A day of joyous sights

I've been trying hard to relax and breathe. Hubby went out to dispatch Meals on Wheels. I'm trying to avoid the anger, vitriol, and hateful politics on Facebook and Twitter. There are many peeps who've posted many great Mother's Day weekend photos, which is hard for those sans family. There are others insisting on being more moral than our Prime Minister, or spreading myths around the causes of the Fort McMurray forest fires. Then there is the Trump issue.

Today, they are marching in Ottawa: protests against abortion rights. As with the courts ruling on my right to physician-assisted suicide, don't take my rights away, in your virtuous moral grandstanding. This is 2016. I had an abortion in 1974. The world didn't end. Birth control failed. I was sick as a dog. Full stop. Let's not set back Canadian women's rights 40 years. We're having a hard enough time with domestic violence and sexual assault. The Ghomeshi issue disturbs me so much. His abuse of power is so common in positions of authority, never mind amongst peers. </Rant over>

This is my journey to good mental health this week.
Firstly, Bambi sprouting his antlers, sitting in the sun out the kitchen window.



On the way back from seeing my client, the Greylag geese have been happily feeding on the river.

My client let me pick two african violet leaves from her collection. It's fun visiting her. She is 92, losing her eye sight, mobility and energy. My late father had such a collection. It is delightful visiting her. I have successfully rooted my two leaves in vermiculite and planted them. My thumb is so green.


I saw Daisy keen on something on the forest edge. Turns out it was a garter snake, the diameter of my little finger. She forgot it was there, and you can see her ear in the 2nd photo, as well as her tail in the 3rd. She wanted a mush, by this point, and flopped onto the ground!


The bullfrog tadpoles, who spend two years in the pond (unlike other frog species), has got wee little legs!


I hauled the hose out of the water barrel, and look who popped out with it, trying to fix up the water fountain in needed water. A grey tree frog.


I was trying to do laundry, first load was good (sheets). My clothes, I wanted to hang it out for the afternoon. Sadly, I forgot to push that 'START' button! Back I went later...the laundry was out for the 2nd time this year. The lovely white and purple violets look so nice around the flag garden.
P.S. Prominent on the laundry line is a lovely scarf my friend, YAM, designed. She lives in Scotland.


And in the forest, the trillium are happy to see the sun. Also, the hummingbirds are back! I was busy making some hummingbird food.

The lone bee house has hatched it's first compartment. I checked, and I'd put it up last September: Mason bee, pollen bee or solitary bee nest box


Then there is the fountain issue. I was trying to straighten it and it tipped over. The pump coupling, into which the copper pipe fits, snapped. I've wrapped it in a small piece of old hose. Jury-rigged. Now I just need someone to help me lift the big piece up over the copper pipe.

A dog, geese and a soaker!

While on my way, making a special trip to give a cat a haircut, I spotted some interestingly shaped geese on a creek. I could tell by the thickness of their heads that they were a bit different.

On my way home I stopped to check them out. The home owner nearby, came out and explained that the two domestic geese had been joined by a Canada goose, and he brought out his dog, as well as some bread for the geese. (Bread isn't good, I know, but what could I do?!)
The dog fell into the water going after the bread, and managed an amazing soaker!
Greylag domesticated farm geese from somewhere! They look rather like the Greater White-fronted goose, who do pass through the area, but it is more likely that they are local geese who have taken off from someone's farm.

I love how the Canada goose sleeps, as many species do: on one leg!



He fell into the water and sheepishly climbed up the river bank.