TODAY

What a day. What a perfect autumn day!
In a little while I can pick up the photos. I always do the one hour. By the time I bring in the film, it seems unfathomable to me to have to wait five days. It would be cheaper. To get things cheap can be a challenge. Find things in the dollars store or second hand. Be proud to have only paid so much for something you needed or really wanted. Ha!!!
I'm not sure the dollar store counts. The new store at the Highland Hills Mall is even cheaper. Much cheaper, you know, only 99cts, or more. (The 'more' is in the fine print on the sign.) Everything made in China. Underpaid workers. Also untrustworthy quality. Especially toys and food. But, the lure is irresistible. I walk in quite frequently. But I do weigh pro's and con's. You don't see me spend tens of dollars.
I do make many photos. Snapshots. Splurging on 1 hour development rather than five days I may as well spend an extra dollar ( I mean99cts) on a photo album, and have a place for the photos to go so they don't lie around. Easier to show off too.
It's time to pick up my photos. I will be back and tell you about them.
I am back. Much later than I had anticipated. Before I tell you about the photos I want to say that I have a new fountain. Today is Saturday. Saturdays, instead of going the usual walk, Simon and I go garage sale hunting. You all know by now that Simon is a dog. Simon likes going to garage sales. He trots along and waits patiently for me to look around, lying down in the midst of everything to be admired. People stop to look at him, to praise him for being beautiful and sweet, and well behaved. They ohh, and ahh over him. They talk to him pet him and sometimes kiddingly ask if he's for sale. Oh, Simon loves all the attention. He drinks it in quietly.
So at one of this morning's garage sales, I found a fountain for only four dollar. A stone staircase in a basin with pebbles. The water runs down the stairs. It's not very big. I set it up on the shelves by the windows of the living room. It looks and sounds neat. There are two more fountains in my living room. I like the gurgling of all that water. In the backyard, bordering on the living room there are another two fountains.
I am not going into details about all of them, although they all do have their own special story. But the one, a big, greenish metal , three levels one, with a man and a woman figure standing under an umbrella, being rained on when the fountain goes, that's the one the chickadees who live in the big Manitoba maple tree above it, like. They come to shower in it, bath in it, and drink from it. It took me about a million years to catch them on camera. I tried for weeks with lots of patience. Today I succeeded.
That's why I was extra impatient to get that film developed. Not even only the one chickadee I captured, but (see my previous story) also the rescued little turtles. The photos turned out surprisingly well. But you know, I do not have a zoom-in lens. So the target comes out very small. Last time when I caught the squirrel, outside on the pic nic table, eating out of the jar with peanut butter, I forgot to close, on camera, I went to the photo copy store and had the prints enlarged on the colour copier. That worked well. So I decided that I'd do the same with the chickadee and the little turtles. The store was closed. I wondered where another colour copier could be. I biked on a bit along Highland Road. Saw the photo store near Food Basics. Went in and asked if they had a colour copier. No, they didn't.
Well, they talked me into having professional enlargements done. I was offered a real good prize. They were soooo nice. Gave me some freebies too. So I ended up with six great pictures and some simple paper frames for them, and an extra set of four glass frames, on special, for another time, all just for twenty dollar.
Hey, I spent a lot more than I had intended. But the quantity and quality are super. So today I wasn't only cheap. Today I was also classy. Today was a marvelous and fun day all together. I am happy. Life is good.

Wild thing