Doggie Walk and Lemon Cake

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Welcome on board again Diania! 

By the way, 

I tried the lemon cake you

shared on FB. Very good! 

Sunday afternoon, 

J.P was on the job, driving somewhere 

up in the northern part of Alberta.

I had the weekend off and 

it was time for Molly's daily walk.

Today we decided to check out that bridge.

The frozen Northern Saskatchewan River lays way below.

Molly who does not like bridges and was very sceptical.

Is that safe to walk here?

She showed her "stress face", but we made it safely back.

After that experience we took a stroll over the golf course.

Or should I rather say: we slipped and glided.

There was lots of water everywhere, and the family of

snowmen showed signs of stress too.

This warm week has taken it's toll.

They are melting away.

On our way back we met a huge Akita girl.
Wagging tails and contact was made. This was more after Molly's taste.

Well home there was waiting a treat for both of us. 

Milk bone for Molly and freshly baked lemon cake (loaf) for me.

My friend Diania shared the recipe on FB

and I was tempted to try it. 

It turned out very delicious even 

if I didn't have all the ingredients.

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Aunt Inge's Zusammenfassung

Während J.P. auf der Arbeit war bin ich alleine mit dem Hund spazieren gegangen. Heute haben wir uns die Fussgängerbrücke vorgenommen. Molly war ziemlich vorsichtig, sie mag keine Brücken, aber wir haben es ohne Probleme geschafft. Anschliessend sind wir über den Golfplatz geschlitteret. Die Schneemannfamilie hat die warme Woche nicht gut überlebt, sie schmelzen dahin. Auf dem Rückweg hat Molly die Bekanntschaft eines freundlichen Akitas gemacht.
Wieder zuhause gab es für sie einen Hundekuchen und für mich ein Stück frischgebackene Zitronenschnitte.
Das Rezept hatte eine Freundin auf FB empfohlen.

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This and that - Magpies

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First I will welcome the first of my new "old" followers here.

Betty and Joe, George and Suzie, Peter, Rick and Cathy, 

Norman and Susan, as well as Dee.

Great to see you here!

I hope you will enjoy this new blog as well as you did the old one.

 I tried to get G+, or Google Circles to work, 

but I am not sure about it. 

All these gadgets nowadays! Constantly evolving and changing. 

I fell of the band wagon, I guess. 

Laugh!

This morning I talked to Aunt Inge, and we found out 

that she was not able to open up my link in her emails 

for whatever reasons. 

She always got a "VLS - cannot open" message. 

(Any idea Rick?)

We fixed it for now by typing the link 

directly into the search field on her browser. 

That way she was able to get access to my new pages 

and found out where to look for "her summary". 

I will give the text a different colour to make it even easier to detect.

Aunt Inge, who is in her eighties (!), is the only one of the family, 

that I know of, who enjoys reading the blog regularly 

- but only if she can read it in German. 

So, there.

Now - what's new?

As nice as the warm weather is, there is a downside to it. 

It is getting very tricky.

Yesterday night it rained for a while 

and this morning all roads in our residential area were 

covered with pure ice! 

It was awful to walk on this kind of surface, 

even with spikes (cleats) under my shoes. 

Passing vehicles were crawling by with 6m/h (10 km/h).

Even Molly with her "4-wheel-drive" slipped times and again.

I didn't dare bring my camera, (in case I would fall too), 

I just snapped these with my cellphone.

Last week, on one of the gloomier days we had, 

I took some photos of birds I didn't see much of on the island.

 

The Magpie

In this area you find them are everywhere. 

Busy flying around, checking for eatables.

 

There are many myths spun about the magpie. 

Interesting reading.
As a child I learned that these birds will steal shiny things,
like rings and coins.
Someone in Alberta told me this:

 If you happen to see a pair of Magpies
 don't forget to say "Hello Mr and Mrs Magpie".
Why?
Because it brings you luck.

 Somewhere I found this:
'Bible story says that this bird was excluded from the ark
because it chattered so much and was forced to ride on the roof.'

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Inge's Zusammenfassung
Ich bin ja mal gespannt ob du dieses Mal den Eintrag direkt per email bekommst und es auch lesen kannst. Ich glaube dass du die Einzige von der Familie bist die regelmässig meinen Blogeintrag liest.

Was gibt es Neues?

Das warme Wetter hat auch seine negativen Seiten.
Gestern nacht hat es geregnet und heute morgen waren die Stassen pures Eis.
Es war ganz schön anstrenged sich auf den Beinen zu halten,
trotz Spikes unter den Schuhen.
Sogar Molly hatte Probleme. Meine gute Kamera habe ich lieber zuhause gelassen und die beiden ersten Photos nur mit dem Handy gemacht.

Letzte Woche aber, an einem trüben Nachmittag, habe ich ein paar Photos von
Elstern gemacht. Die sieht man auf unserer Insel überhaupt nicht.
Hier aber fliegen sie überall herum.
Es gibt eine Menge Geschichten über die Elster.
So ähnlich wie mit schwarzen Katzen.

Als Kind hat man mir gesagt
dass die Elstern glizernde Dinge, wie Ringe und Münzen, stehlen.

Hier in Kanada wurde mir erzählt das ich ein Elsternpaar immer grüssen sollte.
Das würde Glück bringen!
Auf dem Internet habe ich dann noch gelesen das die Elstern
nicht mit in der Arche Noah sein durften weil sie zuviel Lärm machten.
Sie mussten draussen auf dem Dach sitzen!

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Making Puddles into Art

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The day started out pretty good. We got 50° F (10°C)! Not too bad for 

Alberta in January. A few more degrees and we would have had the same as in Las Vegas, NV - they reported 57°F (14°C) today.

With the warm temperatures the snow is melting rapidly.

Water is dripping from the gutters and puddles are growing everywhere. 

Luckily I still own a pair of cleats to attach to my shoes. 

Many times I was on the brink to throw them into the "garage sale" bin. 

Good that I didn't. 

Today, walking the dog would have been more like skating.

After having conquered an hour along treacherous icy sidewalks 

I decided the part in front of "our" property 

did need some work. 

I grabbed the ice-spade and set to work. 

Within a few minutes the slushy ice was removed. 

After the walk, and after the chore was done, 

I enjoyed my hard earned cup of coffee, 

and checked through the photos I happened to take today. 

Lots of slushy roads!
Boring, I thought. 

But wait - and I took a closer look at them. 

I found some:

"Modern paintings"

Black and White

Silver Jewellery 

Ice Cave

Bubbles and Leaf

If you want to know what it is, 

you have to look further down the page,  

after summary for aunt Inge.

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Aunt Inge's Zusammenfassung

Heute war es ziemlich warm für Januar. +10°C! 

Ich musste mir "Spikes" unter die Schuhe schnallen, 

die Gehwege waren furchtbar glatt. 

Nach dem Spaziergang mit dem Hund 

habe ich dann noch unseren Teil vor dem Haus vom Eis befreit. 

Ich hatte ein paar Photos von all dem Schneematsch gemacht, 

und entdeckt das man sie bei näherer Betrachtung
als moderne Kunst gehen lassen könnte. 

Und ein Schneehäschen war auch dabei.

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The original Photos:

Water puddle on the sidewalk for leaf and jewellery

Reflections for ice cave (upside down)

A fence for: black and white

Opps! What is there in the far corner by the fence?

An "Easter Bunny", 

aka snow shoe hare, in it's white winter coat!
Cute!

Walking the area

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Every day I am exploring the neighbourhood 

a little bit more. 

 We walk along alleys and back alleys. 

To "the lay of the land "

and to give Molly a new map in her head. 

The weather is still on the mild side, with temperatures 

around or above the freezing mark.

Across the river, to the East, one can see heavy oil industry 

and a waste water treatment plant. 

Sometimes, when the wind is right, we can smell 

the foul odour of the fumes they exude. 

Luckily the main wind direction is from the west and north.

To the West there is the Skyline of the City. 

Especially beautiful 

if you are early up and catch it illuminated 

by the morning sunshine. 

Early in the day we usually meet a lot of dog owners out 

on their first walks. One friendly guy remarked 

with a big smile on his face: 

" Who needs a gym with these companions, eh?"

"That's so true, they get you off the couch!"

In the afternoon you will find many people (and dogs) ...

... enjoying the various trails.  

That's the time when to go for an extended hike. 

Earlier or later in the day there is a certain possibility to 

run into coyotes, (or other unsafe situations).

It is best to be on the safe side.

Today we walked across a golf course. 

Deeply covered with snow it is open for the public. 

 Marks in the snow indicate that the steep banks 

are most popular for tobogganing.

Molly is excited about the possibilities 

and constantly meeting new friends.

This young Bernese Moutain Dog 

was not too sure about the whole experiment. 

A whole family of snowmen 

was observing our

progress.

Lately I got a serious complain from a dear family member. 

Couldn't we please take into consideration that not all readers 

are able to read English but would like to enjoy this page.

So, here is the solution:

I place a short translation 

on the bottom of my pages.

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Aunt Inge's Zusammenfassung

Die ersten Tage verbringen wir 

mit ausgedehnten Spaziergängen. 

Durch die Alleen, über einen verschneiten Golf Platz 

und entlang des Saskatchewan River.

Im Osten sieht man eine Petroleumfabrik 

und im Westen die Hochhäuser der City.

Molly freut sich über die grossen freien Flächen 

und trifft dabei ständig auf neue Freunde.

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Moving out - moving in.

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It is not only a change in my blog address that has happened, 

but also a change as to our living quarters.

A while ago we were so fortunate to find an opportunity 

to be "house-sitter" for some really nice people. 

Today was the moving day!

They went off, and we headed in. 

The master of the house was occupied
with an "important email".
Huh?

Yesterday I did all the packing. Mostly clothes and perishable food items. 

It is amazing how much stuff one owes, 

even when living in small spaces. 

Around noon we moved across town and into our temporary, new home. 

It took us about 2 hours before 

everything was carried in and organized. 

Soon we relaxed with our first cup of coffee at lunch time. 

After that J.P. went on an errand, and Molly and I started out to find

the "off leash dog walk". 

It is not too far away, right along the, now frozen 

North Saskatchewan River.

The weather was mild, with temperatures above the freezing mark. 

We met several big dogs, with their owners in tow, 

and some other friendly hikers.

Nice. I like it here.

I guess we will enjoy ourselves a lot. 

Molly found lots of new spots to check, 

and we saw several markings that indicate ...

... the presence of coyotes in the area. 

No good idea to walk the dog here, come dusk or dawn.

We returned an hour later we, 

and soon Molly was snoozing on her day blanket.

She has lots of experience with travelling. 

But, we know that it takes her about two weeks 

before she really will feel at home in a new place. 

You know, a new place for the food dishes, new places to sleep at. 

Everything is so different from the "normal". 

Well, now we have dined and finally take time to enjoy the 

super high speed internet connection! Wow.

Tomorrow it will be back to normal work days. 

Until then - have a good nights sleep!

Lately I got a serious complain from a dear family member. 

Couldn't we please take into consideration that not all readers 

are able to read English but would like to enjoy this page.

So, here is the solution:

I place a short translation 

on the bottom of my pages.

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Aunt Inge's Zusammenfassung

Gestern war Umzugstag. Alles Nötige wurde in Kartons verpack.

Heute sind wir eingezogen und haben unsere Zeit als "house-sitter" angefangen.

Am Nachmittag habe ich die Gegend gefunden wo Molly von der Leine gelassen werden darf. Auf einem Pfad, ganz unten am Saskatchewan River. 

Überall waren Spuren von Koyoten zu sehen. 

Anschliessend haben wir es uns in unserem neuen Heim 

gemühtlich gemacht.

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A new year and a fresh start

I decided to give it a fresh start. 

The old page titled: "Dinner for two"

 has taken on it's own life and grown from a food oriented blog 

into a mere causerie 

( chat or gossip, short and informal essay).

"Dinner for two" is misleading readers 

into believing that it is a food blog. 

Therefore I decided to continue my ramblings 
under this new blog address. 

Sidewalk - as in a path along the main road, 
where one can walk leisurely 
taking the time to observe. 

That's what I am doing. 

Taking my time searching for, 

and looking at, things to write about. 

So, that's the story behind the change.

I hope you will find me here and continue to follow my causeries.
Thank you for subscribing and welcome back!