Amma and Buppa Play a Virtual Reality Game

Sue's actual birthday has arrived. This morning, we will pick up a breakfast and take it to the park. I shall cook supper tonight — nothing fancy — and that will be it for another year. Phew!

On Sunday, for the party, JJ brought his virtual reality gear, and both Sue and I gave it a go. There were things flying at us, and we had to give them a smack. Perhaps our efforts will amuse you.

Warm March Day and Hot Fries

Not everyone would drive 40k/25mi for french fries,

But when it is a beautiful day in March, and we are celebrating Sue's birthday, and when they are the best fries, and when it is the only chip truck open so early in the season, we would. And did.

Wes' Chips is just a little cabin on the way into Arnprior. It has the remnants of a truck attached to it, but the cabin part is quite tiny.

I am at the back of the line but with 4 workers inside the little cabin, it moves very quickly

The fries come very hot, so we had time to drive to a park overlooking the Ottawa River.

The river still has a lot of ice.

It was warm enough for me to wander about sans coat or jacket.

How unusual and pleasant to spend some time sitting on a bench so early in the year. Of course, the warm weather won't stay, but an unseasonal spell like this sometimes occurs in March, and it is quite wonderful and deeply appreciated when it does happen.

The Party Cast of Characters

Some candids from Sue's birthday party.

I posted a few of Sue yesterday, but here is one more. She is holding up the card that I didn't remember to make until late the night before.

I will leave Shauna out of the gallery for privacy reasons, but here's Jonathan. I have converted his and the rest to b&w, which didn't take much work in Danica's case, which I will get to last.

Most of the time and especially with women, we process in a way to smooth flaws and age lines. I took my photo in the opposite direction, just as an experiment. Danica had taken the picture with my camera.

The beard is getting rather wild. It can be trimmed anytime, so I will let it go and grow for now.
Nobody much sees me these days, and I lost my looks about 50 years ago anyway.

The surprise and delight were these next two photos of Danica. She was a bit in shadow, so I deliberately overexposed in camera. I was surprised and delighted by what I later saw on the computer -- two almost monochromatic photos. They weren't b&w, but more like sepia monochrome. Almost all that I did in editing was to convert to b&w and crop them into 8x10 ratios, which I think is a very good format for portraits. There wasn't much additional editing, and the result is pretty close to what came straight out of the camera.

I wish I could claim that I knew what I was doing in those photos, but it was luck, but let me tell you that I love them.

Oh, I do have one more party-goer to show you,  Lola, the very sweet Chocolate Lab.

Sue's Driveway Party

Sue's birthday is not until Thursday, so next weekend would ordinarily be the time to celebrate. But when I looked at the forecast, this weekend was predicted to be much better than next, and it was also Sha's weekend with the kids.

Last year, the pandemic was so new, and as we all attempted to understand it, Sue had to settle for not much more that drive-by type of acknowledgement from the kids. It was touching at the time, but we wanted to do better this year.

With the temperature getting up to a balmy 15C/59F we gathered in the driveway for an outdoor, well-distanced celebration.

Instead of the usual cake, I picked up cinnamon buns from the little shop around the corner: a rather unpopulated shop where I can be in and out in a matter of minutes. We set them up in the table with the blue cloth behind Sue's upraised hand in the above photo. Her cinnamon bun (below) had a special touch.

These things are scrumptiously decadent, possibly the best anywhere

I managed to get one lit long enough to present it, but the breeze quickly put out the flames.

My gift was a new winter hat for the lady, which will not likely be worn until about December. It is something that she wanted but had forgotten that she had even requested it, so it was a fine surprise.

We lucked out with the good weather, which is not something that you can count on in March. It was a quiet but quite wonderful, little event, the kind of thing that we have learned to appreciate in these recent days.

A Year Later

FB has been reminding me of selfies that we began taking in the early days of the pandemic, like the one below. Evidently, it was cold day, much like it was on Friday when I took those Canada Goose pics of the previous post.

On this specific day, 2020 03 21, Sue and I did one of our car coffees. Looking at my hat with ear flaps down and my coat with a liner, below, apparently, it was quite cold.

A year later we still do the car thing from time to time. This time, we got a burger and onion rings from A&W. To consume it hot, we ate right in the parking lot before heading to our usual spot in the park, where Sue took this photo. Although it was just a burger, the meal was delightful. Little treats are great for the spirits, often better than the big treats. We really enjoyed our lunch in the car, but then A&W is higher up the food chain than some burger joints.

That photo is dark, but it's up now, so it can stay that way.

It was just a little later last year in March that we started the funny pics. As you may recall, we kept this going for quite awhile. This was one of our first funny pics.

Although it was cold at this time last year, this year it is warm. Yesterday, the mercury soared into double digits, reaching 13C/55F. Similar weather or even better is predicted for today, and much of the week will, apparently, be similar.

Now, maybe is a good time to, once again, update the progress of the snow melt by our house. These were the photos, previously posted, from the 12th. You may remember that there had already been much melt by then.

These next photos are from yesterday afternoon, the 20th, just eight days later after a week that had not been especially warm. But the sun is higher and shines longer and the melt continues.

Only a little snow on the shady left remains. I truncated the photo and the snow
because the neighbours were sitting out there.

The late afternoon light flares are provided without extra cost.
I guess I should have gotten the big camera out.

Coming back into the house, I looked on the other side of the snow pile where we have a little garden, I saw one daffodil shoot poking out amongst the litter of fallen leaves. Today, I shall shovel the snow off the bit of the garden that is still covered in case there is any more life stirring under there. I don't think I'll bother with the main pile  that is now well back from the sidewalk but just the bit on the other side from the photo where a little still covers the garden at the edge. It is already thin over on that back side.

Geese Again

The previous goose post was from Wednesday, but when we walked past the pond on Thursday, it was uninhabited. While Sue was doing other things yesterday, Friday, morning, I returned on my own. They were there aquawking away to their hearts' content.

There were no ducks though. Last year, the pond had some exotic, for us, ducks, but there weren't even mallards this time. Hopefully, we'll get some interesting visitors.

The geese were mainly paddling about calmly with little landing and splashing, and I missed capturing what little there was .

It is still nice, however, to get some some of action, and I got some posturing in the next couple of photos.

This, below, was my favourite from the few minutes I was there, with both of them having their heads thrust forward. The gander was particularly on guard, protecting his lady from would-be interlopers. 

I didn't stay long because at -4C/25F with a strong wind, it was mighty nippy. I did have my photo gloves, but I still had to expose two fingertips on each hand, and they got pretty darn cold. However, we are heading into double digits for a few days, which means >50F for those who speak American.

I have another very short video (9 seconds) if you care to see and hear.

Oh, I almost forgot. I was asked if any geese overwinter here. I have seen some in the past, and I expect that has continued, I didn't see any nearby this winter.

The Geese Are Back

The drainage pond around the corner is reemerging, and the geese are returning. The wide angle view makes the pond look bigger than it really is.

It had been frozen until very recently, but a little more ice has been melting daily. The next photo shows the ice better, and also the short video below that pans from the geese to the ice.

They are mostly geese, but there are a few ducks.

Oh ... and the robins are back too, but you'll have to take my word on that for now.