Monday, September 27, 2010

Views of the Prairies (aka "down south")

I spent a few days down in Saskatoon this past weekend. While the purpose was mostly work-related, I did manage to pick up a few tulip and daffodil bulbs. Hopefully they fare better than last year's decimated bulb plantings.
Highway just north of Saskatoon:

Northerners do need to get out every once in a while to stock up on new shoes, gloves, and electronics to play with over the long, long winter. Actually, it was warm down in Saskatoon and the comfortable fall weather was appreciated.

My favourite views of the prairie are in the fall. I love the expansive golden fields and have been wanting to take some essential wheat field photos for many years. I had a leisurely drive and some nice weather on the drive back from Saskatoon, with my camera riding in the passenger seat.
Some other people had stopped on the road nearby as I was squatting to take this shot. I can only imagine what they thought I was doing in this field:

This one with the round bales one of the Saskatchewan shots I've had in my mind but needed to get in my camera. These things remind me of those giant cylinders of fiber-rich breakfast cereal we ate when we were kids. I think they were called Muffets. I recall that you couldn't break them up until it had sat in the bowl of milk for a few minutes.

Just in case you're not familiar with Saskatchewan, these are the usual views of the southern part of the province. It's quite a change from the forests on slabs of granite up here in the boreal forest of the north. Hopefully I'll get out and take some photos of the forest's colors soon.

5 comments:

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

I remember muffets now! :) Wow, my mom used to pour boiling water over them, just enough to moisten them, until they softened up and then we added milk and sugar.

Great prairie photos!

Grey.and.Vis.Mom said...

i love the "down south" part of your title:) i saw some of those same-ish sights this past weekend too, i was in Red deer, ab... i love the flowers of summer, but i have to say all the golds and reds of autumn make it my favorite time of year.

Chloe m said...

I like seeing the cut hay and the little cubes and rolls laying in the fields are one of my favorite scenes.

Barbarapc said...

Was that a hill I saw? Good grass field capture. Muffets - a blast from the past - remember my grandfather pouring boiling water over them as well - probably as much to do with the false teeth as all that wonderful fibre. I used to like to build my brown sugar on top as a perfect golden puck before I ate it.

Clayton said...

If you drove by the Pioneer elevator you were a quarter mile east of our home! We can see the elevator across the corner to the north east on the quarter of land from which our acreage was taken. On Google earth the camera will look down our road (which is now blocked by the huge Saskatoon Shines sign coming in from the north) to the west from Highway 11. Fall colors are some of the best we have seen in years but Monday was definitely the beginning of fall as I drove down Spadina Crescent in Saskatoon and elm leaves were raining down. Glad you had a good time.