Scary (& Childish, Amateurish) Movie

Hope everyone had a Happy, Hale & Hearty Hallowe'en!

The Bronze Age

Due to this fall's weather pattern of a very warm September changing abruptly to a frigid October, many of the shrubs and trees did not have a chance to adapt for the normal shutdown of their foliage. The result was a more bronze to brown cast to many leaves. On the morning of October 23, I found the bronze cast of the willow, lilac and other shrub foliage to be quite striking in the morning light. I particularly liked the leathery texture of some of the lilac leaves.

Community Garden Plot 2009 - R.I.P.

On last Friday, the 23rd, I finally managed to put our Community Garden plot to rest. I wish I would've rescued the one viable cabbage head, but it was now smelling rather foul. What remained consisted mostly of the wilted squash, freeze dried sunflowers, the dried strands of pole beans, and the aforementioned cabbages. Some of the edamame bean plants also remained, and had turned a beautiful light bronze colour. There were also two small rows of underdeveloped beets and carrots. I did manage to harvest three viable parsnips though (hidden under the ropy masses of the sunflower "trunks"). I pulled out everything, composting what I could, and turned the earth over to winter for another year.

Sunday in the Park

October 18 was an interesting Sunday in Confederation Park. It was mostly overcast and a bit chilly, but that didn't deter the Calgary Roadrunners X-Country running club from holding a race early in the afternoon. There was also a mixture of patterns and texture in the ice and melt on the pond, which the mallards, crashed on like a Slip-n-Slide; and of course families with frisbee hungry dogs.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving, despite the record breaking cold temperatures this morning. If you look closely enough, you can see the beauty in a day like this - whether it's the delicately frosted grass blades as they dangle over a partly frozen creek, "salted" varicoloured leaves, or the intriguing blend of shapes and colour in the icy emanations of a storm drain pipe.

They Live among Us...

Over the past few weeks, even before "The Big Chill", we've noticed an increasing number of uninvited houseguests, mostly ladybeetles(bugs). This was facilitated by my leaving the back door open slightly when I was home during the warmer weather, so Charlie the cat and Yola the dog could come and go as they please. Thus, the ladybugs were able to bypass the usually strict immigration protocol. They are actually very unobtrusive, and keep to themselves in the three main sites - just trying to find a warm place to survive the winter. And really, isn't that what we all want?

Not Calvin, DEFINITELY NOT Hobbes...

Admittedly much after the fact, I'm placing my 2 cents worth here regarding the incident at the Calgary Zoo early Monday morning. These are pictures I had taken of Vitali during a (legal) visit early in July. Now, would you consider getting into the personal space of this beautifully fierce creature a good idea? Personally, I preferred to get up-close-and-personal using my 300 mm telezoom. But that's just me.

Apparently, such cogent thoughts did not enter the (likely) illicitly lubricated brains of the two wannabe kitty-huggers scaling the perimeter fences.

In an interesting note, it was revealed earlier Thursday that the "leader", and most seriously injured of the two, has a common-law relationship with the security guard on duty that came to his rescue. It appears she was not complicit, but probably left wondering about her rather poor judgement in men.

That said, I hope the young man recovers fully, and they are both able to face the trespassing charges against them. May I propose the judge consider the punishment to be a 3 hour lecture from leathery animal do-gooder Bob Barker (no PETA babes need apply).

One of the best comments about this incident came from a listener on CBC Radio's Homestretch: "Too many idiots, too few tigers."