Cherry Blossoms

I spent almost 9 hours today at the hospital and I was debating whether or not I should make a post at all today. It's very warm in my room and I have a lot of ideas. I'm afraid if I really get into it, I won't be able to stop, which would likely take me all night.

I think I'll just make a quick post about Spring in Canada. I heard it was 28°C today, but I was inside for almost all of it. When I was out it was stuffy and humid. I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a warm jacket, but I don't know why I didn't take it off. I bought a gel ice pack for Friday, because I checked my messages this morning there and I was surprised to hear that they had already replied. Dr. Freilich had wanted to speak with my GP yesterday at 5 PM, when she was getting off work, and I guess everything went alright, because the receptionist gave me a whole bunch of instructions and answered even more questions that I had. If I...uhh...don't post anymore...you'll know that either those estimates were inaccurate or I was just lucky.

There's going to be clouds, sun and a thunderstorm tomorrow with an average of 23°C tomorrow, when I'm going to see my GP, and it'll reach 25°C by Friday, which is fine because I have to wear a t-shirt for them to take my blood pressure and everything. I'm going at 2:30 PM and the procedure will last 1.5 hours, but there's always a delay, so I'm expecting to be done at around 5 PM. She wanted me to pay a $200 deposit and I wanted to see if I could pay all of it over the phone at the hospital with my dad's credit card so I wouldn't have to carry the remaining $1000 in cash on me, but she didn't think it would be a good idea if I did that. She will, however, keep my dad's credit card number on the computer, so she'll bill it and I won't have to worry about that.

I had to cancel the appointment with her on Saturday, because it's quite likely that I won't be feeling well or really need to go. That also means that I might not be able to make it to see HUE perform at the 'Unique Talent Show' at Pacific Mall during the 2 to 5 PM time span. I'll see how I feel, but I'd really like to go.



I took this picture of my backyard from a window in my kitchen. The apple tree is on the left and the cherry tree is on the right. On the far right, is a tiny maple tree, but it's difficult to see. There's a mulberry tree to the left of the apple tree, but I couldn't fit it in from that window, as you can see from the bricks framing the window on the left edge. The mulberry tree has been faithfully bearing a lot of fruit every year, while the apples and cherries only started to grow last year. My mom brought me a small apple when I came back and was staying at Markham-Stouffville Hospital last September. My dad found a bird's nest containing three tiny eggs high up on the maple tree on the front lawn. How did he know there were three eggs? He climbed up on a ladder to see. Nice.

On the apple tree, my dad decided that he wanted to put up a bird feeder, so we bought a very large bag for $3.99 at Bulk Barn. Most of it gets eaten by squirrels, who spill a lot of it on the ground so the rabbits come to clean it up. The plastic has been really chewed up, because the squirrels latch themselves onto it and gnaw away at the small hole intended for birds. There was one day when I was standing inside watching a fat squirrel eat, then it jumped deliberately down on the ground and faced me. It started to dance by moving its arms, gleefully shaking its body, and rapidly twitching its tail. Repeatedly. It didn't seem particularly friendly. It skipped back onto the fence where it continued to wave its tail mockingly at me, but finally dashed away when it finished making its point. It thinks it's clever. I think I'm scrutinizing this too much and I'm not angry or anything even though they finish off a full container of bird seed in a day, because I believe all of these creatures are eligible to live comfortably without hunger. However, these squirrels are hogging it and keeping birds from getting their share, so now I know why Martha Stewart was talking about the assortment of bird feeders she uses on her enormous plot of land, and also why people make/sell bird feeders specifically to keep squirrels from abusing it by making it almost impossible for them to climb on because they keep slipping off. I think the repelling and trapping techniques for squirrels described on the site are a bit excessive. My dad is thinking about getting more of them, so hopefully none of them have to go hungry.