Life with cats, and other things…
5th March 2026 Grey days are not totally without merit, but we had been spoiled by such a long succession of brilliant skies, it made an impromptu excursion unappealing yesterday. Yet I was loath to turn it down. The man was bound to come home and tell me he'd seen a unicorn if I allowed … Continue reading Mood lifters
1507/4th March 2026. Heavy overcast? Thursday morning's Weather Advisory! warned of "Rain and winds gusting up to 7 mph" and I wondered when such a forecast became a matter of such concern. Later, it became "Sleet with wind speed increasing to 13 mph." It materialised as drizzle and an eventual thin layer of snow, the … Continue reading Forecasts
4th March 2026 . "I feel like Sisyphus!" said Grant, going out to shovel the latest snowfall. Temperatures were just cold enough yesterday for precipitation to arrive in frozen form. Wet and heavy. Hungry pussycats had persuaded us to rise early, in time to view the dawn... . The forecast was wrong again? . 0614/3rd … Continue reading Sisyphus
2nd March 2026 Passing the slope where we recently caught sight of a fox, we noticed that the pigeons were not assembled on the power lines where they usually observe our approach. But we caught up with them just the other side of the hill and this perch was far enough from the road that … Continue reading No polar explorer
0633/28th February 2026 Sometimes the simplest things make the prettiest picture. A single contrail, the slightest hint of a cloud in a clear morning sky. . And the Sun breaking the horizon. . A second contrail soon followed the earlier one. Attempts to include an icicle in the photograph were unsuccessful. They just don't belong … Continue reading Simple sights
Evidence that peaceful coexistence is possible. March was ushered in with snow on Sunday. It vamoosed before I could even get to my camera, but early on Sunday morning we had the first sighting of a groundhog. As always after their hibernation, it looked thin and rather pathetic, all the more in pouring snow. It … Continue reading First and last sightings
0701/27th February 2026 Friday began like this, with my favourite sort of winter scene. Frost in the trees, tracks through snow and long dark shadows on pristine white fields. . It's just as well the recent blizzard passed us by. 30 more inches on top of what we still have could be problematic. As it … Continue reading Old Depot Loop
0641/26th February 2026 Breakfast - and puzzles - often have to be abandoned in favour of sunrise. . 0643 This was one I needed to follow. Zooming in... . 0644 ...and back out. One should not lose sight of the big picture. . 0645 Or the finer details. . 0646 There were so many points … Continue reading An open mind
1720/24th February 2026 It is quite startling to look out a window at this time of year and see the hills painted orange. Especially when the afternoon has been mostly overcast. This is the joy of having an open sky with a good vista. . AI confirms: "What we see acts as an immediate, involuntary, … Continue reading AI confirms
24th February 2026 Returning from our short shopping trip, I installed myself before my PC only for the phone to ring and I knew instantly that we'd messed up. What we'd been supposed to do on Tuesday morning was take Lily to the vet for a blood draw. I'd remembered on Monday night, checked the … Continue reading Mindset