Friday. Hmm.

Double hmm.  Can't thank of a catchy post title!  Feeling a bit scattered ... must be TGIF! ... so this post is probably a bit scattered.  We've been INUNDATED with these creepy crawlies:


Sorry, a bit fuzzy ... it was taken with my cell phone which, of course, is a Le Cheapo model.  There are two caterpillars in the above photo, one crawling upward on the branch from the bottom left, and one crawling downward on the same branch from the top right.  They are gradually working their way through our city in the uber-quadrillions and eating every leaf off every tree and bush in their path.  Can you say bare skeleton trees?

To my surprise yesterday, I noticed new growth on some of the barest most ravaged trees!  It's a second spring!


 This has been keeping us entertained today ... it's a BIG BIKE ... a fundraiser/awareness campaign by the Heart & Stroke Foundation.  Teams of 30 volunteers are peddling it around the city all day today.  Naturally, each team tries to out-do the previous team in boisterous enthusiasm.  My office is on the "main street" now, so we get to see this kind of stuff.  It's such fun!

 Speaking of my office, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is tomorrow ... wear something purple! ... so today I've bounced between office and the information display we have at a local mall.  We will have our display there until 9 pm tonight and again all day tomorrow.  Always interesting to talk to strangers about a touchy subject (but important) like this!

 

 While at the mall earlier today, I noticed the above sign.  It's so true!

Have you ever read this book?  Or one of it's 4 siblings?

 It's a British "who-dunnit" set in the 1950s and told from the perspective of a very precocious motherless 11-year old with an obsession for chemistry.  If you want a light-hearted entertaining read, this is it!  A member of our book club says there is a new book out in this series, but I haven't seen it yet.

This isn't a "who-dunnit" ... it's a "what is it".  Sorry, fuzzy photo due to cheap cell phone again.  It's kind of creepy with beautiful little lavender coloured bell-shaped flowers.  Weed?  Flower? 
 

Well, TGIF ... hoping to do more of this over the weekend ... and you???

Rainy week

Rain and more rain ...

I know ... forgot to reset the date stamp AGAIN!

... not terribly pleasant on the tootsies (when one is too stupid/stubborn to put real shoes on ...)!  But that's okay, cuz I'm planning a European vacation!  Yup, I'm going to do some travelling next month ... in an innovative way, of course.  Will blog more about my itinerary once my plans are solidified.  STAY TUNED!  (I can hardly wait ...)

In the meantime, I found some more interesting trees and shrubs ...

 These scraggly pines looked like they were sprouting PINEAPPLES ... quite remarkable.

 I don't know what this sad little specimen is, but it's blooms were attractive.

Apparently I did not look very attractive yesterday morning.  It was raining, so I had my pink rain jacket on.  I never really cared what colour it was ... it was waterproof and cheap when I bought it in Vancouver, and it has served me well for quite a few years now.  I'm not sure if it was the rain jacket (pink) that drew that woman's attention, or my purse (emerald green), or my (wet) sandals (brown), or my skirt (navy and cream / tropical floral print) ... anyway, she laughed aloud and said I looked like a THRIFT STORE REJECT!  The nerve!  She did make me laugh tho.  I DO spend very little time dressing all "matchy matchy" ...

Carpets of Snow and Snowy Carpets and Carpets

These are my front steps right now:We have snow aplenty here right now. I am NOT a fan of shovelling snow, nor a fan of blowing snow, nor a fan of snow filtering down into my socks because the piles of snow I have to wade through are higher than my boots. However, I AM a big fan of the beauty of snow. The other night, I happened to have my camera with me, and snapped a few photos of snow on trees and bushes as I walked home.

It was a such a nice evening. No wind. The smell of wood smoke in the air. Only minus ten. And fluffy white snow carpeting everything. How can anyone possibly seriously dislike snow when it's this beautiful?

I have had another type of carpet happening at work this week. Here's our hallway, looking from the back of our building toward the front reception area. Notice the boring dull sad old carpet ....... and especially the worn areas repaired with duct tape ... and the worn duct tape repairs repaired with ... yes ... MORE duct tape. No amount of carpet cleaning is going to help this sad floor!Here is one of the kind young fellas from a local flooring company removing the old carpet.Oh my gosh! Our hallway looks better already!Here's a shot of the new carpet next to the old carpet ...... wow! What a difference! We were convinced we needed to have the entire place painted too, but this new carpet actually makes the walls (which are a pale shade of orchid-purplish-pinky something or other) look brighter. We might not have to paint! Well, at least not the entire place.

We are using this intrusion to our routine to DE-JUNK. Everyone should have one of those days at least once a year, don't you think? Each staff member ... and yours truly ... has been busy boxing up old but important files, shredding useless stuff, and deciding which pieces of extraneous furniture to donate elsewhere. The fun part is each person rearranging their own space. Amazing how different your own office looks when you move your desk to a different corner or different wall!

Stay tuned for pictures of MY office transformation ...