I’m sitting in my favourite position on the couch. Which is to say, with my dog, Monty, on my lap. I’ve been observing dogs most of my life, and I have come to certain conclusions about them, which are far from absolute fact, as I’m no expert, but they seem true to me. I have...
Year: 2013
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Winter and Waiting
Despite the short days we’ll be experiencing for the next couple of months (let’s not kid ourselves), I’m encouraged just knowing the days are getting longer now. Every day we get a few more minutes of sunlight. For me, the worst part of winter is the lack of light. I’m pretty sure I’m not as...
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Winter Up-date
I told you I’d bring you an up-date on my “winter” biking commitment. (Winter is in quotes there because we really haven’t gotten into the season proper yet.) Well, today started out cold (“felt like -18C”, according to the weather network) and I just couldn’t face the ride to work. I’m not giving up entirely,...
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Gearing up for the Long Winter
Despite what the calendar says, winter is here. Though there’s no snow on the ground, it’s cold enough to put on your winter coat and boots, so it’s winter in my book. The temperature might still spike for a day or two, but pretty soon it will be sub-zero, all the time. If you’re like...
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More about Bees
I already wrote a short post on honeybees a few months ago, but I’ve been reading a lot about them lately, as well as watching videos on their incredible organizational abilities . Once you start reading about bees you can’t avoid coming across something about the phenomenon known as “colony collapse disorder (CCD)” since it is...
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Still basking in Autumn’s glow!
My gardening and music colleague, Ginny, gave me a box of divided plants she had no place for in her garden. I was very happy to discover what was in the box, it was like Christmas! Some Autumn Joy sedum, bugleweed, yellow yarrow, a lavender and a couple of others. I got them planted in...
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Rainy Day
After reading a post by Mr. Money Mustache (MMM) called The Low Information Diet, I was inspired to try to limit my use of Facebook, since I’m somewhat addicted to it, and to spend more of my time in activities, as opposed to past-times. Ironically, the inspiration to change my habits comes not only from...
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Lasagna Method Fail
Okay, the jury is still out, but I’m a little disappointed in the results (so far) of my lasagna method for ridding my front lawn of grass. As one reader put it, “you can cover up that grass with black tarp and red mulch and stones and it will still find a way to live!”...
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Praying Mantises!!
Yesterday, when my son, Travis, and I were doing a bit of gardening, I happened to notice an odd shaped leaf and as I continued to study it, it moved! If you didn’t read my earlier post about this, I hung an egg sac of praying mantises on my lilac tree back in the spring,...
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The Arts: Feeding your Soul
I’m deviating from my usual summer subject matter to bring up a line of thought that is always in the back of my mind: the arts as a career, is it worth it? The main reason I’m rethinking the whys and wherefores is that my children are both artists, and for their generation it’s even...