planets

Se-tenant stamps are commemorative stamps printed together on the same sheet but differing in design.        I was particularly thrilled to find this sheet of United Nations issued stamps issued in 2010 for the 50th anniversary of the International Oceanographic Commission

(I bought it partly because of the turtles)

It is the oceans that make life on Earth uniquely sustainable within the solar system. The sustainability of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the climate in which we live is dependent upon the oceans.

which ties in nicely with this set from Finland for the 2009 Europa theme of astronomy (which I was also thrilled to find)

The pair of stamps depict a fantasy landscape of lakes and different heavenly bodies. The left-hand stamp has the Moon in the centre, with the Milky Way on the right. The stamp on the right bas a comet on the left side, and a solar eclipse and showing Saturn on the right

SundayStamps

Sunday Stamps - pets

I admit, I am not a dog lover, 

but how could anyone not melt a little at this face?

now, on to the cats......   with blue eyes

these cats are usually very affectionate and playful. 

they are also sometimes a bit loud with lots of attention demanding crying

Tajski means Thai in Polish

and for a pet of a completely different kind, we have this terrapin, sometimes called a turtle. this particular one is a black marsh terrapin/turtle that is endemic to Southeast Asia. according to wikipedia they are commonly kept as pets. they live in marshes and are completely black except for a small yellow mark on the heads. apparently, they are also shy and nocturnal. they are also quiet.

In parts of Thailand and Japan they commonly released into temple and castle ponds and cared for by Buddhist monks where they're treated as sacred by the public, being believed to contain the souls of people who died while trying to rescue other people from drowning.

I know this isn't exactly a pet, but I like it.       

a "correctional services dog" from Hong Kong

more pets at Viridian's Postcard Blog

city mouse

Yesterday was spent in the company of friends who live out in the country. They are a few miles from a quaint village and there are farms around to provide a faint (or more) whiff of animals. And eggs and corn and fresh tomatoes. There are neighbours close by, but the trees and hills provide enough cover that you may completely forget they are there. Straight down the road about 20 minutes away is a city that is one of the fastest growing in Ontario. And from there it is a short commute into the largest city in Canada.

Except for the cicadas and crickets and a few frogs, it was eerily quiet. A whole different world existed beyond the suburban crawl. I got almost giddy at the thought of coming back for their Fall Fair which is 160 years old this year. There is an annual Christmas Tree Lighting that attracts thousands of people! It all sounds so quaint. Bucolic. (though, doesn't that word have an awful sound to it? more like some kind of nasty disease instead of a pastoral poem)

These friends are moving next winter and have sold their house to people they suspect will not last long. They have no idea what living in the country will be like. I know that I would hate it, no matter how lovely and inviting it seems on a visit. I know that deep down, I am a city woman. I am also a bit lazy. I like not having to drive 15 minutes or more just to get condiments or coffee. Although, it has been pointed out that walking the 15 minutes to the stores is not lazy. I think it must be a perception of distance thing. I can sit and stare out a window with the best of them, but after awhile I need the stimulation of shops and street life and theatres and galleries close by for my amusement. It is fun to people watch when when you never know who you are going to run into and then there is the surprise of running into someone you know. In a village, the chances of running into the same people day after day might get a little claustrophobic. I like not having to worry about curling shingles, burst pipes and septic tanks. And snow drifts blocking a long unmaintained lane. And the worry of bears.

But every now and then, I wonder... if I had the money to buy exactly what I wanted and to maintain it properly... if I had a live-in gardener and a riding snowblower and a few chickens and a dog to scare the foxes would I change my lifestyle? Would I be happy with the constant quiet, or would I sink into a depression from the isolation? Would I feel a desolation wash over me when I realized the main street of the village was empty streets with shuttered stores at 5PM. My turtle might be happy to have a pond instead of an aquarium, but would he get along with the frogs?

Where I live now is not perfect. Most of you know that I live in a highrise. I may not have a yard, but I do have a rather large balcony. And a great view! The advantages are that I can call management to fix the plumbing. I can lock the door, give the key to a neighbour to watch the cat and water the plants and she does not even put on a coat (in winter). I am mere minutes from the lake and the downtown core, yet is very quiet. The traffic would be my number one complaint - it is there and constant, even if I don't hear it. And I would like to walk out my door and be outside, not in a hallway waiting for an elevator.

But these are minor quibbles. I would like to know what you like and dislike about where you have chosen to live. And if you had the chance, would you move into the city from the country or out to a farming community from a urban area?

Monday AMuse

on a Tuesday

oops

it's been that kind of weekend

unwelcome

I awoke to a slight clattering noise.

My first thought was that it was the turtle slipping off his basking rock. I remembered seeing him basking before I went to bed, and he is big and lumbering.

My second thought was, since I'm awake...

and wandered into the livingroom to see a huge pigeon flying around.

He didn't seem happy to be visiting my humble abode.

Very quickly, the scent of fresh air from the open door lured him outside again where he landed on the railing. I swear he turned back to check that he was safe.

"my god, that was close" he must have been thinking before he flew off.

Which was rather close to what I was thinking.

I leave the door open, mostly for the fresh air, but also to let the cat wander in and out at will.

I glanced down at her as she followed me into the room.

"what? did I miss something?" she seemed to say as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

I pointed outside.

"oh. they are filthy nuisances aren't they? I'm going back to bed."

Which was pretty much what I did.

After I closed the balcony door.

SundayStills - pets

Absynthe

What do you mean "I want a picture, look cute?"

I was sleeping... and I'm going back to sleep.

Go take a picture of the turtle...

oops, Otis isn't too happy about this photo taking either.

Abby is now 14 years old and Otis is an astounding 25 years old.
Neither are terribly cuddly.
Luckily, only the cat likes to sleep on my chest.

Pets was the first Sunday Stills photo challenge a year ago, and we are revisiting the same challenge with dozens of newer participants (myself included), so check out the other pets who rule over us here.

a totally made up story with real pictures

Hello, my name is
MissyChrys
and I will be your guide through this
Chrys an' the Mum Show (not a registered trademark name) that is on here at my greenhouse in the park. I know, the signs plastered all over town just say MUM SHOW, I have lawyers working on that.

Keep up and take photos, but do not touch the flowers, because they are art and well, I said so.




This year's theme is Autumn Harvest.






See how this truck that looked like scrap metal in the field has been transformed by the addition of a few dozen pots of pretty mums onto its bed? I have to guard it from stray squirrels who think it might be a bed of roses and set them straight.

Now inside, my kitties, and feast your eyes.

Don't mind the cow, she is tame and friendly.

She even has a pet chicken. There is a treat if you can guess the correct number of mums covering that cow.




Did you know that there are over a hundred and fifty different varieties of mums? No, well try telling your friendly floral buyer that at your local grocery store.

And see all the farm implements decorating the walls, some of them even have notices telling you young city folk what they were used for. Now you can feel thankful that you have more advanced tools to work with.

That is my loft up there, where I keep track of everything a good barn cat keeps track of.


Okay, I know, closeups of the pretty, pretty flowers... (licks paw, while waiting)


Keep up, we're going throught the bit where they try to sell you stuff, but we'll hurry on through to the tea room, where these cheerful and hardworking ladies (wearing great big corsages) will serve you tea or coffee (with a snack). Darn, looks like that bus tour of seniors just left.

If you find out who made these interesting tea cosies, let me know, because if I ever get a day off, I might like an evening with them...

Oooh, look, turtles!


yeah, that mouse you are holding onto? you know, I'm a barn cat and can see it? I'll let it live so you can use it to biggify the photos...

There will be more photos every day this week on Sightlines

urban animals

The city is no place for wild animals. Or that is how some people see it. That is why there are developments growing up on lands where deer used to be free to roam. Highways are laid where turtles need to cross. (or moose, and many others, but there are no moose in Toronto, well, except for the fibreglass ones still on display, but I digress...)

Some animals have clearly gone through a remarkable adaptation. Think raccoons, with their deft fingers, keen eyes, nocturnal garbage hunting ways. They will never go hungry. Run over, yes, but starve, no. Do raccoons ever get sprayed from skunks if they both struggle through the same garbage bag?

Where I live there are thousands, if not millions, of rabbits. This could be partly due to the number of foxes in the area. This number is very low. Not a night goes by that I don't see a dozen or so bunnies. There is one fox I know of, but I haven't seen him more than 3 or 4 times in the last year. At one time, only about 6 years ago, there were many foxes to be seen. We even used to have a 3-legged fox who lived downtown. You'd see him loping up Brant St (the main street) almost every night, window shopping, crisscrossing the street from one bar to the next.

I have seen many possums during my nightly excursions, a few mice, toads, some cats and once, a beaver. The best sighting by far were the deer. The first time was winter just after a long ago Christmas and I was walking up to a house, newspaper in hand, thinking: I'm tired of seeing all these willow deer on front lawns when I suddenly realized, one of then was a real deer. He stood there looking at me and I stood there looking at him, barely wanting to breathe. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a minute, he turned and walked up to the front porch (I should have given him the paper, I know) looked around, then left to walk around to the back. I walked to the porch, turned around and realized there were three more deer just standing on the neighbours' yard. This time I stopped breathing. These animals are HUGE. I have almost run into a group, which was more scary than amazing.

And now, there is a coyote in a beach and ravine area of Toronto that has become rather used to urban life. He has possibly feasted on a few cats (suddenly many cats went missing during a particularly sad month) and found himself a little chihuahua the other day. Now there is some talk of killing the coyote. But, most people in the area are aghast at the thought. It is sad for the little dog (and the missing cats) but the risk of a car hitting a dog is greater than being carried off by a coyote. And the risk of a dog mauling a child is much greater than a coyote attacking a child. And your cat, who roams out all night? Remember the songbirds? Yeah, it could easily have been your cat that got them. Besides, coyotes will help with the mice and rats and skunk population. And the feral cat population. Which will help the songbirds.

amaryllis, turtles

At least when Otis sheds, I don't get turtle hairs all over my clothes.

But, we do have to deal with this: HE IS STILL GROWING.

Turtles shed their shells during growth spurts. In anticipation of a lazy hibernation, his body will be busy getting even bigger. Great. He should really be living within his means and that means is a 36x17x15 aquarium.

See that darker square in the centre of his back?

That is where one of these came off.

Something's gotta give, they are like fingernails and very thin and almost transparent. Tortoiseshell ornaments will also peel if they get too dry. But we don't have any of those, do we?!

In other news, it is now official that Lonesome George will have no progeny this time around as all the eggs have been verified as infertile. But, he has to deal with this: another turtle (tortoise, actually) that is 176 years old. Apparently Jonathan posed for a picture with some Boer War soldiers and he has been outed as the oldest of his particular species. Not sure how he was recognized - Boer War? So George could have many more years of interference in his social life.

Every time I hear of aged turtles, I give an inward sigh ... how long will Otis decide to keep growing?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't have a Christmas Tree, but I do have some twigs I decorate. And I have a plant stand I use for poinsettias and storing small gifts on so that as I buy them, I can easily remember what I have bought (yes, I have been known to forget. sad, isn't it?). And this year, I was given an early present of TWO Amaryllis. Now their growth spurts and the way they shoot up with such magnificent majestic blooms are a joy to watch.

I need to find a good spot for a photo shoot to chart their progress.

I also need to pick up some stuff left lying on the floor and get my laundry bag downstairs to the laundry room.

otis

(SITTIN' ON) THE DOCK OF THE BAY- written by Otis Redding and Steve Cropper - lyrics as recorded by Otis Redding December 7, 1967, just three days before his death in a plane crash outside Madison, Wisconsin - #1 for 4 weeks in 1968

Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come
Watching the ships roll in
And then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the 'Frisco bay
'Cause I've had nothing to live for
And look like nothin's gonna come my way

So I'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

Look like nothing's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same, yes

Sittin' here resting my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home

Now, I'm just gonna sit at the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Oooo-wee, sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

turtle soup

I have mentioned my cat, Abby, several times in these posts, and now my turtle, Otis, has informed me that he is rather offended at being so ignored. I noticed the other day that he was getting into an adolescent snit and trying to climb out of his home. Considering he is 25 years old, I thought this behaviour a little unseemly. When I got him, he was tiny, about the size of a loonie. (which hadn't even been invented, yet, so how do I know that was how big it was? Interesting thought.) I'd never thought about it before, but turtles need to learn how to swim properly and how to right themselves when they turn over on their backs. As they grow, you realize how amazingly strong their legs are, and their jaws, if you are foolish enough to get too close when feeding them. Bananas are a favourite snack, but can be a bit dangerous what with their mushiness and all. Turtles are also inclined to see fingers as food. And contrary to popular opinion they can move very quickly and will burrow if left out to play in the grass.

In other turtle news:







(found on Criggo)


and then there is the two headed turtle stolen from a local pet shop. Sam and Ella (I know, how droll) was last seen when three teenagers were in the store yesterday afternoon. Police say there is very little they can do, but if the turtles are not found quickly they will not survive.

An entertaining explanation of this can be found here from Jack Hanna.

(and when did youtube stop allowing downloads??)