Our Odd Tree Bush

We planted a silk lilac tree in the backyard. It produced some blossoms on occasion, but it never did well. We removed the poor, spindly, failing thing two years ago.

Last summer, when the roots began to shoot up many branches, we left it to its own devices. It fills in a space, and our backyard is pretty well an unused space because it is close to a busy street and the afternoon sun can be very strong. The seldom used yard doesn’t need to be showpiece, so, we left it to do what it wanted.

It continues to do well as a bush, much better than it ever did as a tree, which seems rather odd. Currently it is producing quite a few blossoms (or flowers or whatever you call them). I find this quite surprising, so I decided to post about it.

from the back upstairs window

To change the topic: every now and then, I go for a little evening saunter, just up or down the street. Unusual for us, these are solo outings, for Sue is either in bed or getting close to it. I took this one around the corner at almost 10pm. The outcome was accidental because I forgot that one usually must hold the phone steady for a few seconds at night while the image is being recorded. As it turns out, I like it.

Loving My Spectrum

A dispersive prism can be used to break white light up into its constituent spectral colours. It is typically a 3D-ish glass triangle (but with 5 sides) better described as a polyhedron. 

The diagram from Wikipedia shows how a prism works as the white light travels from left to right and passes through the prism

We have a piece of window film affixed to my den window. It allows light to pass through but scatters it into a rainbow-like spectrum. Strictly speaking, i guess it is not a prism because a prism, as described above, is made of glass. It is prismatic, however, in that it disperses white light into a spectrum of component colours.

It looks like this on the window when it is catching the light

In the morning at the right time of year (like now) and when the sun shines bright, the sunlight hits the window film and passes through, casting a spectrum of light across the den wall wall opposite the chair where I hang out and catch up on your blogs. On one particular morning it hit the coffee maker more vividly than usual, or at least I noticed it more than I usually do. Keep in mind that the coffee machine is 10 to 12 feet from the window. Also observe that the beams on the wall are travelling on well past the machine, going from right to left.

Look at the spectrum on the machine and particularly on the wall behind

The other morning when Sue entered the room, even farther from the window than the coffee maker, the colours reached her already glorious face. But you have to trust me on that, for I have no picture, and I don't think Sue would much appreciate an early-morning, pre-coffee photoshoot.

For this post, I had to learn that the dispersed light is not the prism as I had been wont to describe it, but it is the spectrum. Also, the window film attached to my window is not a genuine prism although it works like that well enough, so I have called it prismatic.

The window film is made by rabbitgoo [sic] and described as "Rainbow Window Films for Privacy, 3D No Glue Decorative Window Clings, UV Blocking Removable Stained Glass Tint Film, Privacy Glass Stickers for Home Office Door." A 2 metre/yard roll is priced at $20 on Amazon Canada.

Critter Encounters

I have new critter images to post today, but this one of the rabbit isn't new. I just posted it recently, but I decided to repost today because it fits the theme, and it is current.

When we walk the local trail, we come upon a house with bird feeders. On this day, we spied a very cute chipmunk on a bench by the feeder and shadowed by a giant Hosta.

Farther along the trail that day, we (as in Sue) got to chatting with a couple on one of the little bridges over the swampy area. Then a couple of dogs and their walkers chanced by and also stopped for a chat. The dog sat on Sue's foot, then on another lady's foot, and finally on my foot. Dogs generally go to Sue first and sometimes disdain me entirely, but this one finally gave the old man a blessing.

On another day, we sighted a heron where we certainly did not expect to. It was only our second sighting of the year, the first being on the pond where it up and flew too far away for our little cameras. It wasn't very close this time either, but I zoomed as much as I could and then cropped in a bit more.

I could tell that the bird was about to fly off and made an effort to go into burst mode, but I fumbled the quick attempt. Sue did get a shot, but I really wanted my own photo. sniff

Shopping and Showering

I do most of the grocery shopping and do well enough for the most part, but there are exceptions.

I purchased French Coffee because it was on sale. Right now, I am glad that I don't live in France. I don't normally put sugar in my coffee, but even with sugar, this coffee is too bitter for me. Live and learn . . . perhaps.

We tried Chapmans  Premium ice cream, Chocolate with Salty Caramel & Peanuts. It was quite special. After finishing the container, I carefully chose it again on my next shopping outing. When it was time to treat ourselves to a dish, I discovered that I had picked up Butter Pecan instead. It was very good but not what I wanted. I do this too often, reach for one item but look away and grab the wrong one. It's a silly habit that has sometimes led to very weird things in my shopping cart.

Bought some brats for the bbq. Cooked them, took a bite and found my mouth aflame. I did consume a few but passed the rest on to JJ who likes things spicy. I don't mind a bit of heat, so I tolerated it to some extent, but my spicy wife doesn't like spicy food, so off half of the sausages went to my grandson.

The final item isn't shopping related, but I didn't expect to have to put on the heater to warm up the bathroom sufficiently for a shower in the middle of June. It really is disappointing for the mid-year shower that I look forward to every year. I will now have to live in anticipation of my annual autumn shower. :)

After High School

For another purpose, I needed to write a short piece about what I did right after high school. I decided to post it here.

When I was in high school in Ontario, a thirteenth grade existed. Indeed, it existed for a long time after the sixties, but in a somewhat less rigorous form. Back then, the majority of our final mark was derived from how we fared on a set of departmental exams at the end of the year, which were set and graded by unknown people in an unknown location.

I had not been a good student up until then. Indeed, my grade twelve yearbook listed undone homework as being my favourite possession. Grade thirteen being what it was and considered to be the equivalent to first year university in other jurisdictions, I decided that it was time to apply myself a little more diligently.

That resulted in somewhat better marks and the realization, for the first time, that I might be a candidate for university. Sending me to university would have been an impossible financial burden for my family, so I determined to take a year to take a gap year of work between high school and university.

I secured a job as a production clerk at ITE Circuit Breakers. Among other items, they made the kind of switches that you see at power stations or at the top of some poles. They worked like regular household switches, either turning the power off or on, but on a whole different scale.

My job was to take the blueprints from the engineering department and to make work orders for the specific things that the factory worker must do to fabricate the switches.

I made seventy dollars per week, but in a little over a year, I was able to save enough money to get me through my first year at University of Guelph where I majored in geography with the goal of becoming a teacher.

I achieved an honours Batchelor degree after completing eight semesters in three years by choosing to study in the summers as well as in the traditional fall and winter semesters.

After completing another year at College of Education at University of Western Ontario, I did achieve my goal and went on to teach high school for thirty years.

Orphaned Photos 1

I fairly recently posted random photos that were left lingering in my blogger folder. Well, I have some more, and I think I shall now call them orphaned photos and number the posts like I do with Caturday.

Way back in the middle of April, I took some photos of flooding in the park, but I never got around to posting this one, which I like quite a lot.

In late April or early May, Sue finished her second afghan of the winter.

Since then, she has turned her hand to jigsaw puzzles. I think she's presently working on her third or maybe fourth. It's a good thing we don't eat at this table.

Signs of Lanark County was the first puzzle. It was missing one piece. You can see a gap over the Lanark 511 sign in the bottom left photo. I had AI fill it in in the bottom right photo. Sue did know ahead of time that the piece was missing, for Shauna did it first and informed her.

This redwing blackbird photo is also from late April. For some reason the red epaulet didn't show up, so I posted it in b&w back then. Only later did my plodding brain realize that I could fill in the red. It is still better in mono, but ya gotta wonder why it took me so long to think of the fix.

I will leave off with one more orphan . . .  for now. It's a more recent photo of a rabbit in the park. It didn't stir when we walked by and stopped to shoot it, so to speak. For some reason, the light and colour were really off, so I made all but the rabbit b&w.

Caturday 92: Sabine Shows Her Disdain

Sabine exhibited typical disdainful cattitude on a recent drop-in.

In actuality, this was just a brief timeout from much friendliness. She had been very happy to see us and to greet us, but a girl needs to recompose sometimes. Introverts understand this need.

Yesterday, we had planned to go out for lunch at a restaurant by the lake for their Friday fish n chip special. It had been my idea, but it was so hot and steamy that once the day dawned, I didn't want to take a hot drive to eat a hot dinner. The weather people tell me that things will become more tolerable tomorrow and for awhile thereafter. That will be nice because it is rather early in the season for such torridity. 

And just because . . . here are pretty grasses by the pond waving at you.