David Suzuki would be proud

Last week, when Robyn and Maddy were here with Emily, Robyn was looking for a craft to get started on.  Emily and I were busy with something and Dave suggested that she check the recycling to see if there was anything "crafty" there.

In this house, we have about 100 coloured markers, 25 two-coloured pencils, enough paper to last until Robyn is 15, scissors, glue, sequins, stickers, buttons, foam forms and modelling clay.  And probably some other stuff.

These are the products of Robyn's recycling our recycling!

a shark with a wide-open mouth

a seafaring boat

a spyglass

binoculars

 Let the creativity continue!!

Philosophically, I'm OK with it

Dave has gone back to work after a stretch of retirement, and I had worried that it would be hard on him to work 5 days a week, even if it's only until May.  I shouldn't have forgotten his skill at taking naps when they're needed

The real worry has become the effect his being at work has had on me---we've never been joined at the hip, seldom watch the same TV, don't relax or gear up the same way, but I find the days without him very long.

I shouldn't complain; I can read anytime (but that was always the case), eat when I feel like it, although I do try to be the dinner-maker, walk where and when I feel like an outing, which again is nothing new, so I can't figure out what it is that is making my days seem so long.

I guess I like us doing things differently together.

Here's how we do something together.  We were out for dinner with our dear cousins Sue and Dennis, and except for the fact that I had to lend Dennis my glasses, it turned out just as great as we thought it would.

BTW, before Windows 10, I would have known how to give those photos more light.

The marriage of the tortoise and the hare

Do you remember the comic who used to make really nasty but hilariously amusing jokes about her husband?  Google reminds me that it was Phyllis Diller.  I remember I did laugh, and sometimes I saw myself in her stories but I always felt it was kind of cheap humour.

Having said that, I have to tell you all the things I did today while Dave was having a shower:

• ran water, got into my bath, used soap, shampoo and conditioner, read a chapter of my book, resigned myself to the fact that Dave was never going to bring me a glass of wine before I got out, used a scrubby thing on my feet
• cleaned the tub, applied deodorant and moisturizer, twisted myself into my housecoat (the sleeves were inside out)
• put a load of clothes and towels into the washer (but none from the room where the shower is)
• dried, styled (hah!)and applied shine to my hair
• got dressed
• moved two rugs from our bedroom to the front hall
• decided I looked frumpy and got dressed again
• made coffee for one
• checked my inbox
• made the bed
• got yoghurt and jam mixed up in a bowl, ate it and put the dish on the table because I hadn't emptied the dishwasher
• emptied the dishwasher
• sat down at my desk and tried to look like someone who didn't notice what time it was

I must remind you, as I do from time to time, that Dave is wonderful, that he and I are an amazing team, and that he treats me like a beloved equal.  I'm just faster, and that doesn't count for much.

This is a good day

I fixed my camera, and this is me singing along to Ofra Harnoy's "Imagine" .  In a spirit of generosity, I didn't video myself.

Whine, whine, WOW!

We've been having issues in our condo lately.  The heating isn't trustworthy.  The cold water often comes out hot and then the managers of this green building suggest we let the water run, which I tried for 15 minutes to no success; other days the hot water is only warm, and the pressure is low.  I measured 3 inches in the tub and it took 5 minutes to get that high.  And the water wasn't warm enough to actually bathe in.

We love living here, even though the building is anything but beautiful, and we always tell people we have the best location in the city.   I'm sorely tried this week to keep that feeling at the front of things noticed while searching for warm socks.

I have however found this beauty and while it doesn't keep me warm or provide hot bathwater, I bet it could.

How you could help me outfox my laptop

I decided to challenge myself for this post by choosing from among images of dragons and committing to writing about whatever image was the 5th on the page.

You might think that is a clear gift to myself.  Hah!  I found and saved an image, but Windows 10 has hidden it and I am obliged to carry on writing even though there is no beautiful, mysterious, fire-breathing dragon image available to me.  

This dragon, as I remember her, was pinkish, her neck extended, her posture elegant and her demeanor relatively peaceful.  She was, after all, a dragon.

I have been fascinated with dragons all my life, and although I had asked early on that my nickname be "Bunny", which no one picked up on, I would have preferred, had I been thinking clearly rather than relying on The Oxford Girls Book of Elegance, to be thought of as a person whose personality, demeanor and acceptance of fire-begetting companions would have made it clear that I was indeed an admirer of Dragons.  In fact, Dragon-wannabe would have been a welcome nickname.  I was never nicknamed.  At least not to my face.  

Still, should anyone like to photoshop me looking like the best friend of an elegant dragon, please feel free to use this image of me,

which I think is compatible with my dream, and to seek the image of a dragon whose teeth look to have been cleaned within the last few days.  And if you have any skills actually downloading your images to attainable places, you might just PM me

Hmmmm, I think you've heard this song before

I was sitting in my comfy chair, getting ready to really get started with 2016, and I realized I had an opportunity to show why I feel that technology has already taken over my life with a nastiness I don't deserve.  Never mind that my keyboard which I chose in the settings as the Canadian Multicultural, English version has suddenly been switched to ENG US.  Don't be concerned about the fact that even though I carefully set Verdana as the font for this blog, it always prints in some slurry faux handwriting font that I manually change post-writing.

No, look at the nastiness of the camera, which always arrives on the screen with a note that says it can't possibly work, and then it doesn't: