Make way for ducklings.

First there was this:

Traffic stopped. We thought there had been an accident, and then we wondered if part of the car was on the road. And then we realized that the car part was moving. So we got the binoculars out (yes, everybody who lives in a high rise has binoculars or a telescope. That’s just how it is.).

A duck. And a lot of ducklings. People stood and scratched their heads. What to do about ducklings?

You shoo them across the road. In fact, two sets of drivers, at two different times, tried to persuade the duck that she ought to take her charges back down the hill to the river.

All seemed well, until we finished washing the dishes and looked up the road. A police officer, standing and trying to reason with the duck.

To be fair, the duck and the ducklings were a real traffic hazard: people kept stopping to try to shoo her back and then had to go back out onto the road again to shoo the ducklings…you get the picture. Chaos. Chaos on our roads. We’re not making this up. We were trying to decide who to call when the police showed up (who do you call? 311? animal services? the police? We’re not sure).

So the police officer tried to move the duck, but she wasn’t having it. I suspect she was quacking at him quite a bit. And then a little while later? The police van showed up.

That duck was going to be taken down.

The charge?

Disorderly con-duck-t.

That’s what happens when you run a-fowl of the law: the police come, they scoop you up, and then they put you in the back of the van. Your goose is cooked.

(I’ll stop. I’ll stop. I promise. But I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in ages. Well done, Calgary Police Service: you’re very awesome. Traffic hazard taken care of…and with a happy ending, too).

The police bundled the duck into the back of the van, closed up the doors, and then drove back down the hill. Ve-r-r-r-ry slowly. All the way to the park.

Case closed.

Monday rolls around, yet again.

Good heavens. A lazy Friday – I took the day off – turned into a study party (lots of theory reading) and a reading party (I finished Super Sad True Love Story, which is a pretty awesome book). And then the reading and study party turned into a lazy Sunday…and before I knew it, Monday was here and the blog was still stuck in last week. Oops.

The weather is getting much nicer, and the tulips are finally starting to open. I saw some daffodils on the way home this evening, too – it’s wonderful. Spring is finally here: the leaves are starting to come out, and the grass has greened up quite a lot. I’m always astonished that nature just seems to know how to do this. Without fail. So very wonderful that it does, too.

A quick stop downtown. And: I confess that I am a transit nerd.

A very long week for me – so I decided to take Friday off, and then I made a quick(ish) trip downtown to use a coupon for a clothing store. I have been doing more of this downtown shopping than I have in a long time, and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed looking up at the skylight. It’s a lovely view, especially as the sun is setting.

The other reason for the after-work trip, though, is that I’m taking part in a pilot program for Calgary Transit, too – testing out the new ‘Connect’ card, which is going to be like those Oyster cards or Charlie cards. I have a card that I’m supposed to use as much as I can – it’s a beta test. It’s pretty fun. I make sure to tell the bus driver that I’m taking part in the trial and then I try the card on the readers to see how it works. The drivers are all quite interested (one even thanked me yesterday morning for helping to test the system).

It occurs to me that I may be admitting to being a transit geek (or just a nerd in general) by saying that I’m having fun testing the card. Hrm. Well, it’s not like it’s shocking news, is it?

A sure sign of spring.

The bald eagle is back (there are a few that nest along the river), sweeping along on enormous wings.

Duck at the bus stop? Yes.

Makes me smile in the morning: being tut-tutted at by a duck on his way (?) to the bus stop. He was not impressed with having his picture taken, and walked away quacking at me.

Me and my Stampede string.

You know, it was a very nice day. And I quite enjoyed the walk home in my sun hat (and I’m not embarrassed to use the Stampede string to keep it from blowing away with the wind, either). Every Monday ought to be a nice Monday.

Sunday.

The snow, you will be happy to hear, is gone: melted away by the end of yesterday afternoon, and today the sun is shining and it is warm and pleasant as you expect it ought to be in May. Calgary heaves a heavy, relieved sigh, and goes back to debating whether patio season has started yet (it will, soon, I think).

I’m finishing up some reading for school – just one more chapter to do today – and then I’m going back to Super Sad True Love Storyby Gary Shteyngart. I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would…I picked it up because I’ve heard interviews with Shteyngart that I liked and – yes – I’ve enjoyed following him on Twitter. It’s quite a good book, too – a little avant-garde, I suppose, but it seems to fit in nicely with the kind of things that Margaret Atwood is writing these days (as an example).

If it were patio season, I could sit outside and read. But not quite yet, so I’ll sit indoors. But with the windows wide open.

Snowy Saturday.

It’s snowing and the city is having a quite freak out on Twitter. Snow? Snow? OMG snowing?

Early May snow is not unusual. In fact, late May snow is not all that unusual, either. In a few months, we’ll be having mild freak outs over the heat and thunderstorms. So hot! OMG, so hot! And then we’ll be back on to worrying about the cold and the snow after that.

It’s pretty. And it won’t last very long – just enough to help wash away the dust and grime from the winter, and the grass will be all the better for it. The gardening season hasn’t started yet, either.

For today? I’ll be reading for school and writing up some blog posts – blogging in this class is worth a whopping 20%, even though there’s no real dialogue between students. I get that there’s a developmental aspect to writing about course material as you work through it (I do that without needing grades). But to make it such a large component of the course seems a bit much. Mind you…it’s not going to be hard to do, and that’s rather nice.

Friday. Finally.

It was a really long week, wasn’t it? I’ve been a little under the weather, and I think that just makes it worse…wrapped up with work stress stuff and a lot of cloudy days…well, I’m glad to see the back end of the work week marching away from me.

And even happier to see the Friday sandwich. Let the weekend begin!

Thursday.

Many more study party luncheons ahead of me, and another one today:

With the term paper handed in for the other course, I can concentrate entirely on the literary studies class. And I am.