Another Day!

I just got back from my second walk in two days.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but out of small beginnings, wonderful things can happen.  Today is brightly cloudy (if there is such a thing) and cooler than yesterday, but at least I was better prepared with hat, gloves, and hood up.  As I've said before, my goal is at least 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week.  Its really interesting when you start walking at this time of year, because then you can notice and appreciate how things change as spring arrives.   I think I'm going to focus on walking around the neighbourhood.  The terrain is fairly hilly so it's possible to get a good workout, and I can avoid the biting cold wind blowing off the bay.  Although there are still icy patches on the sidewalks, and puddles, you can walk on the roads to avoid the worst spots.

The picture above is taken at the dead end of my street.  We're at the top of a hill, and the people living across the street from me have a wonderful view of the bay.  I guess you could say we have a seasonal lake view, because when the leaves are off the trees, and if I hop up and down between my house and the neighbour I can see the lake too.  If there was a second storey on our house, the top floor would have an amazing view of the lake but that's just not in our budget.  I suspect that by the time we want to sell this house, the trend of buying a perfectly good house, demolishing it and putting up a monster house will have reached our city.  Our house would be an excellent candidate.

I saw three crows and a mourning dove while I was out walking today.   Crows like to nest in tall trees, and because we live in a mature neighbourhood, we have lots of birds through spring, summer and fall.  In the summertime the crows always get very noisy around 4:30 or 5 am, then the little birds have their chirp, and then things settle down.  We generally don't have crows around in the winter, and I think this is pretty early for them to return, but then again this has been a very mild season.  Tugby has been fascinated by the chickadees and small finches that have been flitting around in the backyard lately, so the crows aren't the only birds returning early.  I haven't heard a cardinal yet, nor have we seen any robins.  

We have a black walnut tree in the backyard, there are several more walnuts across the street, and our neighbour has two huge oak trees.  Consequently we have a lot of squirrels in the yard at all times, and its hard to find a bird feeder that they can't pillage.  I had a fairly new one that we put away in the fall, I just don't remember exactly where we put it at the moment.  Hopefully I can find it as easily as I found my car keys yesterday but I'm not holding my breath.


I've started reading again.  I just finished "A Killer's Christmas in Wales" by Elizabeth J. Duncan.  Its a cozy mystery, the third in her Penny Brannigan mystery series.  I enjoy cozies as a complete change of pace from some of the other genres that I read.  Penny Brannigan is a middle aged Canadian woman who has made a small town in Wales her home for the past 20 years.  She is in a relationship with a detective, and has developed a reputation as a person who can solve mysteries.  I like the way Elizabeth Duncan combines Penny's calm and happy life with subtle clues that things are about to go awry, and how she ties all the threads together at the end.