Walking through the Farm...

Lisa, Lynne and I decided to go for a walk today - giving myself a break from apartment rearrangement and editing. I suggested that we got to the Farm - that is, the Central Experimental Farm - because it's about halfway between my place and Lisa's, and it's a break from the city - within the city.

It was a cold and windy day, but could have been far worse. While we were walking, it didn't rain or snow - though it snowed later, just about the time I was getting home. It was nice for a walk. We even got some scattered sunshine.

We went first to the Frog Pond, which doesn't look like much in April. The frogs, which are brass, were still in storage for the winter.

Then we went to the Arboretum, and wandered (over rather boggy grass) into the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. There were a few boisterous, happy dogs, and their owners - one named Radar was particularly cute. I haven't explored the Wildlife Garden much at all, and there were many wonders:

• A bright red cardinal alone in a bare tree, singing his heart out. We could hear him for a long time. "It's amazing that one bird can make so much noise," said Lynne. I thought of my budgies, and said nothing.
  
  
• There is a 'backyard garden' with flagstone paths and flower beds - not much to see in April, though there were a few green sprouts appearing under the leaves. A handwritten note in the window of the building - which really did look more like a house than a government building - noted the type of wildlife we might expect to see.
  
  
• There's a pond for amphibians, with a tiny waterfall. We stood on the bridge in silence for a while, listening. Beautiful; serene.

It always brings back childhood memories to go to the Arboretum, where I used to toboggan as a kid (in the winter) and picnic (in the summer).

I didn't take my camera, but I had my Blackberry, and kept stopping to take pictures. Photos of the day:

1. At the Arboretum: trees and water.



- - -

2. ( Trees. )

3. ( An enchanted tree. )

4. ( The crow. )

5. ( A pond. )

6. ( Simply Biscotti. )

(no subject)

Just to commemorate what I've been doing in the apartment: it started out as a project to move bookshelves. The ones in my bedroom, full of books. Since I want to move my comic books out of storage, I have to put them somewhere, and I thought I'd have to move books into the living room to make space.

But no. maaseru looked thoughtfully around the room, said, "You don't need to do all that work," and showed me how I could get the comics placed by simply moving the bed a few feet to the right.

That did mean taking out the little table I'd been using as a writing desk. I'm fond of that table, which is a little rickety now, but serviceable. It belonged (I think) to my mother's grandfather, who likely made it himself - he was a carpenter.

Then Pim offered me her desk, and now I have ( a beautiful new desk area. )

Meat loaf...

It seems weird to me that a recipe calling itself "Healthy Meat Loaf" would start with ketchup and sugar as its first two ingredients.

I'm finding recipe after recipe that puts ketchup into meatloaf. Which seems very strange to me. I've never put ketchup in meat loaf in my life, and can't think why I'd want to - though conceivably I might have ketchup with it.

It just seems wrong.

My mother used to put chopped apples in meat loaf, and I tend to think of that as normal - it added just a little sweetness and just a little tartness and kept the dish moist. I'm not seeing that in the online recipes, either.