For whom the bell tolls

Grackle babies are all the rage in my neighbourhood. You hear them talking to their parents, following them around. When I went out to read about lunchtime though my backyard was all quiet. I looked up and saw a HUGE raptor flying. It was stunningly beautiful. I could see only the underside which looked like a black W with white (maybe a flash of red glinting?)It looked like a rectangle kite. Flying silently, though evidently the birds in my neighbourhood were aware!

On Thursday I was surprised at work with a plan they are considering for the upcoming year. We'll find out on Monday or Tuesday if such drastic action needs to be taken. I hope not. I really really hope not!

It was such a beautiful day today it inspired me to put away my winter dresses. Sometimes it is difficult to trust the season.

Apparently this is trending, very sweet video:

Good night, bad night

Sunday night I had a good sleep after being so exhausted.
Monday at work I caught up on most things. Came home, made supper and then worked in the garden getting rid of dandelions. Did I mention I really dislike dandelions? The back garden is mostly dandelion free but the front yard is rather hopeless as the neighbours grow them.
Then watched the Bach. Having a TV night always makes it hard to sleep. Luckily I only have one a week now.
I slept 4 hours and was pretty shattered during the day. I picked up James from school and realized I was pretty weak (skipped lunch) so I sat down and had a yogurt before I made dinner.
Then did more work outside, so my inside housework is pretty behind.

Happy birthday Mom!

Though this post will be up a few minutes after it technically was your birthday I still hope you had a good day!

Photos that James took:

Photo that I took of James:

Photos of my Mom's garden:

Back

We had a wonderful time hanging out with Oma and Grandad. They are probably in recovery now.
We did a lot of walking and talking and good eating!

The bus ride from St. C to TO went well until we approached the Gardiner construction. A sign told us that from the point we were at to downtown was 30 minutes by Gardiner and 37 minutes by Lakeshore. We took Lakeshore (reverse psychology on the part of the driver) and it was a really nice drive as we got to see the beach and lots of people walking, biking, running, roller blading. Active TO!
I didn't actually time it but we made good time. Out bus was scheduled to get into TO terminal at 2:25 and we were in at 2:33. The bus to Kingston (before the one I had booked left at 2:30, so we wouldn't have caught that one. Our bus left at 4pm so we went to the food court and wandered around. James had a hot dog and we got in line. The bus was a double decker and was full so the line was very long. The nice thing about the double decker is the sky light (the whole roof is pretty much open) so I watched the clouds.

When we got in at Kingston, I made dinner and hurried to get outside and mow the back lawn as I couldn't before we left as there was a downpour. If the grass gets too long, it is very difficult for the push mower. I made it through most of it. Then did dishes and laundry. Hoping to hang laundry outside tomorrow!

I'm pretty beat now though!

Travelling

The bus from Kingston to Toronto made good time and we arrived right on schedule.
During our wait in Toronto James wanted to walk to the food court nearby. We went there and used the washrooms (which are nicer than the bus station washrooms) but he was put off by the long lines at MacDonalds so we didn't pick up anything from the food court.
I was carrying our bags down the stairs (as the escalator is always broken). The lady in front of me was older and was carrying a much bigger bag. A young lad was coming up the stairs and he stopped and talked to her. I thought he was a relative. He took her suitcase down to the bottom of the stairs. She thanked him and he left. The kindness of strangers, she said to me.
We went back up to the bus station and wandered around a bit. There was none in line at the little lunch station there so James was much happier ordering there. He had a hot dog that was huge and was swimming in ketchup. He only ate 3/4 and I had the rest. We enjoyed watching the birds flying around in the station!
Then we lined up for our next bus. Both busses were packed full.
Traffic was very heavy Toronto to St. C but not terrible. We were about 1/2 hour behind time.
Great to see Oma and Grandad and have a lovely chicken supper. It always tastes better when you don't need to make it yourself :)

Tomorrow we have lots of plans- mini golf, Skyping with Nat and Karrie, shopping, planting. Should be a good time!

I discovered that the new web updating system at work is all online so I can update webpages even from St. C. instead of having to do it through my computer at work (we used to have to use special software). Always an improvement!

Empty nest

The last baby birdie flew shortly after my last post and so I have had a literal empty nest. When the birds leave they don't look back!

Today I spent a lot of time on the phone with concerned people and figured out our new website updating software which actually works quite well.

I tried to mow the lawn today but only made it through the front lawn before it started pouring.

There was a pretty loud thunderstorm last night- I was up at 3:30am.

Getting ready to head to St. C tomorrow morning!

Launch...well mostly anyway

6:30am

7:30am

Happy new adventures baby birds!

Unpacked

Though I woke up at 4:30am, I did try to get back to sleep. That was until I heard steps on the roof. I hurried outside, worried for the bird babies and scared off whatever it was. It disappeared in a flash so it might have been a raccoon, which would not be good for bird babies. Mama bird was on the ground looking up. I'll sleep with one ear open tonight. Look how well they are doing. They are adorable. Quite alert now and starting to make real robin noises. Very excited when they see mom or dad in the distance now.

James made a "rink" in the basement for his party.

Today I hung the artwork that I bought from Rustle:

It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

James was hanging out with Amy's boys for the day. I spent most of the day unpacking from the move a couple of years ago. Good to finally go through everything even if it is a bit late.

I'm going to post this monitor on Kijiji for free. It works great, just is very old!

mini- Robin

The babies are getting big and looking a lot more like robins, not so much like aliens anymore. Their feathers are growing but it doesn't look like they have flight feathers yet. They are getting so big, the nest is overflowing!
They are well trained in eating and toileting and they duck down when they hear the sound of a crow.
For some reason I woke up at 4:30am today. Apparently my body hates holidays!
I watched a documentary about Elvis.

Starting to look a little robin-y

May 17

May 18

Finally, tulips

The step that was redone last year has completely fallen apart

I detest dandelions and spent hours this afternoon pulling them up. My neighbour on the other hand grows them

I took this next photo to show how I was sharing the backyard with the robins so that I wasn't hanging the laundry out too close to the back porch where the nest is. Fittingly, as I was taking this photo about sharing I could hear a robin in the underbrush as I was taking the picture, so it would be photobombed by the robin but you can't really see it in the underbrush. Had to laugh though.

This was posted on FB:

I've been stuck on this song this weekend:

Paul did this song way better today at Rustle:

Preparing

Mama bird doesn't spend much time sitting anymore as there are many worms to get, but it was pretty cute when she sat and had them all facing out.

James' party is tomorrow so I worked on cleaning the house tonight. I'll have to clean it again after the party I'm sure. Hoping it goes well. I'm sure it will be exhausting. James is organizing the activities himself now that he is 12.

This was an odd news article entitled "Bad aim leads to manslaughter charge for teen" but I'm not sure bad aim was the problem- maybe more like idiocy.

And the rain came down

Last night when the rain was chucking down I noticed that the water was pouring over the eves-trough meaning only one thing- there was a plug somewhere. Happily, I now have a long enough ladder to tend to these things so after dinner I went up and unplugged. Then it rained again and I was so pleased that it wasn't all plugged up any more!

I love this picture:


These are the curious out of focus purple finches:


The babies grow fast and the nest is getting very full. Their eyes are open and they are growing feathers but they still look rather alien: