Hoo boy, it IS mostly dark these December days so I’ve been taking advantage of what daylight there is by hauling my sorry butt outdoors whenever I can.
I’ve been noticing seed heads and pods and all manner of lovely wintery things on my walks.
When it gets dark, it’s time to head home and throw on as much light as possible.
Also: when it gets dark, it’s time to celebrate and visit with friends.
I am not a night creature, anymore though. It’s damn hard for me to leave the house once the sun goes down, in the winter months. My natural inclination is to slip into jammies and wind down my day as soon as it gets dark. Like 5 pm. Seriously.
So no surprise here: I am ecstatic to welcome back the return of longer days and shorter nights, for my personal productivity if nothing else!
The Changing Seasons is a monthly blog challenge hosted by Su Leslie, at Zimmerbitch. Check out her blog, to see how it’s done!
Wishing you all a happy New Year and a fantastic 2019!
But the wind and rain soon stripped the trees and I struggled to find whatever colour was left:
And then it wasn’t long before this happened:
And I did manage to capture one spectacular sunset:
But the snow didn’t last, and we were back to dull skies, clouds and rain and a dearth of colour:
Clearly I wasn’t the only one that felt November needed some brightening up:
I noticed many things on the trail that I just walk on by, when the foliage is rich and lush:
And while I was noticing all these beautiful and delightful things, I felt like something was noticing me as well:
I went to the Orthodontist’s office on November 26. Soon I won’t need to visit them anymore as I am almost at the end of my Invisalign treatment (yay!). This time, it was full-on Christmas decor:
These were some of my impressions of this overall mostly dreary November.
Hope yours was more colourful!
The Changing Seasons is a monthly photo challenge that anyone can join. Please visit Su Leslie at Zimmerbitch, for more information, and to see what others are posting.
It’s been hard for me to blog this Fall. October is the month you realize there are not many days left you can head out with bare hands and a bare head. So that puts some urgency into my outdoor activities and causes me angst when I’m stuck indoors (looking at you, work!) on a beautiful day.
Luckily there have been some stellar weekends (although this cold, blustery, rainy one is not one of them) and I was out on the trails with my trusty iPhone camera in hand:
I don’t know if this was an exceptional year for fungus or not, but for some reason I noticed fabulous fungi everywhere I looked, this fall.
As it’s almost Halloween, I thought I’d share some of the wild decor I saw at my latest visit to my orthodontist.
The Changing Seasons is a monthly photo challenge hosted by Su Leslie, of Zimmerbitch. Please stop by her blog to see the Changing Season, down under in New Zealand.
September started out still blazing hot but now the weather is reasonable again, and perfect for heading to the woods.
Head to the woods I did, with a local group that took me to a brand new area, right off the trail I usually walk. I’d known of this side trail for years of course, but because it looked overgrown and in denser brush I was leery of going too far in by myself. When the group advertised a guided walk into this area I jumped at the opportunity.
Sublime. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have wild areas close at hand, with which to restore my soul.
This has been a Changing Seasons Post. The Changing Seasons is a monthly photo challenge, hosted by Su Leslie of Zimmerbitch.
Well, wouldn’t you know it – the weather got better, so I got outside to walk, and painting progress has slowed considerably. Also due to the other interruptions in this thing called life.
But here is what happened to the painting since the last time I blogged.
I’m not expecting to get much done this week. Today I am flying to the US for a work conference.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Joanne, at the Fashion History Museum’s Tango Tea. She’ll be writing about it soon. You should go check out her blog!
Unfortunately I got some bad news while at the Tea. My late father-in-law’s girlfriend (who is 92 and much loved by me and everyone who knows her) is in hospital, suffering from a bleed into her brain with no hope of recovery. We were planning on going out for dinner when I returned from my work trip. I rushed from the Tea to the hospital and met with her family and offered what comfort I could. I also spoke with B, but she was unresponsive. They say hearing is the last sense to go, so hopefully she heard that I was there and that I love her.
July started off with a bang. Canada Day (July 1) is also my daughter’s (Mizz J) birthday. I made a fabulous trifle, using local berries and sherry, and of course plenty of local, growth-hormone free, high quality dairy.
Uh-oh, here comes a rant:
Fuck you Trump. I support Canadian Dairy and Canadian Dairy supports me, literally. It’s my day job, to work for a company that supports this industry, which I love. So yeah, fuck you, Trump. As a dairy insider, I can tell you your milk is not up to Canadian quality standards. Most of it would not be allowed in this country even if the borders were wide open. And you can thank the Canadian supply management system for making sure Canadians get the highest quality milk for their money. Rant over. (Aren’t you relieved?)
I got out for a Beach Day this month. To my usual haunt: Bayfield.
There was plenty of beauty to see at home, as well.
And finally, I haven’t mentioned this on the blog yet I don’t think, but I did purchase a new car. On May 25th I picked up a new plug-in hybrid vehicle, a Prius Prime. Forever to be known as Edward the Third, for being my third white Prius that sparkles in the sunlight. I got a full tank of gas with the car. Today, July 25th, I decided it was time to put more gas in since I am anticipating some long drives coming up over the next few days. I still had a little less than a quarter of the original tank left. Behold my dashboard, prior to today’s fill-up:
I’m very pleased with my new car. The range of electric driving for me is around 56 km. I was told the car had a range of 40 km, however the car learns how you drive trains you how to drive more efficiently and rewards you with more range. It takes into account the amount of energy you save with regenerative braking and also coasting and using the engine brake to slow down. So I’ve “earned” a range of 56 km by giving up my lead foot. 😉
Which means during the week I drive solely on electric power on any given day. I only seem to dip into gas power on weekends, when I take longer drives for Beach Days and such.
Uh-oh, I’m feeling ranty again…
I was planning on trading in Edward II later on this year, but decided to take advantage of the government incentive to buy a plug-in hybrid. And I’m glad I did when I did because the provincial government has changed hands and now this rebate has been terminated.
Ironically, the party now in power campaigned that they are for the little guy, yet they take away a rebate that could actually benefit the common person. They’ve told their base that electric cars are only for the elite and cost $$$$. Which is blatantly untrue. Clearly they are taking a page from the Trump playbook and the sheeple believe their gaslighting, as I’ve seen on Twitter.
Follow the money, people. Follow the money, to learn the truth.
It’s been 2 months of daily driving and all I’ve spent on gas is $32. Only just today. Just sayin’…
Today is stinking hot but at least it’s not raining. Most of June consisted of rainy weekends, like this one:
Rainy weekends are good for the gardens but piss off those of us still working Monday-Friday.
After a slow start (completely the fault of the gardener), the 2018 Badass Rooftop Garden polebean crop is finally making progress.
Earlier in the month, I took part in the annual 4 Day-Evening walk at the Dundas Valley Conservation Area. This was held during the week, so no rain, natch. I also wrote about it here.
This is an event brought over from the Netherlands, by Dutch-Canadians, and a whole lot of fun.
When the rain stopped on the weekends (usually late in the day), I was able to walk around my own stomping grounds as well.
On the concert front, I was treated to Mother Mother and Little Destroyer on June 25th, as a Mother’s Day present from Mizz J.
One benefit of all the rain: I was indoors more than usual and was able to work on a painting (not finished as yet).
Another benefit of all this rain, I think: has anybody else noticed the Ontario strawberries are exceptional this year?
Have a wonderful July and a wonderful Canada Day tomorrow (and a fabulous 4th of July to my US neighbours!).
The Changing Seasons is a monthly photo challenge hosted by Su Leslie, of Zimmerbitch.