In Hiding

A Northern Cardinal sat motionless in a tangle of red dogwood branches as yet another snow fall blanketed the trees and ground last weekend. I walked along a beautiful trail which wound around eskers, drumlins and kettles created by retreating glaciers eons ago when global warming began.
Seasonal warmth is slow in coming this year, but March is often a drawn out farewell to winter like a guest you wish would leave at the end of a long evening.

February was a short but eventful month. The hospital is busier during winter months and the past few weeks have been no exception. My online time has decreased to the point where my mother wondered if I was unwell as I was absent from Skype and Blogger for days at a time. No, I haven't been hiding, but in semi-hibernation at times with ...

my new Kindle. I had a hard time deciding between a Kindle and an iPad as an eReader. Overall, I am pleased with my choice as it would be easy to get distracted by all the other applications on the iPad. I read more books in February than I have in a long time. The Kindle has a very poor and unnecessary web browser, but it is almost too fast and easy to purchase and download books from Amazon. I like the font size options, the highlighting and note making features, and the portability of the unit. Like other electronic devices it can freeze. I took it into work one day as a co-worker was interested in getting one for his wife. Wouldn't you know, the screen froze and I could not access the help menu to figure out a fix. I had to wait until I got home to look up the problem on the internet. A hard reboot was required and there have been no further glitches. But my friend decided it was too complicated to give as a gift. A large number of books are available for download, many of them free of charge. Not every author has agreed to e-versions of their books so some recent best sellers are not available in this format.

We went to Toronto yesterday and spent time in the World's Largest Bookstore and a BMV shop. Both bookstores are near the Eaton Centre just north of Young and Dundas. I left without a single purchase and questioned the future of large book sellers like this. The Kindle has a grey scale screen so books which rely on graphics, colour charts or photos cannot be viewed properly. So I will still be tempted to buy hard copies of birding guides such as The Crossley ID Guide.

Thanks to all who commented on the last post concerning our dog Dakota. His mouth and face have healed nicely and he is doing well for his age. I will end this rather random rambling with a picture of a bird feeder found hanging along the winter trail. The childish paint job and message reminded me of what is really important in our busy, busy world.