Look Maw, No Jacket!

We're back to the cold on this Sunday morning after the overnight temperature dropped to below freezing. 

But yesterday was a different story.

After walking downtown wearing just a jacket and not a coat, I actually doffed it in the car as we sipped coffee and  feasted on delicious blueberry scones down by the water.

I will spare you the de rigueur car selfie in favour of the one that Sue took on our very brief stroll in the park.

Did you notice? No jacket on the old boy, and no snow or ice in the background.

There was, however, a lot of water, so we didn't get far along the path. We did not require Gandalf to shout, "Thou shalt not pass!"

There was a lot of ponding all around the path.

Our promenade may have been a short one, but how lovely it was. It was one of those almost sublime, early spring days that winter-weary Canauckleheads appreciate so much.

Danica is Nineteen

We celebrated Danica's 19th yesterday. The official birthday is tomorrow, but she'll celebrate with the other family today and her friends tomorrow. Usually, her birthday is accompanied by brutal weather, but this was a nice, warm day, the first nice birthday after the very first one.

The Card

The Food (Mexican Lasagna)

The Cake

The Girl

The Flowers (two tulips from the bouquet)

Almost the Whole Fandamily (+2 and -1)

We were sitting around, sometimes looking at old photos on the tv, when suddenly, there were two weird and amusing popups. It was the kids doing things with AI and inserting them onto the screen somehow: first one by Jonathan, the second by Danica, who was not to be outdone by little brother.

Swept

Yesterday morning, I heard a noise outside my window. I investigated in time to see the street sweeper go by, cleaning up the winter’s debris near the sidewalk where the snow gets piled. It’s almost a better sign than the return of the robins because some of those silly birds come back way too soon. Guy up the street was thrilled enough to post of the occasion on fb, and here I am blogging. Silly Canadians we be. 

BTW, the front yard glacier has now been gone for a week, and it has been raining cats and dogs with no white stuff in view.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, but I heard another strange noise outside the other evening. I looked out to see two kids playing with balls, without coats. I am not sure when I last heard or saw such a thing.

If the Shoe Fits

Just after my birthday two years ago, September 2024, I purchased a few items for myself, especially including these shoes. 

It was my second pair of that nature with slightly different patchwork than this first pair. I wore them a bit the fall of 2024 and all through last summer. They still have some life in them, but due to my stupid gait I tend to wear shoes down even though I don't walk many miles.

I've got into the habit of wearing bold, colourful shoes, and people remark on them. I think most of those commenters think I am a silly old fool, but if the shoe fits who am I to argue?

So, what to do since the company doesn't seem to produce this design any longer?

I have kept my eyes out and finally found a pair that would do. I ordered them. After that, I saw another pair, the red ones. Like the first white pair, the red ones were on sale and not very expensive, so I indulged myself. I imagine that the low price on the reds means that they aren’t exactly robust footwear, but I should be able to wear them just to go out for coffee if I want to dazzle. lol

Both pair were on a good sale, otherwise I would probably have not purchased any shoes.

While I think I will always prefer the original, patchwork shoes, I will be able to continue wearing footwear that has become a bit of a trademark. I like feeling good about something that has to do with my otherwise decrepit and sorry anatomy.

Flipping

I don't have much to report today, but I have decided not to let that stop me.

Danica had a wee scare driving our car home from her exam yesterday on the expressway. Some object or other knocked the car from below, causing Danica to fear a tire problem. Thankfully that wasn't the case. She will be off again to another exam this evening. We'll have the car for our use tomorrow, but she will sit one more exam: her final one for her first year of university, on Thursday night.

It was raining in the morning, so I played some more with crocus photos. The second one is a duplication plus a flip of the first with a border added. I see wolf's head just below the centre line in the flip. 

We did get out for a shamble in the afternoon when it cleared up. Believe it or not, the temperature was mild (17C) so we overdressed and were too hot. Go figure. It's certainly bit awhile since we were hot on a walk.

Although we passed a few more pathetic crocuses, I didn't stop to take photos. If I see a nice cluster in the future, I might still grab another photo, but I may be done.

Our New Looks

We did a little running around yesterday to ready us for Danica using our car for much of this week. After shopping and visiting the poor. little crocuses, we stopped for our traditional car-coffee break. As usual, we took a selfie. It's good to keep taking them to record the changes in our appearances as we keep on aging. 

The face paint app doesn't work as well with sunglasses.

I have been trying icm (intentional camera movement) with the phone as well as long exposures, but I am not having much success, so here is a new, regular crocus photo. The crocuses have been sparse this year and/or furled and/or withered due to the miserable weather, but I have kept trying.

I have posted the following two crocus photos previously, but I re-edited them to try to make them more interesting.

It is grey and rainy today, so we probably won't even get out for a walk.

Caufield and Carney

Sue is usually in bed when I watch my hockey games, or at least she is for the part that goes beyond 9pm.

Being a considerate sort of fellow, I keep the noise down. When a dramatic last-minute goal seals the win for my Montreal Canadiens, I have been known to simply pimp my fists and issue a silent scream.

But I yelled and whistled on Thursday night, when Cole Caufield, scored his 50 the goal of the season. No Montreal player had accomplished this feat in 36 years, and only 6 others Canadien payers have scored 50 goals in their 117 illustrious years.

There aren't many 5'7" players who can survive in the extremely rugged NHL, but Caufield has thrived after being passed over by 14 teams in his draft despite setting goal-scoring records in college. Good for him.

Noteworthy on that historic evening was our prime minister, Mark Carney, in the stands. And he was, indeed, in the stands and not hidden in a luxury box enclosure. Although a couple of seats around him remained empty, he seemed to be sitting amongst ordinary people and not surrounded by twenty secret service agents.

As a tallish sorta guy, I am happy to report that I was able to respect and admire two diminutive but stalwart men in one single evening.

Missing

This was to have been the day of visiting with C2 (child 2) for the first time in almost three years.

PJ lives in Vancouver, so we don't see them often, but they booked their flight, and we were to spend the weekend together, today being the main day to visit, with yesterday being the night flight in and tomorrow being the evening flight out.

But they totally wrecked their back and, therefore, are in considerable distress. You can't navigate to an airport and then sit in it in that condition, never mind sitting in an airplane for a long time, twice within three days, especially when you have trouble sitting for more than a few minutes at home.

Thus, we wait a little longer before seeing C2 again.

PJ is 47. Oddly enough, I had my major back attack at the age of 47. I was off work for two months, and I could barely sit at the table long enough to scarf a meal. Let's hope that C2 fares better, but they are having a very rough time at present.

I leave you with two more photos that I think I have posted within the last year. As it happens, they were both taken at the family cottage in the early 80s.

Broken

A most unfortunate accident occurred this week.

Jonathan got into an accident, and the kid's car was a write-off due to its age and value. But it was valuable to the kids, especially to Danica who relied on it to get her to university this year. 

Fortunately, her classes are finished for the year. With only three exams left, she can borrow our car. 

In time, she can plan for next year.

The car has been so important for her this year, so it is quite a loss, practically and emotionally. Living outside of a city almost necessitates having a car, but there are cars in the family, and I am here to give her rides to work, when necessary, as I do with Jonathan.

She said yesterday when I dropped her off that she felt like she was about to have to chop vegetables all, for that was her first job. I would pick her up at about 6 on a Sunday morning to take her to her job in the salad bar at the grocery store.

I sent her this quote this morning after reading it in another blog. Maybe it will help her from being too distraught, but it is quite a loss for the poor kid.

at the time.

Post-Easter Squall

Easter did not change the weather. On Monday morning, we awoke to a skiff of snow along with cold and wind. Yesterday was even worse with more than a skiff but not a huge dumping, thank goodness. I took a shot from the front window just to share my misery with y'all. Thanks for your concern.

Then I took another, but we've put the screens back on the windows after opening them for three minutes when the weather was nice-ish one day. As I was pressing the shutter, the phone switched its focus to the screening, and I think it's kinda neato.

Somewhat stupidly, we later attempted a decidedly miserable walk on a snow-obscured sidewalk and in a fierce wind. When we got back to the house, I took a photo of three tulip buds sticking out of the snow. Several other clusters were buried completely, but they shall make themselves visible again soon. 

They were dark in the overcast light, but I brightened them in post.

On the previous day, our local walk led us to the back of a private garden that backs onto the park. There we found (you guessed it) more crocuses. There is a bit more variety of colours in this flowerbed than in the two other primary locations that we gravitate to.

On the same day, when we walked past the recently-thawed pond, I was pleased to see two geese swimming by.

Surprisingly enough, the goose photo looks very good when it fills my monitor, for I cropped it at monitor dimensions, which is 16:9. I think you have to trust me that it looks good displayed large like that because we wouldn't know it from what we see here. :)

Inside Baines

I have shown this building a few times in passing although it has often been from farther away. At other times only parts of it may have appeared in photos.

I cannot find confirmation again now, but I am fairly certain that it was once Baines Machine Shop or machine something. It has sat pretty idle in our 20+ years here. Most first-floor windows are boarded up, and many of those on the second floor are broken. We have seen birds and squirrels going in and out.

Having concluded that the building was being left unused to continue dilapidating, we were quite surprised to see a truck at the door. Four men were loading tables and chairs from the building into the truck. In conversation, we learned, surprisingly, that the items were going to a restaurant in Ottawa.

The very nice men granted us permission to go inside, and this is what we saw: just random items of no historical value except for the structure itself. 

I like the distortion in the phone pano.

We were advised that it would be best not to go upstairs which was said to be very grungy and dirty. It would have been nice to have a look, but it was great to see to see what we did see.

I don't think too many townies have seen inside in the last few decades, so we'll take this as a win.

Addendum: Sus has since put together a composite which reveals the whole story, including the truck.

So That was Easter

Easter, to me, is the whole weekend. If I need to be specific, I will call the actual day, Easter Sunday. It's just how I have always thought of it. So it was that our family Easter occurred on Saturday.

As you know, Saturday began with the pie pickup and included the discovery of the nascent tulipa in our garden. But I have already posted of that, so let us move on.

During the day it became confirmed that our little clan would be able to convene here in late afternoon. When it came to pass, dinner for our huge, extended family of five was chicken cooked in a hoisin-hickory sauce and served with rice. Of course, there was pie with ice cream, or as the cultured might say, pie à la mode.

Accomplishing the gathering was touch and go for awhile, and so it was a somewhat unexpected treat to get together. But can you believe that neither Sue nor I thought to take even one picture? That is just crazy.

Sunday's weather was a miserable as sin, which doesn't seem appropriate for Easter. We went for a walk regardless and were not unhappy when it was over. We did treat ourselves to a drive-through Timmies coffee, which we have been doing a lot of recently, as we have perhaps been a tad overindulgent at Easter. I've had a bit of chocolate too, but I have been relatively restrained.

We did receive a surprise Easter gift, aside from the chocolate bunnies that Sha and the kids had brought over the day before. When we got to the window at Tims yesterday, we were told that the car in front had paid for our coffees. How nice! They were already on the road, and though I waved in gratitude, my thanks went unnoticed.

I contemplated returning the favour to the car behind, but I thought that if I did that, we wouldn't really have received a gift, so I decided to not make that gesture. Perhaps, I will pay it forward someday: forward to the person in back.

On our walk, which we took before the Timmies stop, the poor crocuses were still tightly furled, so neither of us attempted another photo. Surely, we will be able to get in one or two more photo ops before their fleetingly short lives expire until next year, but darn it if it didn’t snow overnight — just a dusting though 

I did take some pics of the raging water that flows under Gillies bridge with the idea of taking a still but then merging it with the soundtrack of a video clip for your listening pleasure. It was an amateurish and inelegant work-around and probably a dumb idea, but I managed to do what I aspired to: 7 seconds of a still photo accompanied by the sound the rushing water  

And that, dear folk, was Easter.

A note in passing: some of you have requested more information about the tower greenhouse that I recently mentioned in passing, and I shall comply in the fullness of time. Unfortunately, I have yet to uncover a photo other than the corner of the greenhouse that you previously saw.

Easter Synchronicity and Serendipity

On Easter weekend, I picked up our pies from Ashton United Church. While I have posted photos of this church in the past, they were all made with a real camera :) but this was an iPhone shot because that is what I do now. It was a pano sweep, and with a little adjusting, it turned out quite well.  It's a unique building with the pews arranged in an arc around the podium in the corner. (There are objects (speakers etc) that I could remove, but we'll let them be for now.)

Now for the Synchronicity and Serendipity of the title, and I do think that both apply.

It's Easter Weekend, and with the front yard glacier* in recession, I noticed tulip shoots appearing where there had been snow just hours earlier. That was on Good Friday, but I took these on Saturday after returning from the pie run. I wanted to capture the shoots with the glacier :) still looming in the background. In point of fact, if you look carefully in the background of the first two photos, you should spot tulip shoots poking out of the snow glacier*.

I think both words — synchronicity and serendipity — apply. The tulips were synchronous with Easter, but they were also serendipitous because I wasn't expecting to see them and just happened to check out the garden. Do you not agree?

*Speaking of the glacier, it is greatly diminished and very grubby with accumulated dirt, so I am not overly eager to post a photo. Snow-cover is generally all but gone in our area, remaining only where it was piled deeply by the snowblowers and/or where it lies in very shady spots. I will be happy to report again when the darn glacier has been consigned to history.. 

Caturday 90: Sandy

I have posted at least once of my adopting or being adopted by a cat when we lived on a nursery where my dad worked. Said cat left me one day, presumably perished, but her sister. Mixie, remained, and you shall see her later in this post.

Mixie had a litter under the back stoop which you shall also see soon enough. She had many litters, and more than one in the same location. The first kitten of hers that I saw was Sandy, and I wanted him. All of the other kittens were given away, or I guess sold off, but Sandy remained with us for at least a decade.

He grew to be a very big cat. Most people remarked that he was the biggest cat they had ever seen. I suppose the Maine Coon breed that is now popular is even larger, but this is now and that was then, and Sandy was impressively large. (Note: Maine Coons didn't become a recognized breed for about 30 years afterward.)

My Dad holding Sandy

probably circa 1965-66

That is the edge of a unique tower greenhouse that my dad oversaw
along with 4 other normal greenhouses.

When Mixie had that initial litter, the first kitten that I saw was Sandy. At only a day or two old, if memory serves, he clung to Mixie's fur as she egressed from her cave. She quickly restored him to his proper place, but he became mine. Actually, as the picture indicates, he became more Dad's than mine, for dad was always close-by on the property.

The next and final photo shows me sitting on the stoop under which Mixie had several litters. I am pretty sure that it was Sandy that I was holding with Mixie sitting beside me. That would have been 15-year-old me in 1963 before Sandy grew up to be a very big boy.

When I was still youngish and living at home for about the next 5 years, I would often become aware of big Sandy occupying space at the foot of my bed. I would push him off and attempt to go back to sleep.

One more thing. The owners of the nursery would bring people by to see and purchase the kittens. At least once, I refused an offer for a buyer to purchase Sandy from me in addition to whatever price they would be paying to the owners, which was probably a dollar or two.

I was not about to let Sandy go for a mere buck or two. 

Tightly Furled

While the weather permits, we will continue to check in on the crocuses. I know it is repetitive, but the season is so very brief and so very desired.

Yesterday was not acceptable to the poor things, so the little clump that I showed recently was tightly furled.

However, I did discover one yellow crocus, and it was open.

On that outing we took our little phone stands to try to stabilize our attempts, but it was still difficult to get old bodies down there, and I couldn't get a clear view of the screen. I pointed, hoped for the best, and relied on cropping in post to get a somewhat decent composition.