Monday Garden Shots

It is 01.52 hrs. Outside it is 21c (69F). Inside it is about 500 Kelvin! Oh, alright, my thermometer is reading 29C still (around 80F). I have four fans running, oh and a ceiling fan & all of my windows open. I have to close them all before bed as I live on the ground floor and don't want to have just anyone walk in. With the humidex today, the temperature was about 32c which is about "too fucking hot" F, or 90ish.


This first photo is from my phone. You can just see the spiderweb I was aiming for, but I quite like the flare I got instead.

This is the first blossom on my Calendula (bell flower).


Violas with some carnations.


Just the carnations.


If you look really closely, you can see he has a worm for the babies. I missed the shot of his trying to get in the hole.


They have to scramble to get inside and it is so funny to see, I will get a movie of it one day I hope.

Have a good day all.

Dragons

On the summer solstice, my friends and I went to the museum to see an entertainment ('cause I can't think of another word for it) put on by the Edmonton Stilt Walkers to celebrate the solstice and the arrival of the Dragon Exhibit at our Museum.

I now know that at something like this I need to decide before hand if I am going to film or photograph, because it is really hard to do both. Please bear in mind that this was the day I rode my bike for 11 miles, so some of the video is a bit shaky, plus I was standing on the seat of a picnic type table and there were teenagers on the table top itself.

I added a few stills at the beginning and end of the video clips and some music to cover the silence. Unfortunately the production had a pretty poor sound system and it was outdoors. So, after all these excuses, if you still want to watch, please do and any editing tips will be welcome.

This is the poster for the event.



Fortunately I have two more opportunities to get this right! They are performing again in August and September.

I will report on the exhibit once we have seen it. For an idea of what I am referring to, here is a link to the Royal Albert Museum and just click on dragons.


Have a good weekend all.

I'm bored, or something - too tired to bitch

I don't really have anything great to post about. The manager of the complex here just screwed all of the tenants and I'm a bit pissed. The owner was going to raise the rent x dollars and the manager decided in her befuddled brain that it would be a good idea to penalize people if they didn't sign a 12 month lease by making the rent for them higher. "Well, the (enormous corporation) across the way does it". I tried to explain that it was a bad idea, but, the owner took one look and decided that it was a good thing. The only thing the owner did correctly was to phrase it to sound like you get a discount if you sign a 12 month lease. In all the years this woman has owned the property, she has always made the rent for current tenants lower than that of tenants just moving in by about $50.00 - not now. Well, unless you want to commit to staying for a year. Part of me can't wait for the bottom to drop out of the oil boom, just to get rents and housing prices back under control.

Anyway....here is a better photo of my eye, that shows the actual colour.


And I have been playing, so tell me what you think of this.


Have a good day all.

WWC Front & Back

Weekly Word Challenge - that is what Tuesday's are all about! Hosted by the ambitious Tink of Pickled Beef, if you drop by, she will let you know how to play along.

This weeks words are Front & Back. I did a bit of digging around my archives because I'm lazy this week.

FRONT:

This is the Front of my eye, as it would be rather difficult to photograph the back.

Click to enlarge, this one is really cool.

This was taken in 1963 on the Front step of the house we stayed in, while in Saskatchewan.
That is mom, my two brothers, my sister & I.


This little bird is sitting on the Front perch at his(her?) house.


This is all my Uncles and my dad standing in Front of Uncle Johnny's school bus at a family reunion in 1967. Uncle Gene is Leah's father (The Goat's Lunch Pail)


This photo works for both Front & Back...see, my hair is almost long enough to French braid.

BACK:

The Back of a fallen leaf.



The Back of Government House (and some people), which sits in front of the Museum. More on why we were there later in the week.

Some lilacs in my friends Back yard.


This photo is actually courtesy of my sister The Bag Lady. It is always best to put your little house out Back of the big one. This is from the homestead where my dad grew up.


That is it for this week. If you would like to see more photos on these words, some of the players have formed a group on Flickr and you can see a bunch of interpretations there. My flickr site is here.


Have a good day all.

The Odd, The End & The Middle

Wow, I was so exhausted last night that I couldn't get the video to load for today. Why? you ask? Well, let me tell, you about my weekend.

Friday, I rode my bike to the Cross Cancer Institute to pick up the drugs I forgot to pick up when I was there on Wednesday to have my arm checked out. (In case you missed that, it is better, I have an appointment for Wednesday to be measured and order a new sleeve - smaller!) Before I tell you how far I went, I want to remind everyone that I just acquired a bike last summer after years of having a car. So far this year I have ridden it maybe three times.

On the way, I noticed my tires were a bit low, they had just been pumped up the last week before, so I stopped at my friends and asked (I think I've named him) Pete if I could borrow his bike. Well, it hasn't been out yet at all (and is buried behind a bunch of stuff), so we just put air in my tires and hoped for the best. I headed off and was deliberately taking it easy, I wanted to make sure I could get back. It is four miles from my place to the Cross. With the added stop at my friends, round trip was 8.42 miles.

I had a bite of lunch, then got back on my bike to go to the Dr's to get some prescriptions that he had missed two weeks ago. He drives me crazy sometimes and he refuses to write a 'scrip for more than three months at a time or give them to the pharmacist over the phone. That added 2.64 miles round trip. So my total riding for Friday was 11.06 miles! (18+ kilometers for anyone young enough to actually think that way first)

I almost fell off my bike on the way back. There is construction everywhere between here and the Cross because of the LRT and some dipshit stole a shopping cart and parked it right behind the bushes, with just a corner of the handle sticking out. All along the outside of the sidewalk were these little A frame stands indicating no parking (for the construction). I was on the narrow sidewalk because I know I have to replace or repair the tubes but didn't want to pick up anything from the construction debris in the tires. Needless to say, my handlebar caught the shopping cart handle and I lost control. I managed to stay upright, but only just! When I finally got stopped, I looked up and there was one of the workers looking at me. I felt like taking a bow!

Saturday, I spent rearranging boxes and trying to organize the back room in the office. That woman (my boss) has taken a bunch of files from one year and stuffed them in a plastic bag! So not professional! Anyway, that is now done, so I can suggest some changes in the back and see what happens.

Sunday, my friends came and took me to the bottle depot in the morning.....except I hadn't slept all night! I hate having insomnia! I managed to stay awake while at work in the afternoon, but I think that was due to the cappuccino more than anything.

Last night after making and editing this little movie, I was a bit tired and just could not get it to load. I figured out this morning that I was trying to load the wrong thing. Please realize while listening to this tape that I have had about 90 minutes sleep in about 36 hours at this time. I therefore used the wrong words a few times. I did manage to edit out a lot of crap though.




Oh, I forgot to mention on Friday night we went to see stilt walkers perform. I tried to get some video, but a lot of it is shaky - could be I was a bit exhausted. I will see if I can clean it up and show you some of it.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Enjoy.

LRT = Light Rail Transit

Movie time!

Well, I tried to go back after I saved last nights work, to fix the sound and maybe add some music, but MSWMM (microslobwiddlemoviemaker) wouldn't let me. I think because I saved it as a completed project? But then it doesn't recognize shit that it has made? WTF?? So, here it is, my never to be completed movie.




I cut together three little clips and took out some even more boring bits. I can't believe how noisy my neighbours are. When that woman answered her phone, I though she was trying to get my attention.

Have a good weekend all.

Well, Lord Thundering!

Well, we had a little thunderstorm this evening and having just figured out how to record sound with video on my camera, I thought I would take this opportunity to share! I am so excited! Of course, then I got frustrated trying to get it to load to blogger, but I think it is working.





So, after the short lived storm...lots of noise, not much rain, there were some very nice clouds that I went and took stills of.




Now that it is warmer, of course, I can't go outside without letting Sibu out. He wants back in two seconds later, especially if there is another tenant around. But, he likes to chew his grass...this looks like he is saying something like "Take this off! It's stuck!" Click to enlarge.


So we went for a walk and I videoed ? some more, but I am trying some editing which I have never done before, so I won't get it up until tomorrow at the earliest.

If anyone has any ideas how to get a video (it was an old home movie on VHS) from DVD onto my computer so I can edit it, I would really love to hear from you.

That's it for today, I hope the video works.

Have a good day all.

Hormones revisited

Not a long post today, but, I just had a reply to my "Pregnancy Hormones" post, opinion from the other side! That is the one about the diet where you get yourself injected with other hormones from a pregnant woman.

This is it: (I do agree with the first line)

Anonymous said...

All the processed food we've eaten since the fifties, and the chemicals therein have destroyed our hypothalamus. This procedure allows the hypothalamus o be reset. Everyone I have met who has done this is stronger, healthier and happier. They eat whatever they want, no more binging, dieting or weight fluctuations.

Maybe if you weren't so hung up on the (potential) boob factor you would take the time to really investigate the subject. Good thing you're not running a country! J

This person obviously has done the "diet" and was successful. It is also obvious that they have not read any of my other posts. Really, hung up on my boobs? If I were, I would be having reconstructive surgery or alternatively would never go anywhere without a bra that has a shaper in one side. (I can't be bothered to btw)

So, to brave "Anonymous J" (if she/he ever pops back in): I have had hormone positive breast cancer and lots of women get breast cancer while pregnant - Hello?

Oh and I am a woman, therefore too busy to run a country. ;)

****************

So, I am off to see my physiotherapist today to see about a new sleeve for my arm. I will post later and let you know if I am wrapped up like a mummy again.

Have a good day!

PS. according to my sitemeter, anon J was on for 0 seconds! Yeah, even a speed reader takes at least a couple to read the entire post!


Update: My arm is good - smaller than it was, so I don't need to be wrapped yippee! Now I just have to order a new sleeve. Of course, I had to wait so long for the therapist, I forgot to get my prescription, so I will have to go back tomorrow - might ride my bike if it is nice now that I have refreshed my memory of the route and actually looked at where the bike trail is in relation to all the construction.

WWC - Chaos & Mystery

Tuesday means Weekly Word Challenge! Hosted by the ever-popular Tink over at Pickled Beef. Drop by her blog if you would like to join in the fun. This week I have a poor showing, but I hope it will still amuse you. The words this week are CHAOS & MYSTERY! Not easy subjects, I tell ya!

Wikipedia has this to say about Chaos: "The word χάος did not mean "disorder" in classical-period ancient Greece. It meant "the primal emptiness, space"" and this: "it means "gaping void", from the verb χαίνω "gape, be wide open, etc","


So, with that in mind, I looked to my purse for inspiration, when you try to find anything in there it certainly seems to be a gaping void, or maybe a black hole.



I though this black bag looked like a gaping void as well.



Of course, I did find some books with the word in their title.



And for the modern take, here is a bit of disorder.

Which could also answer the mystery photo, because, I'm not sure what is in some of those boxes.



On to MYSTERY.

What better represents mystery than novels?


Well, how about a few jigsaw puzzles.



And of course, why would this have been made and what is it doing in my possession?



This last picture is in fact a "stress" toy, in the shape of lungs, supplied to my pharmacist by the distributor/sales rep for NicoDerm/nicorette. I let him give it to me simply because it is funny and I could then take a photo and show it to the rest of you. Now, it will go into recycle, because I don't need anymore junk hanging around as you can tell by the condition of my storage room.


As always, a reminder that we have formed a group on Flickr for the WWC where you can go to see more interpretations of the words. My Flickr site is here. If you enjoyed my photos, why don't you consider joining us?

Have a Good Day all.

One thing leads to another

and the next thing you know you have wasted an inordinate amount of time on the internet! Lets just say, it started by me not having it in this months budget (like I thought I would) to get a hair cut. Yes, I live that close to the bone - whatever. I started off trying to figure out how to french braid, because I think it is long enough to do that and will make the rest of the month easier. My sister used to do it with her hair without even thinking about it and it looks good.

Here is where I wound up: dailymakeover.com, you can upload one photo for free and try on hair and make up. If you want to fork over money, you can use more than one photo, you can also access more styles and stuff. Being perpetually broke, I did it the cheap way and downloaded to my own computer the ones I thought weren't too bad.

Here they are, you can click to get them bigger.

Should I go short?


Or let it grow long?
And which colour should I pick?

This is what the actual photos look like on the site. I didn't use this photo in the collection because my head was tipped back too far - More than one email addy ;)

So, should I go blonde which would be easier as I am getting really quite grey, should I stay reddish and run the risk of having pink streaks, or should I go with my natural dark brown?

I numbered the photos, so you can just say # length, # colour. You can try to guess the celebrity hairstyle too if you want ;) Then I'll see if I can remember - haha, frankly some of them I'd never heard of.

Have a good day all.

This was fun.

I picked up this meme from Alice's Wonderland. It was fun, but took me forever, because I had to look at all the cool photos. I don't think you need a Flickr account to do this and it was fun.


The rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The questions that inspired the photos:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.



I had nothing else to post today, so have fun figuring out my answers. I had to cheat # 3, couldn't find a photo of the school. And maybe I missed "b" - oops!

Have a good day all. Ooh, it's Friday the 13th! What an auspicious day!

Garden is in!

This is what it looked like on May 26th. As you can see, I have pointed out where creepy stalker guy lives. He has been behaving himself somewhat, but I still need to put up an overhead screen for my own comfort.


I dug a bed last year and amazingly enough, this plant seems to be coming back. I have no idea what it is.


I took these last night. I am one of the lucky ones that gets a hose, so I can water without too much trouble. Last years bed is by the brick stuff, which is my bedroom.

When the weather clears and I can fix it, the black thing with the artificial vines on it, gives me privacy from the next patio. I'll take a better photo of it when I am done.


I will probably make a bed here in this corner next year, but for now, the pots will do. As you can see, my swing won't fit on a regular balcony. (they would end where the white wall ends.)

I now have Bleeding Heart, campanula, my mystery plants and day lilies that should all come back next year. I put in yellow marigolds and amaranthus (love lies bleeding) and silver lace as well. And some donated bark chips.


Close up of the carnations (dianthus) in the blue stone planter.

Close up of the carnation that is open.

This is a close up of the hanging petunia.


Now as long as everything continues to grow, I should have a grand array of flowers. There are two vines, one is Canary Bird Vine the other is Creeping Charlie. The left hand blue stone pot has a citronella geranium in it. Violas are in the shallow clay pot and in the pot under the kitchen window, with more dianthus.

I should fill the pots with some lobellia but, I have blown the planting budget this year. Oh well! My suite faces East for those that are wondering.

Have a great day everyone!

What are you?

I found these over at the Cafe at the end of the Universe blog and thought they were fun and that I would share.

You Are a Light Pink Rose

You represent sweetness and grace. Your vibe: Kind and gentle Falling in love with you: is like falling in love with a best friend

What Color Rose Are You?

You Are An Iris

You are a unique person who seeks out novelty in life. An inspiration seeker, you often have to change scenery to recharge. You don't deal well with structure or rules. You need to do it your own way. Your ideal relationships are free and flowing. No one can tie you down.

What Flower Are You?

Have a good day all.

WWC - Peek-a-boo & Dirty

Well, I got all of my plants in, I could use more, but will have to make do without. I will post pictures later in the week - I would say when we get some sun, but I am not sure we expect that this week.

This weeks challenge words are Peek-a-boo and Dirty. Now that is a combination sure to get hits on your stat counters! Our Hostess for the WWC is the currently distraught (over wedding plans gone awry) Tink over at Pickled Beef. If you would like to join in the fun, drop over and see her for details.

Peek-a-boo:

The setting sun playing peek-a-boo.


I could tell you this was the rising sun playing too, but alas, it's not.


But Oriental Dragons play Peek-a-boo!


As do Garden Foxes.

Dirt:

This is one of the new pots my friend got for the front yard and it is already dirty!


Oops! I really need to clean that dirty fan....

and take down & clean my dirty light fixtures too.


This is not dirty. It is an old chair that was used in the workshop to hold items that needed painting, or whatever & it was left outside to the elements for a season or two. Those of you familiar with The Bag Lady know she is my sister and she blogged about her "used to be matching" stool - she stripped it and then painted it and now it looks really good.


I threw this one in even though it is all blurry, just because it is so funny!


If you would like to see photos from more of the WWC people, we have a group page over at Flickr. My own Flickr page is here.

Thanks for dropping by.