For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Good morning to everyone! It is a chilly, cloudy and very foggy day. That fog is hanging low and thick, and does not seem to want to leave us anytime soon. We have had a lot of fog lately. Fall can give some foggy mornings though, but it seems to be more than normal lately. Oh well. It is not quite so bad as it was earlier so perhaps it will be gone soon.
I have seen ravens, ring-billed gulls and pigeons flying around this morning. When my friend and I were out driving around on Monday, at one place where we stopped by that small lake shown in the pics today, there were at least 2 pine grosbeaks. I did not see them, but I heard them calling to each other.

This is the same small lake as yesterday, a little mist on the lake to the left of the trees.
They are winter visitors from the far north and normally show up here right at the end of October or the first half of November. So this is very early for them to be here. That usually means a hard winter, lots of snow and cold weather. Minor things like that. Sigh.
I will hope that they are wrong with their bird forecasting this year. They are wrong sometimes. Not often. But sometimes. Sigh. I have been living here for 6 weeks now. The elevators are not working. For the second time. The first time was our power outage, this time is routine maintenance which does not take long.

Some ruins of a building on the hill on the right, by the yellow trees.
The elevators were not working yesterday, and are still not working this morning. I am not sure what they mean by “it does not take long”. Guess I will find out. However, I am stuck up here until those elevators are working again. I cannot walk up and down 6 flights of stairs. Or maybe I should say, down and up. Sigh. Minor details. If the elevators are not working tomorrow morning, then I will miss my laundry time. Sigh.
Oh well, things could be much worse. I am not complaining, by the way, just mentioning something that is happening here. Muffin and I had a good playtime this morning and now she is having her morning nap. I baked some coffee cupcakes yesterday. I wanted to see how this oven worked.

Looking at the far shore of the lake.
Takes a bit longer to bake than my last stove, so that is good to know. They turned out nicely too, so I had a couple with my coffee this morning. Plus one. Two always needs three it seems. At least for me. They are just too good. Well, I hope you all have a great day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
Β©2023 Steve McLeod.
Nice A question Are crows or ravens bigger. π€£ππ
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ravens are considerably bigger than crows. They will soar with flat wings, whereas crows rarely soar.
Thanks Mr. Ohh!ππΊββππ
LikeLiked by 1 person
OK then What I have are crows. My neighbor says they’re ravens. I love being right. π€£ππ
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t think you would get many ravens that far south anyway. Enjoy your day!ππΉ
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry to hear your lift isnβt working
LikeLiked by 1 person
They finally got them going by noon. Not sure why they couldn’t do just one at a time, there are two of them. But I’m happy they are working anyway. Thanks Sheree!ππΊββππ
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s been a while since I haven’t read your posts, Steve. I’m somehow relieved to see that the things which were worrying you in the past aren’t of importance now.
I’m glad you finished cleaning the new home and I hope your back is better! The views I see in your recent posts are great.
Well, I get to walk 4 floors every day, and I consider it a blessing. I like to think of it as exercise and move on with my life π .
I think it’s important to be grateful for the things that we have, Steve. Sending hugs and whiskers to Muffin πΊπ§β.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, I just lost my reply, not sure what happened to it. Sigh. Nice to see you again Katherine! Sorry for the delay in responding, but I have not been well the last few days so have gotten behind.
Yep, cleaning is not my favorite chore but something that needs to be done and it feels so good once it is all finished.
Glad to hear that you can walk 4 floors each day. I could at one time, but my back and knee cannot handle it anymore. Minor detail, things could be much worse.
Yes, being grateful and content are very important in life. So many people are miserable because they lack those two things.
Thanks Katherine, Muffin sends purrs back to you!ππ»ββππ
LikeLike
Morning, Steve and Muffin βπ§
No worries, things happen. I’m sorry to hear about the situation and hope you will get better soon.
I know that things can sometimes get hard to handle and make us feel overwhelmed. That’s when we turn to the doctor in heaven, He heals every wound.
Stay safe, get well and take care. This too, shall pass. πΊππβ
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good evening Katherine! I am feeling a bit better today, so hopefully it will keep going that way. Though part of my health problems never go away, but God gives the strength for that too. Yes, sometimes that overwhelming feeling does take over, but nice to know we can always turn to our God to help in those times.
Thanks Katherine, hope you have a great week ahead!ππΊββππ
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice photos of the lake, Steve. That’s a bummer about the elevators not working, and I am glad they have been repaired. We don’t have elevators where I live but, there are only 3 stories in our buildings and we live on the second floor.
Before I retired, I worked on the 11th floor in a high-rise building. Once a month, there would be a fire drill, and we had to use the stairs to leave the building. It was awful but my legs finally got used to it. π»π’βοΈβοΈ
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much Eugenia! Yes, I just can’t handle stairs anymore. That was the main reason for moving here actually. Oh well, good thing I don’t need to get out every day. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!ππΊββππ
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are welcome, Steve.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love your pictures of the lake in the sun, but foggy days have their own special beauty. Some pics of the fog from the heights?π
LikeLiked by 1 person
I showed some pics the other day, perhaps you missed them. But why do you want to see fog? No picture in that, just gray from up here. Partial fog is nice, like I showed before. But too much fog is too much fog!ππΉππ
LikeLiked by 1 person
Iβve always been counter-cultural in this; liking cloudy and rainy days; foggy bogs and shadowy realms; enjoying colder weather than most, and late evening more than morning. Gray has always been one of my favorite colors.π
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, some people are like that. Fog can be nice if you can still see something, but what we had was fog, the kind where you can’t see across the street, so there would be no picture. I know another person who likes gray as well. Very strange.π
LikeLiked by 1 person
Btw, I noted your fog pics, but not much there. The first was particularly lovely.ππ
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s the idea, they are the best kind.π
LikeLiked by 1 person