Didn't Know That!

You don't have to go far in Ottawa to come across Canada Geese! Here they are - next to some office buildings.

Rivers and creeks criss-cross throughout the city - and geese are never far away!

I've seen a mama goose sitting on a nest on a cliff above a river - and another in a planter in a shopping centre - with no river in sight...

I find them beautiful - and interesting - but I'm no expert on them.

I was recently listening on a podcast from the UK when the speaker, a bird watcher, mentioned birds she enjoyed watching. Among them were Canada Geese, migrating to the UK for the winter...

I was surprised! Really?!

So I looked it up online: Do some Canada Geese migrate from Canada to the UK for the winter?

The answer was NO - but... apparently more than 150,000 Canada geese live in the UK permanently. They are the offspring of some that were taken to Britain from North America in the 17th century to live in St. James Park in London - as exotic birds.

Unlike in Canada, they can be hunted in duck- hunting season.

They have been known to migrate - to Europe -  if there is a food shortage for them in the UK. But otherwise they don't normally migrate.

Interesting!

Girl Dinner vs Boy Dinner

On warm summer days, I enjoy eating uncooked meals, like this plate of cottage cheese, tomatoes fresh off the vine, smoked garlic sausage - and, in this case - leftover tortellini and part of a " veggie-burger" made of walnuts and lentils.

That's called a "girl dinner" my daughter informed me, when I told her what I was eating.

Why?

I don't know. Possibly because it involves no cooking.

Is there also a "boy dinner"? I asked...

Barbecued chicken (bought pre-cooked at the supermarket) with a diet coke to drink, she replied.

(I had no idea!!)

Baking with (Boiled) Quinoa

My latest baking adventure has taken me into the crazy world of replacing flour with cooked quinoa!

It all started when I dropped into a coffee shop for a snack. A chocolate loaf caught my eye, so I ordered it with a cup of coffee.

That was probably the best chocolate cake I've ever eaten, I later told my daughter. I'd love to get the recipe.

She immediately googled "chocolate loaf at Bridgehead Coffee in Ottawa", and reported back: Well, it caused quite a stir on Reddit when they started to serve it a while back. It's gluten-free because it has quinoa in it instead of flour.

(It also has a cup of unsweetened cocoa in it - so it's very chocolatey!)

She eventually found me a recipe on "All Recipes) that seemed to have the same ingredients as the one on the coffee shop's menu - minus oatmeal. 

I followed the recipe, but I did want to cut back on the butter.

I was a little disappointed when I first cut into the warm cake. It did taste better the second day - after it had been refrigerated.

If you love chocolate as much as I do, you might want to give it a try!

Chatting With Strangers...

I came across a book that reminds me of my parents...

It's about chatting with strangers.

The author - a psychology professor in the UK - lists a lot of benefits of "small talk" with people we don't know, people we will probably never see again.

My parents were good at it. I remember one of my students saying that old people waiting at bus stops were the only people she practiced talking English to. And that the weather was the most common topic.

Is it a lost art in the current generation - so that now professors are writing and talking about this strange phenomenon?!

Dreaming...

I recently came across an interesting quote, attributed to Gloria Steinem...

"Dreaming is, after all, a form of planning."

I had never thought of it that way...

I'm thankful that, as a child, I had time to dream and to do my own thing. There were very few planned activities in the villages where I spent my earliest childhood years. Our family attended church and I probably attended Sunday school, but my only memory of either was a candlelight Christmas service when I sat with  older kids in the dimly lit church. (So exciting being with the "big kids.")

Later, living in the larger town of Red Deer, Alberta, my best friend Jean and I regularly attended Friday night movies.

My most vivid movie memories were of war-time Europe and exotic tropical places ("Island in the Sun"). Novels I read also made me curious about the world.

So it's probably no surprise that I headed overseas when I was 19 - to discover what was over there - and later moved across the continent to live and work in Montreal, where I hoped to become fluent in French.

Childhood dreams prepared me for the path I eventually took. Those dreams unknowingly became my plans.

Indomitable Love of Learning

In her retirement, my mother looked for ways to stay mentally sharp. 

While still living in Kelowna, she took computer classes at the public library. She did not want to fall technologically behind! 

She also joined the Seniors' Centre, where she took other courses. Somewhere in the house, I have two paintings she made in an art class. I also found a story she wrote in a course on writing about your life. I wish she had written more, but I'm thankful to have her account of the excitement that erupted in the Village of Hay Lakes when news arrived that the Second World War was over. 

Even in her 80's and 90's - after moving here to Ottawa - she stayed socially and mentally alert, forming a Scrabble group that met in her apartment several afternoons a week to play Scrabble.

Did she also form a trivia game group? I don't know - but I recently came across a thick folder containing pages of trivia questions... 

It would be something she would have done!

What Kind of Car?!

Irecently noticed this car in a mall parking lot.

The four wheels were't straight up and down. They were on an angle - though that's not as noticeable on these pictures.

No hood over the engine?! A pink engine part open to the air?!

A racing car?! That's what is written on the windshield... 

I've never seen anything quite like it!