I Love You, Mum!
Location: Deb’s Greenhouse, Morinville, Alberta, Canada
Title: Deb’s Serenity
Good Morning and Happy Mother’s Day weekend. This weekend I write to celebrate my mum who is the one person who has inspired me to take up photography. She has inspired me in many ways throughout my own life. So this week I am sharing some of our favorite places that we have visited on our photography roadtrips. The first one is Deb’s Greenhouse just outside of Morinville. A local greenhouse near our town that has some of the coolest decor for plants and one of the happiest layouts I have ever seen. It is just so full of life, colour, love, and just pure happiness. I could easily pull up a chair here and read a book all day, enjoying the company and beauty of the greenhouse. It is so calming every time I visit this place and I cannot wait to visit it again over the summer. It is just one of the most country lifestyle layout and it is so welcoming. The staff are one of the best customer service representatives in a greenhouse I have ever met who clearly all share the same love and joy of plants as the rest of us. They are extremely knowledgable and always willing to help. Never have I felt unwelcome here and it is one of the reasons I love visiting this little country greenhouse each summer. Comfortable enough to come get succulents. I always feel at home here and comfortable to take photographs. I am always happy to share my photos with the businesses when I go there to visit. So here I am sharing some of my favorites of Deb’s Greenhouse.
Title: Picking Flowers
Location: Deb’s Greenhouse, Morinville, Alberta, Canada
Deb’s is one of the greenhouses that we frequently visit as it is only a couple minutes drive away from our town. There is another greenhouse we also always visit but not as much as we frequent Deb’s. This other greenhouse is out at Barrhead, Alberta, Canada and has such an interesting display of flowers. Let me bring you now to De Herdt Greenhouse in Barrhead, Alberta.
Title: De Herdt Greenhouse
Location: Barrhead, Alberta, Canada
Now if I thought Deb’s was country, this has to be then the western style greenhouse. This greenhouse is funky in every way and in the best way possible. Great little gift shop inside with eclectic decor and signs. The walls are just decorated head to toe in art and it is so magnificently beautiful. A couple times as we stop here every year since we came upon it, we get a coffee and something from the bakery they have attached, enjoying ourselves a little snack as we take it all in. The bakery….WOW! That is all I have to say. Home made everything and each time we get something there, it never makes it back home.
Title: De Herdt Gardens
Location: Barrhead, Alberta, Canada
Now I never photographed the inside of the bakery and sitting area. Never thought of it and the next time I visit I plan to as it is just stunning with all its beauty. I did though photograph the greenhouse side this beautiful business. They have wheel barrels, milk cans, rustic skates, boots, sometimes even desks spewed about on the tables around the greenhouse. Plants planted in most of them making it the most interesting planters I have ever come across. The colour just pops with the foliage of the plants, the bright colours of the leaves against the yellow desk, the shiny metal, and the rusty colour of the aging metals. I have shared my photos as well with De Herdt just like I did with Deb’s. Both locations, heck, all businesses I have visited on my own time where I photographed, I have always shared my photos with them. I would do it again and any time I would gladly love to photograph these businesses anytime.
Now Barrhead is not that close to Morinville, it is a bit of a drive. The drive out is always a stunning beauty of scenery and landscape and to come here is always worth it. We make a day of it and make sure we get to De Herdt while they are open, making them the main destination. I have brought my mum here for her birthday a couple times, we have made the way in the winter to just be there when they are open. No matter the time of year, this location is right of the main drag of Barrhead’s highway and the decorate for every holiday. An old pick-up sits outside to greet the customers as they pull into the parking lot. This is the most rustic, eclectic, little business and I always find such excitement when I visit. I could spend all day here looking at the decor, enjoying the bakery, and just strolling amongst the beauty of the flowers that surround the floors. I hope to attend some of the events they have at this location one day as it seems like a little community all on its own inside the building. You can tell the love, the excitement, the joy the workers get working in this greenhouse. It is more than a greenhouse. It is a sense of a home, a serenity for those who come. Just like Deb’s. It is welcoming with open arms.
Location: Elk Island National Park, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Elk Island will be the final thing I share in this weeks post. My mum and I, we love nature and the beauty of wild animals. We will hit a back road somewhere and drive just to photograph the scenery, the water, the fields. We always have come across Whitetail Deer, the occasional Moose, and the odd bear. We don’t have wild Plains Bison just roaming the lands of Alberta as they become endangered and need protecting. So Elk Island is the best place to go to spot these guys as they are protected within the park and still very much wild. You got to be careful around these creatures and that is what most people don’t realize when they visit. Bison are not animals you can just walk up to. You have to respect the boundaries and their space. If they start coming towards you, you start backing up. The last thing you want to do is spook the herd. It won’t end will if you make them feel threatened.
Anyways we have walked some of the trails of the park. We never completed one together except for the small ones around the main lake. The paved ones haha. I have done some of the trails on my own and with friends and I am on a mission to pound dirt on each trail. First trail I ever completed here was a 4 to 5 hour Wood Buffalo hike trail on the other side of the park. It was worth the walk and I cannot wait to do it again. Anyways we visit this park as buds on the leaves start popping to when they are in full bloom to the changing of the season and to when the snow has fallen. You can say anytime any day we will visit this park. The admission is cheaper than most Canada Parks but we have gotten a year pass once or twice over the years so that we can go whenever. They have Aurora watches out here for photographers to capture the beauty of the Northern Lights over the glass of the water of the lakes. Unfortunately for the spectacular light show last night, May 10, 2024, I was in bed asleep and missed it all. It would have been the perfect location to capture the beauty of the northern lights that graced the lands across both America and Canada last night. Oh well. I will eventually get the perfect Northern Lights.
Title: Interacting With The Sun
Location: Elk Island National Park, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Anyways, I love Elk Island as much as the next person. When my mum and I visit, we always see the Bison, the Ducks, the Canada Geese. We have seen the Elk that home in the park as well and the occasional Coyote. I have come across Beaver and Porcupine when visiting. They say there is wolves in Elk Island and I very much would like to capture one in camera one day. Perhaps it will happen one night. I have seen Moose here as well but always not in the best spot to make a great photo. Now we have seen Bald Eagles here, of course always flying and always while we are driving out of the park. This year, we will try and get one but just being the parks beauty if good enough for us. We plan to picnic here this year as long as smoke from forest fires is not to thick and heavy. So please enjoy some of the best shots I got from our visit.
Title: Dusty Nose
Location: Elk Island National Park, Alberta, Canada
We have visited Elk Island National Park always for sunset, perhaps one day I will get us out there before sunrise. I have been out there with friends before sunrise so we could just watch the sun rise in the East over the Bison Loop. It is truly one of the most beautiful parks I have visited that doesn’t involve mountains. The landscape is one of the most varying landscapes I have visited that accommodates every type of living creature housed inside the parks fences. From otters, to ducks, to fish, to beavers, moose, coyotes, and to deer, elk, and of course…..BISON!!! I have loved the hikes I take in the park, a smile pasted to my face like a goof in love. The nature is a beautiful thing as long one stops to enjoy it. Even a Crow could be beautiful.
Title: Planning A Murder
Title: Eye of The Bison
A Salute To My Mum
My mum is my inspiration, my teacher, and I am so thankful for her. I won’t lie, somedays I seem to not show it but I want her to know deep down that I appreciate her greatly and that I love her always. It is because of her that I fell in love with photography and nature. It is because of her support that I have started this website this year. She is my library of knowledge and I always turn to her when I need help and guidance. Some days I may be difficult and she always has a way to set me back onto the right path. She has a way with words that helps clear the mind and to that I am thankful. I am so grateful, so lucky to be able to share a hobby with her where it gets us together. I am so luck to have a superhero of a mum like her. Every day I am grateful and I take our time for granted. I cherish our time together and it is one the happiest times out when we hit the road, pointing in a direction and seeing where the wind takes us. The wind has taken us to Barrhead, around Morinville, to Smoky Lake, Cold Lake. It has blown us to Banff, Alberta to, Saskatchewan. Let’s continue to see where the wind takes us mum. I love you, mum!
Title: Leaves Bokeh You
Location: Elk Island National Park, Albeta, Canada
Title: The Photographer Master