When we wake up and it is a sunny day, which is often in Cochrane, Voldemort and I pile into our Dodge Journey and undertake, yes, a journey. Of recent we have visited Pat and Diane just outside of Wetaskiwin, headed along the Icefield Parkway to Jasper and most recently turned east to Drumheller.
Homer (below) lives with Pat and Diane and recently lost his beloved partner in crime, Blackie. He seems a little bit lost and I am sure we can all understand his melancholy. It was Blackie who always led the way into adventure and so Homer must now make his journeys alone.
On our journey to Jasper we were inundated with spectacular views of the mountains, the icefields and of course wildlife. W e came upon a majestic gang of elk journeying by the Athabasca River and the next morning saw perhaps the same bull laying down in the grasses covered in frost. My brother-in-law, the consummate hunter, informed me after seeing my photographs that it was a royal bull elk which is determined by the number of points (7) on each side of his rack. Learning something new every day is a journey unto itself.
On our side trip to follow the Athabasca River, we stopped to photograph yet one more fantastic view. And as I turned to go back into the car I was drawn to this raven. He sat there quite calmly allowing me to take his picture and fluffed his feathers as I clicked shot after shot. There is a spiritual journey in native folklore when you choose your animal totem. If I were to take this journey I would choose the raven….or would he choose me?
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ernest Hemingway
ddcleve 