August Long Weekend

I really enjoyed my long weekend. It kind of snuck up on me so I didn't have any exciting plans. At first I was a little sad about this - I should have gotten it together and gone camping or had some such adventures but instead I hung out in town. Saturday was just a relaxing day of catching up on some movies everyone else on the planet has seen except me, doing some gardening and reading on my back porch in the sun. I went to the market in the morning and stuffed my fridge full of fresh local produce and then went to my garden and got some more.

Sunday was a really fun day. Church was great with a great message that reminded me why I love my church. Then I went out for lunch with a group of friends. Hanging out on a patio while eating breakfast food is a good way to spend sunday lunch hour! Frisbee and a trip to 2nd cup for a yummy lemonade drink followed lunch. I actually bruised my hand playing frisbee which is silly and we got lots of sun. My usual sunday evening small group was reduced to two so we hung out and watched episodes of 'The Tick' and talking until 1am. I really need to get better at keeping track of time! In all it was one of my favourite days I've had in awhile. Monday included a really yummy lunch out with Steph, again out in the sun on the patio, an afternoon of reading CS Lewis and then coffee out with Jen.

I have had a number of conversations recently about good books. It has reminded me that I love reading and need to make more time for good literature. So I am currently reading The Great Divorce which I apparently have never read before even though it is on my book shelf. It is crazy good and I think I will probably read it twice just to make sure I am getting it. It has reminded me in turn that I should read more George Macdonald (Judi hooked me up back in school but I forgot about him) and maybe some Milton. And of course more of CS Lewis. Somehow I have never read his Miracles or Abolition of Man either. I think I need more long weekends and time to catch my breath. Work doesn't keep me crazy busy but somehow with all the commuting and trying to fit in daily life I forget to breathe. I don't take enough relaxing lunches or coffee dates. I may spend a little too much time talking with friends until all hours but I'm good with that :)

End of an era

We have had a cat in our house since I was five years old. We got Buddy from a family friend's farm and spent all day chasing him around the barn before we found him asleep under a trough in the loft. We got Lucky when she was found under the hood of a car at my uncle's Garage. She had been on the manifold of the engine all the way from Barrie and was a little singed and a little unhinged from the experience. For a long time she was very skittish and a little stupid. But she was so pretty that we forgave her weird quirks. As time went on she settled down and was only skittish around strangers. She became very cuddly and demanded attention by sitting on books and sprawling across keyboards. She slept in my bed whenever I was home but settled for my parents bed when I was away.

Lucky has been sick for a couple of months and this past week she died. She was around 13 years old.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of her recently
She is super cute!

We have had cats around for so long that it is weird adjusting to the empty house. There is no food dish by the back door, no sudden movements in the corner of your eye, no animal demanding attention or wanting to cuddle, and no cat hair on your clothes, furniture, floors etc. ( this last part is not really a bad thing...) It will take some getting used to!

It was their home first...

We've had some problems with chipmunks this year. A few weeks ago my mom's car was doing something weird and when we looked under the hood we discovered that a chipmunk has been eating things - spark plug wires and the padding that insulates the hood from the engine. So we have set a couple of traps and have taken several chippies to the forest a couple of kms from our house. We have named most of them - Chip and Dale have made visits to our place, as have Alvin, Simon and Theodore. My parents have been a little frustrated with the infestation but I keep reminding them that this was their home first.

This morning my dad noticed a chipmunk running out from under my mom's car and decided to check to make sure nothing was wrong. The car hadn't gone anywhere yesterday so the chipmunks had some extra time to do their work. They shredded the padding again and this time they left us a little present.

Alvin had babies in the car! The padding was used along with grass to make a nest-type thing and there were baby chipmunks in the nest under the hood of the car.

They have now been moved, nest and all, to the srubs in front of our house. Hopefully Alvin can find his(?) babies now but we couldn't leave them in the car. They might have eaten more wires and that would be bad.

Spam Sucks

No, I did not buy an iphone.
No, I am not recommending some website
No, I am not using hotmail anymore and no, I am not switching to gmail.

I'm glad that most people who got this know me better than to think I would send a stupid email. The whole things makes me mad.

Sorry to everyone who got it. Still haven't figured out how it happened as I don't have any virii. Will keep looking into it.