Greetings! 

I have an important announcement to make:

Rarely am I void of all inspiration, but I've seriously got nothing for you today.
Nada!

 Here he is again!

(There's actually a cute story behind this bunny :)

Why then am I here, you may well ask?  

By George, because I'm dedicated - if nothing else!

That, and I'm completely

Haha - It's Wacky Wednesday folks :) Of course I'm only joking, I have plenty to say lol!

Did you know that June 8th is Pick Your Poison Day?

I couldn't decide, so I chose two!

What's yours?

Are you too busy to pet your pooch?

Are you allergic to your cat?

Have no fear, the PetPetter is here!

This one made me laugh, especially in light of my very first blog post! 

And finally, in the weird and wonderful category... 

Well mateys, you may recall my post a few weeks ago 

about the obvious nautical theme in lawn decor trending right now. 

I was amused to happen across this lawn ornament on a walk a few days ago.

It's actually kind of cute :)

Hoping you have a great day!

This is so interesting!

Here's a link to the video of a huge Sun eruption that occurred this morning. 

The video will start to play on it's own, once the page has loaded.

Tuesday Greetings! I don't know about you, but one of the true pleasures of summer for me, is opening the windows and letting the scents and sounds of the season permeate my house. I was reflecting on this while taking a bath by an open window one evening last week, all the while acutely aware of all the life just outside my window; the brisk breeze moving through the trees, numerous birds calling to and fro, frogs singing their own froggy songs of love in the pond behind our property! So many joys :)

At the time, I made a mental note to ask my readers if they would share one of their favorite things about summer. Let's celebrate it while it's here!

You may recall that I was in Kingston, Ontario a little over a week ago. My sister and I were fortunate enough to spend the better part of one morning and that afternoon downtown. It was a gorgeous day and Kingston is a beautiful city, something which I'm sure Martha from Plowing Through Life can attest to. This city was originally groomed as the possible future capital of Canada and as a result, the architecture throughout is a treat for the eyes.  Here are just a few highlights of our day. I confess that I sometimes wonder if I secretly drive the people I'm with bonkers by my incessant picture-taking... I hope not!

An interesting sidenote is that Kingston is home to the Kingston Penitentiary; (or more affectionately known as KP & Kingston Pen) one of the world's oldest prisons in continual use. Paul Bernardo (she shivers...) is currently incarcerated there and Wayne Boden, the Canadian "Vampire Rapist" was a recent past guest. I am alway amazed that this jail is located right in town - just a few blocks from Queen's University and with (if you're a model prisoner I guess) a lovely view of the scenic harbour lol!

No, this isn't part of the Kingston Pen lol!

The downtown is interlaced with these lovely shortcuts which intersect streets.

This is Cooke's, established 1865.

Teas, coffee, jams, and nibblies from all over the world.

You could spend hours just admiring all the interesting packaging.

This display and the one below are one of many that line the top of the shop.

This fountain is tucked in one of the paths which intersect streets.

We ate lunch on the patio at Le Chien Noir (The Black Dog)
 This was the charming view from my table :)

Cute flower cart and quote.

How much is that doggie in the window?
He was sitting just inside the front door when we first wandered in,
but by the time we left he'd flopped himself under the window display :)

Mondays With Mireille

I regret to announce that Mondays With Mirielle is on hold for another week...! After three days of cooler weather and rain, the sun has reappeared here and I aim to get some much needed work accomplished outside later this afternoon and evening. The only French cooking I plan is a pan of Pommes Frites, hehe. As a peace offering, I leave you with the wry humor of Maxine. Cheers!

Doesn't Everyone Garden in their Housecoat?

I thought I'd post this photo I took on a dare. Early Thursday morning I went outside as I usually do and meandered around my yard, pulling the occasional (occasional - ha, I wish) weed and assisting a wayward vine or two. I happened to also be on the phone at the same time (multitasking as usual!) and mentioned that I was getting overheated (it was already shaping up to be a warm one) and that perhaps I should take off my housecoat... that got a chuckle and the suggestion that I take a pic and post it on my blog for my readers amusement.

So here I am in all my glory, housecoat, rubber boots, sun hat and glasses - and I hope bet I am not the only one who wanders around their yard like this! It's confession time dear readers. Do tell!

(Interestingly, by Friday night we had a frost warning and I had to cover everything up overnight.)

Sunday Greetings! I hope your weekend has been a good one so far. The other day I posted about this odd statuette I'd purchased after having been strangely drawn to it and was hoping to find out more about.

Well, I didn't have to wait long and I am beyond thrilled that Tatiana from My Cold Prairie so quickly solved this mystery for me:

"That is Crocodile Gena and Cheburashka - a mythical creature that looks kind of like a monkey crossed with bear cub. 

They are characters from a children's book in Russia and have entered very deeply into the popular culture, with cartoons books, etc. "

Tatiana also provided a link which I followed and a whole new world opened up to me :) Based on the amount of information I've since found on the net regarding these two creatures, I have obviously been hiding under a rock for most of my life.

According to the story, Cheburashka is a funny little creature, unknown to science, who lives in the tropical forest. He accidentally gets into a crate of oranges, eats his fill, and falls asleep. The crate is eventually delivered to a grocery store in an unnamed town where the rest of the main story unfolds. Cheburashka is a name given to the character by the puzzled store manager who finds the creature in the crate when he opens it. The salesman takes the animal out and sits him on the table, but his paws are numb after the long time spent in the crate, and he tumbles down ("cheburakhnulsya" (чебурахнулся), a Russian colloquialism, "tumbled" in English) from the table onto the chair and then from the chair, where he could not sit, for the same reason, onto the floor. The store manager, who witnesses the scene, called him Cheburashka, (Wikipedia)

Crocodile Gena (Russian: Крокодил Гена, Krokodil Gena) is a fictional, friendly crocodile in the series of Cheburashka books by Russian writer Eduard Uspensky. His first appearance in the animation film was in the film Gena the Crocodile (1969) by Roman Kachanov (Soyuzmultfilm studio).

The 50-year-old Gena works in a zoo as a crocodile. In his spare time, he plays the garmon and likes to sing.

Gena is best friends with Cheburashka, the title character in the series. (Wikipedia)

There are cartoons, books, coloring books etc. featuring these characters.

Still from Russian animated film

I am not at all surprised that the Japanese culture has embraced them

Now that I know the story behind these two characters (there goes my best-selling children's book based on them...drat!) I am holding them even closer to my heart, like the funny, sweet, innocent characters from my own childhood; Mr. Dressup's Casey and Finnegan and The Friendly Giant's Gerome and Rusty. Thanks again Tatiana :)

Today's Jewel:

"When the mouse laughs at the cat,

there is a hole nearby."

~ June 4/11 Old Farmer's Almanac ~

Greetings! I stumbled across this darling pic and accompanying story in the Daily Mail yesterday. The chipmunk, who has been named Eleanor by photographer Barbara Lynne, pounced on this tasty treat within minutes of her hanging it in her back garden for the birds. Gorging on as many kernels as possible, Eleanor returned to her den to empty her pouches and then dashed back for another mouthful until the entire cob had been stripped bare, all within half an hour! This is the fourth year this chipmunk has been visiting Barbara Lynne's garden in Ontario.

Our third and final chapter on our safari! I apologize for the heavy picture load, 

but I whittled it down to as few possible, considering how many I started with!

So gorgeous!

Owls are amazing creatures.

You can have an elephant ride at the park.

This was a great show.

Feats of strength!

Well, this concludes our tour folks, we hope you enjoyed the show. It's been our supreme pleasure - we hope to see you all again real soon!! As you go, please remember:

You can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals - Immanual Kant

Happy Friday :) A few jewels before we get to the second part of our African Lion Safari tour. A faithful reader forwarded me this video. I don't think I would have envisioned this design if I'd tried. Innovation never stops - I guess it is at the heart of man.

In science/space news, the uncanny resemblance of a galaxy about 30 million light years 

away from Earth, to our own Milky Way has astounded astronomers.

This is the best-yet picture of NGC 6744, a spiral galaxy described as a "sibling" of our own Milky Way.

The image was snapped by the European Southern Observatory's MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope in Chile.

The galaxy lies 30 million light-years away, in the constellation Pavo.

While it is almost twice as large as the Milky Way, it exhibits the same sharply-defined spiral arms and stretched central region.

There is even a small companion galaxy, visible at the lower right of the image, which is analogous to our own galactic neighbours the Magellanic Clouds.

Those arms host many star-forming regions; the glow coming from hydrogen gas in these active regions shows up as red in the image.

This is the second installment in our African Lion Safari tour
(a backrest on a chair in the restaurant)

Fyi: the monkey in the background is playing with someone's side mirror..!

Hate to admit it, but I am not the Monkey's biggest fan!

Perhaps we are the main attraction but don't realize it?

The ostrich above was chasing off one of these characters.

These guys made me kind of nervous...
They could make mincemeat out of any vehicle. 

After our lunch, we moved on to the petting zoo

I didn't try to pet this one lol!