Friday 29 August 2014

Postcard blog

Rather that turn this into a postcard blog - I made a separate postcard blog. :-) --> Mermaid's Postcards.

Please let me know in the comments if you have a postcard blog you'd like me to check out.

Monday 25 August 2014

Postcards in the mail, week of August 18

Another great week of postcards in my mail box!

August 18
A private swap from within Canada!
Received postcard

This adorable critter was an official Postcrossing postcard from Finland.
Received postcard

Tuesday 19 August 2014

Charge!

Brooks Medieval Faire, August 1, 2014.


Brooks Medieval Faire

Monday 18 August 2014

Hermione

Someone did not enjoy her visit to the vet for a check-up. :-)

Hermione

Friday 15 August 2014

Postcards in the mail, week of August 11

At this point last week, I was a little sad because I'd only received three postcards through Postcrossing, and I'd been signed up for over two months. I had sent 16 postcards and my first card still hasn't been registered, it was sent to Russia and is now marked as expired.

One week later, I have zero complaints! Because this was the week that things started to balance out.

On Monday, I received this lovely card from the US:
Received postcard

AND - what turned out to be the first card mailed to me. It took 41 days to arrive from Chile!
Received postcard

On Tuesday, I received from Germany:
Received postcard

On Wednesday, from New Zealand:
Received postcard

And on Thursday - this beautiful card came from Russia:
Received postcard

And I received this through a private swap:
Received postcard

Each card is beautiful and I appreciate the care that went into the selection. I am also impressed that the one from New Zealand arrived in 10 days, only one day slower than the German one. Germany is famous for having a speedy postal service.

This was a stressful week, taking the cats to a new vet, to catch up on needles and have some issues investigated. To have colourful postcards arrive from many different countries made me happy, and I'm really glad that I've caught the Postcrossing bug now. I have seven Postcrossing cards in transit to six different countries at the moment, plus about seven in private swaps.

If you're into stats and pie charts (they're cool!), you can see my Postcrossing stats so far.

Mormons and Google

The Mormons are interfering with my job search. Type "Calgary Employment Resource Centre" into Google, and the first hit is http://ldsjobs.org, which is not the government resource I was looking for.

I thought I could circumnavigate them while using Google Maps to navigate to the closest government Calgary employment resource centre near me today ... nope. I ended up outside an LDS church.

I'd say it was quite deliberate on their part - they list themselves as "Calgary Alberta Canada Employment Resource Centre" on Google without mentioning the religious affiliation. Those darn Mormons!

... I don't think I've blogged about it publicly but yes, I'm job hunting. I was laid off in June when my company laid off 400 people. And yes, I'm grouchy about being misdirected to the wrong place. :-)

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Postcrossing postcards for swap

I've started a new blog for postcards. My postcards for swap are now at http://mermaidpost.blogspot.ca/2014/08/postcards-for-swap.html.

Trail along the water

If you are in the neighbourhood of Moraine Lake, and want to hike, the trail along the lake is a good one. No hills! You will need to walk on gravel and dirt and around trees.

And there is the occasional footbridge.
Bridge

And it's beautiful!
Path

Robin Williams


This death was like a punch to the gut. I've been sad about other beloved actors passing, like James Garner recently. But Robin Williams dying is just so hard to comprehend.

My family lived in Moscow from 1977-79 - the one in the USSR. We heard about this brilliant new comic and when we got back to Canada, one of the first TV shows we watched in the hotel room was Mork and Mindy. He lit up the screen and was so wonderful and electric - but you knew that.

I hold no judgement on how he died - depression is an awful and terrible disease and my heart breaks for him. I post this with love - an international list of suicide crisis hotlines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines.

Sunday 10 August 2014

Water level

Moraine Lake, July 30, 2014.

2014-07-30-lake03

Friday 8 August 2014

Rockpile at Moraine Lake

Rockpile at Moraine Lake

Thursday 7 August 2014

Elk in Banff National Park

No drive along the Bow Valley Parkway is complete without spotting at least one wild animal. Like this handsome fella.

Elk

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Moraine Lake again

Last week I went back to Moraine Lake, this time with a couple of friends. The lake was higher, thanks to melted snow, and oh so beautiful.

Moraine Lake

Friday 1 August 2014

Kitties and the heat

After the unusually long winter we had, I vowed that I would not complain about the heat this summer. So all I have to say is "Wowzers, this week has been a scorcher". :-)

The kitties are tolerating the heat. Here are a few shots from today.

These two are becoming friendlier and friendlier, when Charlie isn't swatting Chloe for some kitty reason.
The big cats

Little Miss Hermione had some hygiene issues last night, ones that long-haired cats are prone to. I insisted on taking her into the bathroom to clean her up. She hasn't quite forgiven me yet. :-)
The little one - sleepy

The little one - annoyed