Cydne, Becca, and Brock came to Edmonton the end of April for Brock's work. Cydne and we toured the Provincial Legislature and the Muttart Conservatory.

In front of the Legislature Building

In front of the Legislature Building

There is a tribute in the Legislature building to five Canadian women who were instrumental in gaining for women the right to vote and to be recognized as "persons."

Muttart Conservatory

The conservatory has four glass pyramids, each a different climate zone. Plants representative of each zone are on display. 

Brock likes socks. Last time he was here I gave him a pair of Hudson Bay socks. He reciprocated this time with bacon and eggs socks.

As we were driving in Sherwood Park we saw these two female Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Elders Lin and Nethercott

There is a nice hockey rink at the West Edmonton Mall. We were there yesterday and saw these boys playing a game. They were fun to watch; it made us think of Brayden.

We've wanted to see the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) before leaving Canada. With the help of an iPhone application that calculated there was a chance to see them tonight, we drove several miles northeast of Sherwood Park to be free of city lights. About 11 pm we saw them for the first time. The stock photograph below is an approximation of what we saw, except they were wispy white. At one point the lights stretched from the northern horizon to directly over our heads.

The following information about the Northern Lights comes from the internet: "The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere.The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south. Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow."