And just in case you thought I didn't waste enough time...

Here is my latest accomplishment, courtesy of simpsonizeme.com:

If I were a character!

Weekend!

What a gorgeous weekend it was! Would that this weather could last until after Thanksgiving!


We are getting short on cottage time. Just two more weeks, and it'll be closed up for another season. This weekend we had to cut short our time there, because I had a church meeting on Sunday morning that I couldn't miss, so we came home on Saturday night. We had wanted to stay for Judy's Bluegrass, but it ran too late for us.


Judy Kuno is a remarkably talented woman who lives near our cottage. She does wonderful artwork and crafts, and has the greenest thumb of anyone I know. She's making an annual event of having a big party with friends and family performing at her place. I had to take a pic of the entrance to her property this weekend:

Judy does a lot of clever folk art. She is one of those people with "busy hands". I'm not sure if she even owns a tv; for her, spare time is used to create, not to watch.


We did see a bit of wildlife this weekend: a deer, on our way to the cottage (you can just see her face in the centre of the picture),


and we also saw a porcupine on the street near my Mom's place, after we dropped her off on Saturday night, but I wasn't smart enough to get a good shot.

Political Learnings

I have a question about politics:

Why is it that the only party that ever seems to hit the nail square on the head on hot button issues for me is one that has absolutely no chance of being elected in my riding?

In the current running the issue is the funding of religious schools. It seems that only the Green Party agree with my assessment, which is that the government shouldn't be funding any religious schools, which means the Catholic board should be amalgamated with the Public one, and we should have only one school system that is publicly funded.

I'm a Christian, but I think religion is best taught in the church and the home, being a matter of personal belief, and that the lack of church involvement at school doesn't mean a lack of morals, necessarily. If you want to send your child to a private school, good for you....just don't expect the rest of us to pay for it, except through charitable donations. And don't tell me the constitution ensures your right to a separate school; that just tells me we need to revise the constitution (yet again).

The only other option I can possibly agree with is to fund all of the various religious schools, because as ridiculous as it seems, this is the only really fair option. I don't like it, but it's better than the status quo, which is clearly unfair. That's the Tory option, and they will probably be elected in our riding anyway.

At one time in the not-so-distant past, I could have relied upon the NDP to campaign for the separation of church and state, and for fairness, but ever since they got a whiff of power they are more interested in getting elected than in doing the right thing. Power corrupts....

Just Cats

We all know that the internet was invented mainly as a forum for people to show pictures of their cats, so here is today's offering:

This is the cat who has moved into Sheila's neighbourhood and makes a habit of visiting her daily. When we were visiting on the Labour Day weekend, she dropped by several times, for scritches and photo-ops. She isn't allowed a pass into the house, but enjoys the warm patio stones and any attention she can get. This is probably as close as Iain's mom will come to having a pet, although she used to love having Angus the scottie dog.

On the home front, I couldn't resist taking this pic of Phantom curling up in this basket I hadn't gotten around to putting away.

As he's getting older he is becoming more cuddly, and often sits on my lap in the evening, which I do appreciate (there are few things as satisfying as a cat on the lap).


Jezebel was just napping in the sun when I surprised her.

I don't have a new pic of my little Stitches, because she wasn't hanging out with these guys.

April Wine

Oh what a night! Early September, 2007...April Wine played at the Renfrew Fair last night, and they were excellent. I'm not much of a concert-goer, mostly because I prefer studio music and find all concerts TOO LOUD, but it was a beautiful night to sit on the grandstand.

You forget how many hits AW has had, until they start reeling them out. Even with an encore they didn't do all of them. Too bad there weren't more people to see them...the place wasn't packed...but the audience there appreciated them.

Now, we must buy a "best-of" cd!

Cedar Waxwing

These pictures were taken in July, of a cedar waxwing munching on the seeds produced by a fuschia hanging outside our dining room window. Previously, I'd seen a hummingbird at the plant, which is not unusual. I'd also seen a robin trying to get at it, though I'm not sure why; perhaps it thought the seeds were bugs? It was a surprise to me to see the waxwing on the plant. I'd never seen anything eat the seeds before. The little guy just leapt all over the plant, hanging upside-down when necessary, to eat just about all of them. I would have liked to get a better picture, but he was easily frightened, and took off when I tried to get a better shot.

Saturday morning meanderings

I glanced at David Warren's column today in the Citizen; I didn't read it all, not being in the mood for his rant. One thing that struck me at a glance, however, is that he takes his coffee with honey. Is this common? The thought of it makes me blanch. Early on in my coffee drinking days I imbibed it black, and then over time switched to adding a bit of milk, mostly to cool it down. I will accept cream, though I don't like the way it changes the flavour of the coffee. Sugar is out - when I accidentally sip Iain's cuppa, I make the same lemon face he makes when he sips mine - so I can't imagine what it would be like with honey. Cloying perhaps?

We're seeing the Fullerton clan this weekend, and it should be fun! Also, we're going to the racetrack for dinner and to watch the races, and to lose some money on wagers. All part of the fun, of course. I enjoy playing the slots, though it isn't the same now that they've eliminated the coins. Something enjoyable about the clink of coins and the heft of the bucket when you take it from machine to machine.