Archives for October 2008

Is winter here?

October 21, 2008 by Tricia

It’s just about freezing here in Toronto. It’s been really cold and windy all day and right now it’s 1 Celsius out – that’s just above freezing folks! Brrrr!

Taking Midnight outside for walks and to do her business is becoming a major task what with all the extra clothing I have to put on just to stay warm!

My biggest problem with it being so cold today is that I banged my left thumb yesterday as I tried to close the basement door and my sore thumb doesn’t like me having to put on gloves.

Yeah … so I pulled a Trish – it happens! It’s been a while since I’ve done anything really klutzy so I guess I was due for a bonehead move.

I was bringing up a basket of freshly cleaned laundry and I set the basket at the top of the stairs as I reached the top step and of course Midnight came around to investigate what was in the basket. So as I pushed the basket forward and emerged from the stairs I was paying more attention to the dog than to my half-assed attempt at closing the basement door behind me. I didn’t notice that my thumb was in the wrong place until I felt the thumbnail get squeezed between the door and door frame.

**Picture a Fred Flintstone image here with big throbbing thumb held up in the air **

I hit my thumb hard enough that I decided to apply an icepack to it for a while just to make sure that it didn’t bruise. I guess it helped, but my thumb is sore and tender today and putting on gloves really hurts … so that’s just another reason why I’m not pleased that it’s so very cold today!

Plus … I think I saw a tiny bit of snow in the afternoon! Now that’s scary!

I sure hope it’s warmer where ever you are tonight!

Frost already? Time to get the yard work done!

October 19, 2008 by Tricia

Early this morning (6 a.m.) I was awoken by the sound of my dog retching in her crate. She must have eaten something that upset her stomach the day before, poor thing. I got her out and comforted her and after a while I could tell that she was feeling better so I took her outside to do her business.

Let me tell you, I was extremely surprised when I emerged outside to see that the car was covered in frost! I knew it was going to be cool last night, but I didn’t think we’d get frost! At that moment I knew that I was going to have to do some yard work today in order to prepare the garden for winter.

We have a number of tropical plants that needed to be brought in. Passion flower vines, another vine that I haven’t identified (might be a trumpet vine), and of course the cannas all needed to be brought inside. I also had three orchids, a Thanksgiving cactus and a Christmas cactus in the enclosed front porch and they all needed to come indoors as well.

As I was scurrying around outside gathering up all of the plants that need to be overwintered indoors I noticed that the lawn had a good covering of fallen leaves so once I was done putting the plants indoors I set out to find our rake.

Our rake is broken! The wooden handle was snapped off near the base of the rake. I guess I could duct tape it back together as a quick fix, but we might as well get another rake. So once I came inside I started looking online for a rake. I’ve decided that I want to get a Pivot Leaf rake as it’s an ergonomic design so it will be easier on my back when I’m raking.

This type of rake isn’t the cheapest on the market, but as I said if it helps keep my back from aching when I’m raking it will be well worth it. Now if I can just find one that’s on sale I’ll have it made.

I guess over the next week or so Chris and I will be outside doing a lot of yard work. It looks like winter is going to come early this year if that frost on the car is any indication!

Is it starting to get cool in your area too? Did you get your Fall yard work done yet or are you going to have to scramble to get it done too?

Lovely fall asters in bloom

October 19, 2008 by Tricia

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My New York Asters are in full bloom.

Every time I look out my kitchen window it seems as if the plant has grown larger. I guess it’s just that more and more blooms are coming out and that makes it seem so much bigger each day.

It’s absolutely lovely though. There must be hundreds of small Asters covering the plant.

It’s getting cool here now in Toronto, but on nice sunny days I still occasionally see a bumble bee hovering around the Asters or some of my other flowering plants.

Practice makes perfect

October 18, 2008 by Tricia

I don’t know if any of you happen to also read my husbands blog “Guitar Licks“, but if you have been reading it lately you probably already know that my husband is about to try out as the guitar player for a progressive rock band.

Chris and Sofie — Chris and our neighbor Sofie

This is a big thing for him. He started playing guitar when he was 9 years old and in no time he became quite well known in his home town for his talent. He even played with a few bands in his teens that toured across North America, but by the time he reached his 20’s he knew he didn’t really want that “rock n’ roll” lifestyle, so he just started playing to entertain friends and went to college for a non-music related career.

When Chris and I first met he was playing guitar every day and he was GOOD! Really good. I kept encouraging him to join a band at least part time, like a garage band, just so that he wouldn’t have any regrets later in life. I mean, when you have that much talent (he plays 13 instruments and plays them well) you shouldn’t just let it die, right?

Well, he never did find a band that he was interested in playing with, until earlier this month anyway! Remember I said we went to the Nuance progressive rock festival a couple of weekends ago? Well Chris talked to all the bands, but he really clicked with this one band and it just so happens that they are looking for a guitar player. So Chris is going to meet with them next Thursday for a jam session and I guess perhaps an audition.

I know that the band won’t be disappointed in his playing. He’s a little rusty since he doesn’t play every day or even every week anymore, but he put his equiptment together this morning and he spent oh … about 6 hours going over the bands music and I expect that he’ll do the same tomorrow and Monday (his day off work), so he’ll be ready for them on Thursday.

Practice makes perfect doesn’t it? I hope it does in Chris’ case since he’s a perfectionist!

Along with the sound of guitar playing filling the house all day I’ve also had to listen to Chris list off all this equiptment that he’d like to get if he starts playing with the band regularly … Oh my … I’m going to have to work 24 hours a day on my sites to make enough money to pay for this stuff! LOL Along with a new amp, wah-wah pedal, and a digital voice chorus pedal he’s also mentioned that he’d like to get one of those talking watches (to help remind him when to practice and to remind him of other things – like eating!). I think we’d better start looking on Ebay for some of these items because I know we can’t afford to buy all of them brand new right now.

Anyway … We’ll see how this goes. As I said, Chris is extremely talented so I think the band will give him a try. I’m just happy to see him playing again and trying out for band. I’d hate for him never to try playing with a band again and then have him regret it when he’s too old to really get out and do it.

Do any of you play musical instruments or sing? Do you practice or play with a band?

Do you ever have strange dreams?

October 15, 2008 by Tricia

I had the strangest dream the other night. I had fallen asleep on the couch and at about 5 a.m. I woke up feeling very groggy and wondering how I came up with the phrase “The Newfies are watching them.” in my dream. (Newfies are people from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and they are often the butt of Canadian jokes.)

So what was I dreaming about? Well … that’s kind of hard to explain. I guess I was at a zoo or some kind of reptile exhibit with two very young nephews that do not exist in real life. One of the boys took off and ran up this man made rocky area behind a huge exhibit for iguanas and the next thing I knew he was in the exhibit with these giant iguanas (yes, in my dream they were larger than in real life). I seem to remember monitor lizards also being in the caged area too.

In my dream, I couldn’t get into the enclosure the way he had so I ran around to the front yelling for help and that’s when someone told me not to worry because “The Newfies are watching them”. LOL So I ran up to a man, I guess he was one of the Newfies, and he let me get into the enclosure to rescue my nephew, but just then a large iguana ran at me. The odd thing about the iguana was that it had a small lions head.

Yes, my dream was very very weird!

I backed off when I saw the lion headed iguana and as I looked towards the back area of the enclosure I saw my small nephew being held horizontally in the air by a few men and he had about 15 iguanas hanging off of him. I guess they’d bit into his clothing and were hanging on like Bulldogs. When I think about it now that image was pretty funny, but if it had really happened I guess it would be pretty scary for the kid and maybe me if I really was his aunt.

My dream ended with me outside the cage again, trying to get back in, but being blocked off by monitor lizards.

I still have no idea why I had such a strange and vivid dream. It occurred a few days ago and it’s still with me. I thought that maybe writing about it might purge it from my mind.

Chris and I used to keep an iguana and several other lizards (I think we had 14 in house at one point) as well as box turtles, but the only reptilian pets still present in our home are the turtles.

I don’t have the slightest fear of iguanas or monitor lizards so I don’t know why I dreamed of them in a frightening scenario. My only guess as to why the lion headed iguana appeared in my dream goes back to the one year that my big male iguana, Napoleon, went into a very bad breeding season and he literally chased us around our apartment for two months! However, other than that one brief period he was a complete sweet heart for the whole 10 years that we had him.

As odd as my whole dream was it’s the line “The newfies are watching them” that gets me the most. I have several friends from Newfoundland and Labrador and I rarely ever call them Newfies. It’s just not a term that I use.

That was certainly the strangest dream I’ve had in years! At least that I can remember!

Do you ever have strange dreams that stay with you for the whole day or even for days afterward? Dreams that you can’t really connect to anything in your life or at least not to anything in your recent past?

Is winter here?

Frost already? Time to get the yard work done!

Lovely fall asters in bloom

Practice makes perfect

Do you ever have strange dreams?

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Archives for October 2008

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