Glimmerings

Subject:	Canada Day - retrospective
Time:	10:29 pm.
Mood:	transcendent.
Music:	Vangelis.

For the first time in 2 or 3(?) years, DH and I were both home at the
same time for Canada Day, which is, incidentally, the day after our
(35th!) anniversary. (Yes we were together for that day too, having
gotten home on the 29th {:>D))

Canada Day, was just about perfect re: weather. The sun was
shining and the temp was about 26C by the water. There was just enough
breeze to keep the 'skitters' away, so we spent the greater part of
the afternoon lazing about in the sun, followed by a BBQ/potluck
picnic with some of my sister's inlaws. Her MIL and FIL owned the
cottage until we bought it from them, but we made it clear that they
were always welcome there, so there is frequently a crowd on
significant holidays. Despite all the company, both Dave and I ended up snoozing for a time in the sun.

When we got home, after sunset, we took a walk to our neighbourhood park at the end of our street from where we could just see the fireworks set off about 2 miles away. They were visible just over the tree tops. They tend to hypnotize me, especially the large round scintillating spheres that expand towards me like an approaching galaxy. It's like a half recognized memory from the distant past wherein I used to travel this universe on a much grander scale. Beautiful.

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Subject:	Crows
Time:	12:20 pm.
Mood:	intrigued.

We have a park behind our house, and often have critters in our back yard. In fact, we throw out peanuts (unsalted and in the shell) to feed the squirrels, chipmunks, bluejays, cardinals, etc.

Recently, a community of crows have taken up residence in the park, and they seem to have a liking for peanuts as well. They've taken to spending a lot of time in our backyard. I've noticed that there are 2 or 3 babies among them. Well maybe not babies, exactly since they have all their feathers and can fly. But they are quite a bit smaller than the others and spend a lot of their time running after the larger ones with their mouths open and squawking.

I've actually seen the larger birds pop food into their mouths from time to time. I've also seen the adults trying to show these little ones how to peck at bugs and stuff on the ground, trying to train them to feed themselves. The little ones peck at all kinds of things on the ground from sticks to weeds, and maybe get the occasional bug.

Is this normal? I mean, I always thought that once a bird left the nest, it was on its own, and instinct told it how to find food. But these adults seem to take a great deal of effort in training their young.

It is fascinating to watch the process, all the moreso because it demonstrates so well the human aphorism that "it takes a village to raise a child".

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Subject:	Milestones (various)
Time:	9:14 am.
Mood:	cheerful.
Music:	Lara's Theme.

Tomorrow we're off for the weekend to Hockley Valley: http://www.hockley.com/hockley.html near Orangeville (which is north of Toronto). The occasion is the 35th reunion of Dave's graduating class from the University of Guelph.

I have mixed feelings about this because, although I know many of these guys, they are not really the same guys I knew 30+ years ago. If you know what I mean. But then, it would be extremely strange if we hadn't changed after 35 year. It should be an interesting few days.

A month further on, June 30th will mark another couple of milestones. Firstly, it will be the 51st anniversary of my family's arrival in Canada at the port of Quebec City.

And secondly, of more immediate interest, it will be our(Dave's and my) 35th wedding anniversary!

Of course, the second (the anniversary) is the more significant to me, but it would never have happened without the first. {;>D

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Subject:	Spring has sprung
Time:	11:44 am.
Mood:	pleased.

...And we've decided to take back the land again. IOW, we've declined to renew our contract with the landscaper who has been looking after out property for several years past.

It was necessary to have window wells and brick walkways, perennials replaced and shrubbery transplanted after the destruction of our renovations, and I don't begrudge that. But, I'm pretty sure he charged us premium prices for it. And continued to do so for the last 2 years while putting his priorities first, and putting off things I wanted done. I still recall tackling the overgrown cedar trees with a handsaw while I was on pain meds shingles because he had put off the cleanup I wanted for the 5th week in a row. I had a pile of brush taller than myself by the time I was done. That was really the last straw.

So, Dave and I came home from Michigan a couple of weeks ago to find his new contract proposal in our mailbox. Thought about it for about 5 minutes; decided enough was enough, and went to work on the garden, which consists of perennials exclusively.

One small problem was that we gave our major lawn tools to my sister and BIL when we first engaged said landscaper to care for our garden. But we took a look inline and discovered that we could buy what we needed for a fraction of the cost of (this) pro's services. So we now have a

cordless electric lawnmower:
http://www.solarispowerproducts.com/green-facts.htm

a cordless electric weedwacker:
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?D=941051&Ntt=941051&catalogId=&langId=-15&storeId=10051&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=113095&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

A Fiscars dandelion weeder:
http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/0596739P/reviews.htm

They arrived just in time for my birthday. {;>D Along with a dozen long-stemmed red roses from Dave:

and a lovely amber and silver necklace from my MIL:

The gift from my sister was more practical, but just as welcome. She repotted a basket of plants that I have had for about 5 years: ivy, phillidenron, African violet, plus stuff I can't identify. The plants are grateful, and so am I.

On Mother's Day, we took MIL out to brunch at one of her favourite restaurants for a very nice brunch complete with pommegranite mimosas. This plus an arrangement of cut roses:
(sort of like this, but the exact Mother's day arrangement is no longer on the web site)
http://www.talismanflowers.com/product.asp?id=104294

delivered on Saturday seemed to please her muchly, for which I am happy, because it is hard to find something to please an 82 year old who has pretty much everything material thing she wants.

Oh, and one more thing. I have used all of the new tools, so if Dave's away, I will be able to cope. Plus, after 2 days of work and 4 bags of yardwaste, I have removed evey. single. dandelion. from out back yard.

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Subject:	Gone and Back Again
Time:	6:19 pm.
Mood:	happy.
Music:	birdsong.

Hello all! I've been away in Michigan with Dave for the last couple of weeks. Because of the demands on Dave's time and the laptop PC, I've been out of touch all that time. So the first order of business is to send congrats and felicitations where they are due: for

weedblossom and

the_paulr on another year successfully navigated; and again to weedblossom for completing the requirements for her Master's degree and her upcoming graduation.

For everyone on my f-list who needed good vibes, please know that although I could not keep in touch, you were on my mind, particularly

jynxgirl and Alena who have been battling with pneumonia.

Because of the timing of this trip (at the cusp of winter/spring) I feel as if I have been away for months , as opposed to merely 2 weeks. But the upshot is, I get to experience spring twice this year. My favourite part of spring which involves the breakout of the new leaves, the tender greens and the glorious early spring flowers.

Here's one of my favourite poems by Walter de la Mare that evokes for me all the mystery of life awakening for one more cycle to the warmth of the sun:

Very old are the woods,
And the buds that break
Out of the briars boughs
When March winds wake
So old with their beauty are;
Oh, no man knows
Through what wild centuries
Roves back the Rose.

Very old are the brooks,
And the rills that rise
When snow sleeps cold
Under azure skies
Sing such a history
Of come-and-gone,
Their every drop
Is as wise as Solomon.

Very old are we men;
Our dreams are tales
Told in dim Eden
By Eve's nightingales.
We wake and whisper awhile
But, the day gone by,
Silence and sleep
Like fields of Amaranth lie.

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Subject:	Moonshine Cottage is Listed again!!!!!!!!
Time:	3:27 pm.
Mood:	surprised.

...or at least, the link works again.

At the end of January, I was dreaming about romantic holidays, and I posted about a charming cottage in Camelford that I thought would make a perfect home-away-from-home. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the link, and I just couldn't come up with the right 1000 words to replace the picture.

I was looking around again today and tried the link, just in case, and BEHOLD, it worked.

So here it is again, for those who are interested. (I hope it keeps working.) Oh, mind the wrap.:

http://www.propertyfinder.com/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=502469304&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=®ionid=77&tb=Boscastle%2C+Bude%2C+Camelford%2C+&c=31911562&snf=rbs&tm=1207422960

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Subject:	Dêja View
Time:	10:58 am.
Mood:	weary.

Something I wrote long ago in a somewhat different context, but it seems to say relevant thing to me today.(This is my own, so copyright to me, of course):

Speak to Me of Courage

Speak to me of battles
And of armies long defeated;
Tell me of my sorrow
In terms of glory faded -
And I will tear down walls
Of false hope and illusion,
Cast off chains
Of bondage and confusion
To breathe the wind
Of freedom
Once again.

Speak to me of courage
In the face of sudden chaos;
Tell me of my honour
In terms of pride and longing -
And I will seek out worlds
Unmarred by pain or passion,
Trust to dreams
And mould in my own fashion
A world untouched
By fear, deceit
Or shame.

Speak to me of loving
And of lovers long forgotten;
Tell me of my future
In terms of trust forsaken -
And I will pay no heed
To war or peace that follows,
Shed my tears
For all our lost tomorrows,
For death and parting
Always were
The same.

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Subject:	Those were the days...
Time:	5:45 pm.
Mood:	melancholy.

I peeked in to see what

beckyzoole was up to, to find that she has been dealing graciously with the fall out from her suggested'content strike'.

She has also posted a couple of videos of an old pop song that was based on a piece of Russian folk music. Turns out the song hit the popcharts all over the place, including, as I recall, Hungary, back in 1968.

So I went looking and found this:

It's funny, but it immediately made me think of

madfedor. {;>D

Earworms abound

ETA: the music song makes me melancholy, but I find it amusing that the images are all about food

ETA2: removed an exeraneous 'z' from Bechy's LJ link

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Subject:	American Accent???
Time:	12:23 pm.

From a meme via Anahata:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
The West
Philadelphia
North Central
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I find this not at all surprising since I was raised in Southern Ontario which, aside from 'Tarranna' has no discernible regional accents as far as I could tell. Oddly enough, neither does BC, again, to my ear.

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Subject:	I Survived the Bermuda Triangle...Twice!
Time:	2:45 pm.

Hi Everybody,

I've been away for two weeks on a cruise with my MIL. This is the Explorer of the Seas, 12 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise, except that it's departure day was Feb 24 instead of Mar 16.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?br=R&shipClassCode=VY&shipCode=EX

Also, our route was much more 'straight line' north of the islands, so we were much farther out from the coast. In essence, we traversed the heart of the Bermuda Triangle, coming and going, for 2 1/2 days each way!

It's not that I believe any particular version of the explanations re the Triangle, but, having survived an Atlantic storm in a 14,000 ton ship at the age of 5, I have a lot of anxiety about being on the Atlantic, especially in winter. So for a good part of the trip, my fight/flight reflex was in overdrive.

However, my MIL wanted to go on a cruise, she particularly wanted to cruise on one of RCCL's mega-ships. So when a local tour company that she has taken coach tours with before organized a one day/one night/guided tour of New York before boarding trip to Port Liberty, she asked me to go with her. I've mentioned before that she is legally blind, and it would have been impossible for her to go without someone to help her navigate. So I went.

We saw some beautiful places,

( cut for photos )

I've got lots of pictures, but one of my favourites was taken by the ship's photographers when MIL and I disembarked in San Juan. The good news is that my MIL also bought a copy of the picture. Why is that good news? Because it seems I left all my copies of the formal photos behind, so I can at least get a copy of that one.

It seems one can't have everything, after all. {;>D

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