Ahh, winter.
I never really understood the mentality of the Snowbird - closing up a home here in Ontario for five or so months and hieing off to points south, but I do now. Winter has its charms, no doubt at all, but the plain systems maintenance of it is so onerous! It's one thing to get all togged up for skiing or skating or sliding, quite another to have to put on all those clothes to carry water and feed for horses, to bring in firewood, to clear the driveway, even to get dressed to go into town. I hate being cold and I really feel it these days. Last year the sunny south of Windsor provided a nice break!
Well, enough bitching about what can't be helped.
This semester I'm reading Catullus with one other student. Catullus is very naughty, so it ought to be fun! I enjoyed Sallust a lot last term - there's something very satisfying in reading an entire book in Latin, and trying to ferret out what life was really like back in Republican Rome is always interesting. One thing for sure - it was never this cold! (oops, there I go again!)
I need a good bird book. I have blue jays, chickadees, pine siskins (I think that's what they are, but maybe not), juncos, woodpeckers, doves, and grouse at the feeder, and of course the Ravenhill ravens overhead. The grouse don't so much visit the feeder as just visit. The other day I saw something large and hawk-like.
I also have a couple of adorable little squirrels. I don't grudge them their share of seeds and suet. The birds entertain me and the cats and dogs. The dogs are really a cheap date! Anything at all is exciting, poor things!
Well, enough bitching about what can't be helped.
This semester I'm reading Catullus with one other student. Catullus is very naughty, so it ought to be fun! I enjoyed Sallust a lot last term - there's something very satisfying in reading an entire book in Latin, and trying to ferret out what life was really like back in Republican Rome is always interesting. One thing for sure - it was never this cold! (oops, there I go again!)
I need a good bird book. I have blue jays, chickadees, pine siskins (I think that's what they are, but maybe not), juncos, woodpeckers, doves, and grouse at the feeder, and of course the Ravenhill ravens overhead. The grouse don't so much visit the feeder as just visit. The other day I saw something large and hawk-like.
I also have a couple of adorable little squirrels. I don't grudge them their share of seeds and suet. The birds entertain me and the cats and dogs. The dogs are really a cheap date! Anything at all is exciting, poor things!