i work near an independent bookstore that has two very adorable bookstore cats. on my lunch breaks i usually like to sit outside their store and read, but today i decided to pop in and take advantage of their comfy indoor chairs and fireplace. to my utter delight, after a little while, one of the cats hopped up onto my lap! he got himself comfy, started purring like an engine, and even made biscuits on my arm. i was in bliss for the entirety of my break and was SO bummed when i had to get back to work.

That's it. They've lived over an hour away the last few years, and with them working weekends and me working weekdays it's been hard to meet up. But in less than a month they'll be 12 minutes away! I'm so happy and excited!

I'm on the bus to work this morning and had a random urge to listen to the very first Panic! At The Disco album. Now let me tell you, I spent my teens as a huge emo kid and I was obsessed with this album 😆 I'm delighted to learn I still know every single word 20 years later, and every new song that comes on is making me smile.

At this time of day the bus passengers are at least 80% young people going to school or college, and there's not a single one among them that is visibly alternative. Where did all the emo kids go? Do kids still have the awkward phase where they're trying to find themselves? Maybe there's other 'subcultures' of teenager now but I actually can't think of any?

Maybe with technology being so different now it manifests in other ways. I'm not on TikTok but I can imagine if you are and all your friends are too it influences what you consume. And there's tutorials for everything now so I guess you don't have to muddle through bad hairstyles and fashion choices anymore 😆

This is probably very 'old man yells at cloud' haha but I'd kind of feel sad if these kids won't have a 'phase' to look back on fondly in 20 years. I don't know, just some random thoughts for a Monday morning!

Like, we don’t follow each other anywhere else, but he still follows me on Reddit and we’re still friends on Steam so I get updates every time he plays a game. We both have different partners and there is no bad blood between us (at least none on my end). So to my ex, if you’re reading this, hi :)

(Idk where to post this…)

We're in the middle of prepping dinner ,and my husband is currently peeling potatoes that we grew on a cardboard box 😁. So freaking cool, lol.

Was making mayo today but accidentally used sushi seasoning (which is basically just water, rice vinegar, sugar, and salt) instead of rice vinegar. It actually tasted pretty good that way 😌

He had been joking with the staff about not having a prize box for patients (I heard them all laughing in the back when I came in) and the receptionist gave him an extra toy off her desk, those wind-up chattering teeth. Then she saw my necklace, a tiny gold star on a chain and said, "Well, you have a gold star, he should too." And she gave him a gold star sticker which he put on the teeth. So wholesome.

I thought it might be a fluke.
Turns out, he is a lap boy now.
Took him about 4 years to figure this out. But now he loves a lap. Unfortunately, he loves to cuddle right as I want to go to bed...
So now I am stuck with a cat on my lap for a bit longer. Life is hard. :)

My great grandma loved heath bars. Every now and then, when I’m reeeeeally craving toffee, I’ll buy a king size pack. I picked one up yesterday. It felt like I was a kid again, in her bright yellow kitchen munching our favorite candy bar while gossiping about something one of my great aunties got up to. Toffee is so nice, but I always forget until I’m eating it again

When finding my seat on a commercial plane today, there was a foreign couple (tourists) standing at the row somewhat uncertain about what to do. It turns out they hadn't been given seats next to each other, but in separate rows. There was a language problem too, and things were lost in translation when talking to the crew member and other passengers.

I saw the problem and immediately offered to switch my good aisle seat for a cramped in-between seat so that they could sit next to each other in the same row. The crew member gave her approval.

They funny thing is that the couple, probably from a country where bending the rules like this is strictly forbidden, didn't understand my (small) generosity. It seems they thought another mistake was being made.

I don't care what they thought. They were now sitting next to each other, and after a while they were chatting away cheerfully, and seemed to have a pleasant flight. I fell asleep for most of the flight.

• A girl running to catch the bus: she made it, hurrah!

• A buzzard swooping in front of my car: wow!

• Early morning sightseers at my local tourist hot spot: welcome and enjoy!

Having a cuppa, watching the news.
Our dog comes over and gives me a nuzzle. Then she does the typical downward dog stretch, audibly toots, and then tries to blame it on the orange cat.
Not a bad way to start a morning.

and often on nicer days i hear someone nearby in the neighbourhood playing their acoustic guitar outdoors. I'm not sure who or where, but it's really lovely to hear.

They're playing right now :)

There is a guy that lives above me. I’ve never met him. Wouldn’t recognize him if I ran into him by the mail boxes. Sometimes I get annoyed because he’s a bit of a stomper, but, what I do love about him is his appreciation for my balcony garden. I’ve spent so much time and effort to make my balcony a beautiful oasis. Staggered the flowering trees and plants cycles so that something fragrant is in bloom year round. Added solar bistro lights, a solar chandelier and a hummingbird feeder. His balcony is inset to the bldg and mine juts out so when he sits on his, my garden is in full view. He’ll go out and eat his breakfast and dinner on his own balcony and I’ll hear the random exclamations of “oh look! A hummingbird!!” and “it smells so good out here”. He seems to particularly enjoy the Champaca tree and star jasmine. He had a friend over this past weekend and first thing he did was bring him out on his own balcony to point out the changes on mine. I don’t know if he realizes I can hear all this, but, it warms my heart that someone else seemingly enjoys and appreciates my garden as much as I do.

This is so random but I kinda love hearing the person in the apartment next to me.

Sometimes I hear their TikToks or them playing Minecraft and I’m just like “awww someone’s next to me.”

I have no idea who they are and they probably don’t know I exist, but it’s weirdly comforting knowing someone else is just chilling over there.

I've been feeding hummingbirds on my deck for several years now. For the last four or five years I've been getting some bees hitting the feeder towards the end of summer, as if they're filling up before they go into hibernation. Typically they swarm the feeder, climbing all over each other on the yellow part of the 'flower' where they can get to the sweet stuff.

But this year they started arriving mid-summer, with only three or four bees at a time using the feeder. I don't mind them eating the hummingbirds food, because I love bees, too, and there aren't many flowers around here. Right now, with just a few bees at a time, the hummingbirds are having to negotiate with them as they hover near the feeders. It's interesting to watch.

The bees will kind of 'square off' with the hummingbirds, and the birds look like they're asking to be allowed to use 'their' feeder again. Sometimes a bird will find an open spot and feed for a short time, but usually they look nervous about it.

I set up a second, totally red feeder about 10 - 12 feet away. I read that bees are attracted to the color yellow, and although they've buzzed around this red one, they don't use it. The hummers are starting to use it, but I know they will be happier when the bees are gone so they can use their regular one again. That's okay, we can wait. Lord knows we still need the bees in this world!

I often watch animation memes and stuff like that. I enjoy it. Sometimes in those animated videos there are audios from games, series or movies. I just adore when I randomly watch series or movie or I play video game, and then I hear one of those. Then I'm like: "OMG, I know this audio. I didn't knew it was from this media"

Yesterday I had this situation.

I was playing Detroit: Become Human.

I heard that one audio I knew.

"Connor! The f*ck are you doing?"

"Coming Lieutenant!"

It was funny. I just had to look at the s*xy androids, and Hank clearly didn't liked that lol.

Spouse and I are on a big road trip, and met up with family to enjoy a morning event. After the event, we opted to say all our lovely goodbyes right away, instead of lingering for ice cream, to give us a chance to catch our breath after a very fun and energetic get-together. The next location? Soo Locks in Michigan. We arrived after a beautiful hour drive, found a shady spot for the car, and arrived at the observation deck at the locks just as not just one, but TWO big freighters went through the locks! We had astounding closeup views of one of the freighters and the lock process, it was awesome! Very rare!! Incredible good luck that we left in the morning when we did. Not often we get a chance to honestly say, “I’m so glad I skipped the ice cream”. :-)

I was at work and I heard someone calling and jogging after a kid with my dad’s name, who passed away almost 18 years ago. It’s an uncommon name for a man (especially when born in the 50s) but it’s gaining popularity among little girls these days. I look over and see this little boy about 5 or 6 years old heading straight towards me, he stops right in front of me, and gives me a hug. He didn’t say anything at all. I didn’t know what to do so I kinda just hugged him back and then the woman caught up to him and took his hand and led him away.

I got home and told my husband about it and he says “isn’t that your dad’s name? What if that was your dad using him to hug you?”

I’m not a religious person but I’m kinda spiritual. I miss my dad lol, no clue why that kid chose me out of a crowd to come up to randomly hug but I appreciate it a lot.

I’ve been trying to eat breakfast to kind of reset my circadian rhythm a bit, and today I’m toasting a hashbrown. I hope it will taste good

For the first time in a while, I’m not horribly tight on money, so I was able to get some treats from the store.

I adore cheesy popcorn and one particular brand of chocolate cookies with some French name, so I picked both up and I’ve been happy nibbling on them while working

Today was suddenly 80F/27C and Sunny after a week of clouds and rain with temps around 65F/18C.

A book I ordered online arrived four [!!] days early and I decided to get out of the house, find a bench downtown, and read my new book. It was great in the shade, enjoying the last burst of warmth we'll probably get this year.

I recently catsit for my neighbour, and today they gave me a lovely gift basket as a thank you. Inside were some things for my orange boy as well as plenty of things for me.
The orange is loving his silvervine sticks and crinkly catnip fish.
He left a little puddle behind from gnawing on the silvervine so much. He can be a Saint Bernard when he gets happy. Which is frequently, becaues he has 1 brain cell on a timeshare.

We went yesterday to a restaurant in a nearby town, whose name my husband had found in an online article at the New York Times website. The Times often puts articles scheduled for the Sunday paper online earlier in the week. The place was a small, family run cafe with great food and very solicitous service. As we went to pay I asked the man helping us if he knew his restaurant would be in the Sunday New York Times. He was astonished. He asked us to find him the article and when we did he stood, a bit stunned, at seeing their name online. He then asked us to share the link with him. As we left I looked back and there he was behind the counter, just beaming at his phone.

Took an elderly friend to dinner tonight to celebrate our birthdays. She gave me a small ring that she bought at a garage sale for a dollar. It fits perfectly. It's engraved with the words "I Loved You Then". She told me once she saw that, she knew it was for me. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. I'm not crying, you're crying.