Squirrels Are Vile And Evil And Ate My Lettuce!

When Jeff and I came back from the cottage, I immediately went out back to check on my little garden of vegetables and herbs. They were all thriving, and I was especially pleased by the lettuce. I decided to harvest it this weekend; how wonderful it would be to have a salad made from lettuce I had grown from seed, after all!

Yesterday morning, however, here's what was left:



Jeff thinks it was a rabbit. I, on the other hand, place the blame on the neighbourhood squirrels. I find it hard to believe that a rabbit would venture up on our back deck, manage to maneuver its way around all the other planters without knocking any over, and know to stand up on its hind legs to reach the lettuce leaves in my (purposely) tall planter.

Plus bunnies are cute and SQUIRRELS ARE EVIL.

They only left a few forlorn and wilted leaves that weren't good enough for eating.




They also razed my biggest Thai Basil Plant as well as all my baby carrot plants (see above).

Grrr.



And for those who doubt that squirrels eat lettuce, check out this YouTube video:



Okay, maybe BABY squirrels aren't evil.

Yet.



Livejournal comments

Cottage visit with Helen and Dan

Happy birthday to my friend Paul, and Happy Fourth of July to my American pals. In fact, general Happyhappy vibes all around.

Thanks to Helen and Dan for giving me permission to post some of the pics I took of them during their cottage visit. I always try to be respectful of people's wishes re: being photographed as well as public posting of photos; a couple of my friends have asked me not to take any photos, regardless of whether or not they're posted.



I get immense enjoyment from portrait photography and also am trying to improve my skills, however, so I was delighted (and grateful) when our friends Helen and Dan said they didn't mind at all. At the end of their visit, I gave them a CD of all the photos I took.

And, of course, this meant I had to be cooperative when they wanted to take MY photo. :-)



In fact, the whole week was wonderfully laid back, with much reading, napping, saunas and swimming, writing, drawing, dancing, paddling, making music, playing board games, and general lazing about. I especially enjoyed getting to know Dan better; I had only met him once before, very briefly. Such a funny, smart and sweet guy!



We celebrated Helen's birthday during the week. Jeff and Dan prepared a special breakfast that morning, with Dan's German pancakes with fruit and a sprinkle of icing sugar on top, fresh fruit, champagne and orange juice.



I made Butterfly Cakes for Helen's birthday from scratch; I was a bit nervous because I don't do much baking, and the cottage oven is unpredictable, but I was happy with how they turned out. Sadly, I forgot to take any photos. Butterfly cakes are also known as Fairy Cakes, and are basically cupcakes with the tops sliced off, filled with buttercream, and then the halved tops replaced on top to look like a butterfly's open wings.

SO not good for you but SOOOO good.



We certainly ate well at the cottage. Dan specialized in breakfasts, and Helen also cooked several wonderful meals, including Cornish pasties from scratch (above photo).

She also improvised a cake for dessert one night on whim, from ingredients she could find in the pantry and fridge, and served it with warm custard drizzled on top. Yummm....



It rained several times during the week, but the four of us didn't care; we read, played games and napped during the day. And (when there was no thunder or lightning) we also went swimming in the rain.

One of my favourite moments: floating on my back in the lake during a gentle rainstorm, watching the clouds slowly drift by.



You can see more photos from our cottage visit here.

Babylon Five Virgin update

SPOILER WARNING: The blog below focuses on my reports while watching Babylon Five for the first time. An LJ feed is also available. If you haven't seen B5 yet and don't want spoilers, please DO NOT click below.


Season 4, Episode 79: Rumors, Bargains and Lies
Season 4, Episode 80, 81, 82: Moments of Transition, No Surrender, No Retreat, Exercise
of Vital Powers




Livejournal comments

Star Trek Red Shirt Ninja Dolls and Squirrel Vandalism

Woohoo, my Star Trek Red Shirt Ninja Doll arrived! You can adopt your own Ninja Doll for just $20 and no shipping fee within North America. Ryan Couldrey also takes commissions.

Red Shirt Ninja Doll was -alive- when he first arrived in my mailbox, according to Ryan, so clearly the Evil Neighbourhood Squirrels got to him while Jeff and I were at the cottage.




The squirrels have also been chewing through the METAL cover of our Squirrelbuster feeder. Not only that, but they also chewed the tops off ALL my baby carrot seedlings....GRRR.

But the most shocking fact of all: they somehow managed to infiltrate my basement office while we were at the cottage! Check out the note that was left on my office door:



And here are just a few of the vandalistic post-it notes left around my office:



But the war is not yet over, oh no, not by a long shot....



Livejournal comments

Back from the cottage

On the morning of Canada Day, I crept out of our cabin at around 6:30 a.m. to let Jeff sleep in, grabbed a bowl of cereal and milk and went to do some work in my dad-in-law's cabin. Glancing out the window, I noticed movement beyond our cabin by the lake's edge and at first I thought that perhaps one of our guests had woken early...but then I noticed the antlers.



I managed to snap the photo above with a telephoto lens before the moose casually sauntered deeper into the lake and swam away, a swarm of bugs trailing behind him.



Moose trivia: A male moose grows and sheds its antlers each year; apparently moose antlers are the fastest type of growing bone, and a moose can grow a set of antlers weighing up to 25 kg in just five months (for more info about the moose, see this page).



Above: this loon was floating past our dock one morning. I love these birds, and their calls across the lake are one of my favourite cottage sounds. Unfortunately loons calls are overused in movie soundtracks, often in highly inappropriate settings (like in the middle of a desert).

More about our cottage visit in an upcoming Blathering when I've had a chance to finish unpacking and catching up with e-mail.



Livejournal comments

Memorabilia follow-up

Now that we're well into summer, my Blatherposting schedule is likely to be sporadic; this goes for my time online as well. Will Write For Chocolate has been updated, but there likely won't be another new strip until mid-July.

Thanks so much for the yoga tips and DVD recommendations in LJ. Several of you strongly recommended taking some classes first, to make sure I have the proper technique before getting a DVD. This makes sense, but my schedule is more hectic these days; I think I'll probably postpone trying yoga for now.



I enjoyed reading your posts about my childhood memorabilia Blathering. Thanks to djbp for pointing out that Cyborg was a text adventure game. I'm sure I must have played it at some point, therefore, but confess I have no recollection. Ah, I miss those brain cells.

And thanks to jhayman for identifying my Mom's old travel sewing box. "That Murray's Erinmore Flake tobacco tin that your mom kept stuff in brought back memories for me. My dad smoked that brand of pipe tobacco. He's been gone just over 22 years. It's never any easier."

msminlr suggested I use family fabric scraps for quilting. Funny you should mention that, Margaret...I've actually been reading some books about quilting. Plus I found a partly finished quilt that my sister put together many years ago, from some of Mom's leftover fabric. After talking to Ruth, I've decided to finish it and we're going to give it to my father.



poslfit suggested that I rework the story about Mom's buttons and send it to the the Globe's Facts and Arguments page. I think I might just do that. John's suggestion also started me thinking that I need to go over old Blatherposts and try turning some of them into personal essay pieces that I could possibly sell to magazines and newspapers.

I also appreciated some of you sharing your own stories about childhood memorabilia. Here's one from aunty-marion:

"When Grandma Beet died, she didn't leave a will, so the house had to be cleared to be sold in order to settle the estate. We all got bits and pieces from her stuff (known in the family as 'Thank you Grandma's), and one of the things I got was most of her sewing stuff.

It included an old glass bottle which had originally contained senna tablets - full of hooks and eyes (and alas I gave it to Mum and Dad to put sweetener tablets in, and Dad dropped it... ;-( ); some buttons, embroidery floss probably older than I am, a silver thimble, and various reels of sewing cotton, including one labelled in French - that one's actually been very useful, as despite the top few layers having aged to the point where they almost rotted, the inner parts were perfectly OK and exactly the right colour to sew the braid onto the edges of the nMC banners we have for our music stands!

Thank you, Grandma..."




What I didn't mention in my post yesterday: whenever I go through stuff in Dad's basement, I always hope to come across something of Jim's as well as my Mom's. It's hard to describe exactly why.

It gives me a certain amount of comfort, touching and holding something that once had significance to them. I especially enjoy finding something that gives me a chance to find out more (even just a little) about them, getting to know them better, helping to keep their memory close.

I still have a shirt of Jim's in my closet. It gives me comfort knowing it's there, even if I rarely look at it.

The newspaper clipping above was one of things I came across in my Dad's basement. I assume parents kept it because Jim was voted the game's most valuable player in that particular hockey game. The article itself isn't that exciting but I can read so much more between the dry lists of names and stats: Jim's flushed and excited face, the piles of hockey equipment, my brother looking so small out there on the ice, the echoes of the cheering crowd in the arena, my parents' beaming pride.

I put the clipping carefully into a plastic slipcase and left it in my father's basement.



Looking forward to seeing my friend Helen and her husband Dan today!

The hummingbird photos were taken at the cottage.


Livejournal comments