Musings on a Small Life

I took last Friday and today (the 12th) as vacation days, as a birthday gift to myself. (My birthday was the 10th.) A friend of mine, now retired, always took her entire birthday week off and would treat herself to a spa day, shopping, etc., and while I don't take a week at this time of year (usually too rainy/muddy/cold), I do take a day or two, depending on what day of the week my birthday falls.   Note: This post is very pic-heavy, and it's best to click on the first one to enlarge it and view them that way.   This year I lucked out, because Saturday was gorgeous! I left the house early in the morning and bused up to a nearby Starbucks for my freebie, then caught another bus to downtown for a LONG (about 3 hours) walk through campus and all along the waterfront, over to Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, through Lake Ontario Park and then Trailhead Place. Believe me, my feet were very happy to bus home after that! LOL.   There were a lot of joggers passing me, but I was happy...

(Note: Some of these snapshots have been posted to Instagram, so they will be repeats for anyone who is on it.)   While we're currently having summer-like temps, autumn definitely is starting to show her colours.     I really haven't been out to take any pics yet, but hope to do that over the next couple of weekends, if we have decent weather and I have the time. I managed to snap a slightly out-of-focus shot of this nuthatch, below, on a morning walk earlier this week. It was my first time getting a pic of one, so I was just happy to have anything.     I saw this cutie too: I'm still seeing a lot of cottontails! It was a banner year for them, apparently. And there are plenty of blooms left, which makes my heart happy. Of course this cutie makes my heart happy too: So for the moment all is well with us, to the best of my knowledge. Everyone take care and stay well. Have a good weekend! Peace.

Tomorrow will be 10 weeks, 70 crazy days, and counting, since we've been under lockdown of varying degrees and working from home. I actually don't think we'll all be back at the office until next year unless there's a miracle vaccine before then. May 8 and 9 we had snow and ice, as you can see below. My poor bleeding heart! I lost about 1/3 of it, but it's now in full, glorious bloom. Now we're having a heat wave and my air conditioning is on. From winter to summer overnight, almost. I've been taking lots of walks down to the swamp, which is where most of the following snapshots were taken. One of the paths to the water, below. The geese families like to hang out here, so I'm very careful when they're around, don't go close, since they have their babies to protect now. In the distance, below, you can see two large apartment buildings under construction. It's a busy area, usually quite noisy with tr...