We Haz Bloomz!

Last Thursday afternoon on my way to a work-related presentation, I happened to walk down a street that is not usually included in my regular travels.  It was a blossomly lovely experience!  So I felt obligated to share ...

What a delicious fragrance!

pls ignore date stamp ...
i haz a mental block against
remembering to change it
when i recharge the camera's battery ...

Oh so pretty!

I don't like the smell of lilacs,
but the new blossom clusters are such a nice colour!

A few trees in blossom is probably no big news to folks in other parts of the world, but it is exciting to me ... only a week had passed since our last snow showers!  Here in "the north" (which is really the geographical centre of the province of BC, not the FAR north), it feels like spring/summer will NEVER get here, then you blink once and IT ALREADY ARRIVED!

Over the weekend, I also found blossomly loveliness in a few other places around and about my own neighbourhood ...

This tree (my apartment building is behind)
isn't the nicest shaped specimen ...
it was run over by a truck two years ago ...
poor thing ...
but the blossoms are SO PINK!

They look so nice ... a long row of them
right down the middle of the street!

These poor beauties are drooping
from the effects of an unexpected rain storm ...
So was I ... I got caught several blocks away from home
and without a sweater or jacket!

I have no idea what this prickly little bush is ...
but the blooms are interesting!

Real good crop of these indestructible beauties!
(They're going to populate the earth
along with cockroaches and earwigs
after the nuclear holocaust ...)
My Dad used to batter and deep fry the blooms ...
yummy!
We also ate the new greens in salad ...
double yummy!

There is a short cut that I often take on my way home which runs behind two churches, across a green belt, and comes out right beside my apartment building.  Here is the entrance to that short cut path ...

It was about 8:45-ish in the evening when I snapped the picture above.  There was a big steaming pile of VERY fresh bear poop at the other end of this path ... I didn't hang around to take a picture of THAT!  Didn't see the bear that left the "deposit", but guess I'll stay away from this short cut on any early morning / late evening walks now!  Foolish of me to walk there at that hour ... I knew there had been a bear in the neighbourhood just a few days earlier.  Mizz Bootz was quite excited to see it from our balcony!  She spent an hour racing between our bedroom window and our balcony door trying to see it again after it disappeared, and was "chattering" and gnashing her teeth like a deranged Siamese cat all the while!

Here is the cross-stitch picture of the winged lion I have been working on.  Now that I've "de-stressed" myself, I'm finding it hard to focus on this project!  I know ... totally weird ... I can focus on counted cross stitch when I'm over-tired and over-stressed, but not when I'm relaxed and healthy!

This past week has been graduation/convocation time for a variety of people in my work and personal life.  I was delighted to attend one of the ceremonies at UNBC as "rent-a-mom" for one of this year's graduates.  Being back around the academic community makes me wish I was a university student again.  Maybe I will be ... I haven't totally abandoned ideas of completing my Master's degree ... but for now, I'm enjoying a non-academic Aromatherapy program (in my spare time).

Do you have a "bucket list"?  My list of things I want to do/learn/experience before I die is SO LONG that I'm either going to run out of lifetime or have to live to 120+ to accomplish everything!  I think I should retire soon so I can devote more time to my bucket list!

Is it? Can it be? Is it possibly ... ?

I don't want to say the word too loud (for fear of jinxing it!), but I think it might be ... SHHH! ... spring.  The air just has that feel.  Oh sure, we've had a psychotic weather week, from thawing and refreezing

Snow just starting to get slushy ...
Ignore the date stamp.
Mutter mutter ... stupid camera ...

to more thawing

The Big Thaw, Take 1.
The Great Lakes where storm drains are still frozen!

Road rash.
I managed to do a little personal research
on the general topic of
SENIORS and FALLS ...
Roads are covered with (dangerous) gravel
where they are not hidden by The Great Lakes.

to a big dump of snow

Look at this!
The date stamp is right for a change!

and then the entire cycle all over again!

Dry and somewhat gravelly sidewalks today.
So far today, that is!

I was out and about wearing shoes instead of winter boots today.  That means it is going to either, (a) snow ten inches tonight, or (b) continue thawing and looking more and more like (SHHH!) spring.  Which do you think it will be????

I have been working on my multicoloured cardigan ...

Lots of colours!

... with Miss Boots help, of course ...

"Look!  These circular knitting needles mean there's
a HOLE IN THE MIDDLE of the knitting!
Just right for me to pop up through!"

... but, as usual, have been pulled away by a couple of other small projects.  My cardigan is currently on sleeve #2, so I'm getting closer to the home stretch with it.
In the meantime, here's a little teaser from one of my small projects:

What the heck is all this wooly loopy stuff???

And why am I taking the scissors to it???

I've been feeling a bit guilty because I'm not blogging as often as I intend to.  I've decided the reason is computer fatigue.  Please bear with me while I explain.  My work day is pretty much glued to my computer, so by the time evening or the weekend rolls around, I don't want to look at another computer monitor or laptop screen.  I don't even want to be in the same room with another piece of modern technology.  Well, except maybe my tea kettle!  After supper, I quite often think to myself "I should blog about ..." and then I think about the effort of booting up my laptop and how weary my eyes are from staring at my computer monitor most of the day.  So I go back to my tea and knitting instead.

I'm noticing a number of friends who were very active bloggers / Facebookers / texters, etc are doing a lot less of that sort of thing.  When I ask about it, I usually hear similar versions of my comuter fatigue theory.

Are we burning ourselves out with technology?  Do we need to return to hand-writing letters to communicate with friends and family?  What are YOUR thoughts on this???

The May Long Weekend

After a visit 'down south' the previous weekend, I decided to spend part of my Saturday searching for signs of spring here in 'The North'.  Well, that's not exactly true ... my mission for the day was a trip to the health food store to buy some essential oils (more on this later), and I had my trusty little digital camera along and took some pix of the evidence of spring during my travels.  (There ... I feel much better for having 'fessed up!)

There has been quite a change in The State of Blooming Things in a very short time ...

Flowering bulbs ... finally!
Pretty pink tulips.

More bulbs!

Apple blossoms!

Soon-to-be lilacs!

A tree dripping with pretty catkins.
This nameless tree has white bark ... I know fruit trees,
not ALL trees!

 All that evidence of spring ... and the fact that the world as we know it didn't end at 6:00 pm on Saturday night! ... was enough to send me home and out onto my balcony, which I have to admit never got cleaned up last fall and was looking pretty disgusting.  Here's the BEFORE pix:

Looking to the left ...

Looking to the right ...

 A bit of digging, sweeping and re-arranging, and here's the AFTER pix:

Looking to the left ...
Yes, I moved my chair to the other end.
That way I can sit in the sun with my morning cuppa tea!

Looking to the right ...

 Most of last year's Balcony Inhabitants survived the winter ...

Humper and Thumper appeared quite glad to be back outside.
They weren't too fussy about wintering beside the bookcase ...
especially when Mizz Bootz played her rambunctious hockey games around the bookcase!

Rhonda and Rhoda the Whirling Flamingo Sisters
seemed a little doubtful about returning from their winter vacation
before the 1st of June ...

As the clouds grew, Larry the Lounging Lizard
appeared to worry that his heat rock was seriously malfunctioning!
I'm sure I heard a little lizardly plea for a little lizardly scarf and toque ...

The Little Rosemary Angel lost her head and one wing over the winter ...
She has been relegated to a safe corner while her neck and wing "heals"!
Let's hope that glue holds ...

 The May Long Weekend really is too early to get serious about planting anything outdoors here just yet.  We could have another snow storm!  Or at least another frost or two!  However, I couldn't resist adding SOME greenery to the balcony ...

L. & E. brought me over some parsley plants.
They enjoyed their own very first yard and garden last year,
and are thrilled to find some things reappearing this year ...
including parsley ...

They also brought me some mint.
I think it's peppermint.
Smells yummy!

I bought a half dozen little seedling geraniums.
They only cost $1.20 each, so if they get frozen,
no big deal!
However, I hope they don't ...

 After all that hard work, I baked bread.  Well, that's not exactly true ... my trusty bread machine baked bread while I was busy digging, sweeping and re-arranging, and it was finished just in time for me to relax out on the balcony in my (re-positioned and freshly cleaned) chair with my book, a cuppa green tea, and a slice of hot home-made bread with honey! 

Yummy for my tummy!

Mizz Bootz, the self-appointed Defender Of The Balcony,
kept a close eye on all those nasty helicopters
(AKA hummingbirds)
that kept invading Our Air Space!

 Had to deal with a bit of Long Weekend Company (nice to have guests, but nice to have them leave, too!), but did manage to get a bit of "thinking pink" knitting done ...

Cables and ribs ...
Little Person Cardigan worked from the neck down.

Armholes divided from the body ...
sleeves get picked up and knitted later.

Body knitted THIS FAR from where the armholes are divided off.

I know!  I know!  The date stamp on my pix STILL says 2154 instead of 2011!  I WILL change it ... eventually!

So you are probably wondering why my mission for Saturday was a trip to the health food store to buy some essential oil?  Bear with me ... it's a bit of a long-winded story ...

I'm part way through a graduate degree, and have been feeling a little uninspired academically speaking.  For the past year, I've been fighting an urge to take a course or DO SOMETHING NEW AND DIFFERENT just for me, just for the joy of it, just to nourish ME.  But for the life of me, I couldn't imagine what that something was.  Music lessons?  Nope.  Language lessons?  Nope.  Belly dancing?  Definately not.  Finally, I asked "The Universe / The Great Ha-Ha / The Powers That Be" to give me a hint already 'cuz I knew I wanted to do something but couldn't figure out what.  The very next thing that floated into my world was an article about the health benefits of aromatherapy.  So I said "cute, Universe, but that can't possibly be IT!"  After six or seven articles / conversations / hints about aromatherapy ... and me stupidly responding "cute, Universe, but seriously now, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO FOR ME ALREADY?!?!?!?" ... I finally GOT THE MESSAGE (duh!) and enrolled in an aromatherapy course.  That's why my mission for Saturday was a trip to the health food store to buy some essential oil!

Have you ever asked for guidance in making a decision like that?  Or tried to ignore provided guidance when it was provided?  And what did YOU do over the Long May Weekend???

Another weekend

I had to be downtown first crack Saturday morning to do a presentation at a provincial conference about our Senior Peer Support Program.  Not the way I LIKE to start my Saturdays, but it's always worthwhile getting out and promoting this valuable program.  I was rewarded with a new pen and pencil set for my efforts.

One can never have too many pen and pencil sets.  At least, I can't!  Once that task was out of the way, I treated myself to coffee and a homemade cinnamon bun, then set off with camera in hand looking for signs of SPRING.

There were plenty of swelling buds on various bushes, and even a few tentative green leaves wherever the bushes were protected by buildings, but not much in the way of spring blooms.  I even checked out my favourite little rockery garden (in front of the All Nations Pentecostal Church) ...

... and all I could find was this one lonely and shivering little Winter pansy ...

However, THESE were quite abundant ...

I'm thinking dandelions are kind of like cockroaches ... humanity will be destroyed and long gone but dandelions and cockroaches will still be thriving! 

Did your gramma make you eat Dandelion greens in the spring?  Mine did.  It was supposed to be a tonic for the blood. 

Since my search for photographic evidence of Spring didn't prove too fruitful, I headed off to the grocery store to replenish some important staples.  Along the way, I noticed this very colourful tree ...

... and this sign under the tree ...

Well!  Handbags, jewelry and scarves in a delightful little shop that also sells flowers and chocolates?  Naturally, that had to be explored further!  Explore I did, and with appropriate restraint.  I only bought this ...

... and this ...

... for myself!  Do you wear beads and scarves?  My "work" clothes are pretty boring ... usually just plain teeshirts or blouses with plain skirts ... and I've taken to throwing on a necklace or a scarf to brighten things up.  (And sometimes to hide the stain on the front of my shirt ...)

THEN off to the grocery store and home to hoover and do laundry and the usual Saturday chores.

Sunday didn't require rushing downtown, so I indulged in my absolute most favourite Sunday morning breakfast ...

... your good old-fashioned English fry up!  Bacon, sausage, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, beans and eggs.  Good for the arteries (not), but I love this now and then.  No, that's not wine on the right ... it's blueberry juice.

After breakfast, I did a little knitting ...

... one sleeve finished, and ...

... button-hole band finished, and ...

... second sleeve underway.  Miss Boots checked over my collection of circular knitting needles ...

... obviously contemplating starting her OWN knitting project, but changed her mind in favour of a wee lie-down on my loom bench ...

(that's a piece of "girly/pink" fabric drying across the loom behind her ... potential quilting material.)  Boots found this spot very comfy ...

... and very relaxing ...

... and soon settled in for a nice Sunday nap. 

The human on the sofa did likewise.

And how was YOUR weekend?