This is such a wonderful time of year to take pictures. The golden light of morning and evening can make for some lovely photos. Here are some I’ve taken in the last 24 hours:
The Wall
For many years now, probably since Mom and Dad moved into this building in 1997, there has been talk about putting up a sound barrier between our street and the expressway. Traffic noise was so loud I would have to close my windows to talk on the phone, I couldn’t stay out on my balcony very long as it was just too uncomfortable for the ears and I never left my bedroom window open all night. Once we were told the wall would happen built in 2012. Nothing. Ah, this is the magic year. We finally have a wall!
It started on May 19th:
On the morning of May 26th I was so excited to see the sound barrier slabs going in:
I went up onto my balcony and recorded a few seconds of the sound. On Friday afternoon (May 29), when with just half a wall in front of our building, no further work had been done on the wall for 2 days I recorded again.
To my great surprise, yesterday (June 5) I came home from work to find much of the wall finished. Once again I recorded a few seconds of sound. You can hear for yourself what difference the wall makes.
Last night I slept with the window open about 3 inches! I expect to spend more time on my balcony this year.
Signs of Spring
Spring 2015 has been very slow in coming, but coming she is! Here are the signs I’ve seen over the last few days. (I will be adding pictures as more spring things appear.)
Update: May 10 – I’m adding the last pictures to this series. This past week we seemed to move from spring to summer, though spring is supposed to make a return appearance in a few days. Thirty degree Celsius weather has meant leaves popped out on the trees, the dandelions have taken over the fields and lawns wherever they can and many flowers have bloomed and faded in a hurry.
May 4, 2015
This year I’ve been fascinated with “tree flowers.” After the long cold winter it is so wonderful to see the trees in my neighbourhood coming back to life. And perhaps on this day of all days I need to see new life.
Brrrrrrrrrr
We’ve had a few record-breaking cold days and nights (University of Waterloo weather station):
My wee dog is not built for the cold! That means when she goes outside to do the necessary, she runs back in as soon as possible. But she is also a small dog with lots of energy. When she runs like a mad fool around the apartment I feel bad for my “below” neighbours.
Today, by 11:30 a.m., with the sun shining brightly in the window, Billie started begging to go outside. So I put on her ‘boots’ — not an easy task, holding a squirming dog and at the same time trying to pull these boots on limp feet — her wool sweater and her windbreaker coat. And out we went.
The problem with the boots is she thinks she needs to run when she’s wearing them. It is very hard to slow her down.
I let her choose the route, mostly. We were out for about half an hour; I think she might have stayed out longer had I not wanted to come in. Her boots never came off in spite of her prancing and pawing.
When we got in this is what Environment Canada was saying (Breslau Airport):
Update:
Friday, February 20, this morning it is -26 at the airport, so I said to Billie, “Come, let’s go outside. But we’re going to put your boots on because it is so cold.” Instead of running to me at the door, she jumped off the couch and went and curled up in the corner of the recliner! I put her boots on her anyway. We made it just around the corner on Southmoor before she hurried back home to the warmth.
