Water Water Everywhere

Last year was droughtish and water levels plummeted. It began with a less snowy winter than usual, and precipitation remained low for the duration.

This winter, however, was one of our snowier ones, and precipitation has been abundant since then. For example, we had 5cm/2in last Wednesday.

Sunday being nice, we headed to the nearby walking path for a gander about, and we saw water, lots of water. The river has flowed right under the footbridge. You can see the usual channel off in the distance to the left. While it is a low, swampy area anyway (hence, the bridge), I have never seen it like this, and it was dry down there last year.

Peering into the water from the bridge.

And a few more shots of water and reflections,

And a pair of mallards were swimming where there is usually land. They stopped to preen for a minute before swimming off.

The Cat Still Lives

I know that you are all dying to know how Lady Arbuckle is doing. And please notice that she has gone from Miss to Lady since we last wrote about her. Actually, she has not seemed to precisely fit any name; I mean, nothing rolls off our tongues with any consistency — except Cassie by times, Cassie being a cat we endured more than 20 years ago. Facially, our Lady resembles Cassie to some degree although there the resemblance ends as they are not similar in girth or temperament, Bella outdoing Cassie in both categories and by a wide (ahem) margin.

We came close to losing Miss Lady Arbuckle already as she has severe elimination problems. Several enemas and rehydrations later along with twice daily laxative supplements, she is doing much better: for now anyway, for she is old, 16 as opposed to the originally thought 15 years. So, basically, she is the human equivalent of about 85,

After the vet visits on Thursday and Friday, she retreated to her blanket, and we almost expected her not to wake up on Saturday. But she did, and for her (all things being relative after all), she was perky and friendly and happy to eat. Our main wish with her is to give her as many good days as we can. Maybe there will be weeks or even months, We have now had her for two weeks, and all but 2 days seemed to be pretty good for her.

And now for a few pics.

These are two of her sleeping places: on my den chair and on the couch downstairs. To get up on either, is quite a task, but she does manage. I would love to get a video of the procedure some day.

She is very round.

She is a lap cat although she usually needs help getting up there. Sue and I typically eat lunch and supper watching tv, and she is often anxious for lap time with me once I finish eating — well she's actually anxious before I finish eating. Once there, I think she would stay for hours if I were to let her. I can squirm and reposition myself and/or her, and she just goes with the flow.

One day, she surprised Sue by jumping (I use the word lightly) up on her own when Sue was trying to rest.

On most afternoons, I have a short siesta or at least I attempt to, but I didn't sleep on this day for some strange reason. Fortunately, her visiting me in this chair at this time of day is rare.

She is a really nice cat, and as I said already, I do hope that she has a nice stay with us although I don't expect it to be long stay.

What a Difference a Week Makes

On Monday, as I compose this meaningless little post, the temperatures are expected to climb into the 20s, or about 72°F, for the one country in the world [I think] that refuses to do metric.

The last time the thermometer reached that lofty height was back on October 18, which was 174 days previous, or 5 months and 23 days, or ...

• 15,033,600 seconds
• 250,560 minutes
• 4176 hours
• 174 days
• 24 weeks and 6 days
• 47.67% of a common year (365 days)

Basically, what it comes down to is that we celebrate winter for 1/2 year, especially when you consider that back on October 18, it had been about a week since the temperature had previously reached 20, and, according to projections, it will be almost two weeks until we reach 20 again.

... and then one considers that it hadn't reached 20°C for about a week before Oct 18 and now it won't reach 20°C for about another 10 days ...

When I went out earlier for the kids' bus pickup, I found that my winter coat was too warm. So, for my walk, I switched to a sweat top, but at 10°C/50°F it was still too hot. Maybe I will finish the day in shorts as the thermometer climbs.

Back a week ago yesterday, I took some photos of the snow in our front yard, knowing that most would soon disappear, Then, I took similar shots yesterday.

From my window

JJ is not super pleased with the location of the ball.

From the Street

Just a bit of snow back in the shadiest spot, and I am ecstatic to report that it was gone by day's end.

Daffodils

We did clean the garden up a little bit, but there is much more to do

Sue's Birthday Week: Mopping Up

There's really nothing exactly new to add to Sue's birthday week, but in the aftermath I want to post some of Heather's work and Sue's own effort to rescue and preserve it.

You may remember that Heather festooned the tree with 70 characteristics of Sue.

Well, the weather was bad with rain and wind, but we managed to gather most of the pieces. Someone, usually the kids, would find them lying under the tree or nearby and bring them in, Sue then placed them here and there around the house.

Some had been lost, so Heather spent some time writing all of the character traits on one butterfly.

However, Sue wasn't yet satisfied, so she re-made the flowers or butterflies that had been lost, and she pasted them all together to make one wall hanging.

The different style toward the bottom were Sue's re-make,
of  Heather's lost originals.

And that, dear folk, brings Sue's birthday extravaganza to its conclusion, at least as far as my blog is concerned. Meanwhile, Sue is still working on her own pictorial journal of the event with a occasional request to moi for some assistance with printing. So, the good times continue to roll on, in some sense at least.

😀😁😂😃😄😅😇

Sue's Birthday Week: The Second Monday

If you recall, and even if you don't recall, these birthday posts started with a surprise breakfast on the previous Monday. Although, the celebration was all but over, Heather and Brian were still with us, and took us out for a light lunch before heading back to T.O., which is an often used short form for Toronto, which is often pronounced Tarawna or just Trawna, depending on the speaker and the context.

After a leisurely morning, we drove to the Mews for lunch at the Under Pressure coffee shop.

The coffee was good.

As were the sandwiches (background above) and the desserts.

And just for a change, we took a few more pictures.

It was a memorable week, even if visitors to this blog prefer to just fuggedallaboudit with enuffallreddy. Even though the events are done and dusted, I think I may have one more followup blog to post.

Sue's Birthday Week: Sunday

No, there were no more surprises. But Sue's nephew and family did drive up from Kingston to add their good wishes, And even though Allyson and Alycia had flown back to Vancouver, Brian and Heather were also still us, so more good fellowship transpired.

Sue's great nephew is only 10 but almost as tall as she. He made a special card for his great aunt.

And so did his sister.

It's a very tall family despite the fact Sue's sister is shorter than Sue and Matt's father was a inch or so shorter than I. So to have Matt on a tall stool and Sue on a low chair was quite comical.

Shauna provided a nice lunch, followed by more birthday cake. (The cake was so big that it took us almost a week to finish. But we were dedicated until the end.)

A few other snaps from the afternoon.

And ... to end this day, here are the old men catching of few winks. We were up until 3AM driving Allyson and Alycia to the airport, so we deserved just a wee kip.

We are getting there, folk. Hang in.

Sue's Birthday Week: Saturday Night

One more Saturday event awaited: gifts, cake and toast (I mean A toast, not toasted bread). Or is that 3 events?

Sue always seems to have help in opening the gifts.

A few of the gifts.

We all collaborated on the final gift. We took a recent photo of Sue and added a tribute from everyone, and Danica made sure to read them all.

Then came the champagne toast, and since we were all involved, we have no pictures, as uncharacteristic as that may be. Now, I know that this absence [of toast photos] makes you sad, but this is how it is. Try to control your disappointment. To help you over your dismay, I hasten to reveal that we are not yet done with this series. Stay tuned.