BEING THE SIDEWALK SUPERINTENDENT TYPES THAT WE ARE

 A BUMBLE BEE IN OUR RHODODENDRON

A big bright sunny morning, but once again we woke up to two degrees below the freezing mark.  This persistent cold air every day is really getting annoying!!!!  And, here we are, less than a week away from May.

 CEDAR BRANCHES AT THE END OF OUR DRIVEWAY

 PRIMROSE IN OUR FRONT FLOWERBED

OUR FRONT YARD WHITE MAGNOLIA IS IN BLOOM

It was Richard's turn to drive so he picked me up at 9:30 and we headed off on our semi-monthly Thursday morning country road coffee run.  Our travels this morning took us up around and north of Goderich.  Despite the morning's cold air, it was a nice day for a drive and we easily put in a couple of enjoyable hours cruising around and being the sidewalk superintendent types that we are.  

 OUR HOSTAS ARE GROWING QUICKLY

 FRONT YARD FROGS

My project for this afternoon was to hook up my utility trailer and slip over to a neighbor's place and cut down a couple thick patches of last year's dead bamboo grass growing alongside her garage.  With that done and the grass loaded into the trailer and hauled off to the Park's yard waste area I was home again inside of an hour.  Nice feeling to have accomplished something today.

A late afternoon walk around the Park's pond for Pheebs and I but we didn't see the two baby Goslings.  Only one adult Canada Goose on the pond.  What sometimes happens is that shortly after Goslings are hatched and spend a day or two on the Park's pond, the parents will then walk them to a small lake a short mile east of our Park.  I think the parents know it is much safer for the little ones over there with the bigger expanse of water and no humans nearby.   

 ONLY ONE CANADA GOOSE ON THE POND TODAY

 A YOUNG PAINTED TURTLE

Al's Music Box:)) Summer Wind  The song is best known for a 1966 recording by Frank Sinatra.  The Sinatra version originally appeared on his album, Strangers in the Night.  Der Sommerwind" was a song composed in 1965 by Heinz Meier, with German language lyrics written by Hans Bradtke. The song was rewritten into English by Johnny Mercer, who had heard the song being sung by Danish singer Grethe Ingmann who had also recorded the song in her native language as "Sommervind". He wrote replacement lyrics along the same theme.  The song talks of the Sirocco wind which passes from North Africa into Southern Europe at the end of summer, and uses this as a metaphor for the changing of the seasons and the passing of time.  The best-known version of the song is by Frank Sinatra.  He had previously worked with Mercer on a number of songs, including "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" and Nancy Sinatra would later recall Mercer being Sinatra's favorite lyricist.  It was recorded for the singer's album Strangers in the Night, which was the final album he worked on with arranger and conductor Nelson Riddle.  The composition of Sinatra's version used both an electronic organ and a big band, and the lyrics were modified to drop the second chorus.  This was Mercer's final work to reach the top forty within the United States.  Sinatra would later re-record the song with Julio Iglesias for the 1993 album Duets.  During an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Bruce Springsteen said he would choose Sinatra's version of the track when asked to hypothetically pick only one song to listen to for the rest of his life. 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( My nephew was getting married to a doctor's daughter.  At the wedding reception, the father of the bride stood to read his toast, which he had scribbled on a piece of scrap paper. Several times during his speech, he halted, overcome with what I assumed was a moment of deep emotion.  But after a particularly long pause, he explained, “I'm sorry. I can't seem to make out what I've written down.”  Looking out into the audience, he asked, “Is there a pharmacist in the house?”

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- A man consults a therapist and states, “Doc, I’m suicidal. What should I do?”

The doctor replies, “Pay in advance.”

- “Did you hear the one about the woman who threw her toaster away because it kept burning the bread? She was black toast intolerant.”

- Little Johnny wasn't very good at spelling. During an oral spelling exam, the teacher wrote the word "new" on the blackboard.

"Now," she asked Johnny, "what word would we have if we placed a 'K' in the front?"  After a moment's reflection, Johnny said, "Canoe?"

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