Things are Moving Along

Well it's a busy time of year in the land of birds and plants! And for us humans too as the warm weather means all the crap that was under the snow is now plain to see. I've raked and swept several times as the trees are loaded with buds that fall off the trees a bit at a time. Although I live in a condo complex the area is well treed with locusts, maples, cedars, spruce etc etc. When I first bought the place in 1994 the maples were little saplings - now at 80' tall they loom over the house providing lots of shade. I don't mind shade in the summer as I rarely have to use my A/C but all the sun-loving perennials I planted years ago of course didn't survive. Ah well, life changes frequently doesn't it?

I've been busy over at Kilally Meadows (I sometimes think I should change the name of my blog to Kilally Meadows as I practically live there!) I spotted a merlin on Sunday - that's a new raptor for me though while I can stand seeing ospreys with fish in their claws I do NOT want to watch the merlins ripping small birds apart! Ugh!

Mr. and Mrs. Osprey in their man-made nest! I
notice they've added a few more sticks to give it
the personal touch :)

Speaking of birds I had a fun encounter with a starling the other day - as my guidebook says they are very gregarious and while this one hopped around a bit it came quite close and I snapped a few good photos that are actually in focus for a change! Her beak was yellow which means she is breeding and boy she was sure happy about it!

I've never seen a bird smile before!

The meadows were flooded here and there after all the rain we had and I had to turn around at one point due to the trail being underwater. Not nearly so bad as last year though. I took my chances when out on my bike Monday cycling through a few flooded areas. I figured I'd be reckless as an elderly Japanese man told me it would only be up to my ankles - he was right though my socks got wet and that felt rather unpleasant! :( 

Due to the flooding the marsh marigolds were blooming in places where they've never been seen (by me) before - I guess that is how plants spread and take over new environments.

Marsh Marigold

I've  contacted a company to see how much it would cost to put a deck platform on my patio. I've tried several times to grow grass with no luck.  So much stuff falls from the trees that I've swept out all the tiny gravel (pea gravel?) between the flagstones and there's just no dirt for the grass to hold onto. My patio water source is at my next door neighbour's house (my hose it at the front of my house) and her tap leaks so I've given up asking her to use her hose. Anyways...I think a deck will be really useful - you should see me try to find a reasonably flat spot to park my chairs and other outdoor furniture - due to the flagstones everything wibble wobbles!

After that gets done I'm thinking about getting Bathfitters in - they put in a new shower surround and new bathtub and give a lifetime guarantee. Should have done it years ago haha! I'm also working on spring cleaning though I noticed the dining room window is speckled again due to recent heavy rains. Drat. Spring cleaning is going to turn into summer cleaning and then fall cleaning...

I hope you're all doing well and in fine fettle with spring in the air finally. I open my doors and windows every chance I get to bring the fresh air inside. Sure perks a person up. Volleyball ends this Friday with an all-day tournament and then my routine will change a bit as I'll have more time for myself and will hike and cycle ending up at DQ afterwards :) (I did that on Monday already!!!)

Ok, time to think about supper. There...I've thought about it HAH!

Over and out.

Update

Hello my friends. Thank you for the enquiries regarding my daughter. We hit a bit of a low point over the past couple of months and it's been hard to put pen to paper...so to speak. But we are very hopeful that the recent procedure she had done will put paid to pesky abnormal cells and she'll be enjoying full health soon. Well, soonish.

The procedure she had done is called LEEP which can be googled if you want the gory details. The doctor told her after it was performed that it had a 90% success rate so that is where the hopefulness comes in. She still has a year of continuous pap tests to go through before she will be declared free and clear. Every 3 months she'll have a pap test until such time as she has 4 clear tests in a row. Then she'll go to once a year.

Kazi is also doing battle with anxiety and depression resulting in going on short term disability. This has been a difficult struggle as resources around here, such as seeing qualified psychologists and therapists, are in such high demand these days as a whole generation of millennials try to get by on low-paying multiple jobs, many part-time and without benefits and without a hope in hell of ever owning a home or building up savings.

In other, happier news.... SPRING is on its way and we are enjoying a few warm and sunny days with lots of rain and a few snowflakes mixed in. I am doing a minimum of 20 minutes daily in nature to keep my own mood positive. This is my favourite time of year with the ospreys and other birds returning to my favourite spot, Kilally Meadows, along with many wildflowers and flowering trees. Just to keep my feet firmly planted I've started spring cleaning :) just for fun! I started with my dining room as it's an easy room to clean and hopefully by next spring I will have made it through the whole house!

I hope you are all doing well! My plan is to return soon to more frequent posting. Volleyball ends April 26 and I am looking forward to having more time on my hands for writing, genealogy and of course CYCLING!

Thanks for always being there, I appreciate it so much.

Rain, Freezing Rain, Ice Pellets, Snow, High Winds

I suppose I shouldn't complain about getting "winter weather" at this time of year but I don't think it's fair that we are on the receiving end of a "Colorado" low, a polar vortex from the "Arctic", an "Alberta Clipper" bringing high winds and snow squalls all day today...well you get the picture!  Keep your own gol' darn weather to yourselves and stop sending it this way!

Sigh...no doubt y'all are getting your own fair share of crappy weather...but do we have to get it all at once? Spread it around Mother Nature - we don't need rain, freezing rain, snow, ice pellets, whiteouts and crazy winds all in one day! And now I think I need a cup of tea!

There, that's better... a cuppa fixes most things. On the one hand I don't mind a couple of guilt-free days when I stay inside, read a novel, work on genealogy, watch a couple extra episodes of "Shetland", cuddle with the cats and do some baking...BUT I do miss getting out to play volleyball or power walk on the indoor track at the BMO Centre. I tried to get to volleyball on Tuesday but first I had to clear the car of several inches of snow pellets. That wasn't so bad. But after going inside for 10 minutes I came back to the car to find the doors frozen shut due to freezing rain. There was so much freezing rain buildup that by suppertime I couldn't get the front door open! Help!!

Fortunately, on Sunday, I was able to get out for a walk in Kilally Meadows. It was hard walking due to last week's freezing rain but I had a walking stick which helped me out several times. So I was able to check on the beaver-ravaged tree and found out that the BEAVER WON! I was rooting for the tree but the ending was inevitable :( 

It looks as though the tree is bending over in pain - no doubt it is!!

Can you see the alien face below? 

How about now?

Or now?

Sorry  I couldn't resist!

                                                      So how's the winter where you are? 

                                           I know that B.C., (British Columbia, Canada), is 

                                            getting  record-breaking snowstorms...as they 

                                   are usually the TROPICS of Canada, even in the winter, 

                                                  I'm not really feeling that bad :)  

Where Does the Time Go?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year. Here are a few highlights from my own holiday season...but first, a message from our sponsor - Kilally Meadows!

Winter Solstice - Dec. 21. The day of the
year that our shadow it at its longest! I will miss those
long legs as we reach the Summer Solstice! 

• had a Christmas week breakfast with a former colleague. Donated some "free coffees" to the homeless (the place we always go to for breakfast is a restaurant which hires only folks with disabilities) and has set up this program of buying coffees for those in need. And the food is fantastic!
• went out to dinner at The Winebar with two girlfriends (they also serve food :)
• spent hours and hours perfecting my Scotland calendar - will post the photos next time
• finished reading several books - my favourite was "Scotland: The Genetic Journey." NOT as dry as it sounds! It was so good that I've also purchased "England: The Genetic Journey."
• Went for several walks in Kilally Meadows - almost NO snow to be seen! (You know there is something wrong with the climate when you're surprised to see snow in January in CANADA!) Yup, a green Christmas and New Year again this year!
• had two long visits with my brother and fellow traveller - Kim :) (One of the traditions we started when in Scotland was to have a wee dram of scotch and a couple of Hobnobs with a good cuppa after. So we've now added that tradition to our bi-monthly visits here at home! :)
• Went to see two movies, with a third coming up this coming weekend.  The first was "Will you ever Forgive Me?" with Melissa McCarthy in her first dramatic role. I loved it, my friend was luke-warm. Then on New Year's Eve we started a new tradition by going to a movie - when we went into the theatre it was 2018 and when we left it was 2019! That movie was "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Rami Malek playing Freddie Mercury. If he doesn't win an Oscar for that role it will be a disgrace! I give it five stars!! No, six!! The other movie we want to see is "The Green Book" with Ali Mahershala and Viggo Mortensen. The "Green Book" was a book created for African Americans to use when on holiday in the U.S. back in the 1960's. Only certain motels/hotels/restaurants etc would serve them and were listed in the book.  Mahershala plays jazz musician Don Shirley and Mortensen plays his driver and bodyguard while on tour. It's getting RAVE reviews! 
• Spent Christmas Eve watching Christmas movies with Kazi and Christmas Day with Kazi and my brothers, sister-in-law, nephew, his wife and child. GOOD times. I also went for my 2nd annual Christmas walk in Kilally Meadows after Kazi and I opened gifts and had our traditional breakfast of peach pancakes. (I made them with whole wheat flour this year and I thought that improved the taste!)
• Interspersed were a few games of volleyball and ball hockey, some baking and batch cooking and more reading and a bit of genealogical success tracking down my 4th great grandmother and father! Yay! 
• My only resolution is to READ more which should be easy as I've picked up about 20+ books the past few weeks from friends, brother, library, Amazon etc. (I also donated some thrift shop clothes when I was in Scotland to make room in my suitcase for the books I bought while there! )When I was planning my retirement I imagined myself lounging around all day with stacks of books around the house and nothing but time to read them all. (No bonbons please!) But it hasn't quite turned out that way as every time I pick up a book I feel guilty and think there is something more important I should be doing. BAH HUMBUG!! 

Now I want to hear about YOUR holidays :) 

But first...a message from our sponsor, Lilypad...

Such a big chair for a wee little kitty!

Thongs....oops...THINGS... going on around here...

 Although my favourite season is spring there is still beauty to be found in the colder seasons.

Especially if the sun is shining as it was last Friday - I don't think I've seen the sun since then - 

COME BACK!!

I wasn't through with you yet!

Hungry baby birds?

A reindeer?

Had my mammogram followup meeting on Monday and learned I have a tiny mass

in each breast. Chance of it being cancerous

 is 1-2%. I can handle that. 

Looking at things logically (which is what I try do) my mother and one of my older sisters both had a number of benign cysts removed so I feel it's safe to assume I'll be the same.

  

It's hard to tell but things were really mucky in

Kilally Meadows on Friday and I need to whack all the dried mud

off of my boots after this post.

  

The next two are my favourites - the camera focussed 

on the twigs and not on the sparkly river.

 Pretty cool!

 There's the river!

The nearby pond had a thin crust of ice - 

  

- I love the way it looks! 

Something alien about it...

closer...

Another creature in the woods.

So I will wait somewhat patiently for my next set of x-rays and

ultra sound which happen in mid-January. 

I had my splinted finger x-rayed on Monday - better safe

than sorry. No news yet,

Too bad there's nothing exciting going on in the next six weeks 

to take my mind off of thongs! 

🎄🎅🎉

Typing while wearing this splint is a challenge - I have so many typos. 

Hellooooo! I'm in the house!!

I've come to the conclusion that I don't like being inside in nice weather.  Which would make me just like my dad. I start feeling anxious and feel like I'm wasting my day if I do things inside when the sun is shining! There's nothing wrong with being out and about for hours on end; for my dad it  meant that he would head out of the house at the crack of dawn and my mom wouldn't see him until lunch as she slept longer than he did - like til 8am!  After lunch and a perusal of the newspaper he would usually head out again until it was supper time unless he had things around the house to do like mow the lawn, feed the chickens, paint the house, tar the roof or change the oil in his car.

As he got old older he hired others do to those sorts of tasks but he NEVER stopped spending most of each day outside. And for him any day was a good weather day whether it be summer or winter. In fact he was even busier outside during the winter as he would drive around the countryside refilling the many bird feeding stations he had set up or he'd install a few bird boxes to give birds shelter in bad weather and a place to lay their eggs in the spring.

Dad loading up the bird feeding stations.

My dad suffered from severe depression and anxiety and in his last few years he also had OCD. I like to think that being out in nature everyday helped him cope, just like it does for me.

So when I go missing from my blog it's because I am driven to be outside. I have to check out my beloved Kilally Meadows to see what's blooming and to listen to the birds. I have to go biking on the trails and I have to play beach volleyball (except for when it's +40c and 100% humidity!! - like yesterday...then I bike instead :) (or head to the beach!)

Tansy - the latest addition to my little guide on wildflowers in Kilally Meadows.

Monarch blissing out on Joe Pye weed...at the beach!

PS: Anne - no Disquis commenting!

Complaining

It's a cool wet day today but I'm not complaining about that - I'm happy that I don't have to water the flowers today and the Weather Network says the sun is going to come out a bit later and it will warm up to about 20c. I can handle that after a week of +30c. No complaints here!

Beach volleyball is still on but we won't have to wear socks today to protect our feet from the boiling hot sand - so no complaints there!

Lily got her jaw around an entire chipmunk on Saturday!!! But when she dropped it the chipmunk ran under the fence to freedom - so no complaining about that! Thank goodness! (Do chipmunks play dead when caught by a predator?)

aka Killer!

I rode my bike to the annual Gathering on the Green where my brother sets up a booth to sell his unique birdhouses. Humidity was high even though the day was cooler than usual and I was a puddle of sweat by the time I arrived. But I'm not complaining as I met up with friends, explored what was for sale, bought a gift for my sister-in-law's upcoming 70th birthday! Also went and had a nice lunch on a nearby patio with my friend Jules who purchased the creature below :)

Zombie Doll - Cynthia Rose

"Hey Cynthia Rose - get your slimy lips offa my beer!!"

Ran into a former work colleague who retired two years after I did. I asked him how it felt to be retired and he said it feels like his natural state of being. I understand what he means - it feels the way life should feel - waking up when the body is ready to wake up, eating when hungry and not because the clock says a certain time, exploring new interests, developing old ones more fully...retirement is fantastic!! Really...I can't complain!

Had a nice jog and then walked on the trails at Kilally Meadows yesterday. Ran into a friend who is a weather radar-watching freak and he told me a thunderstorm was going to hit at 2pm. But I'm not complaining - I timed my walk and made it back to my car just is time. He was dead on with his prediction! At precisely 2pm the heavens opened...though I don't think I heard any thunder or saw any lightning - SO NOT COMPLAINING!

The rain is on its way!

Kilally Meadows!

So...I guess what it all boils down to is this: I'm complaining about the fact that I have nothing to complain about! 

It's a tough life I lead!

May Weather Not Good for Blogging!

I am sooooooo grateful these days for the wonderful weather we're having after our long hard slog through winter and early spring. "Mid-SPRING" has been worth waiting for! Only a couple of weeks ago we had a major ice storm and now the fruit trees are flowering and yesterday I was attacked by mosquitoes and flies while hiking in Kilally Meadows!! The temperature yesterday was a HOT 27c (81F) so I took full advantage of it enjoying a good long ramble.

Mr. Heron is about the only bird that sits in one spot long enough for me to get a photo!

So I guess you know what kind of photos I'll be taking for the next few months :)

Fauna and flora :) in the photo below those 3 blurs are white-tailed deer running along a path.

 I zoomed in a little more and you can see a lovely little white tail just right of centre. They were loving the weather as much as I was. If you look at the header photo above that is the trail the deer were running on. Of course by the time I hiked across the field to get to the path the deer were long gone.

It's so amazing the difference a coat of green foliage makes!

I was getting VERY tired of grey/brown:

Now there is so much colour everywhere!  

So, if I don't post often just imagine me on my bike with a big smile on my face:

The Ice Storm

 Were any of you affected by the Colorado low that came through my region (SW Ontario) all day Saturday and Sunday spewing freezing rain and ice pellets "the likes of which we've never seen before?"      

(Eek, who do I sound like?)

The upside, it you can call it that, is that I stuck a really good book in front of my face for hours and hours on end so I wouldn't have to look outside! My author of choice at the moment:

...if you haven't read any of her books you might be familiar with her main character: Inspector Lynley on PBS Masterpiece Mystery!

Other than a couple of very careful trips taking out garbage and recycling and throwing seeds to the poor birds and squirrels,  I've been stuck inside. BUT, I didn't fall on the ice and break my hip!! See, there's always a silver lining :)

Knowing that we were in for the "storm of the century" I headed to Kilally Meadows for a couple of hours on Friday before all HELL broke loose! Things are "greening up" with signs of wild flowers to come:

Mystery Plant

Moss

Skunk Cabbage

Skunk Cabbage

Marsh Marigold

Marsh Marigold

                If you look hard enough there are all sorts of treasures quietly growing...of course, after all the rain you might need a snorkel!