DAY 1: FIELDS OF WHEAT

This is the colour I think of when I think of Saskatchewan.

Day 2: GO HUSKIES! GREEN.

It was my hope that perhaps the U of S Huskie's football team would win their game because of some luck brought to them by this cheering squad! And they did! 41-39

Day 3: COTTON CANDY

I found a friend dressed in hot pink at the Saskatoon Farmer's Market this morning with cotton candy as a head!

Day 4: FIREWORKS

We stood on the University Bridge and waited for the show, wrapped in blankets. My favorite part was this colour. 

Day 5: OUTDOOR POOLS (NOW CLOSED)

There's no blue like the last day of outdoor swimming pool blue. Fond memories of swimming all day and at the end of it, eating salt & vinegar potato chips in the grass, mixed with the smell of chlorine and sunshine.

Day 6: GRAY CLOUDS BRING THE COLD

Day 7: YELLOW FERRIS WHEEL

"Moons and Junes and ferris wheels, 
the dizzy dancing way that you feel
as every fairy tale comes real; 
I've looked at love that way."

                                   -Joni Mitchell (who, I like to believe was singing about this very Ferris wheel, which she surely would ride growing up in Saskatoon

Day 8: TYNDALL STONE

This cream-colored limestone quarried from the town of Tyndall in Manitoba. This carved Tyndall stone crest on the U of S campus shows the stone's characteristic mottling.

Day 9: WILD BLUE FLAX

These native flowers grow along the roads here as though they're dancing.

Day 10: SATURDAY SUPER SLIDE

Stumbled upon a street fair this afternoon along Broadway. There was dancing, clowns on stilts, donuts and this! I remember going down these slides but in potato sacs!

Day 11: A SKY SO BLUE

In memory. 

Day 12: SASKATOON BERRY SWIRL

Even when it gets chilly, we go to the Homestead for Ice Cream (since 1978!) anyway because 1) Monday and 2) Saskatoon Berries! (They are barely sweet at all with more of a nutty almond flavor and while they look a lot like a blueberry they are actually more closely related to the apple family).

Day 13: CANADA GEESE

I frequently refer to these big 'honkers' as Canadian Geese (because we have Canadian Bacon, Canadian Whiskey) but according to some reliable sources here @usask, the Latin name for this large water bird is Branta canadensis (translated is Canada Goose) and the official name for any bird is its Latin name. 

Day 14: ZHONGSHAN TING

In the Chinese culture a zhongshan ting is a communal place of worship and fellowship. In English it's known as a pagoda. The structure was unveiled in 2015 to commemorate the first Chinese immigrants and their contributions to early Saskatoon.

Day 15: SUNDOWN ON THE PRAIRIES

To catch the sunset,
When it blasts colour like this,
An end of day gift.

Day 16: FOOTBALL GREEN LENTILS.

I happened upon a table covered in a selection of beans and lentils I'd never heard of before the other day as UofS agriculture students commemorated 2016 Year of the Pulses. As a matter of fact, Saskatchewan is the heart of the Canadian industry!

Day 17: BUS STOP REFRESHMENTS

Otherwise known as The Big Red Bus, this antique double-decker bus is a long-time beloved fixture in downtown Saskatoon, serving summertime treats April to October.

Day 18: LIONS SKATEPARK

down ledges / up gaps / handrails / banks / hips and stairs / Kidney shaped bowl, 5'-7' deep / fresh / air... 
 

The only place I ever felt remotely ok attempting to skateboard were underground parking lots. Even then, I never got the hang of it. But I tried to stay hip to the lingo, you know? So that when a skater says they want to do a Roastbeef Grab, I know they are talking about doing a trick in the air (in which they grab the heel side with the back hand through the legs) and not asking me to lunch. 

Day 19: BLACK-EYED SUSAN

Black for their center,
Warm yellow for their petals
A weed turns to gold.

Day 20: CRANBERRY FLATS

A well kept conservation area, with sandy beaches and hiking trails, is just outside of Saskatoon. Around this time of year, it is also busy changing colours daily. Today's colour, I have concluded, looks much better in nature than on walls. 

Day 21: FALLEN APPLES

Leaves and fruit drop from
Trees, made into neat piles,
The first day of fall.

Day 22: THE OLD HUDSON'S BAY TILE

There is not much information out there about the history of this tile mosaic on the facade of what once was Hudson's Bay Co in Saskatoon, aside from the fact that it was preserved when they turned the building into lofts. This aqua colour always stood out to me and I'm so glad to see it's still as vibrant as I remember it to be.

Day 23: PEACOCKS AT THE ZOO.

Peacocks and geese still roam in packs at the Forestry Farm Park & Zoo. The pink elephant coin operated ride, however, is no longer.

Day 24: THE RIVER SASKATCHEWAN

I don't know if this colour is the most accurate match to the South Saskatchewan River that runs through the city today, but if the feeling out here on this overcast Saturday had a colour, it would be this exactly...grey and blue, grasping for green.

Day 25: PILLAR OF EARTH

The Gordon Oakes Redbear Student Centre on the University of Saskatchewan campus, completed in 2015, is an inclusive intercultural gathering place that brings together the teachings, traditions and cultures of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples of Saskatchewan. This rust coloured cylinder (resembling a Richard Serra sculpture), located on the tunnel level, contains earth excavated from the site during construction of the building. It was installed upon instruction of elders who said traditional ceremonies that will be performed in the main hall should be done upon the earth. And I think there should be more spaces and places and ideas like this everywhere, for everybody, everyday.

Day 27: SYNCHROTRON SILVERS.

Today's colour provided the opportunity to learn about the Canadian Light Source, opened in 2004 on the University of Saskatchewan campus AND to sneak in this sleek, shimmering silver metallic paint layer. The Synchrotron produces light by using radio frequency waves and powerful electro-magnets to accelerate electrons to nearly the speed of light. Energy is added to the electrons as they speed up so that, when the magnets alter their course, they naturally emit a very brilliant, highly focused light. Researchers observe the interaction between the light and matter in their sample

Day 28: PUMPKIN MAZE

This bounty of pumpkins were used to create Dutch Growers annual pumpkin maze which opened this week! Go get lost in a labyrinth of gold haystacks and orange pumpkins!

Day 29: SPRINKLER BLOWOUTS

I'm made to think the city marks the sprinklers with this hot pink spray paint to add some cheer to the dismal actuality that winter is approaching...to remind us to delight in the last few days of autumn before the chilly winter sets in.

Day 30: CURTAIN CLOSE

Built in 1930, the Roxy Theatre's interior was decorated in a Spanish Villa style with the walls covered with small balconies, windows and towers- giving the impression of a quaint Spanish village. The atmospheric dark-blue painted ceiling (with twinkling lights set into the plaster) gives the impression of the night sky. But it was this gold velvet curtain I really wanted for today's closing colour. And the possibilities of a closed curtain...that something had just ended, or about to begin.