I haven't posted for a while now as my house renovations have basically taken over our lives. I do hope to share with you some more of my life in the future. But for now I think that I will just 'suspend' the blog. Thank you all for being interested in whatever caught my eye through my camera lens. I truly appreciated the support, encouragement and comments

-Alison

Honeysuckle bush / wall
Beautiful

'Star Flower'
Outside every room in the hotel

'Leaf' Disguised Butterfly

Mexico is overwhelmingly Catholic
This is one of their most visited churches in the heart of
Puerto Vallarta
 

Inside...to see all the tourists...

I find that people rarely look up. I however always look up and
I thought this ornate metal piece was quite lovely

The island is lite with 2500 torches and hundreds of votive candles...

Me...in candle light trying to see my meal.
We finally ate supper at 10:30
After the show which was great!

Another night we took a boat ride out to an island for a 'Circ de Soleil' show and supper
This is the type of boat we and 68 other tourists were on

An evening shot of the hotel strip and the Bay

Other snorkel boats and lots of birds to see

As these islands are bird sanctuaries people are not aloud to step on the land. We were able to swim up close
and personal to the rocks and let me tell you the waves are very strong and if you are on the wrong side of the rock formations  things can get a little dicey very quickly. Luckily we had an excellent snorkel leader who kept us out of
trouble

We took in a full day of bird, whale watching/snorkeling/sailing with 26 other people on this fine
sailboat.
Included snorkelling tour, breakfast, lunch and booze.
Not that we indulged in the brooze as alcohol and sailing really shouldn't mix in my opinion

On our way out to the National Bird Sanctuary/ Island 4 hours off the coast / Bandarous Bay 

We have arrived...
Getting ready to snorkel

I always like to include what the currency looks like in other countries
Here is the Mexican Peso which is completely different from the Cuban Peso
 in case you think that they are interchangeable 

This is me in my new dress at the Mediterranean restaurant.
Turns out I quite like their house white 

Glen thought that he might want to buy a boat...or perhaps a helicopter...
This yacht is owned by an 83 year old Billionaire...yes we 'googled' him

This newborn Sea Turtle was picked up by this man on our beach to save it from a couple of off leash dogs
He was kind enough to let us snap a photo before carrying him (?) down to the waters edge
How fortunate for both the turtle and us

This may not look like much but this odd track in the sand is from another newborn turtle that made its way to the sea

View from our balcony...

View of the beach and surrounding mountain range...

Every morning we walked for an hour on this (very clean) beach
Chased the waves, enjoyed each other's company and people/bird watched.
There is nothing like it!

Next we head to Puerto Vallarta Mexico
February 2018

Welcome to the Crown Paradise Golden All Inclusive Hotel
215 rooms
Excellent beach location
Good food
Lovely people
Just a relaxing 10 days in the 29 degree weather...
I highly recommend this hotel

Town of Lumsden, Saskatchewan
Walking Tour 

Stunning house on the main street in Lumsden
On the most beautiful Hot Sunny day
September Long Weekend 2016

Part of the towns' walking tour

"Murray" the Mallard
1950's advertisement  for Lumsden Esso station

The true reason for my visit!
"Must you take my picture?!"

It's official

Sleepy little Cleo and toys

Cleo on her chair in the sun
Can you tell from this photo (Catherine took) that Cleo is almost 20 years old?!
I sure can't!

If I am correct this is the Western Hognose
'Their modified rostral (nose) scale that is former in an upturned manner, makes them adept burrowers'

Meet the 'Wandering Garter' Snake
Who is Highly aquatic and rarely found far from water

A little bit of information for anyone who wants to learn...

When driving to Regina
 I stopped on the side of the highway to enjoy my snack
and read a 'Historical point of Interest' and had a Wandering Garter Snake
slither past my feet! I was evidently close to a pond or marsh
Cool!

This fine fellow is a Prairie RattleSnake
He is a highly venomous pit viper and can reach lengths up to 1.6 meters!
YIKES!

Meet the Common (Red-sided) Garter Snake
Or if you like the Garden snake or Ribbon snake
Length ranging from 45 - 97 cm
A gentle non aggressive snake
Found all over Canada except Newfoundland

Unfortunately I do not have any information on this lovely little snake...
If anyone knows its name and could help me out I would appreciate it 

The Royal Saskatchewan Museum is right down the street from Catherine's apartment
Although I did not take a picture of the outside of the building I did take lots of pictures
of it's current inhabitants inside the building...if you are a snake hater you
may wish to skip this section of photos!
I really like snakes. I think they help create a very healthy ecosystem
The following photos are of some of the nine snake species from Saskatchewan
Live exhibit is called Snakes Alive!
Enjoy

Smooth Green Snake
Measures on average 36-51 cm in length is a non venomous snake also called the Grass Snake
Also found in Carberry sand hills. Catherine and I saw one during a hike a number 
of years ago

Northern Red Bellied snake
(I wish I could have seen it's underneath)
Sometimes referred as the Fire Snake
Average adult length of 8 - 16 "

Meet the Bull
Snake
Whose average length can be anywhere from 4 - 7 feet
It's range extends from the Northeastern Mexico to Southwestern Saskatchewan
This too is non venomous, this is a constrictor
In the wild they can live up yo 20 years

Bull Snake

This is the Connaught Library
Also built in 1930
The building was designed in the Georgian Classic by architect Joseph Warburton
On our tour today as it is the library with the status of being the oldest in Regina, it's close to Catherine's apartment
and we stopped in to pick up a bunch of books
I liked the Tyndall stone panel on the 'entrance pavillion'

Lamp post below is 'adorned with the image of a bison head' at it's base shown above

Obelisk-like lamp standards

Regina Coat of Arms located in the centre of the bridge