Okay...this is annoying....

...but probably only to me...

I bought this cute little plate... with gold trim and gold printing...couldn't resist.

But, nobody remembered to put it to the side, or to the top, or towards the bottom of the plate.   How are you supposed to see the printing if your cake is smack dab on top of it?

Bummer...  I'll only be able to use tiny petit fours..maybe there are petit twos...or chocolates or something on it if I want to show off the saying or get any laughs from it.

Rock pilfering squirrels

Why do they do it?  I can't find anything scientific on it... only anecdotal evidence really... have you seen it?

They run into the yard... poke around in our decorator rock in the garden areas..select a rock .. sometimes they lick it a few times... get it situated in their mouths and run off with it.  They sometimes only go as far as the lawn... and, bury it.  Then, come back for another.  Last spring we found dozens of them in the lawn when we had it power raked.  We spent a lot of time plucking them out before running our own mower over the grass ...

Sometimes they take them across the street into neighbouring yards.  Apparently they are 'scatter hoarders'... meaning they put things all over the place for future.. what? with rocks? .. who knows ..

Often I find a quite large one on the sidewalk or out in the middle of the road... too big to get very far and they drop it and leave it I guess... most of the rocks in the yard are about 2 inches and bigger... we still have some that are from a previous batch of only smaller ones ..one to two inches .....but those are disappearing quickly ...  they try poking around for those and then..just pick up a larger one and go with it... it's crazy... the one he has here is about 1.5 inches by about 1 inch.... the photo is a little dark, but click on it to enlarge and you can see it better.

Heart of a leaf..

This one is for you Shashi..

It was as big as my hand with fingers totally spread out.... fell from our Columnar Aspen.

The leaves are still green even after several pretty cold days and two major snowfalls.  No leaves have fallen from the crabapple tree at all yet... all have just stayed green, dried out and curled a bit..but still like they are glued onto the branches.   The early cold must have something to do with that.

Yesterday we had high winds and some of the aspens leaves floated down... and one or two did blow off the other crab in the front yard... today...the backyard is more or less littered with aspen leaves... time to rake.

When I found this big guy I couldn't resist.... I had seen a heart cut out of a leaf somewhere in bloggy-ville...so I made one too.

I should have photographed something beside it...for perspective... it was about 7 inches across...

Heated water for the birds..

It's supposed to be drinking water.... but one cold snowy day...yes this early in the year darn it...  .... one guy discovered it was heated and decided he would like a bath.
Two others followed suit, and then all of a sudden there were so many that they were jumping up and down on the wall and the board holding the container ...  all clamouring to get in and have a splash!
It was sparrow bedlam!
I ran for my camera and this is what I saw... the colour is not great as the sun was shining brightly and  you notice the blueish tint of the UV protection in the window glass plus they are a bit dark...

I cropped the second one quite a bit so you can see the funny guy with the wild hair ... like he all of a sudden wondered why he would partake in such shenanigans or was shocked to realize he was bathing in his own drinking water ...  or something....

As usual... click on any photo to see it larger and get a better view... ..there is really nothing 'common' about the Common House Sparrow.. they are a lot of entertainment.

hahaha.... look at that little wild haired guy...!   Hang on.  Maybe that's a little lady and she is concerned now because there I am with the camera... showing her to the world in 'not-quite-her-best' form......oh 'dear .... that could be it........

Linking to Stewart's Paying Ready Attention Gallery.... for Wild Bird Wednesday.  Click on the badge below to go directly there to see other birds...  perhaps you have a bird photo of your own to add to the group?

Smelling the flowers

This is our little dog, Dude.  I found him at a country fair in Armstrong, B. C., many years ago.  I love that little guy.

He doesn't eat much, doesn't have to go outside and doesn't shed.

He is plenty of entertainment and affords plenty of photo ops...

I put him up on the table while vacuuming and he was seen sniffing the carnations.

He said ```

"Take some time to smell the flowers"

Oh, alright, I didn't actually hear him say anything....that could mean I'm totally bonkers... when in actuality, I'm only half way there.....
but, if he could have....he definitely would have done so.  I know he would.

What to eat on a big snow day.

This guy appeared and I thought he had something stuck on or in his beak.  It was long and pointy... I was wondering and worrying already...

Then, it disappeared and he grabbed a long lilac seed pod ...hahahah....he was eating them off the snow covered bush.

I've never seen them eating these seeds in the past, but usually I trim them off about now and there would be none on the tree in a week or two... but, our seed feeders would also be out there and that is all I ever see them eat at our house.

Maybe from now on I should just leave the dead lilac seeds on the bushes.  Ignore what they say in horticulture mags.... ... and trim them in late winter or very early spring instead.  Trimming in fall is supposed to encourage more blooms... but, they get plenty .. so who cares?  Maybe my birdies need them on bad snow days.

You will have to click on him to get a better idea of what he looks like up close.  I lightened the photo a bit.  The bright snow and sun were playing havoc with things.

Linking to Stewart at Paying Ready Attention.

Freak early snowfall..

Well, in this part of Canada, nothing weather related is freakish I suppose.  And, we did have one back in 2014 on September 8, so not even as early as that one.  It plays havoc with the trees, of course, with plenty of broken branches due to all the leaves still being present on most trees.

The past few days of continuous snowfall has left us with 11 inches at our house in the south of the city.... the sprinkler guys emailed to say they would be waiting a few days to come to blow out the underground sprinklers... gee, ya think?  hahaha... I wrote back to say I wasn't digging out anything for them, so they better wait at least several days.  By the weekend it is supposed to get back to +16C ....we'll see if it gets that good.

This was earlier ..
                                                                                   
















And, this...... is the freaky bit ......what the heck is that?  a snow goblin??

From a distance and on the camera view screen it sort of looked like a dog's head...but up close?
Yikes @!

Be careful what you wish for....

After seeing a Blue Jay one day I mentioned that I would like to see a baby jay ....   darn it.  Wish I had never said it out loud.

Two days later I saw this poor little tyke.  All alone in my backyard.  I don't even know how I noticed him because he was not moving...just sitting there very quietly... probably as instructed.  Or as instinct dictated.
Please click on the photo to see his cute little face up close....

He had no tail really...and, very little in the way of wings... he was too small to fly ..must have fallen and somehow glided or flapped a bit to make it into our yard from a nest nearby...

I then heard an adult Blue Jay and saw what I decided was his Mom on the telephone wires nearby ..calling and waiting til I got the heck out of there.. then she flew down.

He more or less stayed on the blocks near the house and close to some tall grass... but, then..as the day progressed, he got a bit more animated and began to hop around all over the yard.  Over to the chairs, out near the shed..... I was panicked and was worse than his mother... dashing from window to window, worrying about some predator getting him.  I had to be ready to rush out and shoo away Mr. Karma, the prowling neighbourhood cat.  She flew back and forth for hours checking on him and bringing him food and finding little things to feed him from the garden.  She was very attentive and caring.  It was so sweet and yet I felt so sorry for her.

But, then I went to do the treadmill.... and ...when I looked, later in the day... they were gone.  I didn't know whether to be happy or sad.  He must have hopped out into the alleyway under the fence... oh, I sure hope they both went to a kind neighbour yard...... I didn't really see any Blue Jay activity after that.

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday.

Happy not to be an enabler....

Did you see the article on whether city chicks.... (Black Capped Chickadees that is)...... are getting lazier than their country cousins?  Because of us bird feeders.

Apparently a couple of gals studied 100 of them and put them through the paces of caching food and then finding the caches of seeds and things and discovered that people who feed birds are not doing them a disservice.  Whew.

There was no difference between the rural and urban little guys... all found their caches about the same ..

There is plenty of info on the fact that the size of a chickadee hippocampus changes with the seasons... (we always joke about it when they stop coming to the feeder as often when it finally warms up) and the fact that they need, or don't need, to find and cache more food at certain times of the year.  Hopefully this latest study took all of that into consideration.

They also don't show up in moulting season because they are too embarrassed to be seen with big bald patches...like one I saw a year or so ago.  Poor little thing was hiding in the lilac leaves so I wouldn't see him.
I was pretty mean and did take his photo anyway.... I feel kinda bad showing it.  Awww... poor wee thing.

The recent article also said more study was necessary to see if urban vs rural birds had differing responses to "novelty".... not sure what that means.  It didn't explain.

However, I like to think city birds have a very curious nature... and love to explore new things .. like this little guy having a shower and a bath and a drink in my new little fountain...about 3 minutes after I filled it and turned it on.

I had one come last year to the other fountain...about the same time frame after we turned it on... maybe it is the same little curious guy/gal?  Who knows with chickadees? ..

All I know for sure is they sure have all the "c" words going for them.  Cute, clever, curious, clean,


....etc...............

First of all....isn't this the cutest little water fountain you have ever seen?  $60 at Home Depot.  Love it.




So did this little guy.....

First, he sat on the edge and had a sip of the waterfall...then, he jumped right into the centre of the leaf and had a bath...then he got up on the edge... and then..he jumped into the leaf above.  I was waaayyyy too slow to get more than these two photos.

I was peering through the slats of a venetian in the kitchen window and didn't want to put it up and scare him off.  Silly me... I finally did put it up and totally ignored me.  Darn!  Why didn't I just do it sooner?  I could have had much clearer shots.

Linking to Stewart's blog for Wild Bird Wednesday.  Click on his name or the photo below to be immediately transported.........

My bread got "over riz"...

Hahahahah.... it broke though the plastic wrap and overlapped the edges of my big bowl... while I was busy forgetting about it and doing other things.

Then, it happened again after I got it into the pans...and the loaves looked a bit wonky and turned out funny shapes.  But, it still tastes the same.  Great@!  so who cares?

Well, it is a bit awkward for putting into the toaster..and they are pretty big slices... but, then again.. who really cares when it tastes so good?

I love home made bread.

I love the little 18 year old guy whose blog I visited waaaayyy back when and who encouraged me to give it a try... Still baking Lewis!  thanks for all the encouragement.  I often wonder where he is today......

... and now it's summer......

Blogging seems to have become a thing of my past.... time just flies and not much to say...nothing much for show and tell.... still trying to get back the strength in my arm and also in the rest of me.  I got lazy during the months I could do nothing with that arm and everything else went sideways too.

Mostly now I am just dirty and sweaty out in the flower garden cleaning up debris and also planting pots... the temperatures jumped from snow and cold to blistering hot... it was +28C the past few days.  Only been golfing twice.    It's even too hot for that to be fun.

See all those invasive violets under the birdie bath and every other place in the garden?  They were hours of work yesterday to dig up, shake off dirt and toss.  Trying to get as much of the little pieces as possible.  I want to eradicate it entirely... may  not be possible.....
A new bleeding heart showed up..must have re-seeded itself... if they fill in I will be happy.
















A neighbour saw me outside the other day and asked if I wanted an indoor plant of hers that is not doing well... okay, I'm a sucker ... I hate to see plants tossed out.   Anyway... I did say yes and took it out of the pot yesterday.  Totally root bound and almost rotted through both large stalks just below the soil.  It had a new little shoot trying to make a go of it and so I figured I would just have to compost the major portion of the plant... and save the baby.  Here is Baby Groot..... for those of you who know Guardians of the Galaxy.  I also am trying to root a couple of the large leaves in just water to see if it will get some rootlets...I have no idea what the plant is.

Anybody know from the large leaf behind the pot what it might be??

My broken wrist has mostly healed.   It is still sore a lot of the day.. and doesn't quite turn over the way I would like it to do yet.  I hope it is temporary.  Still doing physio and go every 3 weeks..  to see how things are progressing... never quick enough for me but she seems impressed with my healing.

Easter came and went...

and, I am happy to say I was able to do some baking.  My wrist is getting much better although kneading with both hands is still painful... it is coming along.  Physio is ongoing and helping a lot.

Hot Cross Buns...

Made some two weeks ago and then again last week.  They were yummy.  I finally found some decent fruit peel in nice coloured bits instead of the ugly, reddish brown sludge that I usually find at Safeway.  It still isn't as beautiful as the lovely jewel toned fruit pieces I see on the British Baking show, but, hey...at least they have colour.  Found them at a bulk site called the Bulk Barn.  And, wow !!  do they have "stuff" in that store.  I could spend hours in there.  They have all sorts of baking things too.

Anyway... I was watching my new fun guy to watch .... Geoff Cooper... a link to his baking blog on my side bar way down there.   A lovely man ... and easy to follow videos .... and decided I had to do hot cross buns again.  I haven't baked any since way back ... like, about 2010 or some silly time; good grief.  Waaaay too much time has flown.

When baking, every bake is different.  I mean it.  The very same recipe...but, always things change.  Maybe even the dryness or moistness of a day can change things..... maybe you just mix things a bit longer or a bit less...who knows....... anyway, the first batch was softer and less dense it seemed.  The second batch was not quite the same, but they were still delicious.  And, of course, they should be eaten on the same day or they do tend to be a little less soft and moist.  We usually have one straight out of the oven, and one a bit later in the day and then... well, you get it.  We are not quite as bad as hobbits, but still........

The first batch.... we were terribly greedy....only one left the house.

The second batch...we were a bit more generous and took some to neighbours and then... decided to freeze a couple.  Otherwise we would have eaten the whole second batch same as we did the first.  What a couple piggies.  It's a good thing we have a treadmill...or we could weigh 400 lbs.....

remember Gwendolyn?

I made her back when....

........when I found Black Eyed Suzie's dolls online; absolutely was smitten and reeelly, reeeellly wanted one.  But, I couldn't afford one  They were way too expensive for me.  So, I decided I could make myself one in her style.  I do that.

She took me awhile.  I was looking back at old photos and see months went by between the start of her and the completion.  Seems I was laid up for a good portion of that season too...with a wonky arm...and it was not the result of accident, but surgery, on my ganglion cluster on the same arm that is now broken.  Good grief !!

She is air dry paper clay over wire and tin foil.

Anyway...here's Gwendolyn ....something for show and tell ...

oops, sorry....perhaps I should have given her some panties for the photo.

Here are some of Suzie's in case you don't know of her dolls.  I still love them and hope to make more some day.

Paul Hollywood...the presenter...

My eyes got tired of reading...I can't use my hand to do anything yet....just got a new cast yesterday and this one is for 3 more weeks,,,then a splint and after that for a bit more, it will be some re-hab.  Brother!

I'm still not going to admit to being bored.  Not a word in MY vocabulary...

......however... I was sort of casting about for something to entertain me yesterday ...

... took a look at some old GBBO recipes.  (not that I can do any baking)  Love that show.  Have lots of episodes on PVR..but have watched them too many times.  I noticed a thing called Paul Hollywood City Bakes on Youtube...with, yes, you guessed it, Paul.

I feel as though I know him well enough to call him just Paul.. I talk to him all the time I'm watching the episodes.    "Come on Paul, don't be so mean"... or  "don't look at him like that"..."what?"  .."NO"!  "jeez Paul"!...you know, kind of like that... so, we're on a first name basis.

Anyway....the first one I watched was him in Munich...and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  They are pretty long at 46 minutes, but really fun and also interesting.  You get to see the people and places and learn the history surrounding the areas and the baking.  He bakes his own take on a local "goody".  He's very personable, seems to genuinely enjoy himself doing the show and you learn plenty from it.

Today I'm learning about baking in Iceland....Reykjavik....who knew?

I wonder how many of them there are?  My new fav thing to do..........seeing as nobody is sending me cards, letters, chocolates, jokes,  etc........

Wish I could be baking....................sigh..............................................................................

There's an "app" for that...

... and....... if there isn't...at the very least there is a video on Youtube...for almost every darn thing you will ever need to know or try.

Why didn't I think of it?

Lin, a blog buddy, thought of it.  She found one for me.  Hah!  I can now put on my own bra.  Woohooo.  Maybe wouldn't have been able to do it the first few days because my thumb was too compromised to even give it a try.....  but today, it doesn't hurt as much when I touch it so, I did give this a try.  Success!

This gal also has other youtube videos if anybody reading this needs advice or info on the same stuff. And if you just look up how to do things one handed...there are dozens of vids on all sorts of things.  I'll be over there for hours now... but hey... not much else to do right away.  Supper spices to get assembled soon though.....

I'm off to look up flossing a bridge one handed.  For an ex dental assistant...it's crucial.




I'm totally ticked that my new shiny weights ... the "something shiny" my sweet Mr BV got me for Christmas.  AND..the exact something shiny I wanted too are not being put to full use.

Just sitting there in the brand new rack.   Can't do much with 'em. ...but I did already figure out that I can still do my squats for strengthening my bad knee joint by putting one heavy guy in a pack and wearing the pack to do squats.  Perfect.  It's easier to put on than a bra, but a helluva lot heavier and a bit awkward.

The things you can do with one hand....

...........well, guess what?.............you certainly can do a lot of things with only one hand.

They are mostly the mundane and necessary of things...and they all take at least twice as long to do as they would if you had a second hand ...but can be done.

Loading and unloading the dishwasher, laundry, making a cup of tea, toast (if somebody has cut a slice of bread for me, cuz I can't cut bread without trashing the loaf with my cast trying to hold it down), hunt and peck typing, dressing myself if I wear things I can pull on with one hand...and...I actually managed to wash my own hair yesterday.  Somebody tried to channel his inner hairdresser to help blow it dry, but he was having a bit too much fun for my liking and I had to confiscate the blower...just aimed it at my hair, got it sort of dry and called it good enough.

Flossing is a bitch.  Yes Mr. BV got me some of those little floss wands to use... but how on earth can I get under my bridge at the back of my mouth?  Somebody needs to invent something............ I have been trying not to hurt myself too much struggling to do that one at least every two days.  Hopefully it will not make me yelp out loud soon when I try to use a couple of those fingers.  Surely it will settle down soon.

Fastening a bra is also pretty much impossible....undoing one is easy..not so the other way.  Where are bra-t-shirts?  We used to have bra dresses in the old days....they were good.  Remember those?  I had a couple and I loved them.  Although they did have zippers so I guess that wouldn't work either.  Unless the zippers were in the front..hey!! a bustier might work under a t-shirt.. maybe that's what I should get.

Your good arm shoulder does tire after trying to do too much but your injured arm and hand have already been aching for ages anyway, so it is a good time to stop and lie down with the injured wrist up on a pillow.  It seems to swell a bit every so often too and is very uncomfortable..feels like the cast is squeezing the poor arm from elbow to fingers.

An ice pack on the cast does seem to help a bit.  The coolness goes through I guess.  Add an Ibuprofen and things feel sort of okay in about an hour.

It's time to go do that now......

Now there will be blog visiting

....but maybe not too much blogging.........

Not that there has been much lately anyway.

But now, it is hunt and peck with one good hand.

This the other..................

                                                                                                   















yup... as careful as I am, and, in winter in Canada, we do all try a lot harder to avoid slippery surfaces .....I still blew it.  My feet went out from under me in a nano second.   I was flat on my ass with my left hand on the ground.  Even with my lynx-like reflexes I was down.  Couldn't make the hand move at all... knew it was broken right away.   Walked home the block from the mailbox swearing at the top of my lungs and crying in between.   Not even from the pain...more from total anger at the knowledge ...

...of what's to come.

Six weeks in a cast ...see how the several broken bones heal...then a splint for more time and then re-hab........I am NOT a happy camper!!!