Life This Week: Urban Gardening, Petting Zoo, & A River Valley Sunset

This week has been all pre-conference hustle gearing up for heading to Toronto on Tuesday for CARO. I'm looking forward to catching up with friends and staying right downtown (AGO visit?). Otherwise life has been good. We're enjoying some late summer weather, which will hopefully stick around despite the elms looking increasingly autumn-like. Here are a few things I've appreciated lately...

urban gardening -- The U of A has an "adopt a planter" program which has resulted in some interesting stuff being planted around the campus. I've been watching these pepper plants progress throughout the summer.

also appreciated this pretty garden on 81 Ave

petting zoo -- My neighbourhood's population has I'm sure doubled in the past week with undergrads returning to campus. The university has gone all out with welcome stuff, including this pop-up petting zoo a block over from my house. I was walking by, so of course stopped to pet some animals.

it's not every day that you get to pet a pig

street art -- Edmonton has some pretty neat public art. I don't know if it's just me, but I've been noticing more of it lately.

way to go, YEG

treadmill desk -- A couple of the libraries on campus have treadmill desks. I got around to trying one and really didn't like it! It was just so distracting (and a tad nauseating) to be bobbing up and down while trying to work. If you can work while walking though, it's an awesome idea!

not for me :(

Hawrelak Park -- Checked out the Hawrelak Park footbridge for the first time.

there's an off-leash dog park on the other side, so if you don't have a dog it's a good place to get in some vicarious puppy time

it's also a nice place to watch the sunset

Alright, back to a quiet Sunday of work on the couch :)