Pink barn

I love old barns. We had one up north, a ramshackle, disintegrating, greying, roomy old building that housed our rabbits, goats, chickens, geese, and horse. Cosily enough, even though the old boards had shrunk over the years, leaving gaps we could see light through. But the fragrant bales of hay in the loft, the trampled hay on the floor provided warmth and comfort all winter.

Sometimes, in the summer, I would just stand there in the cool, listening to the interspecies chatter around me, revelling in the colours and shapes; the silvery grey of old wood, the ripe yellow-brown of the tail end of last year's hay, rich browns of horse and old leather saddle, pitchforks and pails, bags of feed smelling of grain and molasses, a smooth, round goose egg . . .

25 years later, the sight of a decaying barn brings it all back.

Small barn in afternoon sunlight, Fraser Valley.

Random meanderings

The night is calm and clear. No snow, no rain, no wind. Nothing to shovel tomorrow.

My desk is clear; so is the calendar. The bills are paid. The next event is a whole week away.

Let-down time. De-stressing. And I wander around, picking things and ideas up, putting them down, unable to settle.

So here's a collection of random notes and randomly-chosen recent photos.

House finch, at my feeder today.

1. My oldest grand-daughter just announced her engagement. I'm not old enough for that!

Reflection of condominium tower in an office building, Metrotown. A couple of days ago.

2. The "Tumbledown Dairy" we photographed a couple of weeks ago collapsed in the snowstorm. Only the rear part is left standing.

Bench beside our walkway. Freshly upholstered.

3. My grandson gave me a book for Christmas; "Does Anything Eat Wasps?" by New Scientist. It is a collection of short answers to questions posed to the "Last Word" column of the magazine. It's light reading; the perfect bathroom book. I've been reading about how the British Isles are like a teeter-totter (Scotland coming up, England sinking for now), how they get the bubbles in Aero chocolate bars, and how fast the wind has to be blowing to keep the mosquitoes from biting you. (That one, at least, is a useful bit of knowledge in BC.)

And the wasps? I have seen ants eating them, spiders do, too, frogs love them, birds ... What I found unexpected in the book was the story of a crab eating a wasp.

Orchid. Taken in IKEA, on Boxing Day. Not a great shot, but I was surprised that it came out at all.

4. Scruffy the squirrel dropped in today. She is fat! Really, really fat! Her fur is still dull and ratty and missing along the spine, but she bulges all over. It looks like someone has been very generous with food, now that the weather is so bad, and she has been taking full advantage of it.

It's a difficult winter for our wildlife; we feed some because they are cute or pretty, but others have to struggle to survive, in a climate that until now had been kindly. Many won't make it. Huckleberry described the plight of herons, the other day; the photograph of the mourning mate haunts me.

Sofia does Mastermind. Her rules. Last night.

5. I don't make New Year's Resolutions. That way, I don't break them. Good planning, huh?
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Drive-by

Patchwork barn:

Delta farmland. Taken from the car window.

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