Flooring, gaming, and fauna
We had intended to head into Toronto this week to take a Segway tour of the Distillery district, but the weather looked too brutally warm for that to be a pleasant experience. So that’s been postponed (“until Fall” according to Chrissy, who I suspect was secretly quite happy with the weather-induced delay). So the weekend instead was taken up with slightly less exciting fare - finishing the flooring in Jackson’s room and making a start on my retro gaming challenge.
The flooring work went quite well. As well as the chop saw that I’d brought back from Chrissy’s parents’ house last week, I also brought a small workbench. So I set that up with some new clamps and set to work on the relatively intricate measuring and cutting required to get the flooring fitted into the wardrobe. It was strangely satisfying. Now I just need to fit a trim to the edges.
Meanwhile I did a bit of repair work on our deck as well as cleaning some of it after going out and buying a pressure washer. This was in preparation for the arrival of our new outdoor furniture, which is now in place.
I've made a start on the retro-gaming challenge. I finished reading the five chapter introduction to The Lords of Midnight game, fired up the iPad version and began my campaign. I've sent Morkin north, along with Corleth the Fey. Rorthron the Wise has gone south to seek out others of the Wise that might provide help, while Luxor the Moonprince has gone to the south east to rally troops to the cause. So far none of the main characters have died, so I'm clearly making excellent progress, despite the rather unimpressive advice I keep receiving...
I'll keep you posted.
Meanwhile, I’ve been working on my local fauna identification skills. On my walk the other morning I saw a downy woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, American crow, American robin and what I think was a song sparrow. I’m also pretty adept at spotting the Northern Cardinal (more or less bright orange/red) and the Blue Jay (very notably blue). Really, I’m practically an expert on local birds now.
I also came across a rabbit, many chipmunks and squirrels and a cat (Ted, one of ours). I didn’t see the local deer that’s been wandering around our neighbourhood recently, who we call Norbert (he’s in an earlier photo a posted on this site). I fear something may have happened to him. And in the past I’ve seen a few foxes (much larger than the UK variety) and on one occasion a coyote sitting on someone’s front deck. I didn’t bother him and he didn’t bother me, which is the best way with coyotes. The foxes and coyotes we often hear at night.
I’m keeping up with my habits. This week’s French phrases from the Duolingo French Podcast are:
- C’est possible d’aller vers ses rêves
- Avoir de la confiance en soi
- Le sport nous encourage à dépasser nos limites, à toujours aller plus loin.
I’m beginning to move beyond the first few pages of the Czerny 101 Exercises book. I'm not saying I've quite hit maestro status, but I think my fingers are slightly less leaden. Those in the house may disagree.
I haven't reported on my chess much. I'm slowly working through the John Emms book, Simple Chess, which is great. I think it's giving me a better understanding of positional play, but I'm not yet confident enough to step out and play anyone I think might be better than me. I do love the patterns of the game and watching and reading the games of great players. I've always played instinctively, but really want to get a better understanding of the different openings and strategies.
I'm over half way through Ulysses. It's poetic and immersive and in places almost incomprehensible; and I love the rhythm of it.
There has though been some local criticism about my lack of progress on ticking off items from the list this week. Also, I realise I'm still short of my full list of 52 items. So I'm clearly going to have to step things up. This week I have some more archery planned, but not much else at the moment. I am organising a trip to the UK in the next few weeks, when as well as getting to see some of my family for the first time in a while (yay👏!), I also hope to finally visit the Tower of London and get out to Stonehenge. And I might be going for a Korean BBQ with a Korean guide soon too. The weeks do go by quickly though.
