Time travel

I have been reading a book about time travel (Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder, if you're interested).

Time travel is a concept that totally messes with my head.  If I go backwards in time and change something, then, surely, I don't have to go backwards in time to change anything because it's already changed.  And if I run into myself when I travel back in time, are there two of me?  (Come to think of it, Yes!  There are two Spocks in the new Star Trek franchise ...)

Is it any wonder that I chose to be an accountant?

Neverland

Penny's friend, Bill, is no ordinary builder.  And the tree house he's building for a family in Saanich is no ordinary tree house.  The pictures speak for themselves ...

 

 Check out Bill's other work at <http://orcadesigncortes.com/>

Looking it up

When I was a child my father knew almost everything.  What he didn't know, he told us to look up in the encyclopedia that was a standard feature on our bookshelves.  That worked fairly well until I asked him what 'gigolo' meant, whereupon his standard response was replaced with, "What are you reading!!"  After that I bypassed him and went right to the encyclopedia.

That lesson has stood me in good stead over the years.  If I don't know the answer, I just look it up.  And technology just makes it all the easier - just look it up on the laptop, the tablet or, most recently, the smart phone.

Too bad that Dad never had a chance to develop an appreciation for the power of Google.

Anything in particular you want to know?  How old is Sandie Renaldo?  (64) .... How do I get to Camosun College?  (#21 bus) ...  What does 'vernacular' mean?  (the language of the ordinary people)  ...  How does an airplane's black box work?  (look it up yourself at <http://natgeotv.com/uk/air-crash-investigation/black-box>)

Oh, and Dad taught me to ride a motorcycle, too.

Salad days

I have a love/hate relationship with salads.  I love to eat them, but I hate to make them.

Well, mostly I love to eat them ...  I can certainly pass on the ubiquitous "side salad" of iceberg lettuce chunks, half ripe tomato wedge, maybe a bit of shredded carrot - especially if it's served with (Heaven, forbid!) Thousand Islands dressing. 

And I hate to make them ... I hate washing the lettuce and other veggies, cutting everything up into bite-sized pieces, and finding some acceptable bottled salad dressing to add some flavour.

But all that has changed!  I have found the perfect salad, easy on the prep, and oh, so good!  (So good, in fact, that I built an entire meal around it when we had friends in to lunch.)

There are only three ingredients: lettuce, a pear, and some blue cheese.  I make it even simpler by using those small artisan lettuces, four to a package, which require minimal washing, and already-crumbled blue cheese.  And the salad dressing is just as easy - 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp honey.  We have a great oil/vinegar store in Victoria, so I use olive Leccino extra virgin oil and Sicilian Lemon white balsamic vinegar.

Try it.  You'll like it!

A complaint free world

Soapbox Alert!!!

One of my earliest life lessons came from the movie, Bambi.  Bambi's rabbit friend, Thumper, tells him ... "If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all."

Later in my work life, I heard something at a conference that spoke to the same sentiment ... "If you propose to speak, always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind."

And more recently, I read a book called "A Complaint Free World" by Bill Bowen <http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/>.  He posits that "Complaining spreads negative energy and negative energy cannot create a positive output."

I think Thumper had it right ...

SpROIng

What a difference a week makes.  It is truly spring in Victoria now.

The herons are much more active, flying back and forth with twigs in their beaks as they renovate their nests.  Their nesting colonies are much in evidence ... the paths are littered with white spots from their droppings.  We now need to be careful where we walk .  SPLAT!!

The snow drops are all gone, replaced by crocuses and daffodils.  The rhodos, camellias and azaleas are in bloom.  So are flowering currant, flowering quince ... 

And the cherry trees - wow, what a show!

Coming home to roost

The herons have returned to Beacon Hill Park to build their nests.  Yesterday I counted eleven in a single tree near Goodacre Lake.  Goodacre Lake is a favourite stopping place on our way to the grocery store.  No bald eagles, thank heaven!  A few years ago the eagles ate all the chicks and chased the herons out of the park for a couple of years.  The park built an osprey platform nearby to keep the eagles away.  Seems to be working.  Here's a Where's Waldo? picture.  Can you find the herons?