Fresh From The Oven

I realized as I looked at the display of my Blackberry that the month of April had rolled over into the month of May over night. I'm not sure how that happened, as it seems like only yesterday that April had rolled around. Of course, it may be due to the fact that I have had a lot on my plate lately, that included acquiring a new metal lathe for my machine shop. The acquiring part was the simple part, the more complicated part of this exercise was the fact that I had to move one side of my garage over to the other side to allow the old lathe to be removed from my shop, and then the new lathe had to be moved into the shop. I had the help of four helpers for the moving of my new lathe, and I was fortunate to find help considering that my new lathe weighs in the vicinity of 530 pounds. Regardless, its a done deal, and with the lathe in place in my shop, leveled, and bolted down to the floor, its a joy to use. I am planning my next project as I write this post.
I was out of the house bright and early, and with clear skies overhead, I thought that a drive was in order to clear the cob-webs out of my head, that had accumulated over the last while. With the winter like conditions that existed over the last few days, I was not sure what to expect by driving a circular route through the foothills to the west of Calgary. The good thing is that the spring snow storms that arrive at this time of the year, do not stick around for very long. I enjoyed the drive south to Okotoks, and picked up a backroad that exits Okotoks from the downtown in a westerly direction. The Rockies were beautiful in the early morning light, as I tried my best not to run off the road while driving and watching the landscape, as well as keeping a eye out for wildlife.
My drive west on the 549 was not by accident, as I actually wanted to check out the Millarville Anglican church that I had driven by in the past. Lately, I had watched the season finale of Heartland on television, and this church had been used for a wedding scene in the season final. Christ Church sits in a beautiful location just east of Millarville, and overlooks the Rockies to the west. The history of the church is quite interesting, and was constructed in 1886 at the instigation of the Reverend Webb-Peploe, the first Anglican minister in the Millarville area. This church was built on open land in the Turner Valley oil field. The Church structure is very unusual in that it is constructed of logs placed vertically rather than horizontally. The church has a small cemetery located on the grounds that were consecrated in 1920, and an impressive memorial, depicting a broken column, which was erected in honor of those who died in the First World War. Many of the old time residents of the area are buried here and special services are still a regular event at the church.
Once I connected with Highway 22, I drove the short distance to Millerville Crossing, where I headed west over to the 762 that would take me over to Bragg Creek. Actually, I wanted to drive Highway 66 over to Elbow Falls to see if I could spot any Dippers (American Dippers) searching the bottom of the river in search of their next meal. Dippers are amazing to watch as they do this bobbing thing while standing on a rock watching the river intensely, and then all of a sudden, slipping in to the river for a stroll on the bottom. I had no luck spotting any Dippers, and after a time of slipping and sliding on the icy trails that border the Elbow River, I called it done and headed back up to my truck. I stopped in Bragg Creek at the Boardwalk Cafe for my favorite beverage, a Chai Tea Latte to go and the very nice lady behind the counter convinced me that a blueberry muffin fresh from from the oven would go good with the Chai Tea Latte. Before leaving Bragg Creek for the drive back to Calgary, I entered the address for the Triwood Arena located in NW Calgary into my Garminn-on-board-GPS, as I planned on checking out the CBC-Annual-Booksale being held there. So with my Garmin Navigator pointing the way, I enjoyed the drive as I sipped on my tea and nibbled on the to-die-for muffin fresh from the oven, all the while thinking of books on my want list, that I could soon possibly be adding to my library.