A humdinger of a day!

Today while out on a leisurely stroll, I heard that sound. That low and lovely vibration of a hummingbird. I see and hear them a lot but it's often fleeting, more like, 'ooo, there goes a hummingbird!'

However, today I got a very nice treat! This hummingbird buzzed overhead and landed in the brambles right beside me. I stopped and watched... lovely. A 'Anna's Hummingbird' and a very tame one! And! I had my camera! I sloooowly get my camera out of my pocket thinking the birdie will shoot off at any moment. But nope, the birdie was still there, so I took a piccie.



Then, I hedged my bets and flicked the switch to 'video'... and OMG! The birdie is still there! So I filmed this:



I get sore arms holding my camera at a weird angle and so stop the David Attenborough impression. I say thanks to the birdie and walk on. As I do, I tell a couple walking towards, that there's a hummingbird there. They stop and watch it... cos it's still there!



Then I wait some more and see that they've told another couple... it's still there!



Aww. It's lovely to see the pleasure of a wee, teeny, widdle bird can bring.

I wish the pics and video could have captured the hummingbird better. Especially the red iridescent throat and forehead. Alas, it's an old cheap point and shoot that I had... it has it's limits, as do I! But here's a wonderful video another local got out his kitchen window of the same species building a nest over ten days last spring. It's gorgeous.



When I lived in Britain, I was so surprised to learn that there were no hummingbirds there. I shall pack and release some when I next visit. ;-)

I wish I still had my cat.

She would have loved this!

Ok... I would have loved this. ;-)

A Valentine's Day Confessional

Move over Robbie Coltrane, Jeff Bridges, Mike Holmes, Daniel Radcliffe (yes, I know, I'm now a pathetic cougar), Stephen Fry, Eddie Izzard, Rick Mercer, etc... I'm adding a new 'I Would' to my list:




Why? You might ask.

I have been reading 'The God Delusion' and I've become quite smitten by Richard Dawkins' writing; so articulate, well reasoned and humorous. Plus, his book has put into words, thoughts that I've had my whole life though he's expressed them much more clearly and with much more substance. It's like looking into a mirror and seeing yourself, magnified and more beautiful than you once believed. His passion for life, or rather, his very existence as a biological life form in the natural world, is very contagious to me.

Though I'm devouring the book, atheism is not new to me. I've never believed in God/gods. I was never convinced of their existence and I've never had the need or desire to believe in supernatural entities.

I've never really advertised my non-belief and have just considered religion irrelevant. BUT! I think my perspective on that is changing. I just might be turning into a Raging Atheist! ;-)

And here's part of the reason why:

Isn't he just dreamy? ;-)

The Penis is Evil

Thanks to the wind blowing a gale out there, I've been up since 2.30 am. After reading for a while, I remembered that on some discussion forum I read, someone posted a YouTube clip of an interesting film trailer.

It was for a 1974 film called 'Zardoz' starring Sean Connery and it was quite frankly the weirdest trailer that I had ever seen... so I just had to watch the entire film.

So earlier this morning I downloaded and watched it via iTunes for $4 CND - money well spent, imo!

What a head trip! I can't really describe it.

Just watch the trailer:

As for a review? Ha! I'm still reeling from seeing Sean Connery run around in thigh-high come-fuck-me boots.




It was, at once, one of the worst and best film I've ever seen. If you like movies like that, I highly recommend it.

I can't think of anything else to say, so I'll let Zardoz speak:

"The gun is good. The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was, but the gun shoots death, and purifies the Earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth . . . and kill!"

Ok, since Zardoz brought up the evil penis, I'll mention that there's another penis-related scene that's just hilarious:






It really is the weirdest film that I've seen in a long time. It's great!

(I have no idea what it was about though, lol!)

Mmmmm..... coffee....

This is what a bit of coffee left in a coffee mug looks like after two weeks.



I didn't have it in me to photograph what a toilet full of 'a night of pee' looks like after festering for two weeks. Just imagine a layer of grey fuzz living in your bowl. =:-o

But, yippy! I got home a few days ago. Have been 'given occupancy' by the fire department, building inspector and restoration company. Talk about feeling a lack of control in your own life...

It's nice to be back but weird. Only about a third of us in the building are back so it's a bit of a ghost town, half the building is sealed off as an asbestos containment zone and it's still smokey and smelly in the corridors. Not an 'ahhhh home sweet home' feeling, really.

It could have been so much worse. Still, it sure makes one think.