Just another day in paradise

I used to say that at school and mean it ironically. Today I'm being perfectly serious. I had a wonderful day, rode my bike downtown and, having kicked myself for not taking a camera on Monday when I rode, I took a camera today. Even though the purpose of the excursion was other than photographic, I enjoyed being able to take my time on the way home and shoot some pics. I've also decided that when you have a camera it gives you a great excuse to stop half way up nasty little hills. I took full advantage of that today.

On a random note, I think Angus the budgie has a wonderful way of cleaning his cage. When there are too many feathers in it he simply sits on the perch and flaps his wings as hard as he can causing all the feathers on the bottom of the cage to lift off and fly to the outside where they become the staff's problem to clean up. It's not only cats that have staff. I'm convinced that birds do too.

I played around with some cartooning last night and had quite a bit of fun. (no pictures of that) It's easy when someone shows you step-by-step how to do it. Also the skill of looking for shapes will carry over into other kinds of drawing.

Today I used my Blackberry to send a message that I enjoyed very much. A former colleague emailed me and, among other things, asked how I was enjoying retirement. I was able to tell him that I was sitting on a bench in the sunshine with my bike beside me overlooking the city. When I got the email I was taking a picture of some thistles that had gone to seed. It's a tough life.