July 2024’s photo blogging challenge theme is Things I Love. I thought about whether “things” includes people. But a quick check of the dictionary makes it clear that while a noun is a person, place or thing, things are limited to inanimate objects, interests or an experiences. So while some photos include people I love, they are incidental to those things I selected for this post.

1. Nearby Nature

Regular readers know I’ve cultivated a deep relationship with nearby nature over the years. It’s a way of really getting to know a particular place and all of the living things that share that space. July is a great time to observe the diversity of wildflowers in nearby nature – their shapes, sizes, colors and growing locations. I made a flower rainbow using photos I took over the course of the month. I never pick wildflowers, but I did carry one of these blooms home with me to toss in the trash! 😉

2. Public Art

Banff’s annual “Art in Nature Trail” runs July 1 to September 30 each year. It’s a mix of returning and new pieces created by local artists – ranging from sculptures to glass to paintings and metalwork. We make a long half-day of it a couple of times over the run, cycling from Canmore to Banff and trying to find new and interesting ways to photograph the public art in its natural setting. For more from the 2024 Art in Nature experience, watch Mr GeoK’s Relive video recap.

Working on this blog post made me realize I used to experience a lot more public art in Calgary, regularly visiting Contemporary Calgary and Esker Foundation. Those outings fell by the wayside after my long-time community choir folded and I no longer had a reason to go downtown every week. I miss those experiences.

3. Cycling

One of my favorite outdoor activities is cycling – mostly road riding on a gravel bike. We are blessed with some amazing road rides around here, including Highwood Pass, the Bow Valley Parkway, Lake Minnewanka and Yoho Valley Road. There’s also the Rocky Mountain Legacy Trail – a terrific (and separated) paved pathway that runs from Canmore to Banff. Occasionally we mountain bike ride. This month we enjoyed our first ever fat mountain biking experience – in Greenland! Stay tuned for more posts about Greenland over the coming weeks/month.

This photo shows Mr GeoK walking his fat bike across a stream while the expedition doctor waits his turn.

4. Kayaking

We took up kayaking just 4 years ago, but it quickly became one of my all-time most-loved outdoor activities. Most of our paddle outings are on glacier-fed lakes in the Canadian Rockies. This month, we enjoyed 5 sea kayak outings in Greenland, paddling a total of about 35 km in fjords along the west coast of the world’s largest island.

Those outings included one of our best paddling experiences ever! It more than offset the disappointment over ice blocking our ship from reaching Illulissat, at the head of outlet fjord for Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn Glacier), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We kayaked between some of the icebergs for more than two hours – small ones and huge ones (5+ stories tall with waterfalls running off them). It was absolutely amazing!

5. Family Board Games

We have several treasured family traditions, including Christmas Day Lego building, annual cookie competitions, and favorite recipes. One custom that brings ongoing delight is family board games (yes, even when I lose, which is a regular occurrence). Most weeks these days we play either Apiary or Wingspan. Here’s a game of Wingspan in progress…can you guess who’s having a hard time getting a points engine going?!

There you have it, a handful of my favorite things. For the low down on things other PBC participants love, check out the link up at the bottom of host PJ’s post, here.

And please, consider joining us in August. We’re a small, friendly and supportive community of bloggers. All you need are five photos for the monthly theme = Explore. The amount of accompanying text is entirely up to you. FWIW, I’m on the wordy side.

If you’re not into starting a blog, how about participating by dropping a comment describing a few of the things you love?