Category: Spiritual

We just might survive 2016 —

Sunday, December 11th, 2016 — -19˚C / -3˚F & “Brrrr” in Atlantic Canada @ 8:51 am Atlantic Time — Cuzzin Sarah’s Birthday { heart heart heart } —

Sunrise December 9, 2016
Sunrise Sky Friday, December 9th, 2016 – I couldn’t hold the camera steady enough to get a decent telephoto shot of this. This was me leaning the camera on the top of the chain link fence and holding my breath – What we see and what we can capture with a camera are not always quite the same-

— 2016 has been ‘a Nine year’ numerologically  – [ 2+0+1+6 = 9 ] – which, to people who believe that the numerical values of days and months and years have a psychological and/or spiritual effect on human beings, means it’s a time of ending cycles. Depending on who you talk to or listen to, this is further warped by the number of the month and date – You’re supposed to add the month and date together and use that to modify the year’s number. { So, if you were born on January 1st, you’d add one plus one and hopefully get two and add that to the year’s number, get eleven and either think you were experiencing  a ‘master number’ eleven year or add one and one again and get two and believe you were having yourself a ‘two’ year. – In my case, I was born on September 9th, so 9+9 = 18 and 1+8 = 9 So I might have just lived through most of a double 9 year. Would all my ‘9’ years be doubled? – You’d have to consult with an ‘expert’ numerologist on that one. And of course, you might have to believe that numbers have vibrational power to augment or mess with they human psyche to ‘buy into’ this. Or you could be ‘scientific’ about it and say, “hey, I’m open minded – let’s see if this works-”

— Part of the explanation for what a ‘9’ year is supposed to be all about is that a lot of people will feel like they’ve finished a cycle. And, according to a couple I’ve heard on the radio this last year, a lot of people will figure the cycle they’re finished with is this life on planet earth. You may have noticed that an awful lot of people have checked out/ moved on to hopefully higher planes of existence this last year. My favorite spouse, Cathi, comes home from work too often saying things like, “Hey guess who left us today-?” — Too many wonderful people have moved on to better things this year and left us here, basking in the increasingly toxic atmosphere of whatever is going on in the power struggles of those who believe they should be in charge of the rest of us.

— & I’ve been ‘re-thinking’ a lot of philosophical stuff.

— But I also participated in “NaNoWriMo 2016” – National Novel Writing Month – last month, November – The idea with this is, you commit yourself to writing 50,000 words during the month of November, basically to prove to yourself that you can do that. For the second year in a row I wrote more like 100,000 words on my ‘NaNo Novel’ – & what ya gotta do here is — “Don’t stop and edit it, just get it all down-” and don’t go judging what you’ve got because you can cripple your effort by re-reading and feel the bottom drop out as you tell yourself, “Well, this sux-” and re-play the mind numbing words of everybody who tried to tell you that you’re a worthless piece of doo-doo if you’re not knocking yourself out to live your live by their standards and their rules. And, since they control their game, you can never measure up – hey, they cheat – in their minds they win if they convince you that- “you’ll never amount to anything, so why bother?”

NaNo 2016 Winner Banner
— This year’s ‘Winner’ Banner – tailored to ‘effbook’ standards & size { originally 1500 x 555 pixels }.

— ( I hate sans-serif fonts ) —

NaNo page
— This is the page from the NaNoWriMo web site that tells you you’ve passed their ‘upload your nano novel’ test and should really dig into your pockets and donate whatever $’s you can – They do not engage in the kind of nasty politix that many ‘beedy grastards’ stoop to – they do not try to convince you that you are a worthless piece of doo-doo if you don’t fork over the money you thought you could save to buy one of your favorite people a nice ‘it’s the thought that counts’ holiday presents.

— So I just ‘binge-watched’ all five seasons of ‘Person Of Interest’ on Bell Aliant’s take on a Netflix type service { ‘Crave TeeVee’ } (( And loved the character “Root” who was supposed to be a one episode character but, according to one of the ‘show runners’ had such a cool theme song that they wrote her in as a world class ‘dynamic character’ – Amy Acker’s Voice and expression make me want to ‘create’ and wear a tee shirt that says, “I wasn’t talking to you-” and credit that quote to ‘050313’. ))

— The perfect television programme never made it into any ‘on air’ status or ever looked like anything the ‘-powers who delude themselves into believing they ‘be’-‘ would consider airing for their own gratification and profit… But this one came close.

Moe -- Study in Orange
— Moe — our own little ‘Orange Revolution’ —

— And, once again, Moe gets the last word. I really should record some of our conversations, the plaintive cat, “Maereh Raireh!” and, “Maaw-ou-” &. “Aereh mung muh!” with so many subtle shades of emotional expression. — If I ever completely understand what he’s trying to say, I probably will be ready for a straight jacket – or a halo? —

— pas de schnarr –,

~~~~~ Jim

A Little More Than Half Past October — 2016

Wednesday, October 26th, 2016 — +4˚C / +39˚F — dark and damp in Atlantic Canada @ 7:43 pm — 21 years ago tonight my father died. —

Moe
Yup, our cat really is that big- This is Moe. He took possession of the extra large sized dog bed we bought for Jassper – The bed measures 48 inches long by 33 inches wide. Moe’s a long haired ‘Cat and a half’ but most of what you see here is one pudgy cat.

— I’ve been calling “Pudge” off and on for a couple years now.

— Sigh – There HAS been a lot going on lately –

— I nearly believed I could finish one novel and enter it into a contest, even went and created a cover for it – as per contest rules —>

Book Cover.
Book Cover – Final Design – So far, anyway – This won’t display here at full size –

— I was ‘going gangbusters’ here writing this as a third complete revision – after starting this novel in 1987 – but so many new details have jumped into the story – many of which I’m pretty sure will need to find themselves edited out, but it will then have one heck of a back story – Hint –  There really should be a flying saucer way the bleep in the background on the left somewhere.

Stone Lake in the game world.
Here’s where the above cover ‘photo’ came from – one area in the game world I’ve been building online since 2011 – lately production is on hold waiting for another one of their promised innovations that would make my work a lot easier. This is the “Stone Lake” area inside “Aerendel” on the Hero Cloud. And you’re looking at what you’d see if you had a character there. She’s carrying a Gear Axe that all the builder characters are born with.

— Builder Characters are all that are running around in the game world We’ve been building since 2011. They’re the ones who run around and get out of the way when you’re raising mountains and carving rivers and doing all sorts of esoteric ‘other’ things to each area – Sometimes they fall through the ground and I’ve had a couple disappear completely and had to re-roll or re-create somebody to run around inside the world so we can see how it will look when finished, etc.

Jeep being loaded onto a flatbed.
Somebody finally bought the Jeep.

— I’d quote very early Buffalo Springfield here, “Don’t it leave you with the thought, that perhaps you’ve just been bought?” – We finally had to accept less than half what Cathi wanted for the Jeep – but it’s gone. There’s a strangely vacant spot where the Jeep sat for over a year, waiting for us to either get what we’re owed so we could afford to fix the danged thing ourselves or receive an offer that we could live with. As it is we’re left with a bad taste in our mouths.

Bride and Mothers at September wedding
On the positive side. Cathi’s daughter – Erin – got married on September 4th, to a really nice guy. This is Erin the bride between her mother (Cathi on our right) and her new mother in law (Hala on our left).

— I’ve still got a lot to do with a lot of photos we took at the wedding. And this was complicated by a hard drive with all those photos and videos ‘dying’ after a bit of a power outage here last month. – grrrrrr –

— Um, I might add to this later, we have a dog who needs his evening constitutional –

~~~~~ Jim

Monday, September 19th, 2016 —

— Monday, September 19th, 2016 — 18°C / 64°F & Foggy @ 7:54 am in Atlantic Canada —

Tat gets an Emmy.
Tatiana Maslany won the Emmy for Best woman actor in a dramatic series last night.

— Some of our favourites won big at the Emmy’s last night, Tatiana M. (Libra) won Best Woman Actress in a dratmatic series [ title warped by me because I’m sensitive to sensitive sensibilities [[ insert smiley stickin its tongue out here 😉 ]] ] Rami Malek (Taurus) won for best male actor in a dramatic series. & Game of Thrones won 3 Emmy’s last night [ added to the 9 they were awarded for artistic and technical schnarr earlier ] : (1) Best Writers for an episode and (2) Best Director for the same episode [ Battle of the Bastards ] and (3) Best Dramatic Series. 🙂

Beautiful Hobbit-Friendly Countryside.
Beautiful countryside, I’m not sure where –

— Looks like a wonderful, Hobbit-Friendly countryside, somewhere —

Good Night Twitter - Sweet Dreams?
— And a cool “Good Night Twitter” sunset —

— & There was an investigative program on the CBC last night investigating the evils of sugar. The conspiratorial cover-up of the ill effects of sugar preceded the nasty cover up of the ill effects of smoking tobacco. U.S. FDA has to know about this and I don’t think it could have happened without FDA complicity: Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cancer, Obesity, Alzheimers, ‘and more’ can be attributed to the FDA allowing sugar and *especially lately, Genetically Modified Ingredients, ESPECIALLY HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!* – to remain available on supermarket shelves & in everything most ‘Americans’ (& Canadians) eat.  They interviewed researchers in one study that have found that the typical “North American / Western Diet” — especially over the last ten years with the proliferation of genetically modified high fructose corn syrup — activates Alzheimers Disease and causes brain damage – severely effecting memory. So, if the punishment fits the crime — somebody should incarcerate Bill Gates and force feed him large quatities of junk food, insuring gastro-intestinal distress, Diabetes, and nerve damage, so that he will be forced to reincarnate as a brain damaged infant with severe health issues, live in  extreme poverty with a whole lot of saturnian limitations everywhere he looks. — Schnarr! —

— Abboo Nice Day –,

~~~~~ Jim

Where Did August Go?

Monday Morning, August 29th, 2016 — 24°C / 75°F & Bright sun shining through humid atmosphere beneath a mostly cloudy sky at the moment in our little corner of Atlantic Canada @ 12:14 pm—

Spectacular Sky.
Friday Evening – Filling our gas tank just before 8 pm – We were facing a really spectacular sky. I think I captured a decent portion of that here-

— We’re getting ready for Cathi’s daughter’s Wedding – Went and had some Viet Namese noodles and a darned good chicken rice dish, then went to top off the gas tank – hopefully before the larcenous gas dealers up here raised their weekend prices through the roof – And saw some spectacular cloud formations – like the one above.

Spiralling art installaation.
From Saturday the 27th, This spiraling circular artistic expression is behind the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton is by Dennis Oppenheim and titled, “Arriving Home”.

— You can probably see what used to be a train bridge in the center of the circle. That bridge has been reworked with a wooden deck and become part of the extensive system of walking trails around the city of Fredericton, and throughout New Brunswick. You can probably walk or bicycle from all corners of this province to all other cities and points of interest along the way on those trails.

St John River, looking North and East.
Looking North East across the St John River from a walking trail behind the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

— I remember a friend talking about art classes and how a line like the fence in this photograph would pull the viewer right into the photo or the painting. Saturday was a beautiful summer day with lower humidity than the previous week and a sky like the ones I used to appreciate in my summers in Vermont as a teenager visiting my grandparents.

Glaciated rocks on the bank of the St John River.
I’ve come to appreciate glaciated rocks up here since I came to visit and then applied for permanent residence and then citizenship. Here’s some of those glaciated rocks, I think.

— There were large chunks of lighter coloured glaciated rocks defining a boundary and discouraging four-wheelers from wrecking the grass inside a park in Arnprior, Ontario, where we used to live.

"Fine German Bankery".
And this is a “Fine German Bakery” that also advertises Viet Namese goodies. We never noticed this bakery before road crews and other construction workers have been working on the road and a now-vacant lot just east of here (Just out of the photo to the left).

— And, walking around town on Saturday afternoon we noticed a couple things we missed before, like this “Fine German Bakery”.

— And this is probably enough for now –

~~~~~ Jim

Saturday Morning — 3 am?

{  Good Morning – This would be my first post here – I must be doing something right – Jim W. has invited me over here to post anything I want to, any time I want to – He doesn’t do that with just anybody — Should I run away screaming? }

= = = = =

Saturday Morning, August 20th, 2016 — 12°C / 53°F & “Dark” in my little corner of Atlantic Canada @ 3:02 am—

Nice sunrise or sunset - might be photoshopped.
“I’m always looking for new ways to see my world. Norman Vincent Peale was not my favourite philosopher. Sometimes he makes sense.” — h.j.d’A — & now I’m quoting myself —

— “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale.

— Changing habitually resonating thoughts and thought patterns is not all that easy. If you’re fighting against what you believe are your own negative thoughts – you can try to combine those thoughts with the desire to improve and become more positive. Emotions happen quicker and more deeply that what we call “our thoughts” in the human psyche. Our ‘Normal Waking Mind’ tries to define our multi-dimensional world in two dimensional terms. Don’t give up. The negative, “You can’t win-“, “Give up-“, “You’ll never amount to anything-” thoughts that may have been planted in your young mind by egotistical people who don’t know better — are lying to you.  — We have no limitations. We are alive here now to prove to ourselves that “Mind Over Matter” is Reality – Your indomitable Spirit, whatever you choose to call it – can overcome anything. { This has been the voice of experience. I seem to be unusually optimistic about this life and the human race tonight/very early this morning. }

— I read a quote on-line earlier, meant for writers – “If writing your book doesn’t keep you up at night – how can you expect that reading it will keep your readers awake at night, too?” { Or something quite near that if I haven’t remembered it 1,000% correctly – } & I think that was James A. Michener who I’ve just nearly quoted. But I’m pretty sure I got the spirit of his intent there –

Tweet about the plight of sockeye salmon in B.C.
Depressing news about the health of salmon in British Columbia.

— & Now – the depressing stuff. While politicians are fighting against what would be the best for the greatest number of people in favour of their fighting to fill their pockets with currency and their egos with delusions of power – They’re helping the ‘bad guys’ kill the planet and destroy our future.

— Schnarr! —

Native American / First Nations person's photo portrait and an anti-Trump message.
“Hey – You – Trump – Don’t like immigrants? Then get your immigrant butt out of our lands and back to where-ever you came from.”

— I don’t subscribe/follow to all of the above twitter accounts – my friend —djo— does. Some of the not-so-happy stuff he retweeted last night struck a chord – so here they are –

— And Now — For something completely different —>

Aliens in Utah? With English Translation.
“Aliens in Utah?”

—

A ‘Clairvoyant’ I met told a hippy who recounted seeing weird monsters standing next to people he knew – and he knew they were real live human beings – were not hallucinations. The ‘monsters’ were beings in another dimension, right here beside us – and some of them can influence our thoughts, feelings, even pressure us to go get drunk and pass out so they might jump into our bodies and have fun at our expense. “If this scares you, good. – Stop taking drugs, stop drinking alcoholic beverages, avoid any medicines that make you feel loopy or woozy – Pray a lot and hang around with positive, highly spiritual people.” — I waited until the doubting hippy left and asked that ‘clairvoyant’ where I could find any highly positive, spiritual people to hang around with and she wrote down a couple of book titles, said I should read them, and talk to her next time I saw her.

  • “The Sufis” – by Idries Shah
  • “In Search of the Miraculous” – by P.D. Ouspensky
  • “Autobiography of a Yogi” – by Paramahansa Yogananda

— I treasured all three – Reading Ouspensky’s book was a challenge – I felt like I had to restructure my mind and brain in order to stay with it and understand what he was saying. It felt like an exercise in overcoming normal human limitations.

— I read everything I could get my hands on about the Sufis and felt like they were under-cover agents for sanity in a very insane world.

— Then, reading the “Autobiography of a Yogi” felt like connecting with the ultimately merciful, and loving essence of the Heart of all Creation and made me feel like I was in constant contact with everything worth living for, no matter how strongly I doubted that.

— We’re here to get as close to “God” as we can and to do everything we can to help everything positive in all of Creation manifest Heaven on Earth.

— { Told you I was feeling unusually optimistic – hope I haven’t bored you to death – }

— h.j.d’a —

Saturday – Thunder Storms – Power Outage – Quacking Up & Schnarr Like That –

Saturday, August 6th, 2016 — 18˚C / 64˚F & “Dark” @11:59 pm in Atlantic Canada —

Puddles
At 4:26 pm Outside the Regent Street Mall – The rain had all but stopped, but dark clouds persisted.

— We stood around at the Koodo Kiosk inside the mall for more than half an hour while the Kiosk manager was on hold with Koodo support, trying to find out how to resolve a minor problem – After we changed to a minimum amount of data per month option the app that allows for data beyond wifi connections wouldn’t work, and as a matter of fact – was not in evidence at all on my Galaxy s5 Neo. [ schnarr ] As soon as the customer service rep picked up and verified my existence and plan options – the power went out in Fredericton during a heavy duty thunder storm. – we could not get through until we got all the way home and had electric come back on there – and at 8 something pm – the power went off at something like 3:45 pm – I called Koodo customer service from home and waddled through their automated greeting, punched “0” for ‘talk to a human’ and heard “Thank you for calling Koodo customer service, as a point of information, we’re closed right now, but you can call back during normal business hours-” and — paraphrased — by the way, you can get answers to all kinds of things at our web-site —- so I woke up a computer and managed to find their site and by the way, You CANNOT get a satisfactory answer to anything but really fundamental questions like, ‘where is my on/off button?’ — Grrrrrrrr! — But the manager at the Kiosk was really good and helpful and kept apologizing for taking so long, he said he checked out an employees message thing and everybody was complaining about long waiting times for customer service reps.

Nesting Ospreys on a platform built for them.
This is an Osprey nest along a walking path on our way home. In a 4x close up – Everything has a slight, clear ‘aura’ Especially when the photos are displayed full size.

— We had to get a couple things on the way home, and discovered a couple stores that had power, and heard about an Osprey Nest just down the walking trail a couple hundred yards ( okay the Canadians called it ‘meters’ not yards ) So we had to walk down the path and find them. They sang to us and we sang back. I have no idea whether we were admitting to being idiots in Osprey language or anything, but they didn’t attack us, or laugh at us like some crows do around here, so I guess we didn’t tell them their mother wears combat boots or anything like that.

Osprey plaque.
Here’s the plaque near the Ospreys to give you something to read and tell you about what kind of birds you can almost see from where the plaque sits.

— There’s a piece of plastic in front of the plaque, so the colours look faded.

Ducks Unlimted sign.
We also passed the Ducks Unlimited Canada Centre on our way home. I conned Cathi into stopping to get a couple photos. Some of my quacky friends will probably appreciate that.

— This quack’s for you – “Tommy Y” 😉 —

Ducks Unlimited Logo.
Ducks Unlimited Logo – in Iron.

— Quack quack quack quack quack!

— duh — that should be enough damage for tonight — I gotta lotta more photos to pop in here later.

~~~~~ Jim

 

Sunday In The Rain

Sunday, July 17th, 2016 — 21˚C / 69˚F & Raining @ 3:45 pm in Atlantic Canada — Today would have been Aunt Val’s Birthday —

Cathi in the rain.
Cathi, Standing in the rain, Taking a break from a gardening spurt.

— We dashed off to a quick trip to the NorthSide Market and a quick detour to the Atlantic Superstore on the way home. Cathi noticed some plants on sale as their Gardening Centre had closed down for the season. When we got home we carried our reduced priced treasures around and put them where they looked happy and will give them permanent homes in the soil later. Cathi also spread some epsom salts around her tomatoes, which we hear is something that tomato plants love.

Deer Hill in the rain.
This is what the hill were the deer come to visit in the winter looks like on a warm rainy day in mid July.

— This hill, which you might remember, I measured earlier this spring and reported that it was 12 feet from our porch window in Cathi’s ‘Zen Corner’ to where the deer happily munch on oats, stale bread and apple cores in the winter. The shot looked a lot better with lots of hints of purple flowers and other bits of colour that did not quite translate into the photo that emerged from the digital realms here. The Evergreens look a lot more silvery here than I noticed ‘in real life’.

Smoke Tree with fuzzy blooms.
Our Happy little Smoke Tree Is happily taking in this afternoon’s shower.

— & Our Smoke Tree is doing well this season.

Upstairs at the Coffee Mill.
Yesterday, We had brunch at the Coffee Mill restaurant on Prospect Street. One of the waitresses on duty when we got there asked if we’d like to sit upstairs. It was hard for me to see up there with a very bright sun beating down on the outside balcony about ten yards from our table. But this is what it looked like inside.

— The food was excellent but, with the very bright sun outside effecting my glasses I had a hard time seeing what was in front of me inside. (Eep?)

Blurry Error Message "The Internet Has stopped."
Scary Error Message, “The Internet Has Stopped.” (sorry about the blur-)

— Cathi has her new-ish Samsung Galaxy Something phone set to connect to the internet through wireless networks rather than gobble up tons of minutes and data charges getting messages the old-fashioned way (?)  Yesterday at Brunch she received an interesting error message and couldn’t remember the new phone’s screen capture routine, so I volunteered my newer cell and we thought this would be readable, the tiny window looked like we held steady enough. But “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” looks an awful lot like the messages we’ve been getting from our internet freedom watchdog group. & yes, we’d all be in shock if somebody blew up the internet ‘for real’.

— Um, this is probably enough blogging damage for today –,

~~~~~ Jim

Summer is here —

Monday, June 20, 2016 — 25˚C / 77˚F — sunny & muggy @4:30 pm in Atlantic Canada — I think I remember hearing somebody say that Summer arrives shortly after 7 pm Atlantic Time —

- "Walking" Jassper at 9:15 pm. Jassper has arthritis. We're supposed to be taking him for a walk for at least 20 minutes every day. Here, he made it about halfway up the slight hill on our street before he had to plunk down and rest from his pain. Happy walks and sniffing every squar millimeter in his neighbourhood aren't quite as much fun as they used to be, but if we can keep this up he probably will get better at it again.
– “Walking” Jassper at 9:15 pm. Jassper has arthritis. We’re supposed to be taking him for a walk for at least 20 minutes every day. Here, he made it about halfway up the slight hill on our street before he had to plunk down and rest from his pain. His happy walks and sniffing every square millimeter of his neighbourhood aren’t quite as much fun as they used to be, but if we can keep this up he probably will get better at it again.

I watched the Canadian dollar [ the ‘Looney’ ] rise a little, fall a little then rise again today – It ended last Friday at 0.7753 U$ dollars, then began this morning @ .07808 and rose to .7819 and fell back down to .7807 — Global News [ the Canadian television network ] reported that it finished the day @ .7807 – & CBC business news online said it was at .7815 at around 9 pm.  — So I guess you can reasonably assume that today wasn’t overwhelmingly interesting if I’m writing something like that here.

I did manage to finish screwing the plywood roof over the frame & beneath the heavy duty tarp [ the tarp that our neighbour gave us after I mentioned that we’d probably have to go out and buy one to protect the bare wood from the elements over the winter – one day this wonderful heavy duty tarp showed up beside the tool shed. 🙂 ] And I came through that with a thick layer of sweat weighing me down about ten pounds heavier than I started out. So I took a shower and sat near the air conditioner and watched last night’s brutal battle between Ramsay Bolton’s forces and Jon Snow & the Wildlings over again – then conked out and slept until something like 4:30 pm.

But at least I accomplished one impossible thing today. Finished the plywood roof all by myself without killing myself in the process.

And we had a nice talk with our neighbour, Connie Pond, when we were starting out to give our enthusiastic Jassper his adventure up and down the street. Apparently – the chipmunks that inhabit our stone wall have been planting oat seeds above their little caves – maybe they brought the oats home and thought they’d save them for a rainy day – then forgot where they left them? Connie is impressed.

— enough blogging for today?

~~~~~ Jim

 

Monday – Bring the Cat to the Hairdresser’s Day –

Monday, May 9th, 2016 — Colder than usual — 7˚C/ 44˚F @ 6:21 pm on a day that’s been on and off sunny and dark and splashed half a dozen rain drops on the windshield every now and then in Atlantic Canada — on uncle by marriage – Ed Conroy’s Birthday.

Moe
This is Moe – the 25 pound ‘Cat and a half’ – after his trip to the hair dresser’s. He’s checking out his cat treats, or maybe looking for fragments of cat treats he might have missed – and looks like a beast from a science fiction novel I read once.
Moe Hair.
No, this is not what’s left after you put a cat through a shredder – this is a small portion of Moe’s hair on the groomer’s floor.
Moe checkind his bowl of cat food.
– A little dark, I should have told the flash to do its thing, but this is one more angle of our newly trimmed ‘trouble is his middle name’ orange cat, Moe, as he’s looking at his dry cat food and trying to decide whether to shred us in our sleep for putting him through the indignity of having his matted hair shaved or let us live another day, possibly because we come through with some decent cat treats now and then.

— The round flower pot to the right and almost even with Moe’s nose is catnip that Cathi planted. We have more than once found Moe passed out cold with his arms around that flower pot and his nose deep in the leaves. We have had to hold our breath a couple times and pray that he was still breathing. Yup – he’s still alive.

— & Game Of Thrones Stuff —

— Should our Game Of Thrones Banner feature an orange cat wearing a purple cape?

— And – Regarding The Game Of Thrones last night, might be the quote of the week: When asked if he was still himself after having appeared very dead after being murdered by possibly well meaning ‘brothers’ of the Night’s Watch – Jon Snow replied, “I think so, don’t burn my body just yet.”

— & in the Game of Thrones speculation department – Bran and the Three Eyed Raven guy were watching an unven battle in which two Targaryen swordsmen { especially one knight – after his companion was pierced rather soundly – } nearly killed off something like eight Northmen, including Eddart Stark. Howland Reed, who we all thought was struck down, stabbed the Targaryen Knight (Ser Arthur Dayne?) in the back when it looked like Eddart Stark was about to lose his life – Then we heard a woman scream in a tower behind where this lopsided fight took place – and the Three Eyed Raven guy would not let Bran follow Eddart up into the tower ( not yet ? ) telling him that if he lingered too long in his visions he might never get back to his body — I’m wondering if that scream was Lyanna ( Eddart’s [ ‘Ned’s ] sister ) giving birth to Jon Snow – or both Jon and Meera? You wouldn’t believe the speculation going on around that one.

— & Yes, I agree – There may be way too much to cover for HBO to finish off the entire story in seven seasons.

— & I have too much to say, but I’m aching and tired and need to rest – So – “Au plaisir -”

~~~~~ Jim

After The Rain — The River Is High

Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 — // +8˚C / +46˚F — Sunny & bright with clear air and mostly blue skies in Atlantic Canada @ 6:19 pm —

Sparkling sunlight reflections on a river.
Sunlight sparkling reflections on the St John River at the Fredericton North Side Boat Launch (Carleton Park?) @ 4:41 pm today, Wednesday, 13 April, 2016 – We’re at a minor flood stage, those are trees out there in the sparkly stuff.

— We got out to go get a couple things today, and to check out the “Re-Store” – The Habitat for Humanity store on the North Side, which is now in the store front that used to be Sears – Where we bought our snow blower the first winter we were here. We stopped by the boat launch after the Giant Tiger store, and got a couple decent photographs of the river in a not-very-threatening minor flood stage this afternoon.

Soggy park grass in the foregroung, slightly flooded river with walking bridge in the background. High school women taking selfies at the water's edge.
This is looking more to the south, with the walking bridge in the distance. I had taken several steps ‘inland’ and tried to get a shot that shows the bigger trees out in the water looking that way as Cathi was heading back for the van. The high school aged women at the water’s edge were taking selfies with a selfie stick. It almost looks like they’re out in the water here.
St John River at Fredericton in a minor flood stage, April 13, 2016.
This is looking more to the North and West from about the spot I was standing when I took the top photo in this article.The Westmorland Street Bridge is back there in the distance. You can see a large branch that has floated down stream and been stopped from coming ashore by the trees out there.
Wide shot of the river, Fredericton South and Cathi for scale.
And this is looking down the bit of road that is an extension of Gibson Street. We’re looking at the South side of Fredericton on the other side of the river. There is quite a bit of parking lot and boat launch ramp under water beyond Cathi’s silhouette out there. We’re looking a little bit south of directly west, This was at 4:39 pm today. You can see the snagged branch on the right. The bicycles belong to the young women who were out at the water’s edge taking selfies, and then scaring a bunch of seagulls into the air to use them as a background for another selfie. We are surrounded by artistic, creative people here. 🙂

— And, this is probably enough for today, I haven’t had a lot to say since my mother went exploring life on the other side of the veil last Friday morning. It’s good to get out and have interesting things to look at and photograph –

~~~~~ Jim