March 5,2019

Shrove Tuesday and I have nothing to say but I am saying it anyway. Shove, shrove, shovel whatever. It is that kind of days preceding Tuesday. The dear man fetched me from the airport on Saturday, March 2. A lovely drive on a sunny winter day. Eight hours later we had a long and steady snowfall. So there was plowing on Sunday and Monday.
Freed from clearing snow and feeling celebratory the dear man declared to our kids in 3 provinces and Mexico: Pancake day. Whereupon one son, with aviation interest, quipped, "Is that what happens when you fly your drones?"
Enough said. We did observe the ritual (his) for this Shrove Tuesday-squeezing sliced oranges on thin pancakes, sprinkle a little sugar and then rolling up the crepes for slicing into forkfuls. A little culture randomly observed by a pair of agnostics. Feels good.

Poesje on patrol (2001-2018)

We called her Poes for short as she was named Poesje by a Dutch family in 2001who took her in from the hedgerow. When the family needed to move away we adopted her.
She was her own person, cat I mean. A no nonsense cat who did not belly flop for anybody. When addressed she will give a grunt 'Uh' and we took that acknowledgement with some gratitude hoping for more. Even more coolness to fellow cats though they shared the same bed. Poes is in the back with a closer relationship to Sylvester who died last year. Sparky, in the foreground, is a little

at a loss. However she, at 2 years, is very comfortable with human companionship. We may have intended it that way. Her litter is the worst I have ever come across.

Monday 2018

Hooray, I like it.
On New Year’s Eve we stepped out at 2pm intending to celebrate in broad daylight. It was very cold but bright and we can see people’s faces above the dark outerwear and below the dark headwear. Bright spots.
First a lunch and we went to Sakawa Coffee. I ordered the Japanese Breakfast which turned out to be like having a little art for lunch.The dark brown tray was backdrop and frame. A triangular  piece of grilled mackerel glistened in a shallow curve of white ceramic. Still in white ceramic was a daub of salad, green and red. A tea-stained soft boiled egg beside round slices of  salmon-coloured sweet potato sat on a flat square piece of quiet ceramic. Then there was the murky miso soup in an earthy red lacquered bowl. Lastly in the top corner was a mound of snowy rice. We have enough to cross the threshold into 2018.
Go forth win love.

December 22 in 2017

        As shown a photo of a very fortifying breakfast which makes a person feel reborn. Have now to take a breath and allow 2017 to emerge as 2018.


             

June , the frost free portion.

June 4 and perhaps the frost warnings are behind us. We had 2 last week. The bush beans were showing, through the soil, their curved necks which I covered with loose soil. Near one that. The scarlet runner beans had come through with their true leaves which had to be protected with a covering. On the other side of the ledger we had a harvest of rhubarb and a few leeks. The leeks came from a fall planting of seedlings.

So into June we go. Other delights catch the eye; bumble bees on dandelions, Johnny jump up alternating between sunning or shivering and the unkempt bleeding hearts. June should become a verb. So much action, june up.

Memorabilia

A little over fifty years ago our drama professor, Frank Canino, staged "The Hollow Crown"in which a fellow Antigonisher, Addy, and I had interesting roles. In a blue gown, left over from a prom, and no wig I played the young Victoria.
I think, from the applause, it went over well. Also, off stage I had this 'what happened' looks. Next day when I entered a class the professor exclaimed,"But you look so tall"

I am ambling around my memorabilia this Victoria Day weekend before I renew the vegetable garden.

Never Eat Shredded Wheat

At 11.30pm, on the eve of Ash Wednesday, I regretted, slightly, of the promise to wait with them for the school bus in the morning. But I set the alarm and got up at 6.30am.

At 6.35am I saw that the grandson was in his drill; changing from pajamas to his laid-out school clothes and then a quick breakfast of yogurt and one toast. His mother helped with his outer gear of snow pants, parka, boots, toque and gloves. Then the backpack was hoisted on and we were ready for the short walk to the roadside for the 7.10am bus. The temperature was - 10 degrees C on March 24; this is NB, Canada. He and his sister usually go at 7.09am but because grandma walks slower on icy patches we went a minute earlier.

I pointed to the remnants of the sunrise and was introduced to the mnemonic:
Never Eat Shredded Wheat by my eldest grandchild. Brightens my day to have an aid to hang on to the cardinal points, Thank you and Happy Easter.
 

contemplation

J. G. Ballard's opening sentence in High Rise:
" Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog ....."
We are looking after Jones and just about keeping up with him.

It is a thought.

Leap February

                  Tick tock, tick tock cries
                   the bone clocks at six thirty.
                   Eyes see brief sunrise.
                                 

              

                   Today is February 29 which makes 2016 a leap year, but like 2012 it is  wholly divisible by 4. In 4 years time, 2020 will be wholly divisible and we will get a February 29. Google search will explain how, to manage seasonal human activities, calendars were devised. We follow the Gregorian but other tribes have their own.

                   Calendars apportion time and are understandable but of time, the dimension I have no inkling. No amount of staring at the moon is going to help.

                                

Heathrow Hive in the Year of the Monkey

                                    2016 the Year of The Monkey

After a flight of 12 hours from Bangkok, I arrived at Heathrow Airport at 7pm, February 16 to connect to a flight on Air Canada on February 17 at 11.10am. It is a long layover.

Heathrow is bright, brisk and brusque. No smiles but it functions. I landed at Terminal 2 and was told that only Terminal 3 stays open overnight. Took the bus for Terminal 3 noting that the automatic glass doors, at the wait area, only open when the driver comes and keys in his/her pass at the receiver. Clever control especially in cold weather.
At Terminal 3, I did my ablutions in the clean toilet and set about exploring the area. Eateries and shops open until 9.30pm. After that the cleaning and security staff take over. I settled down in one of the departure lounges covering my legs with a blanket taken from Thai Air. The idea of the blanket came from seeing a blanket, from another airline, covering a passenger in transit at the Bangkok airport. About 11pm, as I was brushing my teeth, a lady staff member told me that an immigration officer would like to see me. He checked my passport and asked me to join the dozen passengers staying overnight. We were put in one departure lounge which has an attached bathroom. We were offered coffee and tea but I asked for water. A few minutes before that, another security officer brought in an intoxicated man who was refused boarding Virgin Air bound for Lagos. He was tall, dark and drunk and kept saying " I love you " to the not so tall but calm security guy. A shade before 5 am, the same lady staff member came to rouse us, giving our Virgin Air passenger extra time. She and a colleague were to send us on our way. Meanwhile, the laggard unzipped a pocket on his carry-on and claimed that his passport was not there. The lady called her supervisor who had brought him in and was told that it was in the ex-drunk's coat pocket. Finding it he became apologetic and claimed over and over "I was stressed out, stressed out man."in a very loud voice. He explained that he came from NY in the morning and his Lagos flight was in the late evening. He became agitated and the matronly lady had to tell him to calm down before she will take him to the Virgin Air counter to arrange, for him, another flight. She told him that it would still be that one an only late evening flight and he was not to pass his time drinking. Or else.
Heathrow Hive is Business but can be benign.

Cat asks the Oracle

A bright sunny day on January 28 and the cat wants to know if Spring is on her way. The Amaryllis is testing for light and temperature and will get back to the feline. Meanwhile I know better or not.

Weekly Leeks

                                             Leeks October 2015               

                                                        second patch

In the growing season, start with leeks and in October end with leeks. Low maintenance for the gardener, and harvesting can be leisurely with no panic over  unexpected light frosts. I do three batches of 4 leeks in a week. The leeks are gently braised in oil and butter: one quarter kept for the day's recipe and the rest frozen for Leek and Potato soup in the cold winter.                                     

Tough as nails

Of course nails are tough as they have to be hammered in.  Now I am wondering, " What nails are we talking about?" Could it be toe nails as I do mine? When my mother was a younger senior she stated that the best time to trim her nails was after a shower.
Twenty years later she still observed that advice with a modification. By the time she has finished the nails on one foot, the ones on the other are no longer as pliable and will have to be done after the next shower. Tough codgers can be cute.

                                        Worker   Bee  on the    Cosmos                                  

  

The blueberry patch

There is a blueberry patch, more God or nature given than cultivated, near the house.The rain and the sunshine came in the right order and there were berries, ripened at the same time, on the heads. So for a few days, August 12 -15, I picked the berries. One day my young daughter joined me and she was filling her container very efficiently and without unwanted leaves. I saw that she was using her thumb to stroke the berries into her curved palm and then putting them into the bowl. Ambidextrous to boot.I must have done the same occasionally but not so deliberately. It is a bit of a delight to be conscious of those opposable thumbs. 

They are ruby throated humming birds

Maybe nest mates, these ruby throat humming birds. I had mistakenly addressed an adult member as Rufus. The species labelled as Rufous inhabits the west coast and are bright rust coloured. Be it as it may, these thumb-sized creatures keep the resident handyman hopping and his hands full. His right hand rinses the emptied feeder while his left stirs the warm sugar solution. When he goes to the fridge to fetch the previously prepared solution for mixing, he sees, through the window these monsters darting in search of the non-wilting soda fountain flower.
He would love to see them again next season and meanwhile he feeds them for the migration. The handyman's new addition; love or life. Ruby and Rufus; both hum.

What is it all about, Rufus?

June 3, raining mistily.
I surprised a humming bird at the feeder, and in turn was surprised by it.

It flew about three metres from the feeder and proceeded to fly vigorously in a deep U shape pattern half a dozen times. I can hear the buzz of its wings. So when I came in I googled on the flight habits of humming birds. Unlike songbirds, humming birds only twitter, and have to rely on visual displays to be noticed. This trait is labelled as skydancing; a marvellous  sight.

Birdcalls in a dense residential square.

The configuration of the square is formed by four high rises with row houses in the centre. In the photo above, I am looking at a building block of 6 stories in the east. In front of this block I can see the roofs of row houses from my window, which is 4 floors up , in a 22 story building in the west. On the left hand side of the photo, I can see a bit of a 14 story building. Unseen on the right there are similar buildings, a dense residential area indeed. Mercifully, full grown trees are well distributed and the buildings in the west back on hillsides.  So there is enough greenery to provide an environment for the birds.

A glimpse of one hill and some of the very many motor cars. The very many cars make a continuous base growl along the road and above, at least 4 stories up I can hear the very many bird calls. The chit chit of the rusty brown sparrows, the coos of the doves and the occasional caws of the crows. For me the mynah birds are more seen than heard. Looking at them from above, my eyes are drawn to the white wing patches and the white tipped tails. Similarly, I noticed the partings and balding patches on the heads of pedestrians.

The birds seem to be thriving. So these  communities, birds and people, form an orchestra providing two streams of sound. My bird watching in May in Penang.

Cat Detail On March 18

You and I and the young cat facing the weather coming at us from the northeast.

We woke up to the continuously falling snow of the second storm in 3 days. Good thing yesterday was lovely and sunny for an outing and thus today is less confining. It is the kitten's first winter and, thus, it is intrigued by the clumps of snow we bring in on our boots. The creature is also fascinated by the life around our compost bin. Squirrels go in and out through a broken vent and drag out carrot and potato peelings, which in turn attract black-capped chickadees, blue jays and crows. No birds today but a squirrel scampered on the glazed snow to the bin. Young Sparky gazed at it from the window sill with twitching tail.

When I tidy the litter trays, 3 times a week, Sparky will accompany me , and I get the impression that it thinks I use the same facility. And it is pleased to find common ground.

February to March

                                          It was a very long month

February 1, 2015

Hang in there, Atlantic Canada especially NB. Another storm alert with abundant snow. Smell the Hyacinth which was forced to perform.