Pictures of a rural community....

Susannah and I had to run out and get some milk today, and so I thought I'd take my camera with me and snap a few pictures of the nearest little community to our home.  We live about 15 or so minutes from town, about 30 minutes from the city and about 15 minutes from a retail park - so we normally do all of our shopping in those major areas.  That said, we are lucky that we have quite a few choices within a few minutes drive (and a bicycle ride away/ long walk away in Summer) if we don't feel like going into town.

We even have two restaurants close by - four in Summer (when the golf courses are open).  As well as two pools (one outdoor for Summer), lakes and campgrounds, parks, community halls with all kinds of activities....a liquor store (off licence) etc etc.  The library comes out to our area every Tuesday so we can even get books/ return/ order etc etc.  They have family movie nights at our hall on a big screen once a month which is nice too :)  The kids like that!

Anyway, here are some snapshots taken through the car window:

Little church, they also hold craft sales etc here:

One of the local stores.  This one has the post office, a gas station, and sells groceries, has a video/ dvd rental etc etc:

Another local store.  This one has a 'build a bear' type store in it!!  It also sells groceries, candy and souvenirs/ decor etc etc.  Next to it is a restaurant/ pizza type diner.  This place provides the hot lunches at the school and also gives a free dinner coupon to the 'child of the month' at the school:

This is the lake - still frozen but not safe to go on now as it's been too warm!  Won't be long and we will be able to kayak on it again - although last year the water levels were too low :(  Across the lake you can see the local airport - a small airport and one of a kind in Alberta as it has those seaplanes or whatever they are called - the type of planes that can land on water!!!  I love having the little planes flying over our house.  Lloyds friend has a plane and takes him up i it.  This year he is taking the boys up too:

The liquor store/ off licence.  Lloyd will often run here at the weekend for a bottle of wine ;)   

The little fire station for our community!!  A VERY important building full of VERY important trucks and people when you live in a rural area and are NOT on city water!!!:

The local school - you can see where the children sled down from the roof of the school Yes part of the school is built into the ground) at recess/ playtime - but all the snow is quickly melting away so they can't sled any more:

So I hope you have enjoyed a little look of the closest community to our house.  We don't actually live in a 'community' or village or whatever - we live in a  rural area.  Not in a subdivision or anything.  This little community has been very welcoming though :)