October 27, 2007

Yesterday after work, we dropped by Marshy's for a drink and to do the crossword puzzle. There is a small group of puzzlers who gather regularly at Marshy's and we partly compete and partly share answers, depending on how hard the puzzle is that day, which paper it is in, and who shows up. I bring over the one I clipped from the Citizen and Marshy's gets several copies of the Sun, so often we do both.

We discovered that Brad Marsh has just started the Brad Marsh Bar BQ & Grille "Great Prize Give Away" this week and the first prize was being drawn that very afternoon. Every week, Brad will draw a ballot for a Senator's jersey and less often, he will draw for more expensive prizes. I put my ballot in the box for the Grey Cup tickets. Then Brad asked me to pull the winner from the jersey box and I chanced to draw Darren Boyd's entry. I don't know Darren but when he accepted his jersey, he proclaimed that he was the Zamboni driver at the Merivale Arena, so that's what I am reporting. Anyway, it was fun and he seemed pleased. In case anyone was wondering, it was 16C that afternoon and therefore, Brad was wearing shorts. I, however, was not.

On the way to Marshy's, I stopped to take a photo of the debris remaining from Friday morning's garbage pick up. Oftentimes, the crows and squirrels have managed to pick things out of the bags and then leave the paper and other inedibles behind. In the spots where more than one household deposits its bags and boxes, there is usually a concentration of these leavings. Today however, I noticed that the debris was made up of the stuff that remained from last week! I sometimes get tired of looking at the garbage lying there, day after day, and so I pick it up. This week, I didn't and it was still there after the second garbage pick up. You'd think that the person whose garbage it was in the first place might recognize it and pick it up him or herself. Or not.

This morning, it was raining steadily and Peter thought the pumpkin at the front door looked nice in the light. Later, the rain let up and I went for a walk.

In spite of it being a damp day, people still like to get together and do something outdoors. This group was just finishing a game of frisbee football and it looked like they had had a great time.

Rounding the next bend in the path, I came across a red squirrel who ran up a tree and then stopped to shake his tail and scold me. We don't have many red squirrels compared with grey and black ones so it was a treat to stand and watch him until he ran up the tree and out of sight.

While I was trying to get as close as possible to the red squirrel, I noticed this thing on the ground. It might have been a nest but I didn't want to examine it too closely for fear of bugs or things more squidgey than that.

Heading across the parking lot for the park, I was reminded that, as far as I recall, the two outbuildings have never been in use in all the time that we have lived here, which is more than ten years. They may house washrooms and maybe no one wants the responsibility of maintaining them but I don't know for sure.

This is a very cute water "park' for the kids in the 'hood - obviously closed for the winter.

This was just pretty.

On the way back, the sun came out and I wanted to capture the contrast between the dark sky in the east and the lit leaves in the foreground. Sometimes, it's better to be there. And even if I made a little movie with the sound of the geese coming in for a landing, as they were then, you would completely miss the smell of the wet larch needles that completed the effect.

Finally, just as I was about to turn out of the park and into my own 'hood, I saw a bunny! As soon as I snapped his picture, he bolted around the end of the hedge and completely disappeared.