Thwarted at First

All summer long, we have been trying to get to the Gastropub for breakfast on the patio. We've actually had dates with Bob and Barb but had to renege. Yesterday we met at 9:30, and this is us on the patio. → →

Wait a sec, AC, You said us; there is no us. We know you're taking the photo, but where are B&B.

Well you see, we were thwarted, and they are not there, for the Gastropub is no longer open for breakfast. Too bad, so sad.

The alternate restaurant, Freska, wouldn't be open until 10, so we had a half hour to kill. B & B went off somewhere, but Sue wanted to stick around for pictures. I haven't see hers, but I took a few as well. They're all just phone snaps, but I wanted to share a few with you regardless, for it was one of those wonderful September days.

After wandering the empty patio, we headed to the park just a little way down the river from where Sue is standing in the above photo. Ye olde town hall ↓ was reflecting well. Too bad about the new boom that ruins photos, but it is there as a safety measure because the water is a bit wild for the next kilometre or so. If a craft mistakenly gets as far as the boom from upriver to the right, they can hang on until they can get out of there.

Breakfast at Freska was good. Afterward, Sue and I wandered about downtown near the bridge. This ↓ is a look upstream, focusing on that single red tree and its reflection.

We walked over the the far side ↓ the same side as the tree. I took a shot along the bank toward that same red tree. 

I am not sure that this will be a good colour year, for I have photos form other years that show a lot more colour than we see at this stage this year. So, is it just slower this year, or will we simply have a lesser display? We haven't had a frost yet, so maybe that accounts for the slow change.

I did take a photo looking back toward town hall, which was reflecting pretty well.

I should probably return with my big camera one day so I can zoom in at will and take a little more time. But there are a lot of things that I think I should do but don't do, so we shall see.

Weird Little Taste Buds

Sue made a roast this week. 

It was scrumptious. 

The meat was tender, and the roasted potatoes were excellent, as was the gravy.

The carrots too.

They were roasted to perfection, which means that there was some blackening.

At this stage they don't even taste like carrots, which is why I like them, and the only way that I like carrots.

Carrots must not taste like carrots according to my weird little taste buds.

Oddly enough, raw is the only way that my grandson will eat them, so if we have him over for a meal like this, Sue gives his weird, little taste buds a side dish of uncooked carrots.

Of course, this ↓ is how they should look although a little blacker would also be fine.

A Stroll Along the Trail

As many of you may recall, we have a trail not far from here, beginning only two or three blocks from our place. It winds beside the river for a fair way. That sounds nicer than it actually is because you can't see the river along much of the route, particularly at our end. The other drawback is that it is very scrubby alongside much of the trail, so much so that I wouldn't want to call them woods. But the trail still calls to us from time to time, so we went for a wee stroll on Monday afternoon.

Houses back onto the trail in some areas on the side opposite the river. I liked the light hitting the branches on the other side of a fence. 

I've mentioned that you cannot usually see the river from the trail, but I did look through this little gap. You can see the colour appearing over the other side. 

There are two sets of footbridges over the more marshy portions at our end. I had Sue pose where I could find some background colour.

Just beyond that footbridge, gorgeous hydrangeas were hanging over a fence, so Sue obliged again. Her main photo theme this week is the colour, rose, so she took some photos that might or might not be of some use.

On the way back, some bright orange leaves hung over the trail in one spot, so I raised my camera and took my final snapshot of our little stroll.

It was a nice little outing on quite a quintessentially, lovely September day.

An Odd Duck Am I

I am an odd duck who is slightly quackers.

This photo ↓ proves it, or it will once I supply the background info. Be patient, dear fellow blogger, and all will be revealed.

With both Sue and me falling prey to certain bodily issues, we have been having probiotic yogurt at least once a day. This is in addition to having a probiotic pill.

I frequently have blueberries, yogurt and granola for breakfast with all three ingredients mixed together in the dish. But I don't want to do this with grapes as you can see in the photo. And I especially don't want them sliced in half first, which is what Sue does. But whether sliced or whole, grapes in that dish put me off for some strange reason.

My solution is to keep them separate as you see in the photo. I then put some of the mix on the spoon and place a grape on top. Surely it's all the same as mixing the grapes right into the dish, but I just don't like to see the grapes mixed in like that. Blueberries yes, grapes no.

One night, we had peaches instead of grapes. Sue thought I would want the peaches on the side. Well no! I want the peaches in the mixture, just as with blueberries. But not those grapes. No siree, Bob!

Yes, I am an odd duck. Quite quackers.

I have another odd food aversion, but I'll write about it some other time.

I don't suppose that any of you have any odd food quirks like this?

Second Trip to Blakeney

I returned to Blakeney, a week after this ↓ first photo that I posted then.

The Week Before

On this second day ↓ the light was different, and there was somewhat greater colour, particularly in the yellow centre beyond the foreground rocks.

This Week

Sue caught me doing my thing.

So this scene is starting to look pretty good, but for the most part around here, the colour is lagging, which is what one would expect so early in autumn. However, I did find another of those two-toned trees fairly near our house. I was a glary day, but at least I have a record photo for comparison should I remember to return. I deliberately included the dead tree on the right; perhaps, I shouldn't have, but I like its shape, and I think it provides a bit of balance to the image.

It would be nice to get some clouds in the sky, but I can't fuss too much. I go out when I can and get what I can get at the time.

On the First Day of Autumn

The lady and I went for a little walk in the park. The great majority of trees were not yet turning. This one was partway there. I like it when trees are two-toned like this. 

I want to make it a point to return with some regularity this year to monitor the progress of this tree and others in the park.

My Invisibility Syndrome

The invisible man syndrome struck again yesterday. 

I have posted from time to time that I seem to get lost in the shuffle of life. My operation in June is a recent example. You remember, don’t you, that there was no hospital bed for me? After lying on the narrow gurney for hours, constrained by a catheter and an IV drip, I chose to have the surgery and convalesce at home.

Now, having just finished a subsequent course of antibiotics for prostatitis, I called the surgeon, as previously directed, to let hm know that, after three weeks, I still seemed to have the infection. He ordered lab tests. So far so good.

That was on Tuesday, but I only heard back from urology minutes before the lab was to close, so I went in the next morning, yesterday.

But of course, they had no record of the referral.

I called the urologist. Yes, they sent it but would send it again.

I waited. It didn’t appear.

The Lab: “Sometimes, it takes awhile to work through the system.”

Me: “I have stuff to do, so I’ll call back.”

Two calls later, it hadn’t appeared. So, I called Urology once again, and suggested that might try sending the requisition to the other lab in town.

Glory be! It got there in relatively short order, and now we await results.

But I do wonder why this seems to keep happening to me. I look in the mirror and see that I am really there. I am not tiny, and I am not completely unobtrusive, and I swear that I don’t put on an invisibility cloak before I venture forth in this world. 

Sometimes, it sure seems like it though.