Party

My niece turns four tomorrow, but we had her party today. She is one of the most polite people I know -- way beyond please and thank you. It was an outside party and it was super cold, to the point where most of our side of the family had to stay in the house. All the little kids played in the bounce house and ran around while the "adults" did the usual "song-n-dance" to appear civilized. I do not know why we are two isolated groups of people who cannot even try and pretend to mesh. Oh well, we will not see each other until her next birthday.

In The Lilacs

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - male
Papilio glaucus

2009 May 26

Wet Land

The Pond, bordering our property

Happy 7th Birthday Kids!!!

Squeaky
2009 May 13



Rocky
2009 May 21

"Here's looking at you kid."

Eastern Gray Squirrel
Sciurus carolinensis

2009 May 26

Pre-Salad

The Vegetable Garden

26 Ducklings with Mama

Wood Duck
Aix sponsa

Amusing Twitterings

"I've stopped greeting my neighbours. It's totally wrong that I say good evening 

when I really mean to say 'fuck off, you pin headed prick!'" 

 @goobimama about 14 hours ago from Twittelator

"According to wikipedia, 'fart is one of the oldest words in the English language." 

@Marsupius 2:29 PM May 19th from TwitterFon

"The 10 Reasons Why Star Blazers Is Unbelievably Awesome Beyond Words http://bit.ly/399ef" 

@jlist 1:40 AM May 21st from bit.ly

"Don't just seek a secure harbor. Build an oceangoing vessel." 

@LamaSuryaDas 2:16 PM May 14th from web

Close to 2022?

Solent Green (1973) really makes you think where your food comes from,

and what could happen to the planet if we keep up the destruction.

I never realized this was a Charlton Heston film and with

Edward G. Robinson, the guy (Dathan) from The Ten Commandments (1956).

poster source

Tiny Visitor's Companion

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female)
Archilochus colubris

1 of 5

American Red Squirrel
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

Permission to Record?

Second class today and we worked on gathering field recording. This essentially meant, go and interview strangers, record it and return to class. We had about an hour and our group ended up with 8-10 interviews. Then we imported the MP3s into Final Cut Pro to manipulate the audio into an audio track. I have done the same thing in Garageband (and  Audacity) and rather record my interviews directly onto my MAC and edit in Garageband; just like my Classical Tibetan Class. We have to have an audio file for class next Wednesday and my professors do not mind if we use another program or equipment to achieve our assignment. The reason for the lesson was to provide one solution to the problem.

Snack time

American Goldfinch
Carduelis tristis

Tiny Visitor

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male)
Archilochus colubris

This little guy visited our feeder for about half an hour. His Lady has visited too.

Comments

I just spent the last hour replying to all the wonderful comments I received from a post over at LiveJournal. I received 25 comments and sent something to everyone. It was that "A Day In My Life" community, documenting a day in photos, and I think I will do another day again soon.

Masked Critter Returns

This is the 3rd or 4th day I saw this raccoon, and after the 3rd visit tonight I had to go chase it. It looks healthy, but I do not want it to get too comfy. The photo is a bit blurry not only because it is dark, but the raccoon was gathering food.

No Surprise

Well, it is official, 2 of my Summer sessions classes were cancelled 2 days before classes were going to start. I do not get it. Both these classes were online only and one of the classes had 3 people (they need 5 to hold a class). Bullocks! One tries to get ahead and now I feel 2 steps back.

Day Trip

My Stepfather had a rare day off and we went "window shopping" for plants and a few other things. We stopped for lunch at a different Chinese restaurant which turned out to be the best we have had. We got some to take home for Mom to try, and she agreed. I really had fun at the pet store (needed cat litter), as I got to talk to a lot of beautiful birds. At a different pet store (had a store coupon) I got to play with the kitties up for adoption -- could have taken them all home.

Egg-actly

“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

C.S. Lewis

Flying in the Sky

I was so excited about going outside at 22:49 to see the I.S.S. go by over head, but I got distracted. Before I knew it was 22:57. Bummer. I wanted to see the dot in the sky. Yesterday everything stopped while I watched the Atlantis launch. I am obsessed. If I had the chance when or if there is a colony on the Moon, I am ready. Beam me up!

So many Doodles

If there is anyone reading, then go check out Google's front page and vote for the doodles kids drew for the Google logo. These kids have a lot of good ideas and seeing they are the next generation, we should listen.

Mother's Day

One has to love the multigenerational gatherings of Moms (I am not included as I only have cats). But seriously, our family does not get together as often as it used to, and despite the normal chaos of an family gathering, it was nice to see a few of the Moms.

Visit

So, it is only around 17:15 and I have not done too much today, but I secured my wireless network better than it was this morning. It is early as I am normally up until 02:00 --- technically the next day, but I think the rest of the day is going to be similar as I do not have any sort of motivation except to watch the storm roll in and surf the tubes.

We did have visitors in the early afternoon. My younger Brother, another resident and a staff member from the group home stopped by to give my Mom an early Mother's Day gift. The visit really made my Mom's day and my Brother got to play with the cats. They did not stay too long, but I am glad they stopped.

Midnight Weather

It is starting to thunderstorm.

Lightening,

Thunder claps,

but no rain.

Strange.

Not Saturday

oh, it is Thursday,

cleaning from the semester,

birds, chippers and cats

Spring 2009

Finished,

Over,

Done,

Terminated,

Completed,

End,

Wrapped up,

Polished off,

Fulfilled,

Accomplished,

Executed,

Concluded,

Fin.

Essay

Writing all day,

trying to finish in time,

so many words left to write,

two more questions to explain,

I totally forgot to post this earlier.

May the Fourth be with you!

"Yoda: I am wondering, why are you here?
Luke: I'm looking for someone.
Yoda: Looking? Found someone, you have, I would say, hmmm?
Luke: Right...
Yoda: Help you I can. Yes, mmmm.
Luke: I don't think so. I'm looking for a great warrior.
Yoda: Ohhh. Great warrior.
[laughs and shakes his head]
Yoda: Wars not make one great."

- Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

New Favourite Mug

Peering

I really enjoy looking at what other people are seeing, thinking about and then sharing. I am most interested in those I find thinking of the same things at the same time. It does not matter what the topic, from the obscure -- pickles, to something more serious -- gender identity.

Lately I have been short on words, yet they have been flitting about my brain. I am sure they will find their way out, in time.

Extended Family

We have increasingly more birds visiting our feeders, so we had to make a run to "the country store" to get feed. Now we are looking for a year round birdbath that I can rig to run on solar power.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak male and female made their first appearance this morning. Three Dark-eyed Juncos are still here, but the bulk of the flock has since moved North. One Pine Siskin appears to be "with eggs". The poor little one can hardly preen as she is so round. We now are just missing the Ruby-throuted Hummingbirds. The should be here in a few weeks -- it is still too chilly for them.