I have met brave robin mamas who will tolerate a fairly close approach, but this one, this spring, will take off to the nearby spruce tree at the smallest sign of us. So we took this indistinct shot of her through our closed front door and screen door -- and you can tell she is still wise to our lies!

Eggs ought to hatch soon.

... I did not Photoshop this!

Does that wish sound belated to you? If so, you live in a sunnier clime than mine. We only just got rid of the snow... but on a specially built platform high on my front porch wall, a robin just laid two beautiful eggs. So okay, it's spring now!

There's an offbeat phenom on the Web these days, name of Chris Leavins, runs the fun known to a few of us as Cute with Chris.

Hmm, how did I find him? I think because I'm also a fan of Cute Overload. Yes, I freely admit that I like photos of cute puppies and kittens and, for that matter, hedgehogs and canaries and hamsters... but there's more to it, in both cases, than that. The value added is all in the host's personality, I'd say. It's all in the presentation.

Anyway... I have two tickets to Chris's upcoming show in Toronto. Yep, the Friday one. Guaranteed silly fun. And we get a free pen. And we will laugh!

I'm sure we'll be the oldest ones there...

Give it a try! So far I have absolutely no idea how the high scorers get those scores... they must really have paid attention during geography class, is all I can say! LOL! (My high score so far is
392,448 pts.)

I was just visiting Leonidas the Usually Voluble, and he says he can't think why to write anything just now. I think I'm feeling just the same... I could have written some Xangawords over the past couple of weeks, but I just haven't felt like it. Perhaps it's the ongoing winter weather...

Ten little thoughts that have occurred to me today:

1. I wish there was an easy (non-dusty) way to make a plaster ceiling smooth when a previous owner has done a bunch of yucky stippling on it. Blech.

2. I want to bake this Kentucky jam cake recipe I found. Tasty.

3. I hate melamine and the way it can get old-looking so fast. Drr.

4. Paint-by-numbers are fun. I wish I had one to do this afternoon. *nostalgia*

5. It's so sunny today, I wish alllllll the snow would melt and it would finally be spring. Sigh.

6. There are a number of books in the house that I haven't read yet. I'll have to remedy that soon. *anticipation*

7. Dishwashers are wonderful. Yay!

8. I love to get the newspaper, but I wish it wasn't such a waste of paper. Online just isn't the same, though. Sigh.

9. Filling the backyard bird feeders is so rewarding, especially when two white-breasted nuthatches visit at once. *bliss*

10. Those squirrels may look cute now, but just wait until they start lopping the heads off my tulips in a few weeks. Grr.

CG

Do you other Xangans ever have fun looking at your footprints and seeing the interesting Internet searches that have led readers to your pages? Well, today was particularly fun for me, with several hits from search engine inquiries.

Someone in France found an old survey page of mine when they Googled "yessitizz." Say, is that French for something I should know? *giggle*

Meanwhile, in Utah, someone needed to know "how to pronounce indignant" and happened upon my version of the "10 pet peeves" meme. A few minutes later, an Ohio resident found that very same page by searching for the "meaning of narrotic." Coincidence? I guess so!

A California surfer entered "I am 'academic fan' first" into a search engine, and found nothing more than my little entry about going to last year's Kalamazoo conference (in another coincidence, I just reserved last night for this year's conference). And in the final footprint quirk for today, someone from West Virginia visited this self-same nondescript page a few minutes later... but not from a search...

<--- clueless -- but curious!

Jamaica was a surprise to us. Perhaps it was because of the excursion we picked. Certainly, the guide was fun and knowledgeable, and we had a great time. Perhaps it was because we drove about extensively for hours and saw quite a bit more of Jamaica than we expected. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed my visit enormously and would love to return one day. With, I might add, dog biscuits!

Some added notes about those pictures... Fern Gully was once a riverbed and is now one of the most beautiful drives it's possible to take in Jamaica. Reynolds once owned that bauxite operation, but abandoned it when Jamaica requested that the company pay corporate income tax. And our joke about the cow was that it was white before we drove by and splashed it with our Jeep truck!

I love those sites where you can make up your own signs... this is for all those of us who have seen Tom Cruise's unbelievably ridiculous Scientology video recently. If by some fluke you haven't, you owe yourself a little treat. If you can stand it.

Here are a few photos from onboard during our cruise. I'll post about Jamaica tomorrow.

If you can't see the animation above, you can check out the photos (with more detailed captions) here: