...and I'm starting to be a bit less tired after the 3 weeks of intense astronomizing (conference in Holland, summer school at Arecibo (!!!)) and somewhat exhausting return trips to Canada. I have soooo many photos to publish in albums. Coming soon. This, I think, is my first evening alone, feeling calm, for a very long time, and it's great. Plus I got some excellent errands done (soon D's 30th b-day!).
And on Friday we get the keys to our new HOUSE, if all goes well. Photos to be posted as soon as that happens. Summer in Brockville is magical btw. I don't know why we don't have more visitors. To be remedied in 9 days (in-laws + BiL to be visiting).
While waiting for more photos, here is a photo I took during my time of contemplation of whether I would be able to go on the cat walk onto the receiver platform hanging 150 m above the 305 m dish of the Arecibo observatory. I did what Pierce Brosnan did... (i.e. not what 007 did)
At the peak of the temperature today, 7 degrees, I did go out for a jog. And it was nice! I guess the cold made me go fast enough to stay warm. Finally getting around to buy a swimsuit last night gave me all the motivation I needed for that (the trying-on-part, obviously...)
The rest of the day - Good Friday, I've spent reading, editing little movies in iMovie, editing RAW photos in LR, while every now and then chatting with family back home and David who's on duty in Montreal. Altogether very very nice. Under normal circumstances, I have no wish whatsoever to work on fun stuff on the computer after a whole day's work in front of a monitor..
A small update.
I've been writing blog entries in my head for months, and just never taken the time to actually enter them here! How annoying. About politics, science, anything, instead of just writing like I used to (and still bring in all those topics, but without the self-imposed demand that the texts be utterly awesome and amazing). So, time for a change (I hope).
As a little treat, here's a movie of Pinda talking! Well, if you've ever tried to film a budgie who talks, when he's talking, you'll know how impossible that is. In other words, the 30 s I got after 20 minutes of filming, don't include any easily understandable words. But it's definitely no chirping! And there is a "Pinda" there towards the end. Otherwise it sounds like he's saying "Hartstikke" every now and then. I did try to teach him to say "Hartstikke leuk" (heartwarmingly awesome or something like that in Dutch) a few months ago, but never heard him mimic it. Is he saying "Hartstikke bird"?
Things he does say when the camera is off include "Hey Birdy", "Gose-gose-gose" (sweet way of saying "cuddly" in Swedish, kinda), "Pinda-bird", "Pinda", "Wokkels" "Georgie" (although we've never said that, it¨s probably just some sound he invented himself that sounds like Georgie). Both Pinda and Wokkels (Pinda's beautiful turquoise friend) sound like a phone (possibly from the breeder's house), and Pinda also mimics an outside bird (which I have yet to identify), and purrs like a cat (taught by David). But I can't prove any of that. Yet.
