Sylvia's Simple Shots

 I headed to Beaumaris Lake again this week in hopes of finding Pelicans but no such luck.  I just don't know where they are.

There was not lack of other birds at the lake.

A Wigeon, Red Wing Blackbird, Mallard Duck and a female Red Wing Black bird.  Grackles, Canada Geese and sparrows too!

It was a very nice walk around the lake.  I headed out earlier that the last visit so a bit fewer people at least earlier.  I was there quite a while.

I have photographed pelicans on May 5th in year's past so I will have to keep looking.

The wildfire situation in our province continues to be dire with many people displaced and living in evacuation centers with only the wish to go home.

Rain is badly needed of which we have had very little.

Air quality is very poor.

I say thank you to all those fighting the fires.  The ones who have been injured. Those who have come to provide relief to those on the front lines.

To those who are providing support to evacuees and fire fighters a like with water, food, and a place to rest.

I think of those who have lost their homes and in some cases their livelihoods to these fires.

I had the final white filling on my root canal this week. 

Fortunately, it was not needing freezing and not a really long job.  The hard part is I have run out of dental benefits. Ouch!

The Friends We Keep by Jane Green was a book I finished this week.

Three people met in college.  They lived together for 4 years, hung out, got to know each other very well. After graduation, careers took them to different parts of the country and the world.  There were phone calls and emails, weddings, and funerals over the next 30 years.  Much life experience some good, some great and some not so great.

They had made a pact that if they were single when they turned 50 they would live together. They attend a school reunion and reconnect. Maggie, now a widow,  lives in a large house in Somerset England, Topher's mother is living in England and he in New York, Evvie's son has left home and so a move would be possible for her.  So they move in together, come clean about their secrets and start new adventures. 

It was a good read.

This American Coot couple was very busy making a nest from last year's dried bulrushes.

The male I assume was tugging and pulling to dislodge them one at a time and bringing them back to the nest.  Once the reed arrives she busied herself with the perfect placement of it.

Then the process repeated itself.  I watched for quite a while and it was still process when I moved on.

I guess are a least a few days away so young ones still later than that.

I have seen baby Coots in early June but with taking 21-25 days to hatch I expect it will be later than that this year.

The neighborhood gardens are starting to show off their blooms.

There are Clematis growing the wall in a beautiful light lavender color.

There is a yard full of colorful tulips. 

I found a yellow poppy in another front yard.

The purple Alium is just starting to open.

I have been spending time a thrift shops looking for the perfect tealight candle holder. I would like to have a Fairly Light candle holder but they are quite costly.  Not going to happen soon.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 The trees are starting to leaf out.  Beautiful spring green colors appearing in many places.  The Fiddlehead Ferns in the small garden are ready to unfurl into wonderful textures. The American Robins are back and looking to make nests I am sure.

The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard is a book I finished this week.  

A young man, Stefan, is in prison for murder of his girlfriend. Thea Demetriou, his mother continues to love him despite now knowing how this happened.  Stefan does not remember. 

After his serving his sentence, he comes home to a town which will not let him move on. The mother of Belinda the girlfriend has set up a movement to bring awareness to dating violence. They are always on their doorstep.

Slowly, he begins to start a new life.  He decides to start a program where people can reach out to ones they have wronged and help to make things right.  It is a soul saving project for him. It provides an avenue for several people in his circle.

The book was surprisingly very positive and uplifting.

Another week of medical procedures. A Pulmonary Function Test for my coughing and shortness of breath in March.   The root canal to save one of my front teeth finally was done, now that I could sit for over an hour and not cough.  The prep was very involved but finally the dental specialist came in and it was a bit tricky he said but went well.

In my search for Pelicans this spring I headed to a large city park on the east side of town.  Someone mentioned that sometimes the pelicans are there.  It has 3 water ponds, picnic tables, lots of parking, woodland trails and biking.  I saw canoes on the water but no pelicans. Where the heck are they?  I know they are here because other photographers are posting pics.

The Journey by Josephine Cox was a gripping read.  I finished it in a couple of days.

The book relates two time periods 1930s then the 1950s with Lucy Baker in her old age.  Lucy and her daughter, Mary visit the cemetery regularly and Ben Morris has seen them before as he walks his dog. One day Lucy falls and Ben comes to help the women and they leave in a chauffeured car.  Lucy has dropped her purse and Ben, later that evening, delivers it to this large Edwardian house.  He is invited in.

The time shifts to Lucy's early life. The man she loved from afar, the one she was seduced by and resulted in a child. How the unwed mother was rejected by her family and taken in by warm hearted souls. How Barney Davidson came to her rescue in a time of need, how he was seperated from his family and how he came to be in the cemetary that Lucy and Mary visit regularly. There is a 2nd book so I will have to keep an eye out for Journey's End.

This week's Macro Mondays Challenge was the onion family.

I chose spring green onions for my close up shot.

You can check out my Flicker Photostream (SMDPics).

Have a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 

Thanks to my sister who has a bird feeder outside her living room window I got the woodpecker and the chickadee.  The house finch was found on my walk outside in the river valley.  

I am so happy to be walking outside again.  The legs are strong and spring is here.

I finished this book a early this week - The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce.  It is a companion and followup to her other book. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.  Queenie is in a hospice facing the end of her life on earth and Harold's letters and postcards start arriving.  Once the cat is out of the bag, everyone in the building is taking an interest.

She has support from her fellow residents and the staff also take in interest.

It's been 3 years since I read the Harold book so some of the details are a little fuzzy.  Would have been nice to have it to refer to but these days I read books and pass them onto the little library.  I don't hold onto them anymore.  It's okay.

Would recommend both of these books.  The author has a few more so I will keep an eye out for those.

The sutures from my tooth extraction came out on Thursday! I was so happy.  They were very loose and long and sometimes I felt I was going to swallow them.

With turkey on the menu for Easter it was a true blessing to eat normal.

The wound has healed wonderfully.

I am back to taking the stairs.  I started taking the elevator during the pandemic so I would not have to touch handrails. 

The stairs at my sisters' houses, the stairs here at home, the stairs in the river valley are all giving me the workout I need to key my legs and knees in good shape.

Wonderful feeling

Sophie's World by Joosten Gaarder was originally written in Norwegian and then translated to English.

I should have paid more attention to the tag line - A novel about the history of philosophy.  I would have been better prepared to read about ancient history.  It was very interesting.

I did not read all of this book.  When I got more than halfway and the philosophy continued I just went to the last 2 chapters and read those.

Sophie and Hilde are in different realms and share the same birth date. They try to figure out who is the other.  Teachers come along to help with the understanding of the philosophies and the history.

A different kind of book but very informative about ways of looking at things, religion in our world, art, and much more.

We celebrated Easter with as many of us that could attend.  My sister hosted.  It was the first celebration without Mom or Dad in attendance. We all brought sometime to share with the others.

We went through Mom's stuff which was all brought to my sister's place when Mom passed in January. There was clothes, jewelery, CDs and DVD's, and a bit more.

We each took what we wanted, then some was donated to second hand stores, some was garbaged, and some will be passed down to the grandchildren and great grandchildren.

We had to go through ALL the pockets.  We found little pouches of money, combs, and her name and address on little pieces of paper.

It brings closure. The funeral and interment was discussed 

Have a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 This week has been heavy with medical issues but perked up at the end of the week.

It's been on the books for several months to get the old shut off valves which hold back the water with pressure and a rubber washer replaced with Quarter Turn Shut offs which are better because of no rubber parts.

It meant clearing the laundry area and under the kitchen sink so the plumber would have room to work.

I also got the cartridges and the seats replaced on all the taps - kitchen sink, bathroom sink and bathtub.

I am super happy to have gotten this done.  It means easily turning off the water when I am away.  It is simple and much less of a worry about dripping.

The tooth cracked on Friday but had been sore a few days before that.  Was grinding the cause?  Not sure but I guess I should wear a guard regularly.

I had a early evening appointment on Monday to assess the problem. It had not been painful which was a blessing.  The crack was very deep below the gum line so it was not a candidate for a filling.

The tooth has to come out! A perfectly good tooth. 

Appointment scheduled for Wednesday.  I have not had an extraction since my wisdom teeth in the early 1980s

It was also determined that I have an abscess on one of my front lower teeth.

A prescription for an antibiotic for that.

It will be a candidate for a root canal but I am getting a referral to a root canal specialist since the x-ray showed some anomalies.

We really want to preserve the tooth so there's a much better chance with a specialist.

Taking pills four times a day.

On Wednesday morning I headed into the dentist office.  Some pain numbing needles and the hope is that the remainder of the tooth comes out cleanly.

It did.

I opted to have a bone graft put in the cavity left behind when the tooth was pulled.   This will allow me to have a dental implant in the future.

Painful, soft food, bleeding, sleeping and healing were on the agenda for the rest of the week.

The sheet I brought home from the dentist suggested a wet tea bag to stop bleeding after the extraction.

I did have to do this several times.

I was lucky to be able to use my Earl Grey Decaf tea bags which at least tasted good.

Soak it, put it in the space, press down hard to place pressure on the wound.

I bleed easily so this worked well.

Smoothies have been on the menu for breakfast for the last several days.  Bananas, blueberries, coconut milk, and I am still adding my ground flax seed and rolled oats.

I had to make a special grocery trip for cottage cheese, flavored yogurt, special yogurt, and fruit.  I do like cottage cheese and this allowed me to have a savory option for food.  In the yellow bowl is cottage cheese, steak spice, a bit of garlic powder with some finely shredded red onion.  Is really good.

The real treat was Krema yogurt by Olympic which I was introduced to at New Year's when my offered it with fruit and maple syrup for dessert.

Here's in the bowl is yogourt, a bit of cream and a dribble of pure maple syrup.

I have to eat something when I take the antibotics so this little bowl was perfect.

I will have to keep this in my arsenal for a quick dessert.

We have an upcoming show at the gallery called Tactile. The art piece needs to be dimensional and tactile.

I was going to ditch the project with all that is going on but I headed to the ReUse Ctr Saturday and found a 12 inch embroidery hoop for free.  That was the sign that I should feed my soul and create some art.

I had done quite a bit of research on the weaving and had gathered supplies. Yarn, beads, special sparkly bits so I have decided to continue.

Here's is the circle loom set up with the warp thread.

I think the yellow crochet cotton matches the bamboo hoop really well.   An update to come next week.