Whimsical Wednesday: Rubber Duckies

This gallery contains 3 photos. Even the plastic kind flock together. And, at least I know that these ones won’t deflate somewhere in the ocean. 😀

Whimsical Wednesday: Garden Gnomes

This gallery contains 2 photos. Of all the statues on the grounds (even Snow White and the 7 Vertically Challenged Men couldn’t hold a candle to these), I think the garden gnomes stole the show. They perk up the place … even though the place doesn’t really need it!

One Peppy Pooch Finally Poses

This gallery contains 3 photos. Meet Katie the adorable Maltipoo. She’s the naturally-caffeinated spokescanine of The Secret Garden of Boundary Bay. At least, that’s how we were introduced to her on the evening of July 16. Never mind that she had just returned from the beach (hence her red flotation vest) … because she still had plenty of energy to burn off.

A Giant Ladybug

It is said that art imitates life. Well, I’m glad great liberties were taken with the scale of these artforms, or else the real-life entities would need a leash and license to roam the city. But if they were big enough to use as personal transports, just think of the savings in commute time and fuel! Photographed at the Bloedel Conservatory on April 27.

A Saucy Bumblebee

This gallery contains 2 photos. So that’s what a bumblebee tongue looks like. Photographed upside down (as usual) in the backyard pieris japonica in a rare instance of relative calm, instead of zipping to and fro from flower to flower every two seconds.

WordPress 500th Post Trophy Awarded!

Pokemons Celebrate (Photo credit: Giphy)

Hard to believe, but I just received my latest WordPress trophy: for writing and publishing my 500th post. It’s a nice and unexpected gesture, especially after going without a single trophy for either one of my two blogs since March 2014 … an interminably long dry spell of non-recognition.

Cue to some celebratory music while we recap some of my other “achievements” that don’t get recognized with trophies,

Adobe Muse, Wherefore Art Thou?

02.19.10 by colemama (CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Where, indeed. Here I was, ready to sing the praises of Adobe Creative Cloud, and Adobe Muse in particular. Over breakfast two days ago, I discovered that Adobe Muse is what graphic designers, desktop publishers, and other creatives like myself have long wanted: a drag-and-drop HTML editor with the familiar interface of Adobe applications, and so much more.

Adobe Muse has lived up to its billing, and slashed the amount of time I would normally spend analyzing

Requiem for a Tender Avocado Seedling (aka the Wrath of ‘Coon)

Avocado by Jaanus Silla (CC-BY 2.0)

One (or perhaps more) of the raccoon raiders/looters in the backyard laid waste to one of our precious three avocado plants a week ago, viciously tearing it apart at the base and rending the seed in two before it (the seedling, not the raccoon) had reached the tender age of three. All that cooing and coaxing for nothing!

As much as they look like the Lone Ranger, these are nothing more than masked bandits and the most thoughtless dispensers of injustice; first, they (repeatedly)

A Voyage Through Venery

a herd of horses (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To people who ask, “What is a group of [insert animals/occupations here] called?”, terms of venery are the collective nouns used to describe a grouping of like items.

While I am familiar with a pride of lions, a murder of crows, a herd of horses, a host of angels, a nest of vipers, a quiver of arrows, and a gaggle of geese, there are more that I was not familiar with, and are apropos or simply curious (understanding the etymology would be very helpful!) Here are a few of my favourites.