Today we met for our Druid walk at Elliston Park, in South East Calgary. It was a perfect sunny morning, not too hot, not yet raining, and no bugs. I am almost afraid to ask, but where are the mosquitoes?
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| Elliston Park - Calgary |
Starting from the west parking lot at 10:00 am, we followed the path going sunwise around the man made storm water retention pond aka LAKE, First we came to a rose garden. It was quite surprising to see and smell so many roses in bloom,
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| Roses blooming at Elliston Park - Calgary |
I have to admit, I didn't spend much time with the roses, only because I was excited to get on to the Interactive Sundial. Not really knowing what to expect, we walked on a bit further until we got to possibly the most Druid Appropriate feature of the park.
The Elliston Park Analemmatic Sundial by Rober Bailey and Ken Miklos is fascinating. You stand on the embedded horseshoe beside the current month, in the center of the sundial. Your shadow is is then cast towards the small cement numbered pillars, to tell the time. In the picture below you can the shadow lands just past the number 10! You would stand in a different place each month.
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| 10:00 am on the sun dial! |
Possibly even more interesting are the two small engraved circles to the right and left of the sun dial center. These circles indicate the sunrise and sunset points at the Summer Solstice, the Equinox, and the Winter Solstice. Plans must be made to come back to the sundial on one of the Solstices. This is a modern stone circle, with INSTRUCTIONS on how it was made here:
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| Sunset marker - Elliston Park |
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| Sunrise Marker - Elliston Park |
The Sun, complete with directional markers and a wonderful quote; "Nothing without sun" add even more interest!
Nothing Without Sun, by Bill Erikson
No Wind, No Cloud, No Rain, No Grain
No Sea, No Wave, No Light, No Sight,
No Beauty to Behold, No Tales to Betold,
Nothing Without the Sun
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| Brass Sun - Elliston Park Sun Dial |
The park is also interesting because of the trees! This is the site of the first Calgary Birthplace forest. The trees look good and are just big enough now to provide shade for our walk. There were plenty of birds as well.
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| Oak and Pine in Elliston Park |
I am not sure about this feature, but my guess is local artists contributed designs to be cast in cement for several benches on the east side of the lake. I will try to find some more information. We appreciated the benches and would like to know more.
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| Benches with cement castings |
I have several pictures of the lake and the little forest of trees that surround the park. The sky was amazing. This park is the site of the annual Globalfest Fireworks Competition in August. You can just imagine how fireworks would look reflected in the water.
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| Elliston Park - Calgary |
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| Elliston Park - Calgary |
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| Elliston Park - Calgary |
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| Elliston Park - Calgary |
I can't stop thinking how nice it will be to come back on one of the Solstices and watch the sun rise (or set) on the indicated line.
The next Druid walk will be at Birth Place Forest in Silver Springs, with special attention paid to the Labyrinth on August 23, 2015 at 10:00 am..
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