Look up, look waaaaaaay up

(And since I've had recent problems with pictures being published on a commercial website, remember, you can't do that without my permission. Thanks!)

It's been a busy time here and at the shop, where I'm putting in a lot of hours, although almost two weeks ago, I managed to get out to the Calgary December Flickrmeet to Heritage Park. Cold day it was -- my feet were numb for some time outside -- but a gorgeous sunny one.

Used to like going to the park when I was younger, although now I notice that, like many City of Calgary-owned facilities, they are trying for more of a commercial orientation that a strictly historically accurate one. Case in point is the new construction in their parking lot versus the rescued historical buildings, like the old oil derrick above, that populate the original section of the park. The rest of the pictures I took on the adventure are here

While warming up my feet in the Christmas market, I looked at the stalls set up inside. Although one had some nice historical books about trains, and another had some rather tasteless (well, to me!) antiques, virtually everything else was dust-collecting junk that bore Made in China stickers.

As a local craftsperson, it would have been nice if they had a lot of regionally produced things, but such items (and a very few of them at that) were only found in the souvenir shop inside the main gate. Very disappointing, although I must admit that there weren't a whole lot of sales in the Christmas market either. Perhaps the organizers might learn their lesson and change that for next year (hint, hint).

One big advantage in refusing to take part in the excessive consumption movement is that we haven't spent much time at the stores -- our joint Christmas/anniversary present this year was the four weeks of curling lessons we finished last Saturday. Popped into Home Depot last Sunday afternoon and it was practically empty: no wonder I like shopping there!

We'll pick up our free-range turkey on Sunday, I'll make two stuffings on Monday, and we'll have our traditional brunch on Tuesday (Eggs Benedict with croissants instead of muffins, and smoked salmon instead of ham) before popping the turkey into the oven and setting off on our Christmas stroll in the local "wilderness."

Since we saw a very well-fed coyote two years ago, the pictures I'll post on Boxing Day could well be interesting.