Please Fence Me In

These are days of sudden changes in the little life of Niki-Dee, which is the name that I am adopting at least temporarily. She's not exactly a Smudge anymore; in fact, she's pretty large and robust ... as far as babies go anyway.

Two weeks ago she was not yet crawling. Suddenly she was. Not only that, but she is stepping out as long as someone is holding her hands. She's most chuffed with herself when she takes those wobbly steps too and tends to chuckle in delightedness with herself. Development number three is that she is beginning to pull herself up to a standing position. What changes in such a short time!

She's such a determined explorer though that she needs to be coralled, and the system in the photos seems to do it very well. Thesha uses the fences to confine Niki-Dee to the living room, furniture providing the other walls. So, baby gets a reasonable amount of space but can be kept away from boot trays and such. Until Mom implemented this system, The Bonnie Wee One was bound and determined to constantly head towards for the dirty shoes and boots by door. (BTW: the kit comes with six sections. All six can be used, or it can be broken up into two sets of three.)

And she's happy enough behind the fence. Really. Can't you tell? Well, she is smiling (sort of) in the top picture.


PS: Please notice where the sun is shining in the first pic. Yes, I do pretty well think that the sun shines out of there. lol

Night Exposure from the Back Porch

I think these will be my last two photos of last weeks trip to the cottage. Both versions are the same basic time exposure from the back porch of the cottage, and in both cases, in order to give it more life, I doctored the photo somewhat with an artistic filter or two. I also cropped the bottom version and applied something known as The Orton Effect, which basically uses blurring to hopefully give it a dreamlike quality. The technique probably wasn't terribly well suited for this photo, but one experiments and sometimes learns.

Wistful Recollections

We have more photos for you again today but not pretty postcard types this time. Not at all, just our cruddy old driveway on a mild day — yesterday.


I grabbed the opportunity that the break in the weather provided to scrape ice off the driveway. For the most part, I could get under it with a steel shovel. Then, I would throw it onto the pile with the scooper shovel that is planted in the snowbank in the photo below. And I remembered something.



I remembered being a little boy in Montreal and my grampa doing the same thing. In my memory the ice was thicker and he broke it up with a pick axe. There were a few spots where I could have also used a pick yesterday too, but alas I am not so equipped. I had always assumed that particular day about 55 years ago was later in the year but perhaps it was in some sort of mid-winter thaw such as the one yesterday.

Now I am the grampa chipping up the ice. Perhaps I might do this again with The Smudge in another year or three when she is older, just as I watched my grampa more than half century past. While she watches, I can tell her of my memory of my grampa ... and maybe she will remember me too when she is old, and I am but a distant and fading image in her mind.

I wonder if she'll wish in that far off day that the adult her could have a little chat with me just as I wish the adult me could sit down over coffee with my grandparents. Wouldn't that be grand (so to speak)?

Sigh.

I have posted this photo before, but that's me and my grampa below. Yes, I would really love to chat with the old guy and hear about his life from his own lips. What was he really like? Was he happy with his lot? Why did he immigrate to Canada? Why did he go back to England several times before staying here permanently? Did laying bricks on skyscrapers scare him senseless? Why did he return to Montreal after living in New York for several years? How did he meet his wife, my grandmother? And so on ...



Speaking of generations, guess who's ten months old today? Happy Birthday little one. Just look at those teeth with several more on the way. (Photo taken on Feb 18/08.)

Seasonal Charm

I promised you more pictures, so whether you like it or not, here they are. This is a bridge to nowhere. The property backs onto the Crowe River, and there is a large tract of forested land on the other side. Some of my BIL's hunt-loving neighbours built this bridge in order to access said land during the appropriate season, but the owner barred the way, so it remains as a Bridge to Nowhere. While I don't love the notion of hunting, I also don't care for the landowner's selfishness. I have seen this more than enough up there where there is an abundance of almost unused land. We're a strange lot, we humans.



Another snowy pine branch and cone very near the other in the previous post.



The previous two photos showed how sunny it was, but then, as I mentioned in the prior post, the wind whipped up the snow in some sort of devilish fury. It was sudden and strange and only lasted for a few minutes.



And this was was of those moments. That's Cuppa and BIL trudging through the driving snow. BIL's two dogs accompanied us, and they are both in the photo, but you might only see one in the size that I am showing you here.



So, you see, all of ye doubters, each season has its beauty and charm. Having made that point, I hasten to confess that I've just about enjoyed my quotient of winter charm for this year.

Home Again

It wasn't a typical winter retreat for us — a lot of visiting and appointments and little snowshoeing and picture taking — but I do have a few photos to post in the next few days. First, let me say that the Internet was horrible, but I did manage to sort of keep up with you through Google Reader. I read from there and stayed away from clicking on individual blogs.

The first shot (below) was taken by Cuppa on the drive in last Saturday, but I'll claim the photo anyway since I specifically requested that she take this shot. I really like it: the snow, the old truck, the winding road, the dim lighting.



Next day, we did go for a snowshoe walk. The sun was bright, and I took this shot of the fence shadows in the snow. Unfortunately, I overexposed, so it's not as good as it could have been.



As we snowshoed along the old logging road, I stopped to take a few pictures. In this one, a snowy pine cone overhang the path.



Suddenly, clouds covered the bright sun, the wind actually began to howl, and the snow kicked up. I quickly snapped this one and rather like it too.



Now that we've had our winter vacation, I'll begin to wish for spring. I know it's too early, and I try no to wish too hard until March, and even then it's too early. Oh well. See you soon with more photos.

Cute as a ... er ... Button

Of interest to family and all other adherents who acknowledge The Bonnie Wee Smudge as the greatest grand of them all, I present this clip of her and moi. She can now understand the word, button, and locate such. She even tries to say the word although she only get the "bu" out. Very cute. Very clever. lol

Cuppa will post another clip on her blog.



We're heading out for a few days. We'll be back in the land of v e r y s l o w internet access. By slow, I don't simply mean dialup, but the s l o w e s t dialup imaginable. We'll see if either us get much blog posting or blog reading done. Sometimes, it works out better than others, we shall see what we shall see.

Morning Smile

Good Morning World

I am extraordinarily pleased to report that AC slept like a normal person last night and woke up to a fine, snowy morning. Hey, it's pretty, and since it is still early February and not late March, I can dig it. Get it? Dig?

Last night I had a phone conversation with is soon-to-be daughter-in-law. She is a Jew and not totally aware of all of our Christian traditions. One that she loves and has enthusiastically adopted is Christmas. However, while she's obviously heard about Easter, she had no knowledge of Shrove Tuesday and Lent.

So I told her about the pancakes and a bit of the tradition and how it precedes Lent and went on to explain (briefly) how it is forty days in duration and leads up to Easter. I explained that historically, one fasts (partially at least) during this period.

Stunned pause.

She: You fast for forty days?
AC: Ummm .... no we just eat the pancakes.

Giddy laughter.

Have a good day!