Here are some miscellaneous thoughts I had and pictures that I took today. They are not necessarily related to each other.
Someone who knows about search engine optimization recently commented to say that when he typed in “SEO” to the WordPress search engine, my post about SEO was top of the list. I was at first amazed and then, secondly, horrified. The article in question was talking about how disinterested I was in writing according to the recommendations for optimizing search engines. It turns out, though, that I had accidentally done exactly what SEO recommends. Sigh.
At one moment yesterday, all the cities that I check on from time to time—Edmonton Alberta, San Jose California, and London England—were all at the same temperature; 20 C or 68 F. I wonder how often that happens.
Either I watch too much Netflix or their content has become uninteresting. Today I couldn’t find anything that I wanted to watch that I had not already seen. Maybe the problem is that their algorithm is somehow messed up and now only presents to me choices of films that I don’t care to see. Or, maybe the fact that I don’t want to watch war, or sex, or teens coming-of-age, or couples in crisis, or fictionalized political history, means that I have become too picky.
I think that someone in Edmonton has an unlimited supply of decorative facial features to put faces on trees, or else there is a secret society in my neighbourhood that no-one has yet invited me to. I saw one of these a year ago, another earlier this year. Today I found another one.
When you see a maple leaf drawn in chalk beside a bench in a children’s playground, you don’t expect it to be perfectly balanced, neat, and well-executed. It is probably gone by now because it rained this afternoon, but for a brief shining moment, there it was.
Snowbird of Paradise 
I checked SEO–you’re still at the top.
Thanks! That started my day with a laugh.
I feel the same way about Netflix. Crave and CBC Gem aren’t much better, although Gem has Back in Time for Dinner, the British version I think.
I had not heard of CBC Gem! I think Telus is keeping secrets from me. Television has become so complicated it is sometimes tiresome to figure out where to go to find what you want. Or, maybe I’m just getting old and cranky.
I noticed Gem advertised on CBC so decided to check it out. It has some original content like Northern Rescue, Diggstown, and The 401, lots of documentaries, some movies, etc.). I got caught up on When Calls the Heart and the Canadian version of Back in Time for Dinner. The app is a bit glitchy although it’s getting better. There is a free version, but you have to suffer through ads that you cannot fast forward. The premium version (ad-free) is only $5 per month. I’m not able to download the app to my Apple TV (Apple tells me the Apple TV I have is too old and won’t issue operating system updates), so I downloaded the app to my phone and iPad and air stream it or watch it directly on the iPad (my tech savvy daughter had to walk me through how to airstream-I may be on my way to becoming a tech dinosaur. Nevermind that I was one of the first people to own a computer. I had one at home before I got one at work! )
You were–and are! — a pioneer! I tried to watch Good Omens using my son’s Amazon Prime but it won’t stream from my MacBook through my Chromecast to my TV. So far I’ve watched on episode but haven’t felt inclined to watch the rest on my laptop.
If TV gets any more complicated we may have to go back to painting watercolours and playing the piano for entertainment.
How fun that you accidentally wrote the authoritative guide to SEO! I’m more partial to your tree-face pictures, though. The world would be a better place if we treated more living creatures as if they were sentient, don’t you think? Thank you for this delightful round-up.
Those tree faces are really fascinating, aren’t they? Now I’m going to be on the lookout to see if there are more. I’m also really curious to know where they got the facial features from and how they are fixed to the tree. I sense a new blog post coming on.
Isn’t it funny how if we tug at one little idea sometimes we end up tumbling down and entirely new rabbit hole? 🙂 If you do learn anything about the tree-faces, I’d be keen to know — because coincidentally I noticed one in my neighborhood too, over the weekend. If I spot the homeowner in the yard I will inquire after the origin of the face.
Oh, yes please. Also, take a photo if you can!
I will try to remember to do so! (My brain being heavily taxed these days by work … sigh.)
“The article in question was talking about how disinterested I was in writing according to the recommendations for optimizing search engines. It turns out, though, that I had accidentally done exactly what SEO recommends. Sigh.” This made me smile. Love the irony.
It’s quite delicious, really.
I would imagine!