I Can't Believe It's Been a Month

Mum had a medical emergency - fortunately all is well.  But waiting for help in various emergency rooms across the city is enough to completely exhaust the healthy, never mind a mum just barely on this side of 80.  The care component is long gone from health care here in Ontario.  You truly have to be exceptionally strong to be sick.  At the end of the day (3 days actually), she ended up having her gall bladder removed and was released from hospital after 12 hours.  Not even a wheel chair?!  Fortunately we were able to find her one and made the 1/2 mile trek to the car.  She was glad to be home in her own bed. 

Here on the computer front, I was able to do my first landscape drawing of the season.  Maddening the steps required to get there, but now I'm up and running.  Dynascape software, the landscape software I use, doesn't run on Mac.  So spent many hours with an Apple Genius who helped me divide my hard drive and install Windows and Dynascape.  Reading that back it sounds all so simple.  I should have photographed my brains oozing from my head after I thought I'd broken my new computer by installing Bootcamp and nothing would work.  

Interesting to see all the broken Apple bits brought in by their owners while I was sitting there.   Signal problems for phones most common.  Oh, and broken screens.  One looked like she'd used it for her Colt 45 target practice.  "I'm sure if you'd just replace the screen it will be just fine!"  Others came in holding a device in one hand, and with the other gestured how they'd like something from here (hold hand heaven-ward) and place gently on top of new device.  I know exactly how they feel.

Not only did they get my computer to work, they also pushed brains back in.  It takes me 3 times to get into Windows from Mac environment - not sure why, but the moment it takes 4 times, the Mac will go back into its box and I'll go see my clever Apple peeps.

The weather has been odd.  Coldish, then warm, then cold and back to warm.  They're forecasting 14C this week (57F) completely ridiculous.  It should be around 2C (35F).  This is one of the few days in February that Bart needed his coat.  He curled up by the air vent in the kitchen to warm up his whiskers.

We did have a small dump of snow.  Really quite sad when the snowman is barely bigger than a Jack.

From Heather's garden down the street.  She has a beautiful all white garden that was featured in a fancy garden mag.  Can't remember seeing so many Galanthus so darn early.

The Hamamelis and I have coffee every morning; me in my living room, him just outside the window.  It started to colour 7 weeks early and adds a real bright spot to my day.  (Smells wonderful).

The dafs are pushing up.  With any luck yesterday's -21C (-5F) windchill didn't hurt them too much.

The fierce storm that killed so many across the US blew through on Saturday.  Most of the punch was out of the storm, but the winds were sustained at over 100K (62MPH).   Only casualty in the neighbourhood was an Eastern White Pine.  Very unusual - it didn't come up at its roots, it broke mid-trunk and landed up against the home.  We had no idea that anything had happened until Davey started up their saws at 7:55 on Sunday a.m.  Sad to lose another old-big tree.

This month, I'm looking forward to Canada Blooms - it will be combined with the Homeshow....should be interesting.  I've got some seed orders yet to place.  And if this weather keeps up, it will be the earliest garden clean-up ever.  I can hardly wait!