Today is a hot, blue sky day in Edmonton. One of the first truly summer-like days this year, it was perfect for exploring 124th Street, another of the city’s popular locations.

Beginning at the west end of Jasper Avenue and extending north to about 111th Avenue, this vibrant district is known for it’s many specialty shops, restaurants and small art galleries that feature the work of Canadian artists. We strolled from one end of the area to the other checking out several of the shops and most of the galleries.

Though we enjoyed critiquing the wide variety of art that we saw, I had to remind Richard to save some of his comments until we were back on the street! His question, “Don’t you think that this could have been painted by Drew and Jami-Lee?” (referring to two of our preschool grandchildren), asked within earshot of the gallery staff, was a mite embarrassing! In that particular case and a couple of others, I did have to agree with his assessment, but I also saw many pieces that were more to my taste. We both agreed that Bearclaw Gallery was our favourite due to our appreciation for Inuit and West Coast native art.

This was a perfect time of year to visit 124th Street. Flowers and lilac bushes bloomed everywhere adding to the already colourful scene and filling the air with their heavenly scent.

A relaxing lunch on the patio at the Urban Diner, just around the corner on 102nd Avenue, completed our visit to the area. Fortunately, radiation treatments haven’t affected my sense of taste yet and I was able to thoroughly enjoy my salmon quiche.

There’s that hat again!