Firsts for September

At my age, it's tempting to feel like you've seen it all. This September proved me wrong. Here's a list of firsts for me:

1) A skunk ducking into the junipers of a neighbour's yard
2) Snow creating a Treemageddon
3) A pocket gopher taking up residency in my garden bed
4) Vole traps
5) Red lily beetles

See what I'd miss if I lived in a condo.

Morning Walk

Fernando and I went for a walk early this morning. If you had been with us you would have:

seen the sun illuminating the downy bellies of the Canadian Geese flying overhead

heard their honking as they journeyed north

seen the work of a very ambitious and, judging from the size of the web, a very hungry spider

seen hundreds of piles of dirt evidence of voles building their underground network. You have to admire that little beast's snout and ability to move dirt

seen the blue sky without a cloud. Juxtaposed with the yellow leaves and red crabapples, it looks bluer than blue. 

felt the crisp air on your hands and face

watched Fernando disturb a mallard duck couple as he went for a dip in the storm water reserve

heard the hum of the city in the distance and the chickadees nearby

noticed the dew on the grass and how the sunlight made it look like crystals

admired a few yards who are ready for fall - one in particular has pumpkins outside and tall willow branches in an urn with autumn leaves around the base

hated to come home.

Abeyance

Blogging has taken a back seat to grand mothering, travelling, facebooking (is that a legitimate word) and studying for the GRE. I've learned words that people seldom say but you read often like the title of this post or incarnadine and adumbrate. I mean, really, who talks like that and if they did would you want to have a conversation over lunch?

Having said that, vocabulary and comprehension reading are much easier than quadratic equations. This test is not a measure of my ability nor intelligence but it does put into serious question what I was doing in high school when Mrs. Gilmour was teaching Algebra.