Musings on a Small Life

1:17AM: Annie jumps up beside me (Derry is cuddled into my side, Nicki is at my feet) and demands her cuddles and scritches by pawing at me, claws extended. 1:30AM: I get up, everyone thinks it's food time, I shut my bedroom door and go back to sleep. 4:00AM: Annie starts jumping at the door, possibly throwing herself against the closed door, to get me up. Her methods are effective; I hear her through my ear plugs. I obey the command. 4:00 - 7:00AM: Let cats out, let cats in, feed cats, give cats treats, repeat. Scrub out all three litter boxes in the basement, haul garbage upstairs and out to the garage so it doesn't smell up the house for a week. Not that I'd notice. Clean myself up and get ready to leave. 7:10AM: At the bus stop, waiting. 7:40AM: Starbucks for a short, non-fat chai while waiting for my bus transfer. 8:05AM: At the evil empire (a.k.a. Wal-Mart) for necessities, kitty treats (okay, those are a necessity too, from the cats' point of view), a...

There are a lot of things I love about being on my own, and some of you already understand, so I don't need to explain. But sometimes, just sometimes , it would be nice to have someone else around to handle things when they go amiss. Like my dripping basement pipe, that I initially thought was related to my furnace (condensation), but actually seems to be related to the water draining from the kitchen sink. I've checked to see if the elbow is loose, but it's not. Now I need to let the water run in the kitchen sink and see exactly where it's leaking. If it's just around a seam, that easily should be fixed with some proper sealant. But if it's not, if it's from higher up, a co-worker tells me it could be related to the City's drain pipes. Which would not be good. I don't know for certain whether the condo corporation would be responsible for that. I would hope so, but you never know, since I don't think it's an issue that's arisen in ou...

Thanks to Jacqueline for the suggestion of Hugh Jackman. :-) I actually had seen him in a magazine at my stylist's house last Saturday and made a mental note to use him for an upcoming eye candy post. Unfortunately, I never remember these things unless I jot them down.  Something about being over 40 and dying brain cells. So Jacqueline's suggestions were most welcome!

I took a lunch time walk on Tuesday, camera in hand (of course). Here are a few snapshots....It was a bright, sunny day--glorious, but definitely too much light for really good floral snapshots, at least with my p&s!  This is part of someone's walkway, adjacent to their house.

This was the evening sky on Sunday the 11th. The first two pics were snapped while hanging out the guest bedroom window again. The latter two were snapped a short time later from the back step. It was amazing how totally different the sky became, so quickly!

A co-worker lent me her copy of Debbie Ford's book, The Secret of the Shadow , published in 2002. It ties in nicely with Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth , which she also got me on to some months ago. The focus of the book is to identify the patterns/themes that hold us back in our lives, accept them and use them to create the life we want, rather than try to eradicate or overcome all the parts of our Selves we dislike. "What we resists persists" and all that. I'm only on chapter 4, but certainly have identified three main themes in my life, one of which is being invisible. (The themes are phrases like I'm inadequate. I'm a bad person. I'm not worthy. My life is meaningless. I don't matter. I'm a doormat. And so on.) I've always known myself to be invisible. I can recall being in nursery school and kindergarten and going home on the school bus. The driver repeatedly would forget my stop and drive past and I remember being in tears over...

More from last Thursday's walk home. :-) First blooming tulips I've seen! Not my bleeding heart, but along side one of the townhouse units with a southern exposure. My neighbour's potted gerbera.

The evening sky on Saturday April 9th. No auto or contrast adjustment; this is how they came off the camera. I was hanging out the guest room bedroom window, trying to angle my body around enough to snap the pics, and trying not to get the rain gutter in the frame. Derry was trying to crawl up my leg at the same time, and while I don't think he'd have made a break for it, out the window, it was a bit distracting. LOL. Certainly Nicki would have tried to escape, but for some reason he wasn't in the room. That was a mercy. ;-)

Thank you all for the birthday wishes; you helped make my day even more special. And for the record, I came home with fresh flowers (tulips), wine, and dessert.  :-) Mom wanted to see a couple of pics of the hi-lites, so here they are. Plus it's nice to put a face (or part of a face) to the name, for those who don't know me. I didn't ask my stylist to take a pic because she had two clients waiting. But you know, it's awfully hard to get a snapshot of yourself, at least when you have short arms. And when you're not photogenic, as in my case. I do so hate being in front of the camera!

Today's my birthday and yes, I'm closer to 50 than to 40. Forty-six, in fact. And no, I don't mind sharing my age. It's not getting older that bothers me, it's the wrinkles. The grey hair I can cover, but the eye wrinkles would require the kind of help I can't afford and would be afraid to try, in any case. A handful of years ago I was in a grocery store line up behind an older gentleman and I don't know how age came up, or even who began the conversation, but I do recall the man saying, "Any day above ground is a good day." LOL. Of course, that depends on your perspective! Anyway, I'm heading out early this morning for hi-lites and a cut. My stylist works out of her own home and she's about an hour away (by public transit, I mean). That means catching the 7:45AM bus. So no indulgent going back to bed for me today. I remember my mom always would make me a white cake with pink icing for my birthday....I haven't really thought of th...

Sorry, folks, no eye candy today. I'm stumped. I don't watch enough TV or movies to think of anyone. Suggestions are welcome! So you are stuck with some of the floral snapshots from yesterday's walk home. It was a good day, weather-wise, for taking floral pics: bright overcast skies, no glaring sun. I'll post some of the others on another day, perhaps over the weekend. Happy Friday, everyone!