Jet lagged pooch

His royal highness Jasper has arrived safe and sound in Canada, and I met him at the airport yesterday - he was mildly pleased to see me, but much more excited about the squirrel chasing opportunities that Ottawa has to offer....
He is also jet lagged, and I was walking him round the park at 1:30am, and Paul at 4:00am - what larks! He is now patiently waiting for me to get my act together and take him out again - at least its daylight now!

In other news we are very settled in our new apartment (for piccies see flickr and I am managing to get dinner on the table so Paul is still smiling....

Not sure what the weekend holds for us - so far I have a pyjama party tonight while Paul is out on the town with the boys (?!), and possibly wall-climbing tomorrow....there may or may not be photos later!

moving....

We have moved!
I baked cookies.
No internet for a little while.
That is all. x

Volunteering and making it into the paper!

Well, yesterday marked a month since we arrived, so I decided it was probably best that I broadened my horizons, signing myself up to some activities other than knitting! I registered at the Ottawa School of Art for an etching/printing course which starts on Weds 15th - my shopping list includes a sketch book and rubber gloves.... not being a natural artist there is little I find more intimidating than a blank sketch book, maybe I'll do some fingerpainting to get me going. I may share my 'successes' at a later date....


Then this morning I finally made it to the Fletcher Wildlife Garden which I found online back in June. They have a volunteer session every Friday morning which I was made very welcome at, and I have been asked to look after the pond while its regular attendee is away - I did warn them reportedly that I know next to nothing about gardening and will need the weeds identifying so I don't pull up anything precious. Plenty of fellow birdwatchers too who helped me identify the garden visitors, proper views of northern cardinal and blue jay at last, along with yellow warbler and rose-breasted grosbeak. We also saw a bird of prey swoop past which we decided was probably a northern harrier.....so much easier when someone else is doing the identifying.
Anyway, I'll be back in search of the pileated woodpecker next week - mainly because of its resemblance to woody woodpecker from the cartoon!

My bird-watching antics have also led to a mention in The Ottawa Citizen.....Paul and I set each other 'get your names published' challenges a couple of years ago and this is my first victory! (He meanwhile has published several geeky-science articles....but at least I'm on the scoreboard now!).

Getting dinner on the table

This week Paul has started work, and I am slaving away behind a hot stove.....and wool shopping....and reading books....and exploring the city.....but dinner is on the table so all is well.