Arts and harvest.

High Eagle RV Park, Rosebud AB (2 stars)

We started the day by touring around a bit while the rain and clouds cleared. A stop at Horseshoe Canyon was cut short by rain so we decided to stop by tomorrow on the way out to Stettler.

Southern Alberta is full of unimaginative (to us) place names. Acme, Horizon, Carbon, Gem, and of course, Standard. Never mind the name, Standard is a very happening and modern place. New community hall, skating and curling buildings. And, they have developed their old railway line into a walking path with many displays and mementoes of Standard's past. They had six elevators at one time, all gone now, but they have a restored CPR caboose. They also have the neatest rotating billboard style display called vanishing station. The vertical pieces are fixed in place at an angle so that from one view there is nothing - you look right through the display onto the prairie. But, look at it from the other end and you see a picture of Standard's former railway station. It must be seen to be fully appreciated.

We watched a theatrical performance at the Rosebud Theatre Studio Stage called The Syringa Tree, which is about apartheid in South Africa. A wonderful one-woman performance lasting almost two hours.

Rain does change ones choices as to what you want to see, and it also impacts whether you want to see it as you walk to or through an outdoor location. So Lee pointed Chuck to other roads and we ended up with 25 photos of some magnificent countryside we have titled, about that many more that may not get named.

The highlight of the day was the Rosebud Theatre performance of Pamela Gien's "The Syringa Tree". It focuses on life in the Apartheid South Africa during the 1960's through 1990's. It is a one woman actress, Katharine Venour's performance under the direction of Morris Ertman with a host of set and stage hands who make this a very captive production. Yes, we are located in a very quiet, rural area of Alberta - but this is one example of location is not everything. Rosebud is not just any prairie town.