Chronicles Continued

The ‘Raining Cats and Dogs’ * I know, but fish?

This day, a total of nine fish in a span of 3 meters. They are dropped from the air members of the flocks of Great Cormorants that pass through each spring on their way to somewhere else. They are large, shades of black and bigger than ducks; not at all liked by the inhabitants. They come in droves of hundreds. They catch the fish but then either the fish is too heavy or some competition ensues mid-air and the G. Cormorant drops it. They need a long open plain of water to become airborne and this season some of them went into the repair area of the sea locks where fish were captive but could not fly out because there was no distance. Akin to trying to launch your water ski start from a dock with no boat

*“Cats and dogs” may come from the Greek expression cata doxa, which means “contrary to experience or belief.” If it is raining cats and dogs, it is raining unusually or unbelievably hard. “Cats and dogs” may be a perversion of the now obsolete word catadupe. In old English, catadupe meant a cataract or waterfall.

These tulips are 50 centimeters from top to stem bottom.That is almost 20 inches. They are graceful in their length. All aspects of the flower is streamlined, including the leaves:

This is what one woman says to another when taking leave. What makes it unique, the tonal quality is an octave higher than normal speech. Men do not say this. I asked my new friends and no one had given it notice; only an outsider would hear it. Maybe there is a secret meaning? I am working on incorporation.

This has to be the ‘buy of …” you fill in the blank. Payment of an annual subscription fee and one has access to all of the museums in the country and a host of other attractions. After payment, the mail brings a plastic credit card sized identification complete with your picture in the corner. Last spring hopped on the ferry which connected to the steam train for a tour through the blooming bulb fields. All under the umbrella of the museum card. One friend says the card it worth the price just to have WC access wherever she is. What also makes it great is, if you find you have suddenly have time, you can pop into a museum without having a reservation or paying an entrance fee. The Best Buy.

There are certain things of which one can never have enough. Me? spring tulips! Yesterday was a bench mark, 5 bunches at one go. Apparently the farmers are stymied in export, so they have made a deal with the grocery stores to offer them at likely wholesale price. It certainly is a positive effort to ease the isolation of so many. Tulips are not static, they grow in the vase. Each morning, I rearrange the bouquets. Alstroemeria and tulips are a wonderful combination. Together, they blossom at varying times. I delight in this re-arrangement of colors

You remember the multi-tiered story of the visit to this museum. Reader E, sent pictures of small, smart handbags, and I was going to ask the museum if there was interest for their collection. But alas, as you see from the link above, the end is in sight. Will they be auctioned off? Hopefully not stored away somewhere. Maybe the collection will be combined into a costume museum elsewhere. Alas, the cutting of the purse strings.

too funny not to share!

Some one devised a game for the parents or children with parents who are out and about in this time of no-school-please-stay-at-home. The game is ‘Find the bears in the windows”. When you put a bear in the window, you register it with the Bear in the Window website stating where it is to be found in your city. A clever idea for an evening walk with the family. These bears are clearly ‘loved’ bears. There were more such relics. Then I came across this one.

can you see? it is a flat, cut out bear hanging by his ear above the city silhouette in the window. The occupants were inside on this nice afternoon, and therefore I wasn’t able to get a better shot at the bear.

*the barking dog next to the bear was upset at my pausing to photograph. I could hear the master telling him to ‘hush’.

Biked pass/under these two arrows a number of times. Never saw them. A walking friend brought them to my attention. One points toward a ‘city center route’ the other toward the ‘country-side’ take the latter with a grain of salt.

Whatever these mean? No idea. Not a walker