Odds and sods

 That was a storm on Friday. After dinner, we watched episodes 3 and 4 of GONE. Being happy go lucky, we watched 5 and 6! I love the layers of clues, the accents, the scenery. It was filmed at Downside Catholic School in the UK. 

"– inspired by the book To Hunt A Killer by former detective superintendent for Gloucestershire Police, Julie Mackay, and ITV crime correspondent Robert Murphy, with both Mackay and Murphy consultants on the series.^[2]  Wiki  

GONE

We'll often watch a foreign film with translation. We just finished Fosca Innocenti 2022  and it was one of those light, joyful, mysteries. Almost a RomCom. The lead female is the Commissario in this TV Series from Italy. The characters are gender diverse.

She's not a size 2 actor, nor heavily made up. It is refreshing. We've been discussing it, how the make-up, the barely clad people of the American shows, is left behind in the dust in comparison. Filmed in Arezzo, Italy. 

Well, back to our little piece of heaven. The frog in the goldfish pond is against photos. Can you see his little eye balls?!

I wasn't that near to him, but I caught his legs in the photo! I am slow to respond. 

I snapped a photo another day.

Another throw back to cottage life. Caitlin hung up diapers! I have been looking for this photo for days... 

Barry Beaver seems ticked off still. All the trees he'd prepared to chop down fell in the July 1st storm.  We had our path cleared July 30th. I haven't seen Barry since then. I noticed that the duck weed and frog bit hadn't budged. 

Aug. 12

There seems to be some action, Aug. 13th.

 

The Freds seem to be slowing down. The cool nights are doing it, I think. A bit of a shock this morning!

MiniFred peeks his head out. Auntie Fred is minding her own business. They are solitary critters, I've read. I've seen proof as Auntie doesn't go under the deck. MiniFred stays away from the shed.

That sweet little face!

We have lovely afternoons on the back deck. Joe pulled up a chair for Cinnamon. 

As we sat there, I spotted the resident hawk flying at eye level towards us, then it veered up over the roof. I was too slow to spot it and capture a photo. However, this one is a frequent flyer. 

I've noticed several millipedes wandering across the driveway. Three or four, methinks. It's a bit odd. 

Of course there are things that are on the hunt in the night. Finally a half-decent image grabbed from the video of our regular fox visitor.

I like September!

 Here we are, September. The plants have nearly run their spring/summer cycles. I'm putting together another Fall Chores post. The year unfolds as it should. We've still a few cherry tomatoes. Soon, with first frost, my outdoor plants will die off, their year done. 

The Perth Fair is on this weekend. There is a display contest, top prize $175, 2nd = $100 and 3rd place = $75! I figured that out after being out driving and seeing these! 

After their morning run, in the cats come for breakfast. The horse chestnut tree, in the background, is beginning to lose leaves. It was chilly yesterday.

I knew the morning was going to be sunny, so I did laundry early and hung it out. Sitting on the back deck to process some photos on my laptop, it began to rain. Happily the clothes were nearly dry. I hustled and brought it all in.

August 2022 <= rain totals! They were decent.

On Wednesday, the day progressed. I did some much-needed weeding. The clouds rolled in, and then a big storm. Well, not so big, but spotty. Very isolated. The tree frog in the bathroom sensed the impending storm and began to chirp. I still cannot find it.

Thunderboomers everywhere around us, as well as power outages.

Ontario Hydro posts outages, hopefully you can access it with a cell phone if your home is without power. People were back up by the next morning.

The rain stopped, but there were warnings for the kids in Ottawa. They were out picking up a grocery order. Happily they made it home safely.

Ottawa Hydro also shows a map of outages, Caitlin texted that theirs was out. They had power back by 9:30 p.m.! 

Whew!

Goodnight sun!

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.