October 22, 2007

I started the day early for me, walking over to Algonquin College at about 7:30 am. Winter is coming in spite of the hot weather we had today, and the sun doesn't rise until 7:30, not making it over the tops of buildings until after that.

I took a photo of the new Minto community construction site, with my back to Marshy's and facing west. I haven't decided yet on the optimal location to take a picture nearly every day, but I thought it would be interesting to show its progress.

As I passed the library, I saw a shy and nervous cat watching me from the circle in front of the building. As I took his picture, he ran off. I wonder about cats and traffic and I believe they are just lucky, when they don't get hit by cars. There are many more squirrels on the loose and you do see more dead squirrels, having been hit by cars. But occasionally, you do see a dead cat. Not around here yet, thankfully.

At the beginning of the week, the goodwill clothing donation box is always overflowing. It's nice that lots of people want to leave their stuff for others less fortunate. But I have seen all sorts of stuff there that doesn't qualify as clothing. However, after the pickup (which I think is on Tuesdays), it is all gone and tidy again.

On the way home, I admired as I always do, the brilliant red bushes at the entrance to Centrepointe Park. I don't know what species they are and they are ordinary during the summer, but their colour in the fall is worth the wait.

Here's the construction site from another angle. Does that sign mean they are still in need of approval for the development? They must be confident they will get it, like the minor variance at the meeting last week, for the holes in the ground are large and there are at least four fire hydrants already installed.

I don't know who abandoned this couch in the fire lane between Plunkett and Castlebrook. I think I saw it yesterday too. It will be interesting to see how long it stays there.

Finally, it seems that the ladybugs are on the move, getting ready to migrate or whatever it is that they do. They are not in numbers that one could call a "gathering" but there are enough of them in one place that one notices. They also hang onto your clothing as you walk inside and then show up in the evening on the lamps. Sometimes I can persuade them to crawl onto my hand and so take them outside, but sometimes it is easier to slide a piece of paper under them. Then you can watch the brightly coloured shell split in half and the wings unfurl and the tiny beetle fly away.