Aw, aren't they cute!

The birdbath in the front yard is clearly seen from the kitchen window. I plan to get bird pictures from this locale as spring and summer eventually arrive. So, I was quite amused when I looked out and saw a black squirrel digging in the very deep snow under the bird bath. And then he/she jumped up onto the ice to enjoy a peanut that one of out idiot neighbours insists on leaving out for the little vermin.

While watching all this (sweet little rat, isn't it), another black squirrel runs down the big maple tree, across the lawn and up te little magnolia. And starts lunching on the as-yet-to-be blossoms.

If I can trap the beast, I will squash its head and either leave it nailed to the maple, or present it to the neighbour.

Anyone know a good way to trap squirrels? If the method is legal, so much the better.

Easter lunch / dinner

Everyone here came to Dana & Jason's for an Easter lunch on Sunday.

Mayhem prevailed in a very good way. Webkins were banned from the kids' table right after this shot.

I used "our" camera and Dana did not take a single picture. Very weird. So, here are some pictures of everyone. Some more than others.

Henry was really impressed with the whole Easter egg thing.

Spring is still trying

So, today we had an unusual event. Around 6 pm a whole bunch of birds scrambled all over the maple tree in front of the house. Lots of birds of several different types. I saw Juncos, Chickadees, something Penny later identified as Cedar Waxwing, and at least 5 Robins. Can Spring be far behind?


Having said that, we will no doubt get a new dump of snow this week. But the sun is getting stronger and I hear lots of returning birds when I go out into the yard. The male Cardinals have returned, you can hear them staking out their territories all around the neighbourhood. The picture is just to show I am not inventing all this. This Robin landed in the cedar tree just outside the kitchen window. I just happened to have "our" camera in hand (because I was trying to use the 200 mm lens as a monocular).

And the orchid in the kitchen window is in bloom again. This is the third time. All very Spring-like.


Now, if we could just do something about the ice on the roof and the 3 feet of snow on the front lawn ...

Springing onward

The sun is getting warmer, the latest snow is disappearing.








We took advantage of the lovely day to do a very small amount of skiing. First time in many years. There were weeds growing on the skis.


Penny would let me catch up.





Then she would dash off.

'twas a fine day.

Enough already

So it snowed again yesterday. We hunkered down in the house all day. Penny made a lovely roasted red pepper and garlic soup and we made a shrimp jambalaya for dinner. All very nice.

This morning we got up to find the plows had been by and the whole neighbourhood was buried. How buried and how much shovelling needed doing was a function of two key variables: wind direction and neighbours with snowblowers. We always get killed by the wind, but we have some super neighbours. Our driveway was cleared before we even got going.

The wind made some lovely sculptures and interesting snow depths. Some people had almost no snow in the driveway, but then a drift would form elsewhere. That is our BBQ under there somewhere.

The back yard got fairly full, but the side yard got completely buried.

This is the overhang outside the kitchen door.

Now, lest some readers in southern climes get the feeling that we are having problems with all this white stuff in the Great White North, with March Break just starting, we have a great opportunity to go cross-country skiing with all the munchkins in the next couple of days. And Penny & I walked to the grocery store today in the gorgeous sunshine (about 8 km [or 5 miles for those in the one country that does not use metric measures]).

But enough joy already. Maybe it is nearly time for Spring.

More Mayans

OK, this research project got away too big for me. So, I am posting some of my pictures of the current-day Mayans we met with a few notes, and lots of links to history and really interesting stuff (which no one will follow, but they are available anyway).

This is Momma, daughter of Grandma. A lovely person who made us all feel welcome.

This is Grandma making a "Barbie hammock" in the boughs of a tree.

Grandma also did the embroidery on an old Singer sewing machine.

Here is some of the embroidery, and you can also see it on the ladies. These are very special occasion dresses they all have on.

The village was NOT poor, but the mode of life is very different than ours. An example is the back yard (with a small pasture fenced beyond for some goats).

A display of some local foods. Penny trying a spicy vegetable salsa on a tortia.

And the kids were pretty incredible.

Now, a few links for

MUCHO INFO.

Notes re Coba then & now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coba
http://www.brisacaribe.com/mayan-ruins.htm#coba
http://archaeology.about.com/od/cterms/qt/coba.htm
http://www.seamonkeybusiness.com/mayan_culture_mexico.htm
http://www.civilization.ca/civil/maya/mmc06eng.html

Map of Mayan cities:
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maya/mayamap.html

Demise of Mayans:
Climate (drought, sun-spots), Spaniards, warfare, top-heavy society …
http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/44510?fulltext=true
http://www.unisci.com/stories/20012/0517011.htm

Mexican last resort

Here are more details about the Mexican vacation. The last batch, I promise. But there will be more about Mayapan later as there is much to discuss on that front. For now, here are some resort pictures, pictures from Xel-Ha, and some iggy pictures.

First, the resort. Penny sent emails several times. It was a freeby with our package.








I found things to do while I waited.








Then we walked around outside the building with our room. There were about 8 rooms on each side of the building, and many buildings.





The rooms were very well thought out and perfectly cleaned.







We never felt crowded.








Welcome to our Xel-ha tour, a day-trip.



Xel-Ha is a lagoon where the underground river meets the sea. The water is brackish (semi-salted) and the fish life is a wonder. I took an underwater camera snorkelling. Great fun (lousy pictures), I hope you get the idea.


Snorkelling is pretty good - not as good as on a reef, but not as dangerous either. We saw fish and snorkellers as we sat at a bar having a beer. Weird.






The place is lovely and tries to be eco-friendly. Never mind.








And here we are drifting down the river in an eco-friendly manner.

Iggies abound.
This was iggy #1, the first one we saw as we walked around the resort after breakfast. We just about had a fit when we saw this first one, but after seeing another every 20 minutes or so we realized they are very common.

There are lots of other lizards, but the iggys are the largest.

This last one was at Xel-Ha. The largest we saw. Check out the small berries stuck to his scales.