Trip to Ottawa: a concert

 It was an adventure. We arrived at the church for the concert. It's a pretty church. 

It is the All Voices Community Choir. They saved money on printing programmes by sending out an electronic one. Also, people were checked in electronically at the door. Tickets with a QR code. So modern!

It was a lovely program. We all sang 'Oh Canada' with gusto. Joe recognized lots of songs. He promised not to sing. 😏 I had to refrain, myself. Rise Up, My Love, by Healey Willan (YouTube), is one of my favourites. I have sung this one in my high school and senior choirs many times. It is a beautiful piece. 

There is Caitlin, waiting for the rest of the choir to enter. I sang in the Ottawa Choral Society, with 125 members! I understand the process.

Linda, the director, is so fun to watch! She cheers everyone on. This is the massed choir, adults, teens and young 'uns. 

This was a a very moving song, Ispiciwin, by Andrew Balfour, you can listen on YouTube. It is in Cree. Just beautiful. 

Caitlin came upstairs at the intermission. 

 

I was so happy to see Caitlin sing again this year. There is something about being part of a choir. I can't do it any more. There are many rewards. 

Sadly they are losing their assistant director and accompanist this year. Anyone keen and able?! Gifts for all.

We all went back to their house. Jordan had attended on the Friday, but Aster had just come back from a camping trip at a Scout Camp. She is in Trex. She was tired! 

We ordered Subway sandwiches online, and Joe and JL picked them up. Hooray for city food! 

From the Spring concert last month, a couple snippets.

 

Birds and deer

 I am ready! The hummingbird feeders are up.

#75 is cleaning up under the feeder. As I wrote yesterday, I will put away the sunflower seed feeder once I see the grosbeaks have returned! 

Evening grosbeak:

As a bonus, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak!

Maybe a little bit more time. I await the bears...

We haven't seen deer in weeks! A trio turned up Sunday morning. Can you see the Evening Grosbeak in the upper right corner on the feeder stand?!

She seems to have a round belly!

One was out in the backyard:

We had an adventure into Ottawa for Caitlin's concert. We had so much fun. More to come!

Trailcam, flowers and birds

 I am so excited! I bought me a new trailcam. It uses Wifi and connects to the smart phone. No fiddling around with SD Cards. I can upload images directly to my iPhone and my photo stream, from the back deck. It's a game changer! 

 

You can see the camera on the purple pencil. 

The skies have been dark and ominous. 

Hellbores:

Forsythia:

I am down to one bird feeder. I am waiting for the grosbeaks to arrive before I put them away. 

In other news, Caitlin took Jordan back to Kingston. They stocked up on groceries, put together the new bed frame, Caitlin went back to Ottawa.  

Jordan made himself some shakshuka for dinner! Our country is so rich from foreign cuisine. I think Jordan got the cooking inspiration from the parental unit!

Aster was on a camping weekend with Trex, Caitlin & JL had a date night at Zoe's in the Chateau Laurier. 

These flowers are made of Lego!

Sunday we attended Caitlin's Spring concert. More on that later once I curate the photos.

Garden delights, lunch out

 Garden delights

Lenten Rose:

I shoved a couple of planters in the garage over the winter season. Hauling it out, I found a flower in bloom. I set it out front hoping for the best. 

The skunk roars on by:

Our temperatures have been up and down. One day I'm in a summer dress...

Then I am bundled up...

It's too early to mow, really. No mow May, etc., but I had them take my tractor away for a tune up. I did a quick mow as they said it would be 3 weeks. 

My sewing machine has an automatic threader. It is not working. I've been trying to figure it out. I think the little hook is bent, as it ought to go in the hole. It is so difficult to see it, I had to take a photo.  Another project. 

Nutmeg is such a cute cat. If I fits I sits! She is sitting on her cat bed, but certain humans threw their blankets on her chair.

This show how wee Nutmeg is, compared to her big brother, Cinnamon.

An actual bullfrog in the frog pond. 

Shoddy work at the pond, but the best we could do with the weasels, minks, and raccoons about:

Non-mental note: I moved a trail camera. I tend to lose them and wander around looking for them. Taking a photo puts it in my brain! This camera is on the big aspen trees Barry is fond of.

Barry has been... well, busy. He loves the aspen, and they've been coming down.  

This is the little aspen grove I've been nursing. The previous owners used to mow it.  I let it go natural.

I expect Barry will move on once he fells our trees! Good thing we have 16 acres. 

We drove to town to have Joe's artwork reframed. On the way, a meandering stream.

Afterwards, we had lunch in Perth.

Soon it will be patio season!

Note to our Premier: Bill McKibben on the solar energy boom: “Sunlight has to travel 93 million miles to reach the Earth, but none of those miles go through the Strait of Hormuz."