Angry, Angry, Angry

I'm frustrated, disappointed but mostly angry.

I'm grinding my teeth angry at a few things this morning.

Why?

Let's see.  I came downstairs to the basement this morning to check on an e-mail message I've been waiting on to see the start-up screen on my laptop.  Vista had done yet another of its unprompted updates.  I growled as I started up, but wasn't too concerned.  I had a few word documents open but surely the auto-recover feature on Microsoft Word would have saved those files every ten minutes just as it's programed to do.  Surely.

My e-mail hadn't come in.  Damnit.  Oh, well - let's open Word and recover those files.

The Auto-Recovery task pane (pain) was not there.  Okayyyyy - where the hell is it?  I searched and searched and searched but there were no Auto-Recovery files to be found.  Anywhere.

I did a little internet search.  I checked for all of the different file extensions which could possibly be attached to my errant files.  Nothing.  Anywhere.

I was fuming!  I was totally pissed off at Microsoft Word for not dutifully saving my files like it is supposed to. I was angry at Vista for not waiting for my to okay the request to restart before going ahead and doing it itself.  But I'm mostly angry at myself for relying on a software company with a poor track record to protect my work.

By now, I should really know better.

So - for today - I'm off to the gym to work off some frustration - then home to see if I can rewrite my synopsis for The Edgeling and the work I had added to Gerry.

Strange and wonderful...

It has been a week of strange and wonderful things.  I have been plodding ahead with a synopsis for The Edgeling and have been moving (slowly) forward on Gerry.

Something strange to begin with - it seems after twenty-two years good old Duffer (who lately has more than his fair share of "Bill the Cat" moments) has decided to stave off Alzheimer's by challenging himself with new skills.

He's decided to start with Beatrix Potter.  Good choice, Duff.

Now onto something wonderful.  My little time-consuming park project, BT Corner.  Most of the landscaping is done.  The wall is all but finished and the paving stones are in.  There are a few touches left for this autumn, but then I can take a break from the park (for the most part) until Spring when there will be planting and benches and information plaques to contend with.  Here's how the Corner looks today:

I especially love that red maple.

Something else wonderful - this:

Is that?  Could that be?  No....no one would ever-

Yes.  That's Nature's Perfect Food, right there.  Bacon, and lots of it.  That is a bacon, potato and cheddar tart, my friends.  I wish I could take credit for this flavour treat/ heart attack on a plate but that honour goes to PEI chef, Michael Smith.

Here's what it looks like inside:

Trust me - all you need with this is the salad (and maybe a defibrillator).

Now on to strange and wonderful.

I love my town.  We are blessed with hundreds of heritage homes built from local limestone by the skilled hands of masons long dead.  One of these buildings is our own Carnegie Library.  It is a stately building and last night, as I waited for my daughter to finish her piano lesson, I snapped this shot - just in time for Hallowe'en.

This really is the only way to light a building like this.

And speaking of lights...Remember Trixie, the albino black cat.  Well here she is, mounted and lit, just in time for Hallowe'en.

Leaves and wind and sun

We've had some blustery weather of late, denuding the trees and leaving us scrambling to pull the mitts and hats out of storage for another year.  I'm of the opinion that it is far too early for such things but chilled kids win the vote every time.  Over the weekend things warmed up considerably.

It was warm enough to get a few jobs done.  My workshop needs to be winterized but first things first - it had to be cleaned.  Once it was cleaned it seemed like we should finish Trixie.  Remember Trixie?  She the albino black cat my daughter and I made for Hallowe'en.

She's almost done:

Complete with scary teeth.

It was supposed to be a Cheshire Grin but didn't really turn out that way.  All we need to do is light her up from the inside and she'll be ready for the big night at the end of the month.

It was also nice enough that the crew working on the park for the Heritage Committee made some real headway.  They did a bit more over the weekend, but this is where they were at as of Saturday morning:

The Corner is coming along really nicely and everyone I've spoken to has been pleased with the results.  I have been told that most, if not all, of the landscaping work should be done by the end of the week.

Across from the park in the Fergus Market Building is a place which offers archery lessons.  My son has expressed an interest and even went as far as to build his own play bow over the summer.  I took him over on Saturday afternoon and he proved to be a quick study:

He looks pretty excited, right?  With good cause.

That's a Bullseye from about ten yards out.  We'll be going again soon, I'm sure.

To finish off a brilliant autumn day - what better than a fire...

And yes, that big jar next to the kettle on the table behind me - jam packed with marshmallows for roasting.