruction and a world of madness and we will give you the peace of a quiet winter’s day, with snow on the mountains and the crisp, crunchy snow beneath your feet.
Let this stand of the earth be your playground, oh great ones, and may you forever venture into the wild and breathe.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
January 19, 2015

The Real Santa Claus
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The Real Santa Claus

Hail Bravehearts

The holiday season is upon us, filled with love, light, peace and happiness.
Joy to the world, even nature sings!
Some lucky people witnessed the unusual event of a caribou sighting at Marmot Basin Ski Area, Jasper National Park on December 17, 2014. Eight handsome caribou, made a grand appearance on the ski run. These are eight of only 41 left in the Park.
The significance? Come Dasher, come Dancer, come Comet, come Vixen, come Prancer, come Cupid, come Donner, come Blitzen, and the rarest of them all, the Mountain Caribou.
My photo shows a female caribou and her calf on a snow patch, taken from the top of the Mt Edith Cavel Meadows, in July 2014. We needed binoculars to see them.

http://www.thejasperlocal.com/caribou-make-rare-appearance-as-closures-loom.html Caribou sighting at Marmot Basin, Jasper,Alberta, December 17, 2014

The Christmas season is heralded by a merry old gent in red who brings us gifts of Christmas joy. No poverty during this warm season of friendship, worship and brotherly love. The real Santa Claus is not an elf, but a real person, so revered for his abilities to enact miracles. A marvelous human being with powers so great that he could raise the dead and bring gifts of gold to the needy.

Miracles! The holiday season is filled with joy and fellowship. A miracle of humanity and community sharing, of peace and goodwill. The merry old gent, who fills your stocking, is a saint of immense proportions for humanity. His story is told and his contributions deserve our continued respect. Jolly old St. Nicholas who helped to ease the needs of the poor in his day, is remembered still as Santa Claus.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/ Who is St. Nicholas, the real Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas to all of you. Happy holiday season.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
December 24, 2014

A Great Escape
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A Great Escape

Good Day Bravehearts

The splendid great wild, with its remote and awesome places. Here, in a world class national park, a UNESCO world heritage site, we live and play and hike to our hearts content. The world of opportunity knocks and we respond with enthusiasm, for the endless adventure in hiking the great wild.
This week, we travel into a remote and little known mountain pass, high up in the alpine. where the curiosity of remote, wild adventure takes us. Ever cautious, we prepare for all weather, rain suites, first aid kits, water ,sunscreen, food, insect repellent, hat, gloves, binoculars and cameras, maps and gps.   It can be cold in the alpine, with changeable weather and here it can be blistering hot, or freezing rain, sometimes turning to hail or snow. We all pack bear spray.
It’s been a good year for bears. Many sightings of females with two and three cubs and the powerful grizzly bear has made her presence well known, with frequent sightings and photo chances of her and her healthy offspring. The alpine is a favorite place of the grizzly and we don’t want to startle one, so our group is large and loud. It’s better to be safe, with large numbers, so the resident predator hears us coming.

The climb is steep and the footing is uneven.  We spent three hours hiking to this remote place, high up into the alpine for a view of the glaciers on another mountain range.  The intermittent showers cooled us and the climb was not as difficult as it sometimes is.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/jasper/index.aspx  Jasper National Park

Our fathers fought for this great land.  A magnificent mountain range in a far off place.  They fought for  freedom, for prosperity, for a better world and here, in a remote and little known mountain pass, we enjoy and praise the brilliance of that choice.  To protect the land, to save it for future generations, relatively untouched, preserved and intact.  A home for the wild and an escape for us.

We are early in this years adventure.  The spring was late and the wild flowers are not yet as showy as they will be.  But also, we have left the great bear behind us, to forage in the valleys until the alpine will give them a meal.  They will be here soon.

Today, the pass is for us, with only the calls of the birds and the rushing water, the insects and the wind.

The far off glacier is the head waters of our rivers and the source of our daily water supply.   Protected high up in a mountain top, the glacier lies in its own protected domain.  Remote enough, that it is rarely visited and high enough that is remains intact.  The grand great wild, providing fresh drinking water for us and the planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF05-slHnNk  Fukushima

These rare, protected places, great mountain ranges like the Rocky Mountain National Parks are home to the awesome wild, the glaciers and the beautiful flowers. The power of the earth lies in these special protected places, where only the fortunate few can roam.  Our drinking water, our air supply, our dark sky,  our much needed connection to the natural world.

Here is where we live and play and praise the foresight of brilliant people who saved this land for us to enjoy.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

 

It’s Only a Tree
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It’s Only a Tree

Good Day Bravehearts

The forests of our country are a milestone of preservation. Intact lands, intact lives, intact preservation. The delicate balance of satisfying the needs of competing interests while we grow and prosper, but still fulfill the needs of the great land. The earth cannot survive without the large expanse of lands and environmental protection has called us all to be watchful of the contamination and ruin of the earth. Another mountain of preservation destroyed, another hard fought victory to win. It only takes a few minutes to destroy, what has taken a milenium of earth years to build. A forest, brought down by over harvesting. The balance of the environment overturned. The delicate marshes and the songs of the birds, happily existing in the structure of an ecosystem, so uniquely contrived and so exquisitely orchestrated. The balance of life in the land of the great wild.
The fabulous wild, where the predators roam and quietly, stealthily stalk their prey. A harvest of the weak to strengthen the strong, and to cull the over abundance of grazing and browsing prey. The forest needs the predator, to save it’s new growth, and to take a stand for the preservation of large landscapes.
The balance is superb! The forest thrives and the lives of the living, fill their world with the earth songs of their making.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BickMFHAZR0 The Most Amazing Thing About Trees.

The joy of the wild as it sings the song of the earth to us, the great human. Save us! Only in saving the great wild, will the human be able to save themselves. The preservation of the forest, for our own clean air, for oxygen, for shade, and the protection of the soil. The trees are a necessity. Food, shade, warmth, air, environmental protection and decoration. The varieties are immense and all so different. Large and small with canopies for shade, or strength for wind protection. A tree, such a common plant, so needed and so fragile.
Our houses, from their wood. Furnishings, flooring, cabinetry, whole fields of study from the common tree. Carpentry, logging, forestry, massive business enterprise and international trade. Wealth from wood, paper from by product, our logging industry employs thousands.
Hail to the almighty human, for ingenuity and invention. Your awesome minds and clever imaginations save you there, but lack of foresight is the curse of the human.
Oh brilliant ones, you cannot stop your thinking. The wide expanse of knowledge becomes you and the perpetual motion of time turning to wealth propels you. No poverty there. A world without end. It has to be.
So, brave hearts, as the world turns and another day is upon us, the call from the wild is more urgent and compelling.
Come! calls the great land. Visit and explore. Come to the luxury, to the beauty, to the serenity of the wild! Come to the adventure, to explore and discover. The earth sings, oh great human, don’t be the last.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
July 1, 2014

The Water Highway
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The Water Highway

Good day Bravehearts

Feel the rush of the wind as it sweeps across the land, bringing the scents of summer fragrance to fill your mind. The aromatherapy of the earth. Pine, juniper, spring meadows and wild grasses. The smell of the forest with mosses and flowers. The cool shade of trees and the rich, enticing landscape. Venture forth, oh brave ones, the wild calls you.
The dance and play of rushing streams, the life force of rivers, and the clean, superb, land, with it’s sport and leisure. The health of the nation lies in this landscape. So much to do, in sport, in leisure, in adventure and in education. Out into the great land, for health and fitness, for rest and for meditation.
The wild! Every day adventure for the uncommon lives of the people of this country.
The rushing rivers cast their spell. The voyage by raft will take you into the great unknown. A wild river, a rushing torrent, a wet and wild and chilly adventure. The current sweeps you into the middle, to rapids and whirlpools and eddies. The diving and swirling craft dips and heaves as the pounding water floods its sides and plunges it into holes and narrowly past rocks and waterfalls.
Fun!
The whitewater raft ride of todays enjoyment is a link to the waterways of yesteryear. David Thompson, with his raft piled high with furs, transported his earnings through the Canadian waterway highways. A nation of river exploration. A nation of wilderness exploration. A nation of markets and trade.

http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/ canoe

The waterways were the highways of trade. Plied for transportation, for convenience, for travel and for adventure. The past time of canoing and boating serves us well, as we venture deeper and deeper into the heart of the land.
Summer! The pristine blue lakes of summer fun. The cooling, quenching waters of joy! The days of lazy dreaming in beaches of sand and grass, the pearls of seashells washed ashore, the endless waves, lapping the shore. The joys of clean, cool water as is soothes the hot and tired body. Fresh water for swimming. Clean water, for a cool summer swim.
The water. A gateway into the heart of the land and a pathway to endless summer fun. Ply the waters with your sturdy craft, maneuver into the surging current. Your paddle dips to the rhythm of your partners beat and the drums of your heartbeat set the pace. Onward. Onward. The constant motion moving the craft. The skills of your paddling, pushing you on. The lakes, the rivers, the water trade routes. A past time of pleasure, where yesterday meets us. The voyage of discovery to new lands, new people, new trade and new wealth.

http://www.birchbarkcanoe.net/video-canoe.htm

A home of opportunity waiting for discovery.
The ancient art of boats and river travel, of discovery of land and people. We travel with our forefathers in a journey that never ends, to a destination that stretches on. We fill our days with summer fun, in a land of sweeping landscapes and the water. The water highway.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
June 29, 2014

The Fishing Hole

Food. Fill your stomachs and ease the pangs of poverty. Cast your nets and fill your boats with the precious catch of the day.
For thousands of years the oceans have filled our plates with free food, a commodity of substance and wealth from the planet. The nets cast into the seas, to draw the needed food source from its home in the high water. The oceans provide and the human soars with the advantage of free food for the hungry. No starvation, no poverty. The seas give up their glorious catch and the evils of hunger subside.
An expectation of success fills our minds. The ocean has always provided for us, this is our right and our lifestyle. Our livelihood and our culture. Many nations survive from the oceans and the plunder of the deep waters reduces the catch to a fragment of what it once was. The crisis for the oceans rises and the plight of the wildlife within it, screams for the efforts of conservationist around the world. Oil spills, contamination, pollutants, over fishing. The perils of the oceans calls to us as the human mind reels in the wake of yet another catastrophe that leaves our planet dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxacxShp3LY overfishing – the consequences.

The rights to fish the oceans have been undenied since mankind cast his nets and lines into the sea and returned triumphant with yet another tasty meal. So easy, so little effort, a hook, a line and bait and then to the fishing hole. Young and old remember their days, drifting in easy summer weather, with baited hook and happy smiles, as the waters reveal a dinner or two, to the patient fisherman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDAC33InIHs ending overfishing

Fishing the deep has been an easy joy for us. The lakes and oceans produce an amazing number of fish and other water inhabitants. Crustaceans and eels, fish and whale, shellfish and turtles. The water is fun and filled with life. For a day at the beach and a day on the water nurture us with sun and summer care. The carefree days of endless sunshine, the powerful waves as they crest and splash and entice us into the water for summer play. The life and the living that the oceans bring us, not only back from the brink of starvation, but to a new purpose in sport, leisure, games and holidaying. The oceans and lakes give us undeniable joy.
Bountiful great waters, our cups overflow with gladness, for the discovery of the mysteries of the deep. Ocean songs and ocean conquest, ships and adventure, the great seas call to all of us as sailors and fishermen and the marvel of our days on the decks of sailboats, casting our lines and unfurling the sails, gives us freedom and the thrill of adventure.
Four hundred years ago, at the dawn of European time in Canada, came an expedition to the coast of Canada, to fish the great waters of the grand banks of Newfoundland.  The fishing was superb!  Cast your nets and take home a catch of fishes to save the starving peasants back home.  Cast your nets and be saved.  The catch is your income, your food source, your work and your daily bread. The fishing was superb and from this came the endless voyages of fishermen bound for a harvest of ocean gold.  Food!  Made from the planet, where no one shall starve. 
7 billion. 
To traverse the great Atlantic ocean in search of a food source out fished in Europe, was the means to an end of hunger and poverty.  400  years ago the population of Europe was substantially smaller, but the need to traverse the ocean for food was already a pressing concern.  Feed the hungry.  The ocean is called upon to provide.  Fishes for the ever climbing hungry of the world.  Food.
Still the demand is upon the ocean, to fill the needs of the hungry as our population climbs and soars. Still, the ocean, with it’s free and bountiful harvest of fish. Still the human calls to the planet, feed us!
Written by Dr. Louise Hayes
June 21, 2014

Turquoise and Jewels

Good morning brave hearts.

The adventure of opening the great wild to tourism was a profound feat of national significance.  What lay at the heart of the lofty mountains was a prize of dollars and sense.  The magnificent wild opened an opportunity for the Canadians to explore the great land, with it’s unending beauty and prizes of health and fitness benefitting the soul, the body and the mind.  Unrivalled magnificence of stellar views, of grand landscapes with carpets of flowers, magnificent wild beasts, forest and birds and mile upon mile upon mile of exploration, adventure and discovery.  Another superb mountain pass, a glimpse into the unending mountain chain, life and travel, peace and rejuvenation.  The heart melts at the great beauty of the awesome great Earth, and the soul sings in praises of the almighty planet.
Joy!  Joy in the discovery of yet another crystal clear lake, the colour of emeralds and turquoise.  Jewels of the earth splashed onto the landscape with colour so rare and brilliant.  Waterfalls and great glaciers, rugged, uncompromising land.  The brave came forward for the thrill and excitement of discovery, to challenge their skills in the fabulous pursuit of mountain adventure.  To climb the highest peak, to paddle the turbulent waters, to conquer the rapids and to proclaim their triumphant success. The challenge was so exciting and the adventure was so grand, that a call was heard at the  highest office of the land.  “More!”  cries the spirit, as it soars with the eagles at the top of the mountain.  A unnamed peak, so cleverly climbed and an expedition that can see for miles.  “There’s more!  We want more!”
The persistent horseman had travelled into the frontier, exploring and cutting trails for business and curiosity.  Setting up camps  and marking routes,  their travels becoming documented feats of early exploration,  where  no man had gone before.  They were the first to travel into the heart of the mountains and with their discovery came reports of more and more and more.  Land for preservation, land for protection, land for tourism and business and wealth.  Properly protected, the land becomes a haven of international acclaim.  Mountain climbers and thrill seekers, artists and adventurers all swarm to the mountains to lay claim to their rights. To be the first to capture that title, to paint that view, to write that log and to name that peak.  The race was on!  To be the first, and with that title, to capture their place in the history of the nation.  To be the praises of that song, to be the heroes of the day, to be the champion of that title.  To carry gold in their pockets and bragging rights, forever!
The pastime of a pursuit of a new national dream, captured their imaginations, their hearts, their minds and their destiny. In 1886, awesome Yoho with it’s fossil find, and fabulous Glacier National Parks, in British Columbia were formed. In 1887 the boundaries of Banff National Park were expanded.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/yoho/index.aspx Yoho National Park, British Columbia

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/glacier/index.aspx Glacier National Park, British Columbia

With the formation of these two new national parks, Canada was now pursuing a legacy of national wealth in the preservation of the great outdoors.  A conscience developing in the Canadian people, to marvel at the magnificence of the great land of Canada, to be the proud owners of special, protected places.  A step into the lives of the early explorers is to witness a life of thriving good health and fitness.  The dauntless being who returned victorious from that triumphant mountain expedition, reaches to us from the thriving brilliance of yesteryear.  The earth saves us, oh human, and our history still claims us.  The system of national parks is for environmental protection and for the health and vitality of the people.  The great land calls us and from our beginnings we search and protect those significant areas that demand preservation.
For us, in Canada, the great wild has always been the fortune of our existence. Fortunate us, to have the great land and it’s outstanding wild places and wild creatures, to call us to health, fortitude, adventure and freedom.  Yes, said the awesome great powers of the day.  We will give you these grand landscapes of freedom, forever, for you to enjoy, oh Canadians.  In health, in wellness, in joy.  The new national dream was secured.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
May 27, 2014

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More National Dreams

Good morning you awesome human.

So the world turns in it’s mysterious ways and the rights to wealth are bestowed upon those who were lucky. Their qualifications in tourism, at a moment in time, when the world was young and waiting to be discovered. The railway across the country had been completed, and the west was a destination for eager world travelers, who needed new experiences and challenges. The awesome beauty of the mountains and the legacy of adventure that they contain, enticed the inspired traveler to a destination of joy. Rugged adventure, pristine environments, wildlife and mountain climbing, splendid views of previously unseen, grand landscapes. Unknown waters and lakes, valleys and mountains. Unnamed plants and flowers, to be drawn and catalogued. The mountains enticed the privileged, the educated, the adventurer, the fortune hunter and the tourist. All so eagerly swarming to the newly formed national park.
Banff was an island of tourist fortune. A small, 26 square kilometer haven of environmental integrity. The Cave and Basin hot springs, a discovery of international acclaim, lay at the heart of what became a thriving tourist meca of natural wealth and resource.
The players in this wondrous venture, earned their rights to business enterprise and fortune. To this day, the legacy of these people, carve a niche in the thriving Alberta landscape. Here, in the far west is a land of stunning contrast. Superb vistas at high mountain altitudes. Rolling foothills to endless prairie. Wildlands and badlands, pond to desert, dinosaurs to buffalo jump, the great Alberta land has it all.

http://travelalberta.com/Places%20to%20Go.aspx Travel Alberta

The pioneers of the day, brought with them, horsemanship. Cowboys and outfitters, explorers and ranchers, the relentless invasion of the great wild, brought wealth and delight. More dreams, more daring, more farming and tourism. The pioneer of the time dared to demand the promise of hard work and success, of grand ventures and great achievement. To dare the dream of thriving in a new land, with new promise of great success. The venture into a national park system for Canada, was new to the young country. Only ten years old and Canada was carving her niche in environmental conservation policy. A legacy that would become a grand oasis of national parks, historical sites and marine conservation areas, setting aside vast tracts of land in this brave new world.
From small beginnings, come great achievements and the accomplishment of the national park system is still an ongoing and ever expanding development of national heritage. From the wonder of that tiny animal, born in the great wild, to the wonder of an awesome view from the top of a high mountain peak, the land and it’s fantasy draw us to it.
Dreams of adventure, of exploration, of athletic pursuits, of videos and photographs, of roadside wonder and scenic drives. Who saw that mountain top and claimed first prize? Only you. For each of us that ventures in to the national dream of national parks views that superb landscape from the eyes of the early pioneer. Untouched, still unspoiled, the precious dream lives on.

http://www.banfflakelouise.com

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
May 25, 2014