World Enough and Time

You have a certain amount of envy from at least one quarter tonight.

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Because of my surroundings, you mean? But Orleans is nice too!

Though it's really true that the Glebe in springtime is spectacular.

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My neighbourhood certainly has its good spots. Fewer by the year, due to urban sprawl, or so it seems, but they're still there.

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I used to go for walks in Orleans with my friend Diane. It was really quite lovely, though even then there was an increasing number of encroachments by shopping malls and the like.

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Some day, I might hope to see large swathes of residential housing-as-is hereabouts sold off to wildlife/conservation concerns to convert back into wilderness. Realistically, it's about as likely to happen as my dream of seeing all Canadians fluent in at least four languages: English, French, one First Nations tongue and one other language from somewhere else on Earth.

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Chinese, perhaps? A very high percentage of Canadians speak Chinese, and it's one I find increasingly fascinating.

I once knew a few words and phrases in Cree but I've forgotten them, unfortunately.

Heck, these days even my French is rusty.

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The shopping malls - although increasingly convenient in some respects - do trouble me a fair bit.

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Yes, me too. And they are so handy. But... insidious.

And, in their way, not as handy as they might be, especially the big ones with the box stores, where the bus stop is always some distance away (beyond the always-humungous, always-filled parking lots) and the distance between stores, or even within stores, necessitates a major hike.

I suppose I should look on it as 'extra exercise'.

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Additional exercise is always good up to a point, yes. Although I agree that those parking lots could better serve the city if turned into greenspace.

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yes, I agree. Green space is good.

And I don't think people should be encouraged to (a) drive or (b) buy stuff. But that's the way of the world.

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tudorpot.livejournal.com

Your apartment certainly is in a lovely setting.

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It really is. I don't know how I lucked into this - good karma? Not only do I live in such a nice place, but I have two good fannish friends in the same building - it's wonderful.

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threeringedmoon.livejournal.com

Love the photos. You look as though you have beauty inside and out.

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The little feathery guys are flattered and pleased. And having seen your photos and knowing your eye for beauty, so am I.

I'm hoping to take more pictures than I have been. I've fallen out of the habit, but it really is a good thing to do.

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megaloo13.livejournal.com

You certainly have gorgeous surroundings. Everything looks so in bloom and spring-ish, it's lovely! It's all rainy and unseasonably chilly for me at the moment, so I am especially envious. :)

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If its any consolation, we have had more than our share of rain over the past week, and even one night with frost or something close to it, so a warm and sunny day today was a nice change. I hope your weather gets nicer soon!

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monsieureden.livejournal.com

Love it! How high up in the apt building are you?

I wish you were on the way to Stratford. I'd visit when I go (aiming for week of August 13th...)

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I'm not high up at all - I'm on the ground floor!

Ooh, Stratford! I'm planning and hoping to go this summer, but I don't yet know when. What will you be seeing?

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monsieureden.livejournal.com

Hoping to see King Lear (with Brian Bedford - he was Malvolio last year), maybe Comedy of Errors, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm hoping to head out there after my friend's wedding in August, with Josh. :)

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How wonderful! I'd like to see any and all of those.

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Excellent pictures! And the tiny featheries are adorable (as ever)! Good to get an idea of what 'home' looks like!

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Glad you enjoyed. The budgies love to pose.

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Logan looks particularly svelte and elegant! And the new guys are very bright!

I think birds in general love to pose. This afternoon, I was watching a cock chaffinch in a hawthorn tree - a sweet little guy with a dusky pink front. He was cheeping loudly and posing very prettily.

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Logan looks particularly svelte

He does, doesn't he? Such a cutie. It was fun when he was side by side with Pryde, the rotund budgie. Mutt and Jeff? Maybe more like a bowling pin and a bowling ball.

the new guys are very bright!

That they are - in both colouring and personality.

I was watching a cock chaffinch in a hawthorn tree - a sweet little guy with a dusky pink front.

So beautiful! I've been looking at the birds lately as I walk - mostly sparrows, starlings, crows, and other non-colourful things, but all lovely in their own ways. There was a group of starlings snacking on someone's lawn, their heads bobbing up and down, and I couldn't help thinking, "Pick a little, talk a little" from The Music Man.

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So beautiful! I've been looking at the birds lately as I walk - mostly sparrows, starlings, crows, and other non-colourful things, but all lovely in their own ways. There was a group of starlings snacking on someone's lawn, their heads bobbing up and down, and I couldn't help thinking, "Pick a little, talk a little" from The Music Man.

Starlings are delightful little guys: all iridescent, like oil on water, and speckly, and cheeky, with a wonderful walk!
I was back over in St As today (library books to be renewed, and lunch with Lisa and Jane), and spent a while watching a group of 5-6 crows pestering 2 old ladies (who were eating pasties or bridies while sitting on a bench in the square near the church) for pastry crumbs. The crows were mugging shamelessly, dancing around being cute. They are very intelligent and characterful birds, with comical facial expressions. As the sun gleamed off their feathers, they looked quite handsomely iridescent, too: blue-black heads and purple-black bodies.

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Birds are fun to photograph. I should try doing some birdwatching, and see if I can take more photos.

Well, maybe not with my cheap little camera. But I could try.

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sparklebutch.livejournal.com

I'm glad you're doing photographing! We talked about it, I remember.

I love the ones with the waters - #5 and especially #9

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I'm glad you liked them. Thanks! Yes, I hope to do more.

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brashley46.livejournal.com

Nice shots, all. What's the tree in #3? Dogwood?

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I'm not sure what it is. I'll see if I can find out.

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Looks as if it might be a flowering cherry (or related fruit) to me, just by the disposition of the blossom.

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That would be my guess. But I can't be sure.

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I am sorry that my recent online absence prevented me from hearing about your two new feathered pals till now... but they are lovely.

(And if I could ever steal time to be able to just think, I could of course figure out how to send you the photos I took of Logan -- I'll try to work on that!)

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Jubilee and Peter are real charmers, lively and healthy. I'd delighted with them. I hope they are delighted with me. They have strong opinions - and strong voices. I'm training them to enjoy Captain Jack and the Doctor.

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I'm training them to enjoy Captain Jack and the Doctor.

Every budgie needs a hobby. Some even have their own websites, I imagine.

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Scary thought. Maybe I should check to see if there's a "www.millet.com".

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Huh... probably wouldn't help, as I'm sure they will have signed in under aliases!

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until after 7:30, so the light was no longer good. Mea culpa. Hope you enjoy them anyway.

Well, to each her own, but speaking both as a photographer and as someone who has sensory sensitivity issues, late-day light is quite desirable at times, and these photos showed no lacks, to my eyes. The diffuse, indirect daylight lends mood and avoids glare. If you think some of them were a little dark in places, lacking some detail in shadowy areas, then that's the lack of your camera -- a manual SLR or otherwise film-using camera could be made to avoid that small imperfection, with practice.

I liked all these photos. Colors suffused them in a delightfully understated way. Also, nice memories. Thanks for posting them.

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I'm glad you liked them. Yes, the problem with the lighting is really that I have a cheap camera which doesn't do much. Which is okay. But it would be nice to get more subtleties. Lillian has a camera I covet, with a gorgeous zoom lens. Ah well.

I don't really want to put a lot of time and effort into photography anyway, but it's fun to play with.

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Ow. You have a dalek as your icon. My ears hurt. I need subtitles....

Seriously -- photography would be the thing I could lose myself in, easily; then again, so could any number of my other interests. Wish I could multiply myself. All the extra time a person would have! (Except now I'm getting scary mental images from Watchmen, brr.)

I'd like to see Lillian's camera someday. I think it might be one of the new film-using digital cameras...? I could easily blow my entire next paycheck on one of those.

And I think you'd be a natural at serious photography. You have a good sense of composition.

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You have a dalek as your icon.

It's a silent Dalek. It's from a wonderful book called "The Journal of Impossible Things", that was featured in the latest episode of Doctor Who - drawn by the Doctor himself - sort of.

Lillian's camera is nice, but not that spectacular. It's a digital Kodak with a nice zoom lens. I can get the details for you if you like.

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It's still a Dalek!

I'm now watching Season One of Doctor Who, in order, and I just came up against "Dalek." Honest, tho', that's now why I shut off the player and headed out the door for the library....

The joy of checking out someone else's camera in person is just that: the joy of handling it and ooo-aahhing it. hee

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"Dalek" was one of my favourite episodes in that series.

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Ah! then I have something delightful to look forward to, when I get home tonight. Excellent.

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I would recommend turning off the sound and using subtitles, and I think you'll appreciate it. That was the first episode where one starts to realize the scope and depth of the stories on the show.

And Van Statten is one of my favourite DW villains.

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I would recommend turning off the sound and using subtitles, and I think you'll appreciate it.

I was thinking the same thing. I gave it a try with the sound on... and it was fine. Wonder what the differences might be between this episode and the ones that I couldn't bear to listen to? Only one Dalek? A different sort of Dalek speaking?

That was the first episode where one starts to realize the scope and depth of the stories on the show.

Yes!! I see why you claim it as your favorite of the first season. The Doctor went through an incredible range of emotions. It truly scared me when he, at first sight of the Dalek, was terrified. I think the actor can be proud of his role in the Doctor Who spectrum, indeed.

And Van Statten is one of my favourite DW villains.

Okay, he was reprehensible. And he was clearly supposed to be someone (or an amalgamation of someones) seen in news photos now and then. He had that generic hot-shot look.

Again, however, this show follows the general BBC tradition (I cite MI-5 as well) of having utterly horrendous American accents. Sorry, but it jarred me to hear Diana Goddard's name pronounced with the stress on the second syllable -- nobody American would say it any other way than "Godd-drd." Little things, hm?

I found this episode quite delightful. If I watch it again, I may go the subtitles route, however, because it did begin to get to me by the end. The episode was worth it.

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