Culture — Page 70 — You are in My World Now

You know what grinds my gears? Rude people

January 19, 2008 by Tricia

The other day I was walking down the street to my doctors office. I’m lucky enough to live within walking distance to a few of my doctors.

Unfortunately during the time that I was walking, there were also a number of parents or perhaps nannies/babysitters walking from the nearby school with their young children. Every group of people I passed totally blocked the sidewalk.

Don’t people move over to one side when walking on a street or pathway anymore?

Just to get by these people I had to walk on the grassy boulevard or stop in peoples driveways as a they passed by using the whole sidewalk. As a result my shoes got damp and covered in mud as it was a warm winter day and things were melting.

Come on people. Have some courtesy. I was always taught to move to the side, usually the right, when people are passing. If you’re walking in a group go single file when you pass others.

It’s just the polite thing to do!

Plus, while I may look like a fairly health woman I have a chronic disease that causes me constant pain and I was in a great deal of pain that day. Slowing my walk by having to wait for others to pass by, and walking on uneven ground when people were to rude to allow me to share the sidewalk only caused me more pain.

Can you say Couch Potato?

January 16, 2008 by Tricia

Wordless Wednesday

Midnight watching TV while on the couch with my husband:

A few minutes later – fast asleep:

Our puppy likes to spend some quality time with my husband each evening.

They play some ball and then Midnight will often climb up on the couch with him and chew on her toys while she either sprawls in his lap or lies at his feet.

Notice that she has her favorite squeaky toy and her chew tire beside her? She loves those toys and they’ve held up fairly well to her sharp baby teeth and constant chewing.

There are more cute photos of Midnight on my main blog Tricia’s Musings and also a funny sleeping pose of hers on Odd Planet.

I need to keep my guard up when walking my puppy

January 16, 2008 by Tricia

Yesterday when I was walking our puppy a man crossed the street to come over and pet her.

I had a strange feeling about the man as he approached. He was very short and looked like some of the patients I’ve cared for many times in the ER. I have no proof but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d just come out of our drug rehab or possibly the psych ward. Remember I live only three blocks from the hospital so there are patients that are currently being treated for a disorder walking around at times as well as those that have been recently discharged.

The man turned out to be nice. He said he really loved Labs and that they always loved him. Judging from my pups reaction what he’d said was true as she greeted him as enthusiastically as she would anyone else.

Still … the whole encounter got me thinking about safety. Walking up to someone with a small or young dog could be a good way to get close to someone when you have bad intentions. I mean, most people that have approached me when I’ve been walking my dog are very friendly and I’m sure they are just dog lovers who want to meet my puppy, but it would be a good way for someone that wanted to mug you or perhaps even steal the dog to get close.

I think I’ll keep my guard up a bit more when I’m walking Midnight – well at least until she’s fully grown and hopefully a bit more protective (or at least might intimidate a would be robber). I know labs aren’t known for being guard dogs but I’d hope someone with bad intentions would think twice before approaching someone with a mature lab.

I walk the puppy at all hours and for the most part I feel very safe walking around. This was the first time that I felt really uncomfortable when we’ve met someone that wanted to pet her. I guess that was a little wake up call.

Snow and ice covered branches

January 13, 2008 by Tricia

Join

We don’t have any snow right now, but two weeks ago after a big snow storm I went outside with my camera and took some photos of my snow and ice covered plants.

This is a photo of my rose, Therese Bugnet. It’s branches are red in the winter and as you can see it’s lovely branches were covered with a delicate layer of crystallized snow. It looked so much prettier in person than it does in this photo.

Actually it was quite beautiful outside after the snow. All of the trees were covered in snow and as it melted icicles formed.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

It feels like Spring around here

January 12, 2008 by Tricia

Grab the Photo Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Visit participants.

This weeks theme is Skinny

The weather’s been fairly nice hear in Toronto over the last week or so. We had a bit of a warm spell. Of course this was right after a major freeze so it was quite welcome!

The weathers been warm enough that on some days it felt downright spring like! So I guess it’s only fitting that I decided to post a photo of a lovely spring flower called Chionodoxa.

You can purchase Chionodoxa in most stores that sell spring bulbs. They come in white, pink and blue. Of course the blue – as seen above – is really more of a pale purple or mauve.

These flowers bloom in the late spring in clusters. I love seeing their masses of skinny petaled blooms each year. I think the flowers last about three weeks before the flowers and the plant begin to die down as the heat of summer begins to arrive.