Saturday 24 April 2010

tulips....



....are beautiful. x

Friday 23 April 2010

Ice-cream season begins - part One



An hours walk to the museum is much enhanced by the purchasing of the first ice-cream of the season. His: Banana and Peanut butter, Hers: Caramel Choc-chip.
The verdict 1-0 to her.

NB: Eating ice-cream will not help me shed any hummingbirds, I recognise this fact but will probably not do anything about it. I have managed to replace crisps with carrots, but will not be replacing ice-cream with anything rebel that I am.

Watching my weight....

Last night was Thursday at the museum night - a monthly event where we tour a museum or gallery (because its free on Thursdays), then stuff ourselves on good grub afterwards....
Our first visit to The Canadian Museum of Nature was a success and I can now update you on the hot issue of the moment - my weight. I am a strong confident woman and feel I can share the details of the scales with you my dear friends and family....


As you can see from this beautifully modelled photo, I now weigh the same as
20,618 Ruby Throated Hummingbirds
or 687 Blue Jays
or 52 Mallards
or 8 Wild Turkeys.

I will update you on our next visit in a couple of months time, when I hope to have lost a few hummingbirds....I fear there will be no reduction in turkeys unless i lose a limb.

xxx

Monday 19 April 2010

Sunday 18 April 2010

Wednesday 14 April 2010

The greater concern....

Last night I dreamt about three giant woodpeckers living on top of a grand piano. One of them had a clump of spring onions which it kept rubbing itself in, and another was playing a small cello.

This worried me. That is until lunchtime when Paul did his impression of "D infinity H" symmetry, before correcting himself to state he was infact "C infinity V". Linear but without a horizontal mirror plane. He ended the conversation with this gem:
"If you were going to photo-ionise me, what would you get?"

My dreams seem somewhat saner by comparison.

Tuesday 13 April 2010

Felt mascots as birthday cards

another posting on my crafting blog.....

Felt mascots as birthday cards

Posted using ShareThis

wildlife wonderings....

Last night as we walked Jasper we spotted our friendly beaver again, swimming backwards and forward along the same stretch of the river. At one point he swam up to a pair of mallards and seemed to herd them out of the way.

As I write and stare out of the lounge window I can see two vultures soaring in the blue sky. (Ok, as I write they've soared out of sight, but they were there a minute ago!).

We found a young man passed out in the street yesterday evening, well in the NRC car park but people were having to drive round him. I checked on him, he didn't seem to know his name but knew he wanted to get a 95 bus. I offered to help him up, at least so he could sit on the grass rather than in the road, he was worried I might hurt myself trying to help him (very considerate considering how plastered he was). Turns out someone had already called an ambulance. As the flashing lights arrived (in the end the paramedics turned up, a fire engine crew drove passed to check all was ok, and two police cars pulled up too), he told me I sounded very British and that he had cousins in Britain. He probably can't remember any of this this morning.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Woohoo - I remembered the camera!

The morning walk, the morning beaver spot!

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Mammal-tastic

Someone obviously heard me bemoaning the lack of mammal spotting on our Easter break as today I got a hat-trick.

Firstly - if you happen to be accompanying me as leave my home at anytime in the future, please be sure to remind me to pick up my camera as we leave. After blogging the holiday pics last nigh I put the camera safely in my coat pocket for the morning, not realising that of course now its 14+ degrees I won't be wearing my lovely warm snuggly winter coat anymore unless I fancy a portable sauna experience. This meant that I donned my lighter fleece this morning and therefore only had the shockingly useless camera on my phone when we spotted a beaver doing laps of the river. AGH!!!! He climbed up on the bank showing off his rudder, he swam along beside Jasper and I for a good five minutes and even graced us by diving under slapping his tail on the water. He was beautiful and I am a muppet.

This was a lesson learnt.

At least until this afternoon when I walked Paul back to work and then had to run back for the camera when we spotted the local groundhog and a yellow bellied sapsucker within 30 seconds of leaving home. Of course the bird had flown by the time I returned, but strangely my elephant like grace and heavy breathing did not scare off Mr.Woodchuck who posed for this shot before he decided Jasper was getting too close for comfort and dived down his hole:

Another beaver spot as we neared the river but too far away for photography. On return home though I noticed the neighbourhood raccoon settling down for an afternoon nap in next doors garden. Snug as a furry thing in a tree can be.

So, a mammal-tastic day indeed. And more fun to come, this time of a fishy nature as I head off to the pub to host the great Ottawa knit-night fish hat swap 2010. My blue number is off to a new home and we will see what scaly treat I return with. Photos I am sure tomorrow. x

Monday 5 April 2010

Holiday round up

Well, lets compare the holiday experience to the ten predictions I made last week:

Walking/Hiking

A particularly fine wander around the White Fish Reservoir - or more to the point in it. The water level was dramatically low, so we walked on sandbanks, wearing shorts - spotting patches of ice in what water there was - a real mix of the seasons.

Wildlife Watching
Not many mammals spotted, something ran past me in the dark while I was attempting to photograph stars last night, probably a raccoon. Plenty of birdies though, including several red-breasted nuthatches and a new one to me - a purple finch, which is red - go figure!


Baking


Boardgames
A fabulous game of Plus/Minus this morning with crisps, guacamole, apple pie and ice-cream - fabulous.

Fires (of the controlled and cosy variety)

Two evenings by the fire, supping whisky cocktails or hot chocolate and munching on smores...mmmmm......

Reading/Crafting/Napping
What else would you expect me to do on holiday?! And thankfully my companions felt the same. Several good books read, mainly sat overlooking the lake while various pairs took to the water.


Photography

A fair few photos taken, see flickr

Stargazing
Last night was so clear, it was actually harder than usual to spot the constellations as there were so many 'extra' stars in the sky!

So, all targets me, and also lots of fabulous food eaten, and conversations had. The first of many fab holidays to come I hope. x

Thursday 1 April 2010

April fool...


Another fish completed today....at some point I will learn that posting piccies of my projects leads to more requests from friends and family, but as the fish are fun and quick I don't mind....whether I'll feel the same when I finish the fifth one I have no idea!

A lovely day, much cookery this morning....It was Thursday lunch day today, and my contributions were:
homemade hummus, patatas bravas complete with spicy sauce, the obligatory cheese scones (half with chopped olives mixed in), and feta filo parcels (half with tomato, half with honey).....added to the mix were a selection of Indian treats from Chris (very yummy), and bread, cheese and pudding from Betsy (doubly yummy). A fine meal indeed.





We have the car, we have the food, we've packed our bags and we're off on our holiday in the morning. Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend, back next week. xxx