It's been a little time since my last real post and I decided it was time to sit down and write a little. This week has shown a full scale welcoming of spring in my neighbourhood even though it began with coolish temperatures and wind chill. Firstly, the sun has been shining most of the week and the birds have been singing merrily every morning. I've been watching various urban birds go through their elaborate mating rituals. The pigeons outside the ROM aren't the best examples as they court in good weather almost the whole year long, but the males have been especially impressive with their puffed up strutting and cooing and the females haven't altogether ignored them. I was watching some starlings do cute things with nesting materials yesterday and each evening I've enjoyed the sound of robins wishing the day a goodnight.

The tom cats have been out prowling. My house which has two spayed females upstairs and a as of yet unspayed kitty below, has been a frequented spot for the neighbourhood toms who have been leaving their musky calling cards against the front of the house and porch. Yum. The other neighbourhood toms, the young men, have been out lowering the suspensions of their Hondas and driving around with their subwoofers turned way up - a sure sign that the weather has been improving. Also, for the first time this season, I heard the dreadfully annoying jingling dingle of the icecream truck coming down the street. The skunks have been out and about, scurrying across the road and getting into things. Inside the house, Willi and Tobe have been in very high spirits, cavorting about the place with gleeful abandon. As for myself, I've been in pretty good spirits, too, most likely because of the longer days and bright, warm sun.

And, the final, most telling sign of spring are the Italian (and Portugese, to be fair) housewives standing outside hosing down the sidewalks. Why they feel the sidewalks must have litres and litres of water poured over them, I don't know, but obviously, water conservation is not a high priority. My landlords are currently out downstairs landscaping the front lawn, as well. They have an interesting concept of garden design, what with the birdbath set at the very front of the lawn with the enormous frog that pretty much fills it. I think it's a fountain of some sort, too. Today, when I came down the street, I found them, and a friend, busy planting geraniums. Already. I told them it looks very lovely, but I warned them that it might just be a bit early yet. There's a rule for planting on the May 24th weekend for a reason. I explained that there could still be snow, even if it's not terribly likely. They seemed shocked but grudgingly agreed it was probably too soon, but oh well, geraniums are hardy. They're from Spain. I think there's a lot about Canada they haven't quite figured out yet.

Anyway, this post out of my system, I think it's time for my nap. I haven't been getting to bed when I ought lately, for one reason or another, and I'm really tired. There was supposed to be a Job Review Committee meeting today but it was canceled, happily. Had it gone ahead, I would have stuck around for a ROM Friends of South Asia event tonight, but I couldn't justify hanging around for five hours. I knew that if I went home I probably wouldn't make it back, either. So, I went for lunch with some of the girls at the museum and then came home. I browsed around on St. Clair for a bit when I got off the streetcar, but I have learned that nothing will fit me. All clothes stop at size 12 and all shoes go up to 91/2. I guess they're not buying their goods for the tall market. Funny, that, this being a predominantly Mediterranean neighbourhood.