Yon Bonny Snow Banks

Being a coward at heart, I have been reluctant to go out with the camera this winter. In truth, when it is best for shooting such as after a crisp, white snowfall, the timing hasn't been propitious. Mostly though, the weather (to put it in the common vernacular) has sucked. We've had rainy days, cold days, overcast days, icy days, and blustery days. These are not the conditions that appeal to an old fart (to once again put it in the common vernacular).

You may have noticed that I am feeling uncommonly common with my vernacular this morning. lol

However, just yesterday morning, I noticed some fairly nice light on the snowbanks way beyond our bedroom window. So, I sacrificed my decrepit body by trundling all of the way downstairs for my camera. I further sacrificed by changing the lens to my longest, one that zooms to 400mm. I did this mostly for you, you understand. (Or should I write you'se in keeping with the common vernacular?)

Back up to the bedroom went I, opened said window, zoomed fully, and took a few shots. Even at 400mm, I had to crop to eliminate extraneous and non-photogenic detail because the scene was at quite a distance.

These are the resulting images. It is not exactly wall-hanging material, but it is something. The snowbanks, by the way, are from the plowing of adjacent parking lots.

We have no or little snow forecast for about the next week, but maybe I'll be able to haul the enfeebled and rickety old bod out sometime before the season is done. After all, there are about 6 months of winter left — not really, of course, but it will seem that long. I don't mind winter, but it does tend to wear out its welcome.

An Unfortunate Language Trend

This is a simple and short post about a usage trend that I have been noticing lately. It is becoming quite common, at least in sports reporting.

It is the use of the present tense when talking or writing about something that may occur in the future.

Yesterday, I came across this headline; I think it was for a video clip, but it might have been for a short article.

"Is [Insert Name] the coach next year?"

Not will he be the coach next year or will he still be the coach next year but Is He the coach next year.

Trends like this are easy to pick up, but I fervently hope that I can resist adopting this one.

Please put me out of my misery if I succumb.

The Bringing of Gifts

Omiyage is a way of life in Hawaii. It's a tradition brought over from Japan. Whenever a group gets together, almost everyone will bring a little gift happily wrapped. (from Kay's blog)

This got me thinking that our Western custom, although not quite as well refined in this regard, is pretty similar, particularly amongst women. I don't think Sue has ever visited anyone without bearing a gift, except probably if it is an habitual and recurring date such as her almost weekly visit to a nearby friend.

I remember back in the day when we used to watch Dr Phil (don't worry, we got over it long ago), he mentioned that men could even drop in on other men without bringing a gift. This may only be partially true, for I did bring donut holes when I dropped over to see Nick not long ago.

I was thinking that this was a recent phenomenon, but then a childhood memory soon disabused me of that.

When I was 5 or 6, we visited one of Mom's cousins whom I called Aunt. She took along with her a box a Laura Secord suckers aka lollipops. I looked forward to them greatly as treats were not all that plentiful at our house.

After some time, when the treat was not forthcoming, I wandered into the kitchen and began to open the box. Mother was aghast at my lack of couth, but I was too young to know better.

So, the custom isn't new although I do believe that it has risen to new heights.

Sledding Vids

When I finally got around to looking at the week-old sledding videos yesterday, lo and behold, there was the one of Sue's last run, or what will probably have been her last run. As I mentioned when I posted my last run, we had the notion to take one more slide in our seventies. For the past two years, the stars hadn't aligned, but, now, we've done it. (23 seconds)

That Sue clip was easy to do, since it was all on one take, but I had a number or takes of the kids that really needed to be edited into one montage. I think this is why I demurred over processing this footage because I don't really love working with videos. Nevertheless, here is Danica: with a lot of fun falling. (39 seconds)

And JJ. (31 seconds)

I am glad I made the efforts, both to slide and to process. Neither effort was all that onerous. Alas, I get lazy.

Now, as I set into the dead of winter, as it were, what will I post about in the near future? I just don't know.

Two Realizations

Two realizations this morning.

1. I had no blog post and no new material.
2. I hadn't yet done anything much from the week's sledding. That was on Tuesday, and it is Sunday already.

So I did a quickie thing — a pretty silly quickie thing. I composited 5 pics of my one sledding run, and I think my final run ever, into one strip..

The white balance changes throughout as does the background, but this is just for fun, so it doesn't matter.

Maybe I will go through some of the footage of the kids today. It is snowing, and we aren't going anywhere, so . . .

I can't say that I am enthused about it, however.

Caturday 15: Lacey Slakes Her Thirst

A few years ago, Asha, the kid's since departed cat had a thing about licking pop cans. Recently, Lacey has become a licker but of windows.

When it is cold enough outside, the warmer household air tends to condense at the bottom of the window pane.

It does have to be fairly cold, though. I just checked the window, but it is only -5C/23F outside, and that does not appear to be a significant enough temperature difference because there is no condensation this morning.

So, Lacey will not be able to slake her thirst by licking the window this morning: at least not yet. It's early (5:30), and the house temperature is still low for sleeping. Maybe there will be window water for her when the house heats up more. We shall see.

Hospital Reports

I came across these supposedly genuine entries in hospital reports. I've highlighted the ones that I thought a little funnier than the rest. Perhaps #29 is my top choice. Although these things tend to make the rounds, I've never seen these before.

1. The patient has no previous history of suicides.

2. Patient has left her white blood cells at another hospital.

3. Patient's medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.

4. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.

5. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

6. On the second day the knee was better and on the third day it disappeared.

7. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.

8. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.

9. Discharge status:- Alive, but without my permission.

10. Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert, but forgetful.

11. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.

12. She is numb from her toes down.

13. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.

14. The skin was moist and dry.

15. Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.

16. Patient was alert and unresponsive.

17. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.

18. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until she got a divorce.

19. I saw your patient today, who is still under our care for physical therapy.

20. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.

21 Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.

22. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.

23. Skin: somewhat pale, but present.

24. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.

25. Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.

26. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities

27. When she fainted, her eyes rolled around the room.

28. The patient was in his usual state of good health until his airplane ran out of fuel and crashed.

29. Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant.

30. She slipped on the ice and apparently her legs went in separate directions in early December.

31. Patient was seen in consultation by Dr. Smith, who felt we should sit on the abdomen and I agree.

32. The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as a stock broker instead.

33. By the time he was admitted, his rapid heart had stopped, and he was feeling better.

Jam and Sled

I have not been too keen to really get into the sledding photos and videos that I shot the other day. Perhaps if I hadn't been otherwise engaged yesterday, which was the day after, I would have done better by now. But, I had a medical appointment in the morning and a musical jam to attend in the afternoon.

The jam was mostly for the benefit of my guitar-playing friend, Bob, for I knew some of the people there, but he didn't, so I helped with introductions. It would have bee difficult for Bob just to show up on his own at a stranger's door. There were about 5 guitar players, a fiddler, and one fellow doing something with a strange percussion instrument that I have never seen before. I think there were 5 of us without instruments, who came to sing a few pieces.

Bob didn't take his guitar this time, wanting just to get a feeling for the session. He has decided that he will return with his instrument next time. It made me wish that I could still play the fiddle, but I gave that up years ago. I do wonder about the mandolin which would be easier on the body but has the same strings as the violin. However, whatever music was printed was just lyrics with chord notes for guitars and not real music notation.

Anyway, I may return once more to take photos. Maybe.

Back to the sledding: I have only dealt with a few of the more up close up, portrait style photos. I do hesitate to call them portraits as that word connotes careful planning. So let us say that they are mainly candid portraits where you get the subject to pause briefly: 2 of JJ, and 1 each of Sue and Danica.

I have some more less portraity candids. This one of Danica taking a spill is, perhaps, my fave of the outing.

JJ not falling on the saucer.

Danica using my camera to take the footage of me that you saw yesterday.

Danica, JJ, and friend trying to build a little jump.

I'm glad we made the effort.

Our Final Run

It has been three years since we took the kids sledding. Back then, we would have them for a Snow Day (school cancelled), and so, we'd usually get to the hill once a winter.

Times change, and we are no longer their before and after school drop-in centre, and we have missed having them on snow days. However, due to circumstances, they had the day off yesterday. We picked them up in late morning, fed them lunch, and took them to the hill.

But this post isn't about them. It's about us.

Both Sue and I wanted to do at least one run in our seventies. We were both 69 on the previous outing.

We shot video to memorialize the event, but it didn't work out very well.

I went first, but Danica wanted to be the videographer. The trouble is that she zoomed and moved the camera mercilessly. Out of however much footage she shot, I managed to salvage a few seconds.

This is my run. I could hardly get my body on the toboggan, but I persisted and made it down the hill.

But Sue was even less fortunate. In the cold, I thought I had pressed the video button, but I missed and only discovered that when I uploaded the event when I got home.

Sigh.

(No doubt, there will be further sledding posts.)

Suddenly Winter and Blue Monday

It has been a relatively tame winter for the most part hereabouts, but things have changed in the past week or so. Last week, we had two dumpings and it also got colder with daytime temperatures often being ~10°C and nighttime closer to -20°C.

I had meant to go out to some prettier spots to get some winter/snow pics, but life gets in the way. Of course, sometimes, life is just simple cowardice and the disinclination to face the cold. Alas, I am a pathetic creature.

What I did do, just for y'all, y'understand, is to pop my head out the door long enough to grab a few quick snaps. I do this as a service to you, so y'all can feel better about yourselves in your environment. You are welcome.

Looking back to ours from the street.

The fire hydrant across the street.

Up the street.

This was on Blue Monday, January 20, supposedly, the most depressing day of the year. I don't know about that, but in the morning I had to trek to an out-of-town hospital to undergo certain probes which I shan't describe. And Shauna said that things were weird at work. Then, the referees didn't show up for JJ's hockey game.

The game was held in an arena with stupidly uncomfortable seats, so I chose not to use them and watched, while standing at rinkside. But that meant that I was away from the pathetically poor heaters that were over the stands. Who but Canadians who choose to spend part of an evening in an ice house on a very cold day?

And I didn't bother to take my camera because I wasn't feeling it. Nope, all I felt was discomfort and cold while I watched the team lose another game. They remain winless in league play. The other team scored on two breakaways, which Jonathan would have had a good chance of preventing had he been playing defence because he is very conscientious about covering his zone, Alas and alack, he was playing forward last night.

So yeah, I guess it was kinda like Blue. Eh?

About Me and Maybe You

A newer blogger friend has posted questions to help get to know one another. Here we go.

1. Where do you live? (Cite, State, Country, etc.)

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Actually just outside of Ottawa, but that's what I say to make any sense of my location to others.

2. What is your favorite way to communicate with others? (in person, telephone, eMail, text, etc.)

Not telephone. This is only partly due to hearing loss. I just don't love the phone. I will usually drive to something not far away when someone else would do it on the phone. For example: I will drop in to make an appointment to change my tires, which happens twice a year. I do the same with the audiologist. I will, however, phone the doctor for an appointment. You just can't drop in all friendly-like there.

Apart from that, anything will do, whether it be email, texting or social media. Texting, whether on messages (phone) or FB Messenger (phone or computer) is replacing email at quite a clip.

3. What is your favorite breakfast?

I suppose it is bacon and eggs, but we seldom do it. I don't think I ever fry up bacon for breakfast at home. We did go out for breakfast last week where I had bacon, eggs, hash browns, pancake and toast. 

This morning, I had oatmeal. They say that it is very good for you, but I confess to never studying up on the matter. To make it even better for my body, if not necessarily to taste, I usually make it with half water/half apple juice. I then add cinnamon and raisins and not brown sugar This makes me feel quite virtuous. I note, however, that just for today I am having it with brown sugar.

4. Do you have kids?

Well yes, two, but they are older than I was when we had them: quite a bit older as a matter of fact. At my age, you ask if you have grandkids. Yes, two: one of each. We live in proximity and see them fairly frequently.

5. Are you considered outgoing or introverted?

Oh, I am definitely the latter and have written about it.

In fact, when I did a search of my own blog, I was surprised by how often I have referenced it. There were 13 related posts. https://anvilcloud.blogspot.com/search?q=introvert .

That search (above) was primarily for my benefit as are the four that I highlight here. Introversion, The I of ISJT, Body on the Grass, I'm an Innie

I hasten to add that I am, a friendly enough person and am not particularly shy. Some of the posts above explain the difference. Try I'm an Innie for example. Heck, here's a snippet because no one will click.

Outies tend to require social activity to feel good while innies require a calmer, more reflective environment to feel good.

So, you see, we innies are simply wired differently. It is my understanding that introversion has nothing to do with nurture or being shy; it has to do with internal wiring. Introversion and shyness, apparently, have little or nothing to do with each other. Shyness has more to do with fear than with basic personality, and it is quite possible for extroverts to be shy.

6. Would you rather parachute out of an airplane or go “deep-sea-diving”?

I am not sure. I think I would like to go diving, but I am referring to just scuba diving such as looking at reefs and not deep sea diving. The other doesn't interest me. Neither does parachuting, for that matter.

Feel free to pick up the meme if you are so inclined. I am sure that most of us have written similar posts in the past, but both we and are readers change over time, so it doesn't hurt to do it again.

Inexplicable

We had a reasonable snowfall midweek and have been experiencing an even bigger one this weekend.

This time around, our contractor has been pretty good about clearing it in good time.

But he doesn't do the sidewalk, just the driveway.

Our neighbour two doors down has a snowblower, He does his driveway as well as his immediate neighbour's drive. It makes sense since they are attached.

He clears his sidewalk and the neighbours. but he stops when he gets to ours. Check the photo.

Actually, he went farther into ours this time. He usually stops on the exact invisible boundary between the two properties, which is where it gets narrower in the photo.

This time he went a little farther than usual, but he must have thought better of it, for he didn't go as wide. Then, he stopped abruptly and completely about three feet from our driveway.

I truly find this inexplicable. He has a snowblower, and I can't for the life of me figure why he won't push it a few feet farther to help a senior, neighbour.

He's a friendly guy. We chat outside, and I have twice recently met him at the grocery store, and we've had a nice conversation, so this baffles me.

Caturday 14: The Abnormal Lacey Gets a Cave

Thing 1: Cats like boxes. This article suggests that boxes offer a sense of security.



Thing 2: Sue gets very attracted to cutesy thingies.

So when Sue saw a soft cat cave at the pet store, it was pretty well a foregone conclusion that it would have to come home with us.

This, however, leads us to ...

Thing 3: Lacey is one cat that has shown no proclivity to get into boxes.

Therefore, I was skeptical that the cave would work for her.

But Sue is a very determined lady, so she put it on her lap when Lacey came for a visit.

Next: she put it on my and Lacey's favourite chair.

Eventually, she entered.

But I must say that she never seemed all that comfy in there. She didn't drift deep into slumberland; every time that I looked at her, she was peering back at me. She did come closer to the front and seemed happier, but still didn't seem to be totally relaxed.

It is my chair too, so I put the cave on the floor. She got on top and beside, but that was it; she did not go inside.

That was days ago. Her soft cave awaits her, but she hasn't revisited. If that changes in the future, I will get back to you.

She is not a normal cat.

Update: Of course, it had to happen. After writing that  she had not revisited, I found her tucked inside one evening. Then, Sue found her on top — again. In both instances, she moved on as soon as she was caught in the act. Later, however, she spent quite a lengthy time like this. ↓

Bad Day Photos

It was a dull day with no fresh snow: not the type of day that calls for photography. But I went out anyway, briefly. I dropped Sue off at her exercise class and went to the old railway/new trail bridge. This photo, looking upriver toward townhall, was acceptable (to me) once I turned it into a monotone.

Just a little later, I stopped at townhall and liked this setting with the barrier and the venting smoke behind it. Also monotone.

Just getting out and shooting, which I haven't done much of, was pleasant, and while the results weren't earth shattering, they satisfied some sort of creative need within.

Although I have titled this post, Bad Day Photos, there are those who say that there are no bad days; there are always opportunities. Maybe that is true.

PS: I always get told by spellcheck It is wrong to spell townhall as one word, but I like to do it anyway although I sure wouldn't spell city hall as one word. BTW, spellcheck also doesn't like spellcheck as one word.

Game Photos: JJ Gets Attacked

We almost forgot JJ's hockey game this week, but the phone saved us by posting a reminder when I happened to check it for some other reason with only 40 minutes to go until gametime. We were about to have supper, but it was just a toast night, so we were able to down our food and still get there with plenty of time to spare. The arena is only about 5 minutes away.

We had remembered earlier and made a plan to go but then, both of us being elder citizens, we  forgot.

We do try to attend most of the home games to show our support. Goodness knows the team needs it since they never win — not in league play anyway although they did win one tournament game.

Please note the wonderful writing above with 3 consecutive paragraphs beginning with "We." Sheesh! 

On to the photos.

The first one is my choice for Game Photo. The goalie sprawling like that is a great moment, and it is well focused with his face being clear. It is a bonus, I suppose, that Jonathan in also in the frame although it might have been a stronger photo with just the shooter and the goalie.

A few non-JJ pics that I like. I note in passing that I take a lot of non-JJ pics. The team has a FB group, and I post many photos there for parents to enjoy.

A few more Jonathan pics to end the post. You can see his expression very well, especially on the second one.

I asked Jonathan about team spirits since they never win, but he said they are good.

I also asked him what he must have done to provoke an opposing player so much. The guy was ready to go after him, but Jonathan didn't engage, so the other guy got a penalty. JJ said that he had blocked the guy a bit in front of the net. You probably aren't supposed to do that at this age level, but it tends to be overlooked when everyone is scrambling for the puck in front of the net and it is difficult to avoid contact with so many bodies fighting to get at the puck.

I am not sure when the next hockey posting will be. I think their games for the next few weeks are on the road. We usually only attend the home games.

More New Edits of Old Photos

Last week, I posted two new edits of old photos. One was from the cottage in November 2017, which I shall repeat.

Below: a photo from the same morning just a few minutes earlier than above: the sun almost rising beyond the old barn.

You can see in the above photo that there was some snow on the ground. It has all but dissipated from the fall three days earlier (which I will show in the next photo).

There had also been a fine sunrise on that earlier and snowier day. I took this photo from just behind the cottage which would also have been the view that we could see from the kitchen window, if the window had been both clean and free from frost, that is. In the background is the same barn as above, with the planer mill behind it. These are two of the three outbuildings on the property.

 It was November, so the snow wasn't quite ready to stay, but it soon would be.

Musing About Spell Check

I have often wondered why we don't have autocorrect on computers like we do on phones. It's not that I particularly desire this feature, you understand, but I do wonder at the lack.

Autocorrects are not always helpful, and they can be pretty funny. There are many examples online. Some seem to be contrived but who knows? Of course, the majority seem to involve bathroom or sexual humour, and they tend to be the funniest, but here's a pretty innocuous one for the pure amongst you all.



Although we may be suspicious of the authenticity of some of the examples that we see online, this really does happen. Like the time I texted Shauna that I was taking Rona Ice Time for a backache. I had been trying to type Robaxacet.

Or take my neighbour who texted his wife about being bone donkey at work. He had been trying to write something about boredom, but it came out as bone donkey. Try as he might with various keystroke combinations, he could never replicate that autocorrect and doesn't know what keystrokes he must have hit.

Although I am not pining for the implementation of autocorrect on computers, I still wonder why we don't have it.

I do notice, however, that realtime spell checking is getting very good. Almost every time that I click on a word with a red squiggly, I am presented with the correct choice, so a simple click or two almost always fixes the typo now. It seems to me that it has not been so accurate in the not-too-distant past.

This is in the Chrome browser, but I must assume that they are all getting better. Chrome is even making more and better grammar suggestions. I am not a very proficient keyboarder and often reverse my letters, but the checker will often sense the context and highlight with a  green squiggly a word such as form where from would fit much better. That is pretty good artificial intelligence.

Absent Mindedness

I have developed quite a proclivity (although I do like the word, propensity, too) to forget what I was about to do. My Beloved would probably say that this is nothing new, and she would be correct, but I do believe that it is a phenomenon on the ascendancy, even if it is not new.

To wit: last night, I popped out of my easy chair with great purpose and gusto. I had been doing something or other on my iPad but suddenly decided that I must attend to something or other.

But I was immediately sidetracked by the pop carton. A few hours earlier I had refilled my pop fridge and had left the carton to deal with later. I guess I decided that this was later enough, so I folded it up and pitched it down the stairs to put in recycling on the next morning.

Well, that was fine and dandy, but then I stood in great perplexity staring vacantly all about me, wondering why I had ejected myself from the chair with such great purpose in the first place.

Too bad, AC, that moment is gone. I, your brain, will not permit you to retrieve that thought.

So, I sat my forgetful self back down and resumed whatever I had been doing on the tablet.

Later, when I was brushing my teeth in preparation for bed, I had the thought that I should fill up the coffee machines for morning. I have been trying to do that recently, which I prefer to bothering with in my 5 o'clock groggy stupefaction. I think that was the reason for the earlier rising. I cannot be sure, but I think so.

I think that many of us suffer from this absent mindedness and that you don't have to be an elder for it to happen, but I also think that we of a certain age succumb with greater frequency. Sue, for example, somewhat frequently propels herself into my den to proclaim or ask something of importance, only to stand there with a vacuous look on her glorious countenance. Oh well.

Speaking of absent mindedness and the coffee pot, on this very next morning I have had two incidents of the braindead variety.

You must understand at this point that we have two coffee brewing machines: a single cup pod type and one that brews multiple cups. I have been using the pod one for my early morning mug because it is quick and easy. When Sue gets up later, I make a big pot,

Well then, when I made my initial mug, I forgot to put the mug in place. I was quite fortunate, however, in that the holder at the bottom was big enough to absorb the contents. I was then able to pour the coffee into my mug. But still, it was a moment of forgetfulness.

If that wasn't enough braindeadedness, when it was time to make the big pot, I actually forgot to add the coffee. Once again, I was fortunate to realize this oversight quickly and shut the system down before it had time to percolate. It wouldn't have been tragic had I not discovered my oversight, but I am just as glad not to have made a big pot of hot water.

I Had No Idea

I Had No Idea of what exactly I would see when I got this ↓ message from Google before clicking on it. (Even though I have an iPhone, I use Google Maps and not the Apple version although I do keep that on the phone too.)

Yes, I guess I was aware that I had location services checked on my phone, but I don't really have to guess that I didn't really know what that entailed.

Basically, it shows me every place where I have been with the phone since I got it in late 2017.

We obviously don't travel much or far. The most distant place is the red dot near the bottom left corner. This is Sue's sister's place, only about 4 hours away.

Of course, you can zoom in by area and get right down to street level. For example: when I clicked on that dot ↑ it showed me a large scale map of SIL's exact street and house.

You can also search by day. Here's what we did on October 16 2018.

The arrows mark our route. On the actual map the exact roads were shown with a blue overlay, but the overlay didn't get picked up in the screen capture.

On the side bar, we could see our driving distances, times and stops. (We were actually going home, so the arrows that I inserted, above, should be reversed. I was reading from the bottom up when I added the arrows; it should be read from top down.)

We had been at the cottage and were heading home. First, we drove 40 minutes to Bancroft. Since we spent only 6 minutes there, we must have just gone through the Drive Through for coffee and whatnot. I am pretty sure that there would have been whatnots. 😊

The next and longest leg was 154k to Renfrew, where we stopped at Wendy's for lunch. This drive took the best part of 3 hours. That's only an average of 50k/hour, but if memory serves, we made at least two photo stops (yes, I've now added photos below). We can saunter and stop almost at will on the backroads.

An hour later, we were home. (The trip took us more than 5 hours, but it can be done in half that time on the right roads with greater purpose.) 😎

You can do this reconstruction with any day, but that was our longest trip since October 2018. Times change, and we will likely never get to that cottage again. It's not ours and extended family dynamics have alterred.

===========================

Just to confirm my memory, I have two photos from the section between Bancroft and Renfrew. Autumn was looking pretty good. That is the Madawaska River in the first photo, taken from the Matawatchan Road, I believe near Camel Chute (why that name, I wonder).

Caturday 13: Lacey Falls in Love

What a strange cat she is! While she doesn't approach strangers, she does want to be around when they visit. This is true almost every family dinner when we have Sha and the kids over on a weekly basis. Lacey hangs around. She just chills, nothing more.

The same was true when friends visited for coffee just after New Year. They were here most of the afternoon. And so was Lacey at a time when she would normally be napping upstairs by the back window. That's her habitual afternoon spot, but not when we have company.

She was intrigued by Bob's foot.

Bob and Barb have a dog, so we are guessing that's what drew her. When we got her from the shelter, they did mention that she was known to sleep with the dogs. That's what made us think that she might be animal friendly, but when we tried to introduce another cat, this was not a happy place, as I posted in Caturday 4 back in August.

But her fondness for Bob's foot does make us think that she might be tolerant of dogs. Not that we want a dog, you understand, but there are dog-lovers in the extended family, so it just might work out if and when they visit. Fingers crossed.

Sue made a pet talkie of Lacey's deep feelings: "Who is this guy? I think I'm in love."

Toward the end of the afternoon, we showed Bob the guitar that Shauna has left here for the kids should they ever show an interest. Bob can play, so he tried it out.

Lacey was very interested.

All in all, that was an interesting Lacey afternoon.

Autumn 2017

As my photo ops become less frequent during winter, I sometimes enjoy peering into older photo folders. Today, I have two photos from autumn 2017.

The first is an October sunset from at our Riverside Park. I imagine that I posted it here at the time, but to keep it fresh I sometimes re-process, which is what I have done today. I am not always sure if I like the original edit or the new edit best, but at least it is fresh.

One month later, in November 2017, we were at the cottage where there was a pretty fine sunrise one morning. You'd be tempted to think that I have enhanced it a lot, but I haven't. The main thing was cropping some of the foreground to highlight the tree more. I do like this one quite a bit; I might even consider it to be print-worthy.