G+ Migration Blog

Took my dad cherry picking along Lake Ontario today. Got 4 lbs sweet cherries (2nd pic, being washed), and 7 lbs sour (Montmorency), of which the tip of the bag can be seen. Tomorrow I will be pitting and baking pie and strudel.

Road-tripping is done, for now. Instead, I give you nectarine tree. If we're lucky, in 2-3 weeks we will have tasty, tasty fresh off the tree fruit.

In the category of horrible murder death bees, omg, carpenter bees. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA. Also, possibly the first time in my life I may have said yay, poison.

Things that are fun: saying words other people can't (although this one is pronounced the way it looks) - Scajaquada.

National Institute of Standards and Technology appears to have its own herd of deer. #noididnttakeapicturewhileiwasdriving

We are not impressed with Garmin.

#otra

Train stations of the Pacific Northwest: 1. Vancouver 2. Seattle 3. Portland (go by train!) Portland is by far the largest, Vancouver the smallest. They are all architecturally interesting, and quite lovely inside (esp Seattle and Portland).

Car regulatory happy.

Butterflies snacking at scenic overlook. Somewhere about 30+ minutes from Charlottesville.

B/c Canada is funny that way. Originally shared by Where Canada Remember the Crasher Squirrel? We do!  To celebrate the four-year anniversary of Canada's most famous rodent going viral, we present the most hilarious examples of this meme! »  http://www.where.ca/blog/slideshow/crasher-squirrel-best-photos/ http://www.where.ca/blog/slideshow/crasher-squirrel-best-photos/

PB & J cupcake @ DaisyCakes.

For the Sharknado fans: http://shaaark.com/

DC Peeps: Are you out and about between July 26th and July 28th (Friday-Sunday)?? I can haz be there if ur in.

The beagle has landed. #movageddon

Lakes have been crossed greatly. I send you puffy clouds. #movageddon

Halfway (for certain values) to end of this phase. #movageddon

At airport. Since have cleared customs, am technically already repatriated, but looking out windows at coastal mountains, so. In other news, Delta continues to only give me a seat for the flight to Minneapolis. It seems I will have to keep my fingers crossed for the flight to Buffalo. So frustrating. #movageddon

Um, wow. They are playing Zipadeedoodah at the airport Starbucks/food court. Apparently, as part of a sort of 40's era mix. Since it's from a movie that is very fantasy Reconstruction period, and considered racist, I'm surprised.

Wow. So cleaning company cleaned. Then had weird conversation with landlord who was too busy to arrange a time to hand over keys. Landlord lives upstairs.  Upshot of that was that keys went through the mail slot and I must await the pronouncement of whether or not the deposit comes back to me.  Will not get into utilities nonsense (not with them ,with landlord). #movageddon

So, cleaning company that did not come last week did not come. Fortunately, as was traveling to Cavness was able to get different company. And they are cleaning as we type! #movageddon

Waterfalls of Portlandia. #CavnessTours

Favorite thing in Powell's Books - book printed within 50 years of invention of printing in 1400's. Printed in Venice. Latin translation of The Jewish War by Josephus. SO COOL. Yours for only $12,500. #birdonit

Cleaning service is failing to respond. And everything had gone so well . * sadface * #movageddon

There's a bird around here whose call is a descending Major second. It's very pretty, but I can't tell which bird it is. Something common, though.

That's it; it's all gone. Person from work picked up all the furniture and other stuff they needed, junk man removed everything else. Now just waiting to confirm cleaning service. #movageddon

Happy birthday Evan "Skwid" Langlinais!

Delivery window achieved! #movageddon

Junk removal is in process. #movageddon

On the truck. Now to see if they will arrange a functional delivery date. #movageddon

I have a former 70's rock musician from Quebec, a former IBM/travelling sales/film (movie) tech guy from the Prairie, and a local kid with a pilots license who likes Monty Python packing my apartment. #movageddon

They're here!! #movageddon

They say they are on their way! Maybe this move will happen after all? #movageddon

Coffee time. They really are coming to get my stuff tomorrow. I'd better finish up. #idonwannahatepacking

Symbelmyne. There it was, just growing in Van Dusen Botanical Gardens. On mounds, even. I have no idea what it's really called. Symbelmyne it is, then!

Cherry tree leaf patterns in the dust on the deck rail.

Sippy cup lids for mason jars. #dilicking

Do you ever get so tired, you can't remember what you were doing, like ... Do you ever get so tired you can't remember ...

I bribed myself with chocolate today. It worked for a little while. #idonwannahatepacking

I'm sitting home and all alone and all I can think of is how much I'll miss the delicious dish of fresh-caught krill fed fishes #idonwannahatepacking   #pnw   #coping   #salmonids

Have I mentioned I have a rooster crow? Every morning just before and at sunrise (which is really early right now) Caw Caw CAW CAW (repeating pattern of 4, always). Go home, crow, you're drunk. #goodmorningvancouver

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/at-scientific-american/2013/06/27/science-in-action-winner-for-2013-elif-bilgin/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/at-scientific-american/2013/06/27/science-in-action-winner-for-2013-elif-bilgin/

Oh, yeah, the raccoons. So the motion detector on the back stairs/door suddenly kept going on and off around 11:30pm. Eventually, I decided that it had to be an annoying cat, or something. Wrong. A Very Large Mother Raccoon and Her Four Little Raccoons were sitting right by the door. Mom did not look too happy, but I put the drape back and just went and shut the windows. Because there are no screens (not that that would help), and they are just the right height for an adult raccoon to climb into (they are quite low). Boo stuffy night, yay no large furry visitors. After a few more on/off things, I went to look and realized that mom had dragged the kids all the way up to my landing and the one above (this is like 5-6 stories of stairs, FYI) because they were apparently trying to avoid the people walking their dogs in the alley. Meaning mostly the dogs. People keep weird hours here. Eventually, mom decided the coast was clear and headed off down the stairs. The lights kept on/off again so...

I wonder if the raccoons will keep me up again tonight.  Assuming I get to sleep, as I am desperately trying to force myself to finish packing, i.e., sorting, trashing, resorting, labelling, designating, organizing, reorganizing, looking confused, taking a sip of coffee b/c it is chemical motivation, staring into space, noting which muscles are not happy, rinse, lather, repeat.

The U.S. and Canada may have more in common than they'd like. Or it could be just an opinion. Originally shared by Robert Misner Canada's chief scientist says, "Scientific discovery is not valuable unless it has commercial value.”  #ThanksHarper http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2013/05/13/harper_governments_nrc_makeover_is_shortsighted_and_wrongheaded_editorial.html

Worth watching to see his reaction to realizing how our society sees women. http://www.themarysue.com/dustin-hoffman-tootsie/

I've been very lucky and gotten to see 4 plays at Bard on the Beach - two last year and two this. Last year, due to the timing of my arrival, they were at the end of the season. Thus, polished, and both were excellent. King John, I'd never seen before. It's fairly short, lacking in many of the great soliloquys and moments sort of expected in Shakespeare, but not completely lacking, and I think it should be performed more.  The Merry Wives of Windsor was very innovative, and deservedly the hit of last season. It was set in Windsor, Ontario; in the 60's (ranging a little into the 50's and 70's). The music was all country, with a brief excursion into rock and psychedelia. You could only do this in Canada. Someday, I should describe it. I wish there was a DVD to buy. The concept worked brilliantly. This year, I was able to see dress rehearsal performances of Hamlet and Measure for Measure. Although I wanted to see the actor playing Hamlet more obviously showing off ...

Vascillating between #donwanna  and #ihatepacking .

Movers are coming the 11th. Could only get plane ticket the 16th. Have to work with movers to schedule delivery. If it's the 29th or later, will be in NC and DC sometime between the 20th and the 28th. Otherwise, if they deliver on the 22nd or 23rd, would be in NC/DC between 24th and 31st. The regulated stability of my life continues apace.

Achievement unlocked: Moving Date!

Rambling thoughts triggered by some comments on the below linky: I don't buy the not good at it bit. I've had a broad enough range of experiences being taught and teaching and being taught how to teach (specifically in science) that I firmly believe it can be taught and people can learn it.  Unfortunately, there are plenty of situations in which people are not interested in or are not facile at teaching and that's really not valued in a lot of places, either. You do what you need to to keep your job, get paid/promoted/tenure, etc. There's also a lot of figure it out for yourself approaches, which is fine if there's time for that, in fact, it's very useful in science, but there's often a very finite span of time available, and that's all you've got. If you don't figure it out by then, tough. There's also an attitude I've come across that I guess I'll describe as the assumption that if you should be doing it, you'll be good at it, a...

Hi - I'm being frustrated about moving. How's your day?

I probably shouldn't be amused, but I am. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsTuqytpC84&feature=share

Public transit here is not something I unreservedly love, but I thought this new campaign was cute and on point.  My biggest peeve is Disco Dog.  Funky Ferrets may be a problem, but they are most often the homeless and/or long term impaired, so I don't know what would change that. http://www.translink.ca/en/Rider-Guide/Etiquette-on-Transit.aspx http://www.translink.ca/en/Rider-Guide/Etiquette-on-Transit.aspx

They should totally name the NWT "Bob". Originally shared by Sandie Leroy http://mentalfloss.com/article/31071/how-canadian-provinces-and-territories-got-their-names http://mentalfloss.com/article/31071/how-canadian-provinces-and-territories-got-their-names

You know how little things are supposed to mean even more than big things when they are nice? That's at least as true for the not nice things.

Happy Canada Day!