Musings on a Small Life

Happy May! I managed to catch this jay last week, having a peanut snack in the neighbour's tree. I have a short work week, just today and tomorrow, then am heading off to visit friends for a few days. The pet sitter will be coming in twice a day to take care of the boys; fingers crossed all goes well. And speaking of the mancats, I recently bought new batteries for my old Fuji bridge camera, and I dug it out on Saturday, got it all set up again. Of all my point and shoots, it has the best image quality. (Click to enlarge the snapshots for best viewing, as always.) I took a zillion pics of the boys, and most of Derry came out nicely. Nicki's were so-so. I find it harder to take good pics of him, he's not as photogenic. Anyway, the boys seemed to have a good weekend, and as I was home yesterday, and we hit 18C for the first time in, oh, forever (it seems), they spent most of the day outside in the sunshine. They even had a tussle or two for ...

Wow, we're at the end of April already, still waiting for warm spring weather here, even though flowers are starting to bloom. (I snapped these pics on the way home yesterday, they're not my flowers.) A third of the year is gone in a blink! I have a funny *headdesk* story to share from Friday. So I left the house at 6:35 AM, in a rush as usual. It was dreary and grey outside, and I could hear a distressed sound, perhaps that of a baby squirrel or bird or some such, crying pitiably and ceaselessly. I couldn't see where it was coming from, but finally looked up at my bedroom window and could see what appeared to be something stuck under the eaves, in the serrated metal. I really couldn't make out what it was; it was too far away and too dim, given that I need, but don't have, glasses. This stumped and stunned me; in my 19 years in the house, nothing ever has been stuck there. What could possibly get stuck there? Bat? Bird? Baby squirrel? It seemed...

My co-worker and I went to a talk on campus last Thursday. The room was quite large, set up with groups of round tables for participatory class work, I presume. What was very odd, however, was what appeared to be a full bathroom off to the side of the room, completely in the open. Whether working or not, this isn't exactly what you'd expect to see in a classroom/lecture room. If working, there's no way I can imagine anyone using it! If not working...what on earth is it there for? A reno in progress? How bizarre! Have you seen anything bizarre lately? Peace.

This showed up in my Pinterest feed this morning and I just had to share it. Maybe one or two of you will really appreciate it, as I do. It cracks me up every time I read it. :-D As for the week...all I can say is that I'm soooooo happy it's Friday! I'd had Monday off, but Tuesday was like a really bad Monday and I wanted to chuck it all. Nothing people-related, just one of those days. Made worse by having four days off, of course! On a bright note, the forsythia along the south side of our building is in bloom now. As for the boys, they're fine...I hope. The pet sitter is coming in at lunch time today to spend a half-hour with them and give them a bit of food, which I'm sure they'll appreciate. They were having a great outdoor tussle on Monday afternoon, all in fun this time, no intervention required. I'll wish you all a great Friday and weekend and leave you with a few more Pinterest images. And of course a cat one, bec...

From Monday afternoon, when (a) we had sunshine and (b) it was warm. Click on the pics for best viewing. As always, comments are off on "wordless" Wednesday. Nicki Derry Peace.

As I start this, it's late afternoon on Monday April 22nd, and I'm heading into the home stretch of my four days away from the office. (Good Friday was the holiday, and I took today as a vacation day.) I enjoyed the time off, even though I was in a frenzy of spring cleaning on Friday, mostly in my bedroom. I got the windows cleaned as much as possible (crank windows, pain in the a&&), curtains and all bedding washed, plus regular stuff (7 loads of laundry in one go), bedroom furniture moved, baseboards dusted, a thorough vacuuming. (I was smart enough to take Ibuprofen before moving the bed and bureau!) I did other cleaning as well, including more windows. The one thing I didn't and don't do is wash walls, unless there's been a reno. Derry on Friday afternoon, obviously exhausted from all my cleaning. Saturday I zipped up to Walmart early in the AM; what a zoo! The young woman behind the cash told me that people were lined up at 7 AM, waiting to...

Recent snapshots, with a few explanatory notes. Comments are off for "wordless" Wednesday. The swamp near the train station, early Sunday morning. Used to be a favourite spot to walk by, but it's a construction zone now, while an overpass over the train tracks is built. Glorious sunset on April 15th. The colours are not retouched. Crocuses and snowdrops on a lunch time walk yesterday (April 16). A foggy walk in to work this morning. I love mornings like this; they're even better if you live in the country and can meander through fields in the stillness. St. Mary's Cathedral tower Chalmers United Church  St. James Anglican church tower  One of the pairs of campus ducks Looking south down University Avenue I'm looking forward to the long Easter weekend, and have taken Easter Monday as a vacation day. I hope to do some spring cleaning, but if the weather is good, maybe there will be time to take a few pics somewhere ...