My Year Living Under the Endless Alberta Sky

Happy New Year dear readers! The past few days I have been working on a project long promised, and last night, on New Year’s Eve, I raised my head up from my computer long enough to be awestruck by the spectacular sunset taking place just outside my apartment window. Wouldn’t you know that Alberta would put on one last, glorious hurrah while graciously exiting 2014? I grabbed my camera and took this parting shot.

What is the project you ask? Well, I have at last gathered all of my favourite shots from my weekend Vagabond Adventures here in Alberta and placed them between the covers of a photo book! With the help of Blurb, I have created a commemorative look back on what has been a most spectacular year driving the long and winding roads of southern Alberta, camera in hand. The title of this blog post is the title of my book, and it is available to view (and purchase if you so desire) here.

Pressed between the pages of this book are photos that celebrate the vast Alberta sky, the striking Rocky Mountains, and the sweeping prairies. I have included some quotes from Albertans who have lived here longer than me and know the land and its people best. Why publish such a book? Selfishly, I just want some tangible reminder of this wonderful, fortunate year spent working and living in Alberta. It seems like ages ago that I wrote about my long and arduous drive across the country to reach my new home in Cochrane, not really knowing what to expect or what to hope for. I just knew I needed to take advantage of my time here to document some of the most stunning landscape gorgeous Canada has to offer. On this New Year’s Day, when reflection is often called upon, I am filled with gratitude for the adventure that I have been blessed with this year. Despite moments of doubt and the odd tear of loneliness, I have been deliberate in one thing: enjoy each day as each day is a precious gift! Look around you. Listen. Feel. And take time to wonder as you wander. You will not regret it, I promise!

While I am on the eve of moving once again, this time to beautiful British Columbia, I wanted to share with you one of my favourite quotes from Albertan Nellie McClung, who best understood the need to celebrate life, document it, and appreciate it for the short time we have been given: “I do not want to pull through life like a thread that has no knot. I want to leave something behind when I go; some small legacy of truth, some word that will shine in a dark place.”

Happy New Year dear readers! May this next year bring you good health, fabulous happiness and new adventures!