Funny you should say that - II - or two, or even too!

 It started about a week or so ago with this cartoon:

I read it from left to right and got "stuck" on "China shop/Candy store" - what is the difference between a shop and a store?

I did what every modern connected person does these days, I googled it:

"In British English, a building or part of a building where goods are sold is usually called a shop. Are there any shops near here? In American English, this kind of building is usually called a store, and shop is only used to mean a very small store that has just one type of goods."

 

 So, next, I am "reading" bottom right and am puzzled by the little reindeer animal. Now I stop and

wait for it

think 

 

- as in "When all else fails"

So I start at the top and work down and then it is as crystal clear as nothing is in a china shop. So it is

as happy as a child/British, kid/American in a candy store. But wait, which came first, child or kid?

And then why call the little animal a kid, goat? Turns out a baby goat has been called a kid for centuries, but a child has only been called a kid, das Kind, die Kinder, der Kindergarten, for just a couple hundred years. So this  homonym has only been around for a short time while bulls have been in china shops since the first kiln. By the way did you know that the practice of putting milk in the tea cup before pouring the tea was to prevent the cup from breaking. Cheap cups would crack when hot tea was poured in first. In better quality "china" one did not need the milk. I suspect that tea was originally served in Asia in clay cups. And I personally like it with a touch of either orange or lemon

So let me now show more images about wind chill feeling unliked by nearly everyone. The photos were taken about the same time as those in the previous entry but toward Rama.. The wind is driving the snow so that Rama is not visible (it would be just right of the double tree) and so the landmarks that come and go are Tudhope Park on the right and Couchiching Point about 1km further away and left. Our terrace is visible in the lower right corner of the 1st image.

Wind chill leads to short attention spans so it is also fortunate that the scene changes rapidly.

W O B

Funny you should say that ---

 My brain began to over cook around the Vernal Equinox - Summer aka daylight savings time was declared. And while the temperature plummeted to minus too much it then bounced - ever seen Mercury bounce? Neither have I - it tends to "bead" - to +15°C although the weathernet said it was + 18°C. 

So the problem, at least here is that weather is given in English, rather than in some unambiguous language like Latin, classical Greek or German!

I think I am related to the English - those of you who know me also know why I think that might be so. So what does it mean to be "English"?

To put this last point into context:

So, what I am getting at is the word "like"  - I like you a bushel and a peck From "Guys and Dolls"

When the temperature is a balmy -13°C but there is a gale that would make a huricane blush, and the weathernet says it feels "like"   -23°C - there is really nothing to "like" about it! 

So there!  The orange tent is nearly 1km away, the island in the background is 6km away. Good luck to liking!

The wind is whipping up the snow and lashing it against anything and anyone in its way.

How do you "like" our refugee camp?

W O B

Seeing Red

 I heard a song from near this nest:

Moving around some more I saw:

Red but not red enough.

Red, but you know what I mean - not Queen Anne's lace red. 

 

 

However, I heard the song and low and behold my first for this year:

Lovely afternoon walk.

WOB

The Chains that bind

 The snow has stopped, the sun has riz,

I wonder where the birdies iz

It looks like a break out.

Escape!

WOB

It's Summer Time! Hurray - school is out for March break-out of Covid

 It snowed most of the day - so much for summer time, also known as daylight savings time. Does not bother me - I took off my watch a decade ago and had all the time in the world.

Word has gone out to clean up our beaches for our European visitors who are accustomed to playing beach volleyball on pristine white coral sands. So we went from:

to:

Not quite coral, not quite quartz - but white and crystalline nevertheless.

 

Welcome to Orillia is reflected in our warm blue/azure Mediterranean waters -

Our sun banks and beach umbrellas have been deployed in advance of the crush of tourists:

The stands for the beach volleyballs games have been cleared. Spectators receive a warning as they approach that disorderly conduct will not be tolerated - as they file past the red patti wagon.

Yours to enjoy,

Yours truly,

Sincerely,

WOB

Its Groundhog Day again - it is about "time"

 I don't understand politicians and meteorologists but on Sunday it will be Summer  here in Mariposa.

And to celebrate just short of 6 weeks from February 2 we saw a GH frolicking in the snow below.

Looks quite fat and happy - too much time spent in Covid isolation?

And now we are ready to "Spring"

into Summer:

Happy Landing - WOB

It is unlikely that the bird will sit in a well-lit spot for you

 What are the essentials to ID?

 I was out wool-gathering yesterday when I spotted this mass of colour:

Easy to understand why I gave this entry that title.

 

And then the birds gave lie to that  - must be "winter rules"?

 

 

Both sides - now! And the eyes are sharp and alert:

And away they all flew like the ...

lucky ol' bird