Reflections from Crumbly Acres

Tuesday, 4 July 2023

Gramma Camp – July 2023

The day began.

No sign of Fred for 24 hours, or so. Ah, making an appearance just before dinner, I was relieved. All is well.

I put out garbage at 7:30 a.m. and spotted a caterpillar. Orgyia leucostigma, white-marked Tussock moth.

School finished last week, and the girls are here. We did the hostage exchange in Franktown, and headed home. Small disaster, Isabelle had left her phone with Caitlin. They tailed after us, frantically trying to Facetime or phone. I think my phone's sound was off. They had to drive all the way to our house.

I apologised profusely. They drive an electric car, you see, and so they went into Perth, charged the car, and had a coffee, then drove home.

They unpacked. We sat down and flushed out a plan for activities, and a menu.

Monday afternoon, they went in for Thrifting and groceries. We've a lot of thrift stores, and the girls enjoy thrifting on a regular basis. Sadly, all but the Salvation Army store were closed for July 1st, despite it being July 3rd!

By then, it was well past noon, we all had lunch. Josephine made some guacamole.

I'd bought the girls some fun cat stickers from a queer artist in Vancouver.

Izzy and I played Crazy 8s. It was 7 - 0, and I said let's see you get to 10! We ended up with Isabelle winning 10 - 2. I reminded her of her great-grandfather who was an amazing card player, remembered who had played what, and usually won games we'd play back in the 70s!

I showed Isabelle the little car game she used to play. It was nostalgic. There are several apps that have a little car puzzle like this. I think it much more satisfying to have the actual game!

Josephine kept working on her embroidery on her runners. The sewing machine is out, and she's going to renovate her old jeans.

Caitlin did Josephine's nails last week!

We've a heat wave. Stacking wood may not be a good idea in the heat and humidity.

We took a test!

Gramma Jenn – 19

Isabelle – 19

Grampa Joe – 23

Josephine – 17

Grampa began watching Wimbledon. These carrots are cheering for Italian player Jannick Sinner. They have quite the presence on Twitter, called the Carota Boys. It's a bit incongruous in the oldest most prestigious tennis tournament in history, with all their traditions and solemnity.

I popped out back as it clouded over. The clouds were lovely. This is just with my iPhone. I took photos with my camera, as well, but they didn't match the quality of the phone.

We had a TV dinner, watching Jeopardy episodes Grampa taped, while eating our pizza. Isabelle did the carrying using Grampa's new pizza bag. It really kept the pizza hot!

We watched some of Janet King, and went to bed. We're on Season 3, and enjoying the Aussie, gay lawyer in this show. The kids are going to New Zealand this month, and the scenery is amazing.

I smell smoke this morning. And we have heat warnings. We'll see if we can manage some fund today.

Monday, 3 July 2023

Ecosia, Twitter and PRIDE month

I've switched search engines to Ecosia. Google has about 6 months until the Canadian government cuts off new items without remuneration to Meta and Twitter. Australia did a fine job negotiating. You'd think, with these tech giants, and their billions of dollars of profit, that the billionaires would support journalism and journalists.

What can Canada learn from Australia's bid to make big tech pay for news?

Canadian lawmakers are locked in a dispute with internet technology companies over a law that would compel them to pay news publishers for content, years after a similar regulatory saga played out in Australia.

Musk was limiting traffic on Twitter. I cruise it looking for what is happening around us.

In the meantime, they are pointing out some issues, if you read the fine print.

"The real agenda is to erase the LGBTQ community from visibility. Because queerness and visibility makes them uncomfortable. " – @QueerGrandad

That is the end of PRIDE MONTH! It really is amazing how threatened and fearful some (theoretically) straight people get. In fact, 8 people were arrested in Alberta for child exploitation and child pornography. Not an LGBT or drag queen in the bunch. This I learned on Twitter.

Bigots harassing the story time in Ottawa yesterday discuss “straight rights” and how they think people are being “forced” to be gay. pic.twitter.com/C26FlnIiYS
— Johnny Fondue (@Eatsfood2) June 29, 2023

Got to be part of something special this Pride.
We asked ministers from across Canada and they said: God loves Queer People!!
Let the world know that God is love, and God loves people of all sexualities and genders. #2SLGBTQI+ #LGBTQ @affirmunited @Presbyterian @generalsynod pic.twitter.com/8gSlUOO8Jw
— Alexa (@Rev_Alexa) June 28, 2023

June wasn't very wet. July has begun. Gramma Camp begins today. We'll see what the weather brings.

The cats have been happy in the air conditioning! It has been hot and humid.

Sunday, 2 July 2023

Crumbly Acres flora and fauna

We had a storm go through yesterday. Happily it passed by the time the Canada Day stage show and fireworks were ready to go in Ottawa. They had fireworks on the lake a km away – I could hear them. At least we'd had rain.

Front yard

I was out front putting up my red ribbons for Canada Day July 1st, and spotted a Ctenucha Virginica on the coreopsis.

🦌 Across the highway, a pair of deer were watching me hang ribbons.

Back further, were our two bucks who hang out together. The long weekend traffic was awful. The stores were packed, according to JB, parking lots full.

deer june 30 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐦 Can you see them? I could, sort of, against a smoky, cloudy sky. BIRDnet knew what I suspected. Three birds: Gray catbird, cedar waxwing, and brown thrasher. I think the thrasher landed on the hummingbird feeder, but it was quick.

The rose-breasted grosbeak likes the hummingbird feeder, as well. He's more of a frequent flyer!

rose-breasted grosbeak from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Front garden

In the front garden, evening primrose:

I have done pretty well plucking lily bugs off of the lilies. Can you see the second one hiding under the leaf? A snail watches.

The deerflies stick to my hat. So do the leaves! Guinivere is astonished.

Backyard

Moving to the back, the pink Bridlewreath spirea and rose campion.

I knew the House Wrens were about ready to go. You could see them in the port hole!

house wren from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After this they flew off. They took off into the forest, and have been hanging around the property.

House wrens bushes from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I had to clean out the Bluebird nest box, well- christened by the House Wrens, and a wee spider. I pulled all the sticks out. After I filled the water fountain, I rinsed it off with the hose as there were bugs and bird poop.

I think three of the four phoebe eggs have hatched.

Saturday, 1 July 2023

Saturday's Critters

Well, it is Canada Day. Joseph Brian dressed my wooden, carved bear. He's a little the worse for wear. Poor Frosty's hat needs replacing, as well. I've asked someone to make me on, but haven't heard back. Here is Frosty from 2014. We are all the worse for wear these days!

I went out and dressed the fence. My deerfly cap on, in the heat the mosquitos were minimal and I was happy to have a shower afterwards and come in to the air conditioning.

I've kept my LGBTQ flag out there.

We will watch celebrations from Parliament Hill on TV. When I sang with the Ottawa Choral Society, we'd be asked to perform at noon. The kids were small, and we took them down. It was a fun celebration, with lots of singing and minimal speechifying.

We're still facing smoke issues. It makes for a sad sunrise.