It would be hubris not to post this picture of Lyric sitting on my lap...but please understand that the sweater I am wearing...is very warm.

I have just come back from Fernhill...a farm in Northumberland County, Ontario. This farm raises Scottish Deer hounds...I spent a good hour with one of them sitting on my lap whilst I massaged him. Sitting on my lap is a relative term. This dog is a champion...and stands a good three feet tall...or more. If I am sitting down, we are nose to nose. He had parked his hind quarters on my lap. I actually have a picture of this but I refuse to post it. In fact, I refuse to post any pictures which include me. Why?

I realized when the owners of said farm sent me the pictures that my issue is simple. I have always wanted to be a six-foot-tall model. The fact that at 71 I can finally accept the fact that such a wish would demand a genetic miracle has led me to ignore the lies in photos. I now think that I am a six-foot model despite proof to opposite. At 71 I have the privilege so to do.

The topic is humming birds...and I have no pictures of humming birds so when in doubt, a flower will do. A note from the west coast. "Had to chisel ice off the humming bird feeder or he was threatening to dive bomb the window and moaned about having no appropriate boots." I like the ambiguity of that sentence...did my friend or the humming bird moan?

I am an only child so I don't know what it is like to be the oldest or the youngest or the middle child - I am all of those. What I realize is that I have neglected Liam O'leary. He is the youngest child. He is profoundly sweet and well meaning and therefore doesn't get the attention of Ciboulette who is boss...He is also black and so taking his photo is difficult...but without him, there would be no balance. As an only child I had to balance myself...no easy task...

In Newfoundland I stayed on this wonderful island called Little Big Island. Many of the people who were born there and had to leave to earn a living are returning. As the island residents aged, they took off the second story of their homes for practical purposes. My hostess has hired two men who live on the island to restore that second story and put back the dormer windows. Newfoundlanders have a wonderful sense of humour. The two men have incorporated themselves as Dumb and Dumber! If I were included in this company I would definitely be dumbest!

Post number three out of nine! I know - I'm cheating! This is all in one day...but the game is...to catch up. I'm also cheating because this is last year's picture. We don't have that much snow yet. But the theme is stillness. The mission of Yan Martel: "For as long as Stephen Harper is Prime Minister of Canada, I vow to send him every two weeks, mailed on Monday, a book that has been known to expand stillness. That book will be inscribed and will be accompanied by a letter I will have written. I will faithfully report on every new book, every inscription, every letter, and any response I might get from the prime minister on this website." The website is: http://www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca Mr. Harper has been if nothing else silent...but the collection of books is fascinating. I am embarrassed at how few I have read.

Nine days into the new year - therefore I owe nine posts. This is post number two, a lesson in making sure my windows are cleaned this spring...I have a magic tree...

OK - this has to be a plan. I have to have a plan! A picture a day - that's my plan! I've lost a word. I've lost many words but this one I'm anxious to find. It is the antique dealer's word for tacky. I am tacky. I like to think that I collect folk art...but it's not true. I like tacky! I want to say that one of my favourite Christmas presents was...but that's not nice. That's tacky. A friend teaching in Korea saw this cow in a market and said: That's Pat! It is! I love it. If I push its arm, it dances. Mind you Ciboulette is not impressed! I call this photo: Cat and Cow negotiate for space!