The Shepherd's Song

We were talking about jazz tonight and Dad was remembering going to to see "trad Jazz" in Britain in the early 60's. Dad got one of his favourites out and played us some Acker Bilk. We then bounced around music genres for a long time and I then played one of my favourites of the day - Pete Doherty. So as Pete's singing, I pick up the Acky Bilk CD and I'm scanning the song titles and just as I'm reading the title of track - The Shepherd's Song, Pete sings "as simple as The Shepherd's Song". Wow.

A perfect new morning

Kooper woke me up around 6:15. I didn't mind the early wake up call, I had a good night's sleep. I'm starting vacation this week, so no work reminders, ideas or problems rattling around my head. No puppy mistakes this morning and he played nice and gentle with some timely treats and some lovin'. He's getting at that bonding stage where he wants to be close to one of us a lot of the time and when I sat with him this morning, he wanted to straddle me and sit on my lap - part dominant move perhaps, but still nice. Had enough mini-breaks to check computer stuff (still trying to figure best backup process), and he had a little snooze, timed perfectly for me to grab a shower. He woke up and I just took him for a little walk to the corner and back. It's one of those summer mornings where there's a slight coolness riding the gentle breeze, like that morning when you're up before everyone else in the cottage and you go out to the dock and you're alone with the water, the rising sun and splashes of fish and some merry birds. Well, here, there's no water, and the sounds are rather more urban, but accompanied with that fresh scented, summer morning breeze, they feel gentle enough to great a summer Monday morn. Kooper is loving his newly introduced walks and is very excited at the possibility of meeting new people. Not a lot of people out at 7:30am, but there was a work crew assembling for their job down the street. Sure enough, one of the rough looking guys asked about Kooper and came over to get some licks. I'm loving our new walks too ! Now, just getting enough minutes to record some thoughts on the deck with Kooper on this perfect new morning.

Joe

I had to do a double-take on the latest comment on my Flickr pictures...the name of the person providing the comment (also from Toronto) was almost the same as my next door neighbour. The best coincidence is that the second picture in his photostream is of a baby (born July 4th) and our neighbour brought home his new son yesterday (born July 3rd).

Photo Blog #14: Mani

Mani, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Mani is #16 in my 100 Stranger project...click on the pic to read the full story - the hardest photo in the project so far.

Photo Blog #13: Acton meadow

Acton meadow, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Simple rules of composition, well balanced colour and exposure seem to work well. New Flickr config allows me to now post to my blog a little more conveniently.

Happy Canada Day

These three people sum up what I love about Canada. They are caring, compassionate and loving. They like an adventure and discovering new things, but are firmly rooted in family traditions. They accept and enjoy our cosmopolitan cities and multicultural mosaic. They are interested in the world beyond our borders, but understand the beauty of Canada. They love the outdoors, but also like the simple joys of life inside (which is especially useful during winter). They are kind and polite to friends and neighbours and are fair to all.

I put together a quick Flickr photo set celebrating Canada in pictures. These pics are all quite recent, so along with the Ontario countryside and lakes, Toronto and Ottawa, I'd like to use photography as an excuse to revisit a few of my other favourite Canadian places: Whistler, Montreal and Halifax.

I'm listening to iTunes set to Canadian artists today and enjoying a little time on the deck with my dog Kooper before the weather turns. I was going to add a playlist on Finetune, but for some reason they've disabled the create playlist feature, so I'll just Blip Sam Roberts instead.

Happy Canada Day