Last night I was up on the mountain and I saw a very large raccoon eating a very large home baked loaf of bread. He was out in the open at the edge of the parking lot. Three hours later I returned and he was still there. It evidently takes a long time for a raccoon to eat a loaf of bread...

This is not a raccoon. Naturally I didn't have my camera with me when I should have. This is Amber whom I also met on a different part of the mountain. She is a Cairn terrier and proud of it!

Dear Diary!

This too will pass.
If it's not broken, don't fix it!
What am I? Chopped liver?

It's been a rough five days but nothing compared to the five days that others have experienced...

I keep telling myself that...and it's true...and...thank goodness for these wonderful bird houses on Sherbrooke Street. I've been meaning to take this picture forever.

I can't wait to get back up the mountain to check out the trilliums...

There's something else I wanted to say...but...I forgot! It will come back to me.

Faking it!

For my first five years of piano lessons, I learned the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata and the scales of C Major and G Major. I loved the Moonlight...I could put on the pedal and experience Irish melancholy at its best. My piano teacher was very sweet and cookies and milk were always present.

And then my mother's friend came back from Australia.When I think about it, I suspect my mother was gleefully waiting for her return.


I played the Moonlight Sonata, first movement, pedal on and tumbled into seven years of Toronto Conservatory Exams!

According to my mother's friend, that was the fastest way for me to catch up.


Much later, I spent time with a Jungian therapist. She was very good for me. She wasn't there to tell me what was wrong. She told me what was right. The only problem was that Jungians like to work with dreams and I wasn't dreaming...not a single dream in nine months. I felt badly. I felt dull. And so I stole a dream- one my friend related to me. My therapist was delighted. The minute I graduated from therapy, I started dreaming.  I haven't stopped since.

My most recent experience of faking it was at my check up. 
As I lay on his table, my doctor said: Blood pressure fine. Blood tests fine. Any complaints...
And I admitted to a hacking cough.
Do you have a post nasal drip?
Of course, all my friends do - it's a part of aging!
And do you all have medical degrees?

Silence

Here's a prescription for Nasonex. Now get on the scales!
The Nasonex was a brilliant idea.

I lack ritual. My blog is evidence of that. My friend's father understood ritual. There was a time to feed the cats, a time to walk the dog, a time to read the paper.I think I react rather than act...

But I like taking pictures...that is a ritual. I have difficulty with horizons. I wonder if those who lack ritual lack horizons. But this picture is actually taken on a hill and so there is a natural slant.

The teacher's nightmare:
To have one's former student be the MC at the President's Roast:
I'd also also like to thank Mr. Mills, my grade ten history teacher  who said I wouldn't amount to anything.
Mr. Mills, I am about to high five the president of the United States.
Jimmy Kimmel

Sorry blog, I've been distracted...but we had a spell of warm weather and I was trying out a new camera...with the help of Jasper. It seems to work quite well!