Baby Pictures!

It is another one of those up before the ass crack of dawn mornings.
That is ok.
I was not able to sleep very well anyway.
Much too warm.
I am enjoying the last of my favourite tea, Sweet Almond Green Tea.
It has this scent that fills the kitchen as it steeps.
Jackie went outside to take care of business.
She spotted something interesting and was about to give chase when I bribed her with a cookie to come back inside.
I am not really in the mood to engage in any hot pursuits in my P.J's this morning.
I have nothing planned for this morning.
I'm going to make a Shepherd's Pie for lunch, watch a little television, knit, draw and off to bed.

Before I start my action packed day, I thought I would share a new photo of the baby Robins.
It is amazing how quickly they are growing.
Every day there is something new to be in awe of.

I'm very happy with the zoom feature on my camera.
It comes in handy in times such as these.

Have a good day everyone!

Update on Our Feathery Neighbours

Today Mom is staying close the nest.


I have also relocated our plants to the back patio.


So far, these are my favourite!


They seem to be enjoying the sunshine almost as much as Jackie.


I have also been working on my pencil drawing a little bit.


My day is almost finished. Time to get ready for bed.
Have a good day to the rest of you Day-walkers.

Update on the Baby Robins

The temperature dropped quite a bit last night.
Needless to say I was worried about the new additions to our home.
First thing this morning, I noticed Mommy Robin was not on top of the nest, so I stole quickly outside to check in on the little fellows.
You will have to excuse the blurriness of the photographs.
I need to either grow taller or remember to bring something out with me so I can take a more steady picture.


As you see, the other egg has hatched.


They are alive and moving a little bit.

I am quite relieved!

Good Morning

I've been awake since 02h30.
After I have had a mini break from work, like a week end for example, it is nearly impossible for me to return to work fully rested.
The night before, I usually just have a little nap. This way, at least in theory, I might be tired enough to sleep before I go to work at night.
Night-shift.
It is not for the faint of heart.
Right now it is 4h30.
I have a freshly brewed tea.
I gave the fur babies a little snack to avoid the extra loud meowing/screaming for food that will undoubtedly wake up the rest of the household. Perhaps even the neighbours. Rebel has been quite frisky lately. I can hear birds chirping. The odd car driving by. Some brave soul is even running.
Here I sit at my pc debating what I will do this morning and thinking about the week end we just experienced.
There many highs and an odd low point here and there.
Mother's Day is such a weird holiday.
I'm grateful my Mom is still on this Earth.
It is sad in a way that we do not have that special sort of relationship that everyone else "seems" to be celebrating.
Have you also been inundated with Happy Mother's Day post on your social media sites?
She received her card in the mail last week.
She was thrilled.
There seems to be a slight change in our relationship.
I'm never really sure how to respond when she pays me compliments. This was not a common occurrence when I was growing up.
So I smile, say thank you and ask how she is.

Saturday was a garden day.
We went to my favourite place to pick up my herbs and plants for this year.
I found this one plant which caught my attention.

It is advertised as something that repels cats and mosquitoes.


Little Man helped me put all of my finds into pots with the exception of my tomato plants. They will be a little later as the ground temperature is still a little on the frosty side.
After we found the plants homes, we needed to water them. This brings me to one of the many highs I experienced.
We had placed a lot of our equipment either in the garage or a sheltered place just next to the building for the winter.
When I went searching for the garden hose, I came upon this amazing discovery:



I was resolved to water with my bucket and watering can. Hubs to the rescue managed to free the hose and still keep the nest in tact!


Mommy bird gave us the stink eye and an earful for quite some time, but I think all will be ok.

On top of that, it would seem as if someone is using the birdhouse that Hubs created.


I suspect it might just a storage locker.


Saturday was a balmy 20 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately Sunday night was only 1. My plants are now taking up residence in the bathtub until Wednesday. At least according the weather network.


Like I mentioned earlier, Rebel was even a little frisky. At 20 years of age, any interest he shows in whatever it is he sees, blows me away.





I had no idea what Rebel was looking at. Whatever it was, he was in that position for at least ten minutes.

I guess he was sleepy afterwards for he had a nice nap with Jackie.


Then here comes the low point of my week end.
I thought it would be nice to visit Hubs' mother. Wish her a Happy Mother's Day.
We brought with us a little plant because she enjoys them and not likely to get one for herself.
We had a nice little visit.
I give her a hug good bye, say Happy Mother's Day again and she smiles, leans over asks when will I be a mother.
I felt like the ground was slipping away.
In that 30 seconds, I was so angry, sad and disappointed.
She knows about the struggle that I and my husband are experiencing in this part of our lives.
She was there when I thought I couldn't experience that aspect of motherhood, then started to, then had it snatched away so quickly.
I have no idea what on Earth was going on in her head when she let that bomb of a question erupt.
When will people learn to just keep their mouths shut about these sort of questions.
I couldn't say what I really wanted to say.
I ended up just crying because that is my go to reaction when I get very angry and cannot express myself properly.
So for future references folks, do not ask people questions that have to do with the reproductive system, relationship expectations or physical appearances.
Do not start questions with
I don't mean to be rude but......
If this is personal you don't have to answer but.......
I'm just saying...
Stop.
It's not necessary.
If you are not asked for your opinoin, keep your mouth shut.

This took my longer to write than I thought.
I can now hear other people getting up and going to work.
The birds are a little quieter.
The remaining tea in my cup is cold but I will chug that down and start the coffee maker soon.
Jackie is fast asleep again.
I can hear the members of the house snoring and the furnace kicking on to take the chill out of the house.
I am going to hit publish and call it a day for my productivity.
Have a good day everyone.

Travel Companion No More

Remember when I showed you a photo of Jackie carting her bone around as a travel companion?
That relationship has recently changed.

She still carries around the bone, just every so often takes a nibble.

My citrus plant has really started to bloom!

The blossoms are giving off the most beautiful lemony scent at the moment.
Nothing too over powering.
Refreshing is a word that comes to mind.

I'm working on a new pencil drawing.
A portrait based on a photo I found online.
Can you guess who it is?


I'll give a hint....

Paused

My current knitting project is in pause mode until the hole in my finger heals.
What can I say? I am an extreme knitter.
In the meantime I have been scaring myself silly playing Silent Hill: Homecoming and working a new pencil drawing.
Those little cut away scenes are freaky!


On a less twitchy note, this is my work in progress pencil drawing


I also made cake.
Who does not love cake when they fighting off the darkness.

It is based on a recipe by Add a Pinch's recipe Grandmother Verdie's Strawberry Cake
Not quite the image I was going for, but you get the point. It was delightful! All I have left are the crumbs and bits of buttercream icing cemented to the plate.

We are currently experiencing a cold snap in my neck of the woods.
I hope my little crocuses fair well. The tulips were just beginning to make their appearance.
I guess we wait and see.
I hope you are well.
Have a good day!

Pondering Life's Mysteries: warning, this is a bit of a ramble

The year 2016 might be remembered by some of us as the year we lost so many of our muses and popular cultural icons.
These deaths have left me to question many things about my own life. Mainly addictions and insecurities.
Many people suffer from mental instabilities, but I hate that term. It is not accurate. I don't view it as a mental disease, instability or some other form of psychosis. My brain and a lot of other mere mortals just think and process differently. For me, it is all the time. My brain just refuses to shut off.
It seems to be a common thread with people who are artistic. These arts are not solely limited to the fine or visual art communities. Art is everywhere. It is found in the maths and sciences as well. Just look at the images we are now able to acquire from the outer reaches of space.

With all of these colours and images, is it no wonder the cosmos has influenced films, television, written words and led to discoveries for our current way of life?
Which leads back to my original thought, how do we deal with all these images and sounds that keeps our minds in constant motion. It seems impossible and overwhelming to continuously follow the threads to reach a conclusion. You end up suffering from insomnia as well frenzied thinking. When your plans do not follow the path you are creating to maintain order, you get discouraged. There are no words or sympathies spoken to calm you down and keep you grounded. How can other people comprehend what you are experiencing? Even if you successfully bring a project to fruition, is it your best? There are always those little errors you perceive no one else notices. People tell you, no it's great. I couldn't have done better.
You know you could have done better. The cycle then emerges. This cat and mouse game. Your brain pumping out all these thoughts, some intelligible, others not so much. At least it is recognizable when those odd thoughts running amok are just distractions. You start chasing after the ideas that good. The ones that will be something. Maybe not great, but they will have conclusions, an ending. Will it be good enough?
How do you overcome that sense of not being good enough? Or not having enough time? Or not having enough resources? That overwhelming feeling. That is the demise of so many talented people. Psychosis develop in people who are most vulnerable be it physical or mental. If you seek personal help, medications are prescribed. If those fail to keep your brain at it's best behaviour, there will be other medicinal options. Now you have a medicine cabinet stocked better than the local pharmacy and a list of medical practitioners not communicating with each other.
That is rather tedious. To seek out medical help. They might judge you, affix a label that will follow you as along as you breathe and then some. You might end up in a medical journal or tabloid with a fuzzy photograph of you visiting a late night pharmacy to fulfill a prescription.
It is so much easier to self medicate. The drug of choice in my family is alcohol. So easy to come by. So much more accepting by society. Alcoholism has cute little phrases. She can drink like a fish. She likes her drink. Social drinker. Pills are also easy to come by. Cold medications are over the counter. Also socially acceptable. They have these warnings, do not mix with alcohol. I wonder how many consumers follow those instructions?
Do these solutions aid the mind? Slow it down a little so you can function within the norms already set out by society? You have to go to sleep at a certain hour so you can wake up and be at work on time and earn money so you can sleep with a roof over your head and put food on the table, make the minors are clothed and have lunches and sleep............
It is exhausting just writing all that down.
If we do not want to be labelled and just live our lives without worries, how do we do that?
We need a source of monetary income.
We need to feel safe.
We need to be able to relate to other living, breathing creations.
We need to feel fulfilled.
We need to feel we make a difference or at a contribution.
To feel like we matter.
Quite the list.
At the end of the day, I am ok.
I have a support system.
I did not always have one.
I was lost for a very long time. Not too many people were aware of my circumstances. They might have suspected, but I was always able to maintain a good facade.
I am lucky.
I do have a roof over my head.
I know people love me.
I do not need them to prove it, I just know.
I wonder if more people realized that they do matter, make a difference, people love them, if they would feel so overwhelmed by the surplus of ideas that do not give them peace?
Unfortunately, too late to tell for some.