Who is ready for spring? This was not the harshest of winters to live through however it did feel like the longest due to the pandemic. We are hardy people and have gotten through it – yay! The Oxford English Dictionary says a pastime is “a diversion or recreation which serves to pass the time agreeably; an activity done for pleasure rather than work…”. That kind of sums up the scene here. Grab a hot chocolate, sit in the sun, and watch the ice melt.
Back to summer 2019 when walking a car show was reality in our lives! What does this interior remind you of? For me it feels like a classic dinner with the red bar stools and a jukebox playing a track for everyone to hear. This 1949 Chevy Club Coupe is so well customized and maintained… stare closely to find the compass, skeleton figurine hanging by its hat, the Ace of Spades, singers microphone, and if your really good, the skull and cross bones for the locking door button (bottom left of photo, slightly blurred). According to Wikipedia these were assembled here in Oshawa, came with a 3 speed manual, and delivered 90 horsepower (really?)
This COVID thing is changing the pictures I’m getting. There are less trips out and about or abroad and more images from the home, immediate community or lake front. Being home so much has also allowed the family to appreciate the smaller things that were previously overlooked. And there is more time to go back over earlier pictures and remember certain things or special celebrations. So while there is snow outside now (brrrr!), I can share this earlier picture taken at twilight looking across the lake and remember how hot that evening was and how silent the air was.
This hawk is very impressive to be around. Starting with it’s awareness, it knows where I am all the time and tracks my movement continuously. To a certain degree it finds me curiously entertaining and I would say definitely not a threat. It visits each year for roughly 3 weeks bridging end July and beginning August. Sometimes its by itself (like this year) while others years there are two of them… adult and juvenile. Here its perched high atop a 75ft dead Birch watching me with the camera.
We are fortunate to have a wide variety of wildlife living among us. This year alone I have seen this Eastern Ribbonsnake, a Northern Ring-necked Snake, a broad winged hawk (which I may post next!), a pair of fresh water otters, a beaver, a coyote, a red tailed fox, and sadly too many skunks (why are there so many skunks this year?). I have seen this Eastern Ribbonsnake for 3 consecutive years now. Each spring it gives birth to a few baby snakes, one of which I saw eat a juvenile frog. That is how life roles…
Comet NEOWISE was discovered only in March of this year using the Neowise space telescope. Astronomers have determined its route brings it back to Earth in roughly 7,000 more years – really??? Here we are July 24, one day after it’s closest position to our planet, with a perfectly clear sky and no moon. I’m outside at 10pm scanning the sky with binoculars to find this comet and for the first half nothing… I had read it will appear below the Big Dipper and still nothing. More time passes and now its really dark and then BAM!! There it is and I can see it with the naked eye and with the binoculars… holy smoke that’s cool!
life art images 