FEELING THE NEED TO FIND MYSELF SOME LIGHTER FARE

Under bright sunny skies, it was 'finally' my turn to drive again so I picked up my good buddy Richard at the usual time this morning, and off we went to find us a couple coffees to go and two carrot muffins.  Our country road coffee tour took us through Clinton's Tim Hortons and then northwest of Clinton around the Auburn area and Ball's Bridge.  Twas a fine morning for a country road drive and a chat:))

 THE FIBRE OPTIC CREW IS STILL AT WORK IN OUR PARK

 LOOKS LIKE A WORKER IN THAT HOLE

Home again and with skies remaining sunny, I wasn't long in getting out into the front and side yards with my leaf rake.  I love the Spring clean-up every year.  So nice to feel the warmth of the Sun and hear the birds happily chirping in the trees.  My hip did good and I think we hit 43F today.  

 GOLDFINCHES ARE CHANGING FROM THEIR DOWDY  WINTER BROWN TO THEIR GOLDEN SUMMER COLORS 

 A DARK-EYED JUNCO IN THE FOREGROUND AND A GOLDFINCH IN THE BACKGROUND

Pheebs and I did get out for a walk this afternoon to our Park's pond and beyond into the pine forest.  We walked along what is left of the old Pine Tree trail enjoying the abundance of fresh cool air blowing in across Lake Huron about a mile and a half to the West of us.

HOW REFRESHING TO BE OUT WALKING IN A FOREST AGAIN

 HOLLY GROWING WILD ALONG THE TRAIL

 I FOUND THIS OLD 'CROWN' MASON JAR ALONG THE WAY

 PHEEBS LIKES TO BE OUT FRONT LEADING THE WAY

 I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPRESS HOW GREAT IT FELT WALKING ALONG HERE THIS AFTERNOON

 IN THE FAR DISTANCE I SAW A BROWN LUMP IN THE POND WHICH I THOUGHT MIGHT BE A MUSKRAT

 EDGING CLOSER AND WITH MY TELEPHOTO LENS I FINALLY REALIZED IT WAS A CANADA GOOSE KEEPING A VERY LOW PROFILE HOPING WE WOULDN'T SEE IT

After my last two books, 'The Lost Bookshop' and The Forgotten Bookshop In Paris' I was feeling the need to find myself some lighter fare.  Some humor, some 'feeling good' stories, some laughter, and whimsical frivolity.  Remembering how much I had enjoyed the whole 'Anne Of Green Gables' book series a year and a half ago, I once again returned to Prince Edward Island and the writings of Lucy Maude Montgomery.  This time I chose her book, Chronicles Of Avonlea which is a collection of short stories related to the same time and place as the Anne Of Green Gables books.  I enjoyed every one of the stories and I like Lucy Maude Montgomery's descriptive and flowing writing style.  She creatively paints wonderful pictures in my mind.  So, I have chosen for my next book, The Alpine Way which is the autobiography of Lucy Maude Montgomery's career in her own words......  In late September of 2018, we took our Motorhome for a spin out East to the Maritime provinces.  When on Prince Edward Island we stopped in Cavendish where the childhood home of Lucy Maude Montgomery still stands.  Up to this point, I had not read any of her books.  Despite all the disappointing commercialism around the site, I was able to venture out onto a grassy expanse of lawn and grab a few telephoto shots of the house and barn in the distance.  It was here where she spent her early years and later wrote the book 'Anne Of Green Gables.  And, here in her own words, she describes the writing of that book in this house......"I wrote it in the evening after my regular day's work was done, wrote most of it at the window of the little gable room which had been mine for many years.  I began it, as I have said, in the spring of 1904.  I finished it in the October of 1905."   

LUCY MAUDE MONTGOMERY'S HOME  WHERE SHE WROTE 'ANNE OF GREEN GABLES AND OTHER STORIES.

 ALONG THE SHORES OF CAVENDISH BEACH

Al's Music Box)) Fire And Rain is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, released in August 1970 by  Warner Bros. Records as the second single from Taylor's second studio album, Sweet Baby James. The song follows Taylor's reaction to the suicide of Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend, and his experiences with drug addiction and fame.  On the VH1 series Storytellers, Taylor said the song was about several incidents during his early recording career. The second line "Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you" refers to Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend of his who died by suicide while he was in London, England, recording his first album. In that same account, Taylor said he had been in a deep depression after the failure of his new band the Flying Machine to coalesce (the lyric "Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground"; the reference is to the name of the band rather than a fatal plane crash, as was long rumored). Taylor completed writing the song while in rehab. Friends at home, concerned that it might distract Taylor from his big break, kept the tragic news from him, and he found out six months later.  Carole King played piano on the song. Drummer Russ Kunkel used brushes rather than sticks on his drum kit, and Bobby West played double bass in place of a bass guitar to "underscore the melancholy on the song".

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A magician was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience would be different each week, so the magician allowed himself to do the same tricks over and over again.  There was only one problem: The captain's parrot saw the shows every week and began to understand what the magician did in every trick. Once he understood that, he started shouting in the middle of the show.  "Look, it's not the same hat!" "Look, he's hiding the flowers under the table!" "Hey, why are all the cards the Ace of Spades?"  The magician was furious but couldn't do anything, it was the captain's parrot after all.  One day the ship had an accident and sank. The magician found himself on a piece of wood, in the middle of the ocean, and of course the parrot was by his side.  They stared at each other with hate, but did not utter a word. This went on for several days.  After a week the parrot finally said, "Okay, I give up. What'd you do with the boat?"

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- A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.

- I have a lot to be thankful for but I'm going to give a special shout-out to Elastic.

Just burned 2000 calories trying to avoid someone I know at Walmart.

It was a whole lot more fun to be 20 in the 70's than 70 in the 20's.

Not to brag, but  I was alive when you could SLAM the phone down to hang up on someone.  It was spectacular.

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''YAHOUIE LOUIE' PHEEBS AND I ARE BACK 'ON THE ROAD AGAIN':)))))

 A COUPLE OF HAPPY GUYS TO FINALLY BE OUT AND ABOUT THIS MORNING

In a perfect world, it would have been a big bright, sunny morning with warm temperatures for our first day back on the road in 6 weeks.  However, it is what it was and with Willy Nelson's song, 'On The Road Again' rolling around in my head, we happily headed out into the countryside with Pheebs window down and the heater on despite a cold rainy drizzle and cloudy skies overhead.  It was 37F.  I had hoped to start our day off with a good old country road walk but it was not to be so we headed off to Goderich to follow our usual McDonald's coffee and harbor routine and to pick up some stuff at Walmart.  Peanut butter, coffee, etc.

 HOW GREAT TO TURN RIGHT OUT OF THE PARK AND HEAD FOR THE COUNTRYSIDE

 WE EVEN SAW 'OLD LONESOME'

 I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE TWO ALGOMA SHIPS ANCHORED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE GODERICH HARBOR

 THE ALGOMA NIAGARA

 THE ALGOMA INTREPID

 BOTH SHIPS WERE RIDING HIGH OUT OF THE WATER SO THEY MUST NOT HAVE ANY CARGO ABOARD

Too cold and damp outside for me to be out there so it was another inside job.  A few bird pics and more reading.  Because I mistakenly had my camera's ISO setting waaaay too high (6400) today's photos are grainy and mottled looking but I've decided to include them anyway.  You know me....'perfection only' is not my game and they don't call me, 'One-Shot Charlie' for nothing.  

METHINKS IT'S A RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER

 GOLDFINCH

 MOURNING DOVE

 GRACKLE

 A RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD AND PROBABLY A MAIL WITH THAT BRIGHT RED WING BAR

Kelly talked to her daughter Rebecca in Spain today.  Rebecca thinks we should move there.  Hmmmmm.  I wouldn't mind going for a couple weeks or maybe a month just to see what it's like but under our present circumstances I don't see that happening any time soon.  

 THESE TWO APPEAR TO BE IGNORING EACH OTHER

 'GET OFF THE BIRD STATION BLACKIE!!!!'

 'I'M NOT LISTENING YOU REDHEADED DINGBAT'

 'ALRIGHT THEN I'LL JUST TAKE MY PEANUT AND GO HOME'

 THERE'S THAT DARTH VADER GRACKLEGATOR AGAIN TRYING TO SCARE A MOURNING DOVE BUT IF PUSH COMES TO SHOVE THE MOURNING  DOVE WILL PUT THE BOOTS TO THE GRACKLE

 HMMMM, LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY'S GOT THEIR BEAK IN THE AIR OVER SOMETHING AGAIN

 'I GOT A SEED' ....'WELL I GOT A SEED TOO!!'

 JUST LANDED WITH HIS TAIL STILL IN A FLAIR

A Blast From Our Past:)) It was a Sunday morning on December 20th, 2009 in Arizona's Cochise County when we set out to find a cowboy gunslinger's grave from the late 1800's.  We knew it was somewhere at the foot of the Chiricahua Mountains.  Today We Found The Final Resting Place Of Tombstone's Infamous.....Johnny Ringo

 A LANDING APPROACH FOR THIS RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

 A GRACKLE TAKE OFF

 OVER AND UNDER

 A RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD COASTING IN HOPING TO MAKE A PERFECT TWO-POINT LANDING

 OOOOPS, HE DIDN'T QUITE STICK THE LANDING

Al's Music Box:)) On The Road Again is a song written and recorded by American country music singer and songwriter Willie Nelson.  In 1980 Nelson starred in his first leading role in the Jerry Schatzberg film Honeysuckle Rose, about an aging musician who fails to achieve national fame and his relationship with his family, who also are part of his band that travels throughout the United States while playing in different venues. Shortly after signing the contract, Nelson was approached during a flight by Schatzberg and the executive producer of the movie, who requested him to write a song about life on the road to use as the theme song. Nelson quickly wrote the song on a barf bag. The tune featured a "train beat".The song was released with Nelson's 1980 album Honeysuckle Rose, reaching the first position on Billboard's top country albums.  Nelson received a Grammy Award for Best Country Song, while he was nominated for Best Original Song during the 53rd Academy Awards.  (I thought this was a fitting song for Pheebs and I this morning:)) 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A proud and confident genius makes a bet with a local moron.  The genius says, "Hey moron, every question I ask you that you don't know the answer, you have to give me $5. And if you ask me a question and I can't answer yours I will give you $5,000."  The moron says, "Okay."  The genius then asks, "How many continents are there in the world?" The moron doesn't know and hands over the $5.  The moron says, "Now me ask: what animal stands with two legs but sleeps with three?"  The genius tries and searches very hard for the answer but gives up and hands over the $5,000.  The genius says, "Dang it, I lost. By the way, what was the answer to your question?"  The moron hands over $5.

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- My wife asked why I spoke so softly in the house.  I said I was afraid Mark Zuckerberg was listening!  She laughed.  I laughed.  Alexa laughed. Siri laughed.

- A kangaroo mom with seven babies in her pouch told another kangaroo mom, "These sleepovers are killing me."

- The key to looking amazing is looking like crap most of the time so that it is even more amazing.

- My body is just a filter.....coffee goes in sarcasm comes out.

- Marriage is a relationship in which one is always right and the other is the husband.

- I ordered a chicken and an egg from Amazon......I'll let you know.

- I haven't lost all my marbles yet but I know there is a hole in the bag somewhere.

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