Spring Robins and Floods

The weather is discouraging, but that is March being March. The sun crosses the equator, and we have a few nice days. Then, the temperature drops again, and the winds come, and we even get more snow. It's always a letdown, but there are signs — signs apart from the disappearing snow pile, of which by the way, the small core still lingers.

Robins are a sure sign. Sue, for example, used her wonderful telephoto on her phone to capture this robin on our neighbourhood walk.

Then, we had coffee by the park adjacent to the boat launch. Just over two weeks ago, we couldn't see over the snowbank, but it is all gone. The yearly flooding of that low strip between the parking lot and the river has occurred. The river beyond that tree has risen to the same level as the land, and the resulting pond was full of geese and a few ducks.

I wanted to get a photo of all of the fowl in the pond, but had I stepped out of the car for a clear photo, they would have left. So, I did my best through the windshield and then cropped away the hood in the bottom third of the photo.

The river has overflowed the bank near the tree, and the geese search for food in the resultant pond.

Flooding occurs here every spring but sometimes even more so than this year. One year, as we sat in the car, a couple actually launched their canoe from the right right of the photo where the trees abut the edge of the park. They paddled from the pond onto the river and went on their excursion upriver.

Miracle of miracles, I found those pictures from April 2017. First, look at the extent of the pond from all of the flooding: so much more than this year. Then, I have the picture of the couple getting into the canoe, followed by one of the paddling away on the actual river.

While it all looks calm enough in these photos, the high water creates quite a torrent farther downstream. Maybe I will be able to capture capture some pictures, but it was so dull yesterday that I couldn't be bothered to lift my camera —- not even the little phone.

Sue's Day

The birthday came and went. You may recall that there was an early gift of a pretty upscale iPhone, but there had to be something else for Sue on her special day. There is always the gift of a card, and you saw that yesterday, but some other little thing was required.

So . . . come mid-morning, I went out to pick up a little bouquet of three white and three red roses that I ordered last week. I could have had them delivered, but I knew that we'd be going out at some point, so I decided to pick them up to avoid a delivery conflict. Sue took various photos; I chose these two. I would show the whole bouquet, but that download is choosing to give me grief.

Then, it was off to Ottawa for lunch at Swiss Chalet, where the nice server provided a piece of lemon pie after our rotisserie chicken lunch.

Shauna and Dani dropped over after work and school respectively just to say hello. I think we'll see them again on the weekend along with Jonathan who was working today. We had buns and cold cuts available so that they wouldn't have to go home and still fuss with dinner. Poor Lacey was not included.

Of course, there were gifts, which hardly excited Sue at all, as you can plainly see.

! 78 !

The woman with whom I have spent most of mu life is 78 years young today. We don't dine out often, but we often take pictures when we do, so many of the pictures that I have of her are from these outings. Here is the most recent one from you know where.

This year's card: front, followed by inside, which I did sign later, bottom right.

I found the collage that I made 10 years ago for Sue's 68th and thought that I would post it again. It's chronological if you begin at top left and then go clockwise down and back around to bottom left.

More or Less

I honestly don't know what happened to the photos and the rest of the text of the previous post. As you know I am not a stranger to posting photos, but what can I say. And I deleted them from the computer too. But to satisfy myself if not anyone else, I will see what I can scrounge up.

Here are the photos from the past two Mondays.

This is what it looked like today: a little fresh snow but there is only a small remnant of the pile.. The new snow disappeared shortly after we took the photo.

There were other photos of past years, but since none of the material, even the written stuff, got posted in the previous attempt, I won't go hunting them up.

It's a mystery, I tells ya.

Less and More

I taken snow pile photos on the past two Mondays, so I thought that I would check in at least once more.

As you can plainly see, on this Monday, there is both less snow and more snow. To wit: the pile has continued to diminish, but we have received a bit more snow and cannot see the grass again. It is always disappointing when this occurs in late March or even in April, but it always does seem to occur, and sometimes the snowfall can be quite prodigious.

The simultaneous less snow and more snow causes me to recall that I once knew a fellow called Les Moore. I digress, but truly, his parents should be punished. Or should I write, PUNished?

Snow Drops 2025

You might remember that the snow drop patch was void of life when I posted on March 11. Yesterday, almost two weeks later, there were two little clumps blooming, but they were pretty closed. I don't mind that because they look droppier closed than open in my opinion. 

I wonder now whether the patch has been hit hard over the winter or whether I am just a little early this year. I did photograph two weeks earlier last years, and there were many flowers and they were quite open, but this was a tough winter, so perhaps it will take another week. Out of interest, I will return to check progress if I think of it, but I think these two photos will suffice for this year.

Rather than use my macro lens this year, I stood back and shot with my telephoto lens and then cropped madly in post. This allowed me shoot while standing, which is easier on the body, and I am satisfied with the results. 

Maple Scanning

In the light of Rumpy's threats and tariffs, we of the Great White North are endeavouring to do what we can to support Canadian companies whenever possible and to express our concomitant disapproval of things American. We are now assisted by a new iPhone app in these very odd times.

I've tried the app a few times, and it seems to work. I pointed, snapped a photo, and soon learned that Beatrice is both a Product of Canada and also Made in Canada, the second generally considered to be more Canadian that the first. I was able to choose this product over a competing American product.

I scanned PC Chocolate Chip Cookies and discovered that they were made in Canada but not a product of Canada, which would mean that at least some ingredients were sourced from elsewhere, but it didn't say where. Whatever the case, however, I once again, left the competing American brand on the shelf.

On the other hand, Lacey's Fancy Feast cat food is an American, Nestle product, and Del Monte tinned peaches are also American. I purchased both because there were no Canadian competitors. and it didn't seem right to starve the cat or not eat fruit.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese was a bit of a conundrum. The app and packaging indicate that it is an American product, but both grocery stores that I went to also showed the maple leaf symbol on the shelf, so I wasn't sure what to do. I bought it anyway, but when I got home, Sue didn't understand why I had bought more cream cheese home. You see, I tend to get cream cheese and sour cream a bit muddled in my head; we needed the latter, not the former. I had to rectify my mistake later.

Does this avoidance of American products, in favour of Canadian ones. have an impact? Frankly, I don't know, but I feel better doing my bit. If millions of shoppers do this, it is bound to mean something.