detour

Spring has taken a detour, blown off course by a gusting wind. Snow swirls across the field, sometimes almost obliterating the road on its southern edge. It's a good day for staying mostly inside - cold and blowing snow make the roads icy and snow covered.

I've gotten out of the daily habit of writing something - it seems like my creativity has taken a hike! Hopefully it's temporary but even so, already I've written almost as many blog posts as last year in total! I just have 20 to go 😱 Last year must have been a doozy!

Saturday we drove into the city to have supper with Carm's nephew Justin and his partner Sonia. Carm's brother Frank and sister-in-law Tammy were also there. We hadn't seen them, except for a few minutes here and there, for absolutely ages! That's my sign to get busy and start having people out for lunch or dinner more often! I've been remiss in that for a few years now… Part of the problem is trying to figure out what to serve… I've been in a bit of a rut cooking wise for two years… it's so much easier to create meals when they are centered around a bit of meat…

I think today would be a good day to comb through my menu records to come up with a few ideas and WRITE them down - no excuses!

Chapter 44 Cato and Bailey hear a Song

All the parrots were quietly grinding their beaks when Laura interrupted the peace with a crazy song about a dog and a window. After a moment Cato decided that it was a good song to dance to and that it was even okay that Laura was singing along.

Laura stopped singing to tell them the story about Grace's Dad whistling this song to Grace when she was still in the egg. He also sang the song to her when she was a tiny chick.

Grace couldn't remember but felt that the song sounded familiar and that it gave her a nice feeling inside. Laura reminded Cato and Bailey that they would have heard Grace's Dad too as he lived across the aisle from Cato and Bailey's parents. They thought that it was nice to think about.

https://youtu.be/Aqwq4AgMiik?si=xvkyEhQc5Pt1Ds6d (how much is that doggie in the window patty Page)

Chapter 45 Cato and Bailey are Kept Awake by the Wind

The roar of the wind hitting the house kept everyone awake all night, even Cato and Bailey had trouble sleeping with the noise. Grace could remember the wind being that noisy in the past so she wasn't too worried that the house would blow down but Cato and Bailey weren't so sure.

When Laura opened the blinds in the morning they were surprised to see snow on the trees as they thought the wind would have blown it all away. But instead the snow seemed to be plastered on the trees in a more permanent fashion. Laura said it was because it had been raining before the snow started so it stuck to everything like glue.

It sure didn't seem like spring was here, even though they could hear the lonely sound of the red-winged blackbird calling outside. Cato thought that he sounded cold so Bailey wondered if there was a way to invite him into the house, but Grace said that they are a bit shy and didn't like people like parrots did.

The blustery wind reminded Laura of the story about the three pigs and the wolf blowing down the houses so she read it out loud to the parrots. They were glad that the house was not made of straw because it surely would have been blown down by the wind. It made them wonder a bit if the wind was really a wolf trying to get inside. Bailey thought that was a scary idea and didn't want to think about it at all. He thought that hopefully the house was made of brick and was sorry to hear that it was made of wood like the second house the wolf blew down. That made him scared, but then realized that it would have been blown down by now so maybe the wood was more like brick!

After the story it was time for toast which distracted everyone for a while.

https://youtu.be/2vRsEC65NTA?si=nPqB9SPKW-Q2hiMv (Against the Wind Bob Seger)

Awesome!

"cosy in the house despite the howling wind"

"visiting with family'

paper napkins

Spring is in the air! Or at least the possibility of spring is in the air. It's already been a few days since the geese started coming back 😀 

There was some sad news in the obituaries today… my old boss, Jack Drawbridge, passed away a few days ago. I'll time travel back to mid summer in 1981 while I was between the last days of high school and starting my adult life. I know I've shared the story of Mr. Jenkins, my friend June's dad, who heard me lament on my lack of direction so offered me a temporary job as a contractor to the government 'documenting master files'. I had no idea what that meant, but started the job anyway. The contract was working for Jack in the Data Management branch of Industry Canada (or whatever it was known as way back then) and I was to comb through listings of files to figure out which were the main data files. I had no idea what I was doing, having had NO, ZERO, NADDA, experience in computing. 

With Mr. Jenkins, and Jack's help, I managed to bumble through! As the contract neared completion, Jack came to me with an offer - if I'd take a typing class he'd hire me (on contract) as a data entry person. So I took that class and started a 29 year career in Data and Repository Management. Jack was a true mentor, often dropping in to my office with pen and paper to talk about data architecture, data and information management, methodologies, data redundancy, documentation, system life cycles, etc. He never talked down to me or made me feel like I didn't know anything - I was part of the team. Our informal meetings were instrumental in developing my passion for data dictionary and repository management. He pushed me to become more than a data entry clerk, getting me involved in managing and developing the software that we used to accomplish our goals, designing data structures, and more importantly helped me to develop a view of the bigger picture.

I was just 19 years old when I started working for Jack and living on my own in the city for the first time. I remember one day being so exhausted from whatever was happening in my life that I fell asleep at my desk… Jack walked in, saw that I was asleep and tiptoed back out! Yikes! He was so understanding. A few years later my boyfriend Steve broke up with me and I was devastated beyond words. Jack was there with a shoulder to cry on. In some ways he was like a stand-in dad when mine was cities away. He was always kind and supportive.

I am blessed in so many ways to have had him as my mentor. And I've never looked at a paper napkin the same again! Jack couldn't talk without drawing it all out and many a lunch was spent doodling on a napkin as we tried to reshape the world.

Chapter 42 Cato and Bailey Learn about Freezing Rain

It was darker in the house than normal so Laura turned on the lights around Cato, Bailey, and Grace's cages. Cato wondered why it seemed so dark and knew that it wasn't sunny, then Bailey pointed out that the windows on one side of the room were blurry. Laura and Carm were talking about freezing rain, which they figured was regular rain but frozen. They all wondered what that would be like but were glad they were inside as it didn't sound like a very good thing.

It was so dark that all the animals in the house just felt like sleeping and napping all day.

Later in the afternoon, Laura put Adia & Lupa's travel clothes on them so the parrots knew that they'd be alone in the house for a little while. They wondered why Laura and Carm would go outside when there was freezing rain but Laura said there was more regular rain and not as much ice as was expected. Bailey wondered what it would be like outside if ice was coming from the sky. It seemed that it was different from snow which they knew about from looking out the window.

Cato thought that it was a good day for warm glop and was surprised when Laura didn't warm it up enough. She had to spit it out because it was so cold. Thankfully Laura realized what the problem was so warmed it up properly. It was much better then and warmed Cato's tummy. It was still warm when it was Bailey's turn which made him happy. They wondered if it was a good day for Laura and Carm to have warm glop - they called it soup but it seemed just like chunky glop to the parrots.

https://youtu.be/MdhRhGX3AG4?si=Qx15_6HktY_ZQyD3 (Rainy Day People Gorden Lightfoot)

Chapter 43 Cato and Bailey Hear Geese

For a few days now Cato and Bailey could hear a strange honking sound whenever Laura or Carm opened the door to outside. They could even hear it sometimes when it was quiet in the house. It sounded familiar but they couldn't quite remember what made that sound. Grace told them that Canada Geese make that sound when they are flying in big flocks! She'd even seen them flying overhead in the fall. Laura had told her that the geese were flying south for the winter and that they'd come back in the spring.

The parrots were very excited to hear this as it means that spring is coming! It seemed almost impossible as they could all see that there was still snow on the ground outside, although there were lots of spots where the snow had disappeared. 

Cato wondered if the geese had gone as far south as she and Bailey had gone the year that they all went to Florida as she remembered seeing some out the window when they were there. She wondered if they'd maybe even seen some of the same geese that she heard flying overhead! Bailey thought that it was impossible as it was way too far to fly. The parrots all agreed that flying that far would be difficult and that they'd rather drive in the car to go so far away, and that maybe everyone should go south for the winter where it's warmer out.

https://youtu.be/ZtUDEEBagxk?si=jWlVNkoe6hNCxAVP (Hot hot hot Buster Pointdexter)

Awesome!

"not as much ice accumulation as expected"

"comfort food"

"ice on the trees glinting in the morning sun"

the hills are alive

The hills are alive with the sound of music… well, not the hills but the living room as I belted out favourites from the movie! I never realized how LONG the movie is - it took 2 long days of walking to get through it but time flew as the story unwound. I've seen 'The Sound of Music' countless times, yet there are still scenes that bring a tear to my eye. I got chills when Christoper Plumer sang 'Edelweiss'.

We were blessed with warm sunny weather the last two days, a bit of a break before we are iced over tomorrow…

Chapter 40 Cato and Bailey Watch Golf

The sounds on the TV on the weekend sounded familiar to Cato and Bailey. They could remember hearing the hushed voices when they were at their home with Ruth and John. Cato could see the TV better so told Bailey that it was a golf game. It seemed very boring compared to the movie that they watched with Carm and Pat the night before but they knew that John also liked to play golf so they payed attention so they could see what all the fuss was about.

Cato was surprised to see that there was a little white ball that looked similar to the one she was playing with in her cage that morning. She wondered if the ball on TV was as easy to break as the one she was playing with. Bailey thought that it must be a much stronger ball as it seemed that the men were hitting it with a big stick. Grace asked them if the sticks look like the ones that Carm had brought home a few weeks ago. Laura had called them golf clubs which had confused them as they thought a club was somewhere that people go to be with other people. Cato recalled that John sometimes went to what was called a curling club so they all wondered if the sticks would also be used for curling. Cato said that they were the same sort of sticks as the ones on the TV. 

Grace thought it was crazy to call a stick a club but the parrots all agreed that people sometimes have weird names for things!

The parrots talked amongst themselves wondering if Carm had gone to play golf with his clubs a few days ago when he went out and wondered if it was fun for him. It looked like it was a nice walk outside and it even seemed like it was summer where the TV was showing. They remembered hearing a summer bird just the day before so maybe summer was coming here too and soon they'd be able to go outside.

https://youtu.be/UK8YopKseO4?si=FvJaTWYBlg0hF_mR (Golf Tim Hawkins)

Chapter 41 Cato and Bailey See a Picture of Ruth

It was already in the afternoon and the parrots were sleepy from eating glop when Laura jumped up and ran over to the birds. They were startled and a little surprised that she had her tablet in her hands, but then thought maybe she'd be playing the whistling song that they like so much.

But no! There was no music, instead it was a picture of Ruth! Cato and Bailey were so excited to see the picture which helped them to know that Ruth is okay and that they'll get to see her soon. Laura said that she was outside for the first time in weeks and weeks. They were a bit confused by why this was a surprising thing as they hadn't been outside for ages as well, but then they knew that people went outside at all times of the year, even winter, and sometimes even in a blizzard (which they had only seen from a window). Laura reminded them that Ruth was still recovering and was unable to go outside before today.

Cato whistled and chatted to Bailey, but Bailey wasn't really listening. Instead he was imagining himself seeing Ruth again and thinking how happy he will be. Then he climbed to the top of his cage and hung upside down swinging in happiness.

Laura told Cato and Bailey that it would still be several weeks before they'd see Ruth, but they were okay with that!

https://youtu.be/_JoZS6LgqYI?si=5S6Kfz8vyoIFqJ1i  (You Should Be Dancing Bee Gees)

Awesome!

"warm sunshine"