Easter Synchronicity and Serendipity

On Easter weekend, I picked up our pies from Ashton United Church. While I have posted photos of this church in the past, they were all made with a real camera :) but this was an iPhone shot because that is what I do now. It was a pano sweep, and with a little adjusting, it turned out quite well.  It's a unique building with the pews arranged in an arc around the podium in the corner. (There are objects (speakers etc) that I could remove, but we'll let them be for now.)

Now for the Synchronicity and Serendipity of the title, and I do think that both apply.

It's Easter Weekend, and with the front yard glacier* in recession, I noticed tulip shoots appearing where there had been snow just hours earlier. That was on Good Friday, but I took these on Saturday after returning from the pie run. I wanted to capture the shoots with the glacier :) still looming in the background. In point of fact, if you look carefully in the background of the first two photos, you should spot tulip shoots poking out of the snow glacier*.

I think both words — synchronicity and serendipity — apply. The tulips were synchronous with Easter, but they were also serendipitous because I wasn't expecting to see them and just happened to check out the garden. Do you not agree?

*Speaking of the glacier, it is greatly diminished and very grubby with accumulated dirt, so I am not overly eager to post a photo. Snow-cover is generally all but gone in our area, remaining only where it was piled deeply by the snowblowers and/or where it lies in very shady spots. I will be happy to report again when the darn glacier has been consigned to history.. 

Caturday 90: Sandy

I have posted at least once of my adopting or being adopted by a cat when we lived on a nursery where my dad worked. Said cat left me one day, presumably perished, but her sister. Mixie, remained, and you shall see her later in this post.

Mixie had a litter under the back stoop which you shall also see soon enough. She had many litters, and more than one in the same location. The first kitten of hers that I saw was Sandy, and I wanted him. All of the other kittens were given away, or I guess sold off, but Sandy remained with us for at least a decade.

He grew to be a very big cat. Most people remarked that he was the biggest cat they had ever seen. I suppose the Maine Coon breed that is now popular is even larger, but this is now and that was then, and Sandy was impressively large. (Note: Maine Coons didn't become a recognized breed for about 30 years afterward.)

My Dad holding Sandy

probably circa 1965-66

That is the edge of a unique tower greenhouse that my dad oversaw
along with 4 other normal greenhouses.

When Mixie had that initial litter, the first kitten that I saw was Sandy. At only a day or two old, if memory serves, he clung to Mixie's fur as she egressed from her cave. She quickly restored him to his proper place, but he became mine. Actually, as the picture indicates, he became more Dad's than mine, for dad was always close-by on the property.

The next and final photo shows me sitting on the stoop under which Mixie had several litters. I am pretty sure that it was Sandy that I was holding with Mixie sitting beside me. That would have been 15-year-old me in 1963 before Sandy grew up to be a very big boy.

When I was still youngish and living at home for about the next 5 years, I would often become aware of big Sandy occupying space at the foot of my bed. I would push him off and attempt to go back to sleep.

One more thing. The owners of the nursery would bring people by to see and purchase the kittens. At least once, I refused an offer for a buyer to purchase Sandy from me in addition to whatever price they would be paying to the owners, which was probably a dollar or two.

I was not about to let Sandy go for a mere buck or two. 

Tightly Furled

While the weather permits, we will continue to check in on the crocuses. I know it is repetitive, but the season is so very brief and so very desired.

Yesterday was not acceptable to the poor things, so the little clump that I showed recently was tightly furled.

However, I did discover one yellow crocus, and it was open.

On that outing we took our little phone stands to try to stabilize our attempts, but it was still difficult to get old bodies down there, and I couldn't get a clear view of the screen. I pointed, hoped for the best, and relied on cropping in post to get a somewhat decent composition.

Shopping Lists

This is the list that I took to the grocery store yesterday. There is nothing to see here: the point is that it was a list.

I expect that we of this somewhat senior blog circle take paper lists to the grocery store because we are of an age when this was the only way to do it, for we had no handy dandy portable electronic devices. Apparently, we are thus doing a good thing for our brains, or at least this VegOut article so says. I post a little of the article below, but you now have the link to the whole post, which isn't terribly long, should you wish to click and read a bit more.

When writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns were far more elaborate than when typing. The researchers found widespread theta and alpha connectivity coherence between network hubs and nodes in parietal and central brain regions. These are the same frequency bands and brain areas that existing literature identifies as crucial for memory formation and encoding new information.

When participants typed, those connectivity patterns largely disappeared. As lead researcher Audrey van der Meer explained, the simple movement of hitting a key with the same finger repeatedly is less stimulating for the brain than the intricate, precisely controlled hand movements involved in forming letters.

This is not just an academic distinction. It means that when you write "eggs, bread, olive oil" on a piece of paper, your brain is doing fundamentally different work than when you tap those same words into a phone app. The handwritten version engages visual processing, motor planning, proprioceptive feedback, and spatial awareness simultaneously. The typed version engages mostly repetitive motor sequences and visual confirmation.

We have three Alexas in the house (don't ask), so when we realize that we need to add an item to our shopping list, we simply hail Alexa. "Alexa put X on the shopping list." When I am ready to shop, I grab the back of an envelope and write out the list more or less in the order that I will find the items in the store. I guess I make the best of both worlds: the convenience of compiling a list from wherever I might be in the house but then doing my brain a favour by writing it out.

How Sweet It Is

May we talk about peppers today?.

For years, we've often had one in the house, usually red. I often consume a few strips during lunch.

I have noticed that we could purchase small bags of peppers, perhaps with 1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 orange.

But at the rate that I consume them, what would I possibly want with three peppers?

One day, Sue noticed that she could purchase one of these bags quite cheaply and get 3 for 1 as it were.

So, she did just that.

The sweetness was remarkable: so much better than the single peppers from the bin.

I wasn't mistaken, for the next single pepper that I purchased tasted less sweet once again. Following that, we purchased another bag of three, and it was also much sweeter, just like the first.

Photo by Alamy

What is up with that? Has anyone else noticed this? Whatever the case, I shall forevermore purchase peppers in the bag if I am given the option.

Whitewater and Lavender

We were pleased with our warm day and even cracked open a window for the first time in months. Our walk was reasonably pleasant although there was still a stiff breeze.

We strolled amongst the back bridges where we cross the river more than once. It is whitewater time, but I think the melting of the snow has been gradual this year, so the river is not running as high as it has in other years. I took this picture looking down from the trail bridge.

We walked around to Gillies Bridge from the trail bridge where I captured water flowing through one of the conduits made by the bridge supports.

As we passed by the crocus patch, we poked our noses in and were surprised to find that a few crocuses had opened. I tried taking a few photos but only liked this one. That said, I really do like this one.

We'll keep checking, but if the freezing rain that they are threatening does eventuate, it will be hard on the poor dears. We will return periodically and keep you posted, for the crocus season is fleeting.

Timmies and Tires

That was better. Sleepwatch tells me that I slept for 5:25 last night, which is close to 2 hours better than the previous night.Geting to sleep at 11:10 was also a bonus. As I wrote yesterday, I would rather go to sleep early and wake up early rather than vice versa.

It's already after 9am, and i have just returned from a Tmmies run. I had already consumed my mug (1/2 mug 2X) and Sue her usual big mug. But the lady awoke with a headache and was about to brew a second mug when I offered to venture forth a get her a "good coffee" from Timmies. She was quite enthusiastic about this.

While I usually say Tims and not Timmies, I read an article this morning by a Brit now residing in Toronto, and Timmies is one of the strange Canadian slang words that she mentioned. Of course, it refers to the ubiquitous Tim Hortons. It is not an abbreviation for coffee, however, just for the place that is Tim Hortons. We do not call coffee from other establishments, Tims or Timmies.

Other peculiar Canadian slang that she mentioned were toque, washroom, Loonie/Twonie, runners and two-four. You already know about toque, but you can read about the others here if you like. Briefly however, loonie/twonie are our one and two-dollar coins that have replaced paper currency because an image of a loon graced the first Loonie. Runners are what we call running shoes that you may call trainers or sneakers. A two-four is a case of beer and also our May 24th holiday (Queen Victoria's birthday). Many a two-four is consumed on May two-four.

Driving though for coffee, I had to insert my credit card rather than simply tap because it is a new one, by which I mean an updated version of an old one. This will involve much updating on various sites such as Timmies and Amazon, for example. It's a bit of a pain, but once done, it will save time for 6 years.

Next, I shall get back in the car to visit the tire shop where they will change Hermione the Honda over from winter to summer tires. I look forward to the nice, less noisy ride of the summer tires, but I don't look forward to the changeover expense. The storage fee plus the change-over fee will amount to more than $100, and I have to do this twice a year.

Fortunately, the weather is nice today and will rise to a positively balmy 14C/57F. Unfortunately, it won't last, and we shall suffer through an ice storm tomorrow and into Wednesday, during which the car and its summer tires shall remain parked in the garage.

Now to do some more credit card updating an inputting before I head out again.