Sunday we watched the Academy Awards on TV. We have been watching these for probably over 50 years. Back when Pat and I were dating we probably saw every movie nominated and would have our own favorites.

This year was not the best. Obviously with the pandemic, not a lot of great movies were released and we thought we had only seen 2 of them. The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mank. Neither one was that spectacular, but we did watch them on Netflix this last winter.

Now in the years past we would go to Oscar night parties and often dress up as one of the leading characters. I simply wore a head band to go as Abbie Hoffman. Not that I wanted that character to win, I mean can you imagine Sacha Baron Cohen with a acting Oscar?

When the nominees were listed for best documentary we realized that we had seen another movie. My Octopus Teacher. We stumbled on it a few months ago and thoroughly loved it. So we had something finally to cheer for and, of course, it won. So the award show this year was not a total loss.

If you have not seen it I strongly recommend watching it on Netflix.

1885 in a small town in Montana the birds gathered around their local watering hole.

This is my latest creation. It is a homage to Frank Lloyd Wright.

The roof is Teak as is the garden box.

The strips are a combination of walnut, Pao Amarello and Douglas Fir.

The base and the core of the birdhouse is Cedar.

The flowers are miniature Bonzai blossoms I have been growing (no they are plastic)

This is my latest birdhouse. I saw a picture of something like this on the internet and decided I would try my variation on it. The hair is Douglas Fir bark I found washed up by the ocean. Unusual

I have completed the second in my latest series of bird houses. I call it a Swiss Chalet (and not the chicken restaurant)

I can appreciate why roofs covered in cedar shakes cost so much. A lot of work. 350 shingles made each hand tapered and applied. I put a copper ridge on it as that is where the rain gets in under the shingles.

I hope the birds appreciate the work on the roof although they are likely going to use it as a toilet.

When we lived in Markham I played a lot of sports. Big part of our summer was my part of the Slow Pitch league. My buddy Phil had convinced me to try out and I made one of the expansion teams. I could not make Phil’s team because they were the Yankees of the time.

We formed a team from new guys, called the Cheese Cutters. That came from a local shop of ladies that sold cheese and had sponsored us to partially pay for our uniforms. Ugly orange uniforms of polyester.

The team did not do well that year but in the following seasons we got better. Eventually we bought cotton jerseys. I think every member of the team would shop at this little Cheese Cutter store and I hope they broke even.

Still many, many evenings with me playing ball. Very rarely would any of the kids show up for my game. And we had a lot of losing seasons. But still it would have been nice to have James react to a Cheese Cutter loss like this

I have completed the first of the series of bird houses that will fill my time over the next few months while I search for an inspiration. I spotted a birdhouse similar to this down the street and it gave me an idea.

The twigs came from where we take Reese for a walk around the College grounds. In the woods are all these Aspen spouts coming up.

A good learning start for me as I remind myself on how to work with rough cedar. The pieces are warped and twisted and I have to adapt.

Still not bad.

In the news there have been several reports of Cougars killing small dogs in the Port Moody area. While no reports here on the Island there are numerous cougar sightings. Thinking of getting a new vest for Reesy to wear when we take her for walks. Or maybe a sylish Collar

Meagan patiently lead me through the new software for this blog. She apparently uses it a lot as she issues a blog for her company. The problem I was facing was that the new software looked nothing like the old. It does, however, have many, many more functions. Functions that she would use in business like attaching a video or creating a graph or pie chart. Functions I would never use.

Anyway, as I said, she patiently ran me through the BLOGS FOR DUMMIES lesson and I am prepared to adapt and try it.

I do not like change, even if it might be for the best, but I will get used to it.

I have to be careful in my titles because I am receiving many contacts based on the title that is asking me to share my blog with them (always with a caveat that I connect to their blog and pay money) Well it is as it is. I think I have ducked this from the trollers so time to go on.

There is no question that the isolation of the pandemic is a restriction on normal life. But one benefit is the opportunity to experiment on dining experiences. Granted Patty and I often have a burger night and a chicken wing night and a pizza night, but we do take the occasionally go out of the box.

Tomorrow I am preparing Veal Scaloppini with a Mushroom sauce for dinner.

I know you are thinking this is an easy meal.  Granted I was able to obtain true veal slices from our butcher. But here is the issue.

The sauce requires a reduction of white wine. Pat is in lent and abstaining from alcohol including wine. She does relent to a glass of wine with the Sunday dinner but this will be Wednesday. I have assured her that the alcohol is removed in the process of making the mushroom sauce (and she believes me)

I think back to when we had kids and most evenings were how quick could you get the meal to the table before they had to rush off and could you pick a meal that they would eat. But with pandemic we have the time to do something special.