on the cusp of summer

on the cusp of summer the Burnaby sky is filled with colour

and with crows! hard to see in such a small image, but the sky and trees are full of them. i'm told that, decades ago, this was a marsh - crow territory, and, generations later, they have not relinquished it.

we're springing!

spring.

gentle sighs of green

bravely exhale

and spread themselves

over the discarded remains of last summer.

crushed brown swaths of departed grasses

part reluctantly,

reveal that banshee winter

hasn't altered the circle of life.

trees,

for months stark, naked and shivering

against pewter arctic skies,

begin to soften their silhouettes.

a mist of infant green forms an aura around them.

even the sky

warms from dull to deepest blue.

earth,

only weeks ago rigid and grey with ice,

succumbs.

small energetic wedges of green persistence

thrust through its crust.

we blink,

shake off the gritty residue

of winter's demise.

a miracle has surrounded us.

last month's frozen grip is broken

by the softest of golden touches.

how subtle is a sunbeam,

yet what can resist it?

It's the end of the world as we know it

For at the time appointed the end shall be. (Daniel 8:19)

May 21, 2011 - Are You Ready?

i heard this on the truck radio today, on the way to get my summer tires put back on, so i looked it up online. it comes along with some weird formatting i don't know how to get rid of. seems these guys never get tired of being wrong. i suppose if they keep it up long enough, they'll eventually get it right. in the same way that a stopped clock is right twice a day. .................................................................. if i were Seraphina i'd have a cool 'toon and a great quote for you, but i'm not Sera. if i were Linda or Susan there'd be a photo of something beautiful i'd made or photographed, but i'm not Su or Linda if i were Lindsay Lobe, i'd enlighten you with the historical and cultural background of this phenomenon, but i'm not Lindsay if i were Madcap, i'd have some thing witty and original and insightful to say about it all, but i'm not Madcap if i were Cicero or Claire i'd help you keep both feet firmly planted on our gorgeous planet's skin with a stunning photo and/or a recipe, but i'm not Cicero or Claire. if i were Jozien, i'd have a breathtaking wilderness photo or a poem for you, but i'm not Jozien if i were Gary or Zee i'd give you a global perspective on the subject, but i'm not either of them if i were Utah Savage, i'd have something really brilliant and insightful to say about it all, but i'm not her either. in the process of understanding all that i am not, and accepting that, i learn all that i am. and i am not convinced the world will end in 15 days at least, my world won't

JUST AS GOD WARNED NOAH BEFORE THE WORLDWIDE FLOOD, GOD IN HIS MERCY IS WARNING US THROUGH THE BIBLE THAT JUDGMENT DAY WILL BE ON MAY 21, 2011.

the Maestro

ok. so i have no life. the most exciting thing that's happened is my dog is nearly grown up. and very handsome. this was taken just after he'd had his first complete haircut. Last week as we returned home from a walk we passed the backyard of a burly fellow with a handlebar moustache, who was firing up his barbeque. it was a few degrees above freezing, so it felt like spring. Maestro was doing his dolphin dog routine, diving into the snow banks and running with his nose down and tail up, making a trench in the melting snow. i was laughing at his foolishness, when the burly fellow called from behind me, "what kind of dog is that?" i replied "he's a water spaniel". Mr. Burly called back in his deep, gruff voice, "he's beeeyooodeeefull". made my day.

Art for Humanity

We're gearing up for an Art for Humanity show for Earth Day, featuring sculptures made from recycled materials from our ReStore. I gave 6 sculpture students from the local college $50 each to spend at the ReStore, with the agreement that they would donate the resulting works to a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. Here's what they came up with.

fresh baked bread

i just paid over $13 for a small loaf pan. an empty metal pan about 2/3 the size of a standard loaf pan. textured metal. no teflon or silicone or heat proof glass. plain sheet metal with some bumps stamped into it.

i can't believe the price. but i paid it.

my dad, now living alone, is lonely and unhappy. so last week i baked him cinnamon buns in an attempt to cheer him up and remind him that he's not all alone. i spend the day with him in his home, and bake and visit and putter. this week i thought fresh whole wheat bread might be nice. he likes whole wheat. a full-sized loaf would be stale before he could eat the whole thing alone, and i'm gluten intolerant, so there's no sharing. a smaller loaf was required. i pounded the pavement from one shop to the next. big box stores don't carry small loaf pans; they're not common, so there's no profiting from economies of scale in selling them. the only place i could find one was a 'gourmet' cooking store. $12.99 plus tax.

good grief.

early senility?

i'm turning into one of those weird old ladies who talks to her dog, and triumphantly practices unconventional solutions to every day problems.

it's this 'air card'.

bought a little over a year ago, so i could have internet service for my laptop wherever i am, as, at the time, i was doing a fair bit of traveling with the job. it's always been a bit twitchy, but now it seems to last only a few minutes before it disconnects itself and i have to reconnect.... which becomes of shorter and shorter duration till it won't connect at all. and, of course, the warranty is up. the thing retails for $300 so getting a new one is out of the question just now. and they don't repair things anymore. if the service provider even cared. i recently had other issues with it, and was told by Telus Mobility (after nearly a week of back and forthing over the issue, with no satisfactory resolution) 'Well, Telus doesn't support Macintosh' (my laptop is a MacBook) but, i reply, you sold it to me specifically for a Mac. you set it up on my Mac. 'Well, Telus doesn't support Macintosh'. robotic response. i guess they don't get paid enough to think.

so.... the stick is not reliable.

i noticed that it's always quite warm to the touch when it stops working. so i tried letting it cool, then plugging it in for another go. and it worked fine.... till it got warm again. hmmm. there seems to be a temperature factor. with time, the warming seemed to happen sooner, till it was all i could do to open my email and get out a reply or 2 before it was shutting down.

hmmm.... maybe if i chill it first. so i put it in the freezer compartment of the fridge for a 1/2 hour..... and it did work a little longer before it shut down. hmmm... chilling it seems to be an improvement.

so, picture this. i'm on bereavement leave, and completely vegging out. doing the hermit thing bigtime. still in my plaid pajamas, barefoot and gritty eyed, with magnificent bedhead, i'm seated in a 30's style big, soft armchair that i've recovered in a floral tapestry fabric. the laptop is on my lap, a bowl of gluten free peanut butter comfort cookies i baked yesterday is near at hand. there's a home made quilt containing ice packs carefully arranged around the air card attached to the side of the laptop. the dog is fascinated by the ice packs, and doing his best to unobtrusively get his nose inside the blanket to lick them.

all a bit ridiculous, but, miracle of miracles, i've been on the air card for nearly an hour and it's working fine.

thankfully, we have wireless at work. i won't need to bring my quilt and ice packs.