Prepping to be a reindeer

Prepping to be a reindeer, Christmas Pageant, Japanese school at Orde Public School, Toronto, 1990s
 

Santa in mask and visor during Covid-19

 

Proust gag that you have to understand French to get.

I used to talk to this Breton guy who'd go on and on about how Madeleine cakes were like when you dipped them in tea. I finally said to him "Marcel, you go into so much detail you could write a seven volume book on research into wasted time."

 

First snowfall, November 19, 2021

 

First moonrise after eclipse, Nov 19, 2021

 

First moonrise after eclipse, Nov 19, 2021

Lunar Eclipse, November 19, 2021

 Lunar Eclipse, November 19, 2021

Christmas Cactus in bloom

 This was my mom's favorite plant - she always checked to see if it had blooms on it.

Hailstorm, November 2, 2021

 

Just after noon, sound of rain that was much louder than usual!

Mushrooms and Maples

 

flu shot

Flu shot today! Thanked the pharmacist profusely for his good work.

Christmas Cactus

 

Graveyard Mushrooms

Shaggy mane inkcap, Coprinus comatus, Coprin chevelu

 

Fall Colours 2021

 

Crysler Farm, War of 1812 memorial

Pumpkin Man at Pumpkinferno, Upper Canada Village

Frenchie's Pumpkins roadside stand

Brockville City Hall, seeds on sidewalk

Red maples

Not sure what these are - they are growing in a cedar.

Ginko leaves in parking lot

                                 

Zen or lemon zest?

 日本の禅文化を海外に紹介した鈴木大拙は

As translated by Facebook: "Daisuke Suzuki, who introduced Japanese citrus culture overseas,..."

By Google: "Daisetsu Suzuki, who introduced Japanese Zen culture overseas..."

Orange you glad you know the difference?

White squirrel

 

White squirrel, had patches of reddish-brown on front forelegs. Eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, Écureuil gris

Turkeys!

 Turkeys form large flocks hunting for food in the fall

Helena G. passes through double rainbow

 Helena G., Bulk carrier from Portugal passes through double rainbow in St. Lawrence

Helmut Oberlander, former member of Nazi Einsatzgruppe, dies

 

Sicherdienst arresting people in Poland. Oberlander was a member of this organization,which was part of the SS, in occupied Ukraine, Source:  German Federal Archives, via Wikimedia Commons

 

When the story broke in 1995, the Toronto Star sent me to his house - he'd decamped to his condo in Florida, but the CBC found him there. One of his neighbours offered to let me set up cameras in a room that overlooked his house! He never gave any support in Canada to neo-Nazis, but I did go to his trial and some of the people in the court who seemed to be there to support him definitely had pro-Nazi sympathies, verbally attacking some of the German witnesses as traitors. I sat with Professor Gunnar Boehnert , a Canadian Mennonite who spent the war years interned in Germany with his parents who were missionaries, and we heard some of the audience making some obvious anti-Semitic remarks in German. Einsatzgruppe is another one of those innocuous words that the Nazis used to disguise their actions - it sounds like it means an 'assigned task group' but they really were death squads that murdered Jews and others in occupied eastern Europe.

CBC story: Helmut Oberlander has died in Waterloo, Ont.

Red Fox Vulpes fulva fulva Renard

 Little red fox, eyes were swollen yesterday, was at my front door today and looked better. Red Fox Vulpes fulva fulva Renard

Sign of backward times

Actual sign with a quote from Maxime 'Mad Max' Bernier,  leader of the People's Party of Canada, who recently spoke at an anti-vax rally. Embarrassing.

White Calla Lily

 

Turkey crossing road

 

Cicada exoskeleton

Exoskeleton of Dog-day Cicada,  (Tibicen canicularis), which lives two to four years underground, climbs up a pole or tree and sheds its skin and emerges as a flying insect. 

 

Anti-vaxxers outside hospital

 There were about 200 people outside the local hospital protesting against vaccination mandates. In some places elsewhere in Canada the protestors blocked access to patients and staff. At a later protest, one person tested positive for Covid-19.

Moon and Venus over the mall

Moon and Venus over the mall. Looks like the moon is a bow and Venus is an arrow shot from it.

Gladiola Field

Gladiolas in a field near Sandbank Provincial Park, Bay of Quinte. The gladiola is named after the gladius sword used by Roman gladiators.

 

Perch spawning, early 2000s

Perch spawning near Loch Gary, Alexandria, Ontario

 

bald-faced hornet,

 bald-faced hornet,Dolichovespula maculata, out of focus, but I've never seen one before.

 

Octagon House, Hawkesbury, Ontario

  Octagonal House, Hawkesbury, Ontario, built sometime between 1860 and 1870. There was a small craze for building octagon houses at that time. I think this is made of concrete block.

Female ruby-throated hummingbird feeds from tiger lily.

Theodore Too

 Theodore Tugboat visits Cornwall Harbour, July 7, 2021

Fledgling robin

Pooping on my driveway. Parents are watching it from the trees.

Fully vaccinated

 2nd dose AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine plus one hour. Feel fine. The saddest thing was I overheard the pharmacists talking - they had 50 shots but would be only giving out 31 that day because people cancelled when they heard it was AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca is only being given for second doses now in Canada. I saw two people walk up to the counter and cancel when they heard it was AstraZeneca. There haven't been any significant side effect issues with second doses of AstraZeneca with people who had no problem with the first shot.

Pink Rhododendrons

 

Purdon 2021

Showy Ladyslippers ( Cypripedium reginae )