Over the last weeks of winter, my ringtone was birdsong, but as they have started their own concerts again, this is no longer a useful wake up call.
So here’s a robin for you, loud and proud and pretty.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
From Nightjar,
After last week’s wild daffodils I bring you more spring bulbs… wild hyacinths! Well, kind of, I think these are actually squills (Scilla sp.) but they belong to the same family and I’ve always called them that. They’re everywhere right now. Two of these photos have a bonus little spider.
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
The rest of the pictures are below the fold in case any of you don’t want to see the spider. I happen to think the spider is adorable, and the rest of the photos are gorgeous. The light in the second to last photo is breathtaking.
And it doesn’t give a single fuck about out human woes.
It is still beautiful.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
The weather is brilliant here after weeks of rain and we used it for a walk in the woods and some gardening.
©voyager, all rights reserved
I love the blue collection pails that our favourite local maple syrup producer uses. They’re cheerful, and add a nice bit of colour to the muddy grey landscape of early spring. They also mean that it’s time for the 4H pancake breakfasts that they host each weekend in March. It’s a good time for a good cause. Each of the local 4H clubs is assigned a Saturday or Sunday to host and serve breakfast and all of the funds that are raised that day go to their club. They serve bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and all the maple syrup you want. It’s held in a small space attached to their storefront, and it’s always busy and somewhat chaotic, and half the fun is watching the young boys and girls (aged 10 – 18) in stiff white aprons acting as wait staff. They have a difficult job. The tables are crowded together, and there isn’t much room to move around. Seating is at a premium, and there’s generally a line of people waiting, making the configuration of people at tables quite fluid. It’s a lot to keep track of and the kids work hard to make it all work. Sometimes your order takes a while, or it isn’t correct, but people seldom complain. Most everyone leaves happy, well sated and sticky. We’ll be going this weekend, but dogs aren’t allowed so Jack will have to stay home. He isn’t pleased and tells me that I’d better bring him back a sausage. You betcha, Bubba.
The moss is sprouting! ©voyager, all rights reserved
Over the winter, Jack has been walking on the trail beside me, but today he kept wandering into the forest, and even though there’s still plenty of clean snow on the ground, Jack has a knack for finding the messy places.
“Your feet are all muddy, Little Buddy,” I called out as he ambled toward me.
“I Know Mommy, isn’t it wonderful. I love the way mud feels when it squishes between your toes, don’t you?” he replied as he kept walking past me and into the trees again.
“Toe squishing is fun, Jack, but I prefer to do it when the air is warm, and the mud is just a bit cool, not icy cold like today… Hey, where are you going? I thought we could walk together,” but he was already gone, and I was left talking to myself. When I finally found him around the next bend, I pointedly asked why he kept wandering off.
“The forest folk are awake, Mommy! I’m just going around saying hi.” Jack’s face was gleaming with delight, and his tail was sailing high and waving happily.
“That’s nice, Bubba. How are things in the wee world?”
“Busy. The plants are all waking up early, and it’s too soon for some of them, and the farmers and voles can’t manage it all, so everyone is pitching in. Mrs. Noyless said that even the governors are helping to tickle roots. Oh, there’s Chitchat Charly, Mommy. I’ll catch-up. Bye,” and he was off again, leaving me with a few points to ponder and knowing that Jack would be reticent to tell me more.
I’m going to have to find a way to earn the trust of the little folk. They’ve been watching me for 16 years, so they must know that I’m friendly and kind. Maybe there’s something that I can do to be of service to them. Maybe there’s something they want or need that I can bring them. Maybe, it’s going to be an interesting spring.
Spring bulbs are blooming in Portugal and Nightjar is sharing.
I have a few daffodils blooming in my garden right now, but it turns out that hunting wildflowers is more fun. It is the season for wild daffodils and, in my case, it’s also the right place to look for them. The Mediterranean region is the natural range of the genus Narcissus and the Iberian Peninsula is considered to be its center of diversity, meaning this is where the genus first developed its distinctive characteristics. The petticoat daffodil, Narcissus bulbocodium, is the species I’m most familiar with as I know exactly where to find it every year. The flowers are very delicate and tiny (wikipedia says its floral diameter is 12 mm, which makes it the smallest among Narcissus) but the way it glows in the sun is magnificent. Photos are from late February. I hope you enjoy them!
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Spring has arrived ahead of schedule. ©voyager, all rights reserved
“Shit!” I heard my husband cry out this morning, waking both Jack and me rather suddenly.
“Voyager, get up.” I immediately knew what the problem was. Mr. V. had an out-of-town appointment for a test today, and we’d overslept. I quickly glanced at the clock to see that it was already after ten, and our test time was for 10:15, and it was a 45-minute drive to get to there. Shit indeed.
I jumped up (ok, it was more of a grunting wobble-up than a jump) and grabbed my phone to call the Dr’s office. Then I had to search for my glasses so that I could actually see well enough to use my phone, and I called the clinic to let them know we had a problem (I tried to be as vague as possible) and that we’d be seriously late.
The receptionist was very understanding and said to try to get there as soon as possible, and she would fit us in. I told the Mr. to lie back down so I could apply his leg compression neoprene stockings because he needs them on before he can get dressed. We managed that quickly, raced through our ablutions, then I grabbed from my closet rather than do my usual ‘what about this or maybe that’ and we were dressed and ready to go in about 10 minutes.
Poor Jack was still sleepy and in bed, but he came when I called him for breakfast. I swear he ate as slowly as possible, but he finally lifted his head out of the bowl and gave me a happy smile and a cheery good morning. Since there wasn’t enough time to go for a walk, we decided to take Jack with us, and I called him to the front door. Bubba doesn’t ‘do’ rushed, and he meandered toward me at a snail’s pace until I finally met him halfway and snapped on his leash, hoping it would speed him up a bit.
It didn’t, but a slow crawl and two pees later, we finally made it to the car and got underway. Luckily, traffic was light, and we arrived at the clinic in a bit under 40 minutes.
Jack was a bit grumbly on the way, but he soon cheered up when I took him for a walk while the Mr. went in for his test. Jack and I live in a small city of about 40,000 people, but the clinic is in a large city of about 400,000 people, and it’s full of exciting smells. It took us 15 minutes just to walk the length of one block because Bubba kept stopping to sniff. Some places required a long, thorough sniff, some spots required a small touching by the tongue for taste and some needed a bit of extra pee, which Jack happily added, By the time we made it back to the car, the boy was empty and tired. I lifted Jack into the backseat (he gets the front half in, and I heft up the Mr. Heavybum half), and my sweet Bubba adorably curled up on his bed and went to sleep.
Soon, Mr. V was back, and we set off home with Jack snoring the entire way. Jack’s sleepiness is a sign of his advancing age, and so is my own oversleeping, but we’re still together, and today we enjoyed the simple pleasures of sunshine, blue skies, trees in bud, and a symphony of strange smells in a new neighbourhood.
Jack says to thank you all for the birthday greetings, and I thank you for all of your kind words.
Photo by Erin H.
Today’s tree photo was sent in by VBFF. It’s a picture taken by her niece Erin, who has given her permission for me to share it with you. Erin used the photo to make Christmas cards, and I think it captures the quiet, still, soul of winter and I hope you love it as much as I do.
Happy 12th Birthday Jack ©voyager, all rights reserved
Well, I’m home from Mexico, and I’m none too happy about it. We left Ajijic, Mexico, at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, February 26 and arrived home nearly 24 hours later. Our connecting flight to Houston arrived in good time, but we were delayed in Texas by bad weather in Toronto. We finally took off and managed to land in Toronto, but after landing, we sat on the tarmac for over an hour while ground crews cleared the snow. By the time we got off the plane, it was 2:30 a.m., and we’d missed our shuttle bus home.
It had been 18 degrees and sunny when we left Mexico, and it was -10 with blowing snow here, which was quite a shock to the system. Despite all the bad weather, we felt lucky to get as far as Toronto, because all outgoing flights from the airport had been cancelled. The shuttle service told us the bus was still running, though, and, finally, at 4:30 a.m., the airport bus pulled up. Janet and I both let out an excited “there it is,” as it rolled to a stop. The driver loaded all our cases, and away we went, slowly and carefully, into the storm. About 2 hours later, we finally arrived home to our snow-covered city, where Mr. V and Jack were excitedly waiting for me.
Jack has been a bit clingy since I arrived home from Mexico, and I’m alright with that in the short-term, although it would be nice to use the toilet without being watched. In any event, we didn’t venture out far over the weekend because the storm lasted until late yesterday. Today, though, it’s warmed up to 6 degrees, and it’s raining. Oh, Joy!
I did make it home in time for a significant event, though. On Saturday, February 29, my baby boy, Bubba, turned 12. It’s only the fourth real birthday he’s ever had, so we made it special. He had toast with jam and yogurt for breakfast, then he got a new rubber pig-pig and a rather sizeable birthday cookie plus a walk around the neighbourhood. For supper, he had steak and the rest of his birthday cookie, then we played pig-pig again and to top off the day, he had ice-cream before bed. We sang the happy birthday song to him a few times and Jack was pleased with that. He likes it when we fuss over him. I got him a hat to wear, but Jack told me that he didn’t want to wear it because he felt silly, so I didn’t push the issue. I feel a bit silly in those hats, too. All in all, it was a good birthday, and even though Jack is now a senior citizen, he still has a few adventures left to share with me… and you.
Some time ago I watched a youtube video on making shaker charms with open bezels. Keyword is “a while ago”. It looked simple enough, so I decided to give it a try: you put your bezel onto some tape, add a layer of UV resin and harden that. Then you add your glitter, mix water with some glue, put it into the bezel, freeze it solid, add UV resin to the now solid top, harden, done.
So far, so good. Only that of course it didn’t work out like this, leading to these rather pitiful examples:
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
The unicorn one is the best of the batch, but still nowhere near acceptable. I figured out a couple of problems myself:
One: I’d overfilled the the bezels. I need to leave space inside for the resin to go. Two, working on three of them at the same time isn’t a good idea. Inevitably condensation happens on the other ones as you’re dealing with the first one. Three, my UV resin is too thick. It’s quite thick anyway and the cold from the frozen bezels makes it impossible to spread quickly and evenly.
While I figured out those three things. One thing remained a mystery: the surface of the ice. If this surface isn’t smooth, you’ll never get a clear resin layer. While I didn’t think the video in question was one of those fake craft videos, I kept wondering about it. Rewatching the video I saw that the person used distilled water, which I think will make quite a difference.
Next try: distilled water.
I’ll also add in another step: Once the water is frozen really, really solid, I’ll put another drop of water on top. It should hopefully create a super smooth surface and also create a barrier between the resin and any glitter that might have floated to the top. Wish me luck.
Welcome to Uglich. ©voyager, all rights reserved
When we disembarked in Uglich we crossed a cobblestone bridge into the city where we were greeted by a duo singing a traditional Russian folk song. Their voices were clear and strong, and it was a charming welcome to the first of Russia that we saw outside of the big city of Moscow. On the other side of the bridge, we met our local tour guide who was to take us on a planned tour of the city. Being a tour guide is a noble profession in Russia, and once upon a time, the tour companies had a full-time stable of guides. There have been cutbacks, though, and now the guides all work as private contractors on an as-needed basis. For most of our trip, the guides were outstanding. They were all multi-lingual, friendly, thoroughly professional, and each of them had a comprehensive knowledge of the history and geography of the country. There was one guide, though, that we disliked.
Our Uglich Tour Guide. ©voyager, all rights reserved
This fellow was our guide in Uglich, and everyone in our group was unhappy with his performance. To begin with, he walked too fast. Way to fast for all of us. My friend and I were the youngsters on our cruise, with most of the other people being in their 70’s and 80’s, and everyone struggled to keep up. He also spoke while he was walking, without turning around at all, so that most of us missed what he had to say. We figured out the reason for the rush at the end of the tour, though, when we were taken into a woodcarvers shop and told that we had 15 minutes to look around and buy. We all suspected that the haste at the beginning of the tour was to make sure we had enough time to shop and that some sort of kick-back was likely involved. Working on an as-needed basis is difficult, so we understood the circumstances, but we’d signed up for the “slow” tour (most of the tours had an option for a quick, active group or a slower group with less walking) and this walk was anything but slow. We managed, though. It’s surprising how fast you can go with the right motivation. Turns out that I’m quicker when I’m worried about being left behind and lost in an unfamiliar place where I don’t speak the language and even the alphabet looks strange. We did have our guide books with us so we could at least recognize what building or church we were passing or were about to visit.
**************
The city of Uglich is first mentioned in the All-Russia Chronicles of the Ipatievsky Monastery of 1148, however, there is archeological evidence that settlements have existed at the site since the First Millenium. The city houses many ancient churches, and we were able to visit three of them. Our tour began with a walk through the main area of churches viewing them from the outside before attending a 3 man a capella concert in a modern building used as a civic centre.
Our first stop after this was at the Transfiguration Cathedral, which is part of the city’s Kremlin (fort). This cathedral was first built in the early 1200s and it’s been rebuilt several times since then. The current church was built in 1713 and it’s the bright yellow building with orange trim and dark green onion domes that greeted us as we came into port. Beside the Church is the Bell Tower, which was erected in 1730.
The Transfiguration Cathedral, Uglich. ©voyager, all rights reserved
Transfiguration Cathedral and Bell Tower ©voyager, all rights reserved
Transfiguarion Bell Tower
Transfiguration Cathedral ©voyager, all rights reserved
We were given a very brief tour of the interior of the church later in the tour, just before being whisked off to the woodshop to buy souvenirs. Our guide told us the church is still in use and, as with all churches in Russia, there are no seats. All worshippers are expected to stand for services, including dignitaries and in previous times, the Aristocracy. Many of these services can go on for 4 hours. Gold was a prevailing detail in almost all of the churches we visited here and throughout Russia and every church has a unique set of icons.
The Icon Wall, Transfiguration Cathedral ©voyager, all rights reserved
Icon Wall, Transfiguration Cathedral ©voyager, all rights reserved
Icon Wall and cupola, Transfiguration Cathedral ©voyager, all rights reserved
That’s it for today. In the next installment, you’ll hear the curious story of Dmitri and see the church built in his honour.
Nightjar has been searching out wildflowers for us,
Viola riviniana or dog-violet. A completely unexpected find, not only because it is too early for wild violets but also because I rarely find completely white dog-violets. And there were only white violets, no signs of any purple ones nearby. I expect that to change in about a month from now.
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
©Nightjar, all rights reserved