PrettyTiny Film Company Pic-A-Week *2024*! (#44, Oct. 28)

[fishy]

Awww he's so sweet. Good photo.

[davidd]

I could go off on a ranty tangent... about the Current Administration trying to ban gas appliances; now it makes more sense when looked at from an off-grid, social-control perspective. And about cash giving way to cards... and inevitably, to government-controlled digital currency. And even about having to order and pay for fast food through a friggin' app. I guess the days of functioning in society without having a phone are done and gone. The Mark of the Beast is upon us, and it is the Mobile Device.

But instead of a rant, I'll go all d'awwww over the cute pic of Sunsette and her new kitty friend! Because it's a d'awww-worthy scene! No wonder you're not ready to go home.

Did it take Kitty long to get used to you? He seems to have completely accepted you at this point. I guess you'll have to stay!

[Alliecat]

I wonder how people without smart phones manage anymore. Several of the attractions I visited required you to buy tickets online in advance. A couple of times I did, but elsewhere I also called and got them to confirm you could still get admission at the door. Also some charge more for walk-ups and on-site parking.
Now that we don’t have a bank you “have” to do online banking. I don’t know how some seniors manage! Or those who can’t afford the outrageous Internet rates.  Next thing is we are getting “smart” power meters. I have a list of questions to take to the public meeting. Have to decide whether I want to try to opt out. People who have them claim their bills went up a lot.

Nope, I would happily have not come home. My neighbourhood has immediately continued demonstrating how gonetohell it is. I could stand it for a while if I had a plan of where to go. But nothing has worked out.

Tipsy was very friendly right away and is pretty good with strangers I guess. I offered to play ball with him shortly after I got there and he was in my lap in no time. He is such a dear soul!
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Thank you to fishy for the outfit.

[fishy]

Glad you like it!

[davidd]

Super cute outfit! I love those shoes!

I also love the nicely stained woodwork in the background. All my porches and decks and stairs need serious attention, but paint and stain has become prohibitively eggspensive.

I don't understand how everyone manages to pay for mobile phones and internet connectivity. Even homeless people are shuffling around staring at their phones. How do I get a plan that even a destitute person can afford?

And... charging more for paying in person rather than making a reservation online? What kind of sick messed-up world are we living in? Sometimes (often) I long for the long-threatened EMP - Electro Magnetic Pulse - attack that will supposedly wipe out electronic communication systems. Or a ginormous solar flare to throw things in to a tizzy. I am going to laugh when it happens. But it won't happen. That's all a bunch of fear-mongering hype.

[Alliecat]

LOL, the "nicely stained woodwork". It's just your basic brown pressure-treated from quite a few years ago. The colour has leached out horribly. I wonder how many chemicals have gone into the ground (and my water). Have to take out a mat to sit on if I need to sit on it, after ending up with orange shorts the first time I did it. I should waterproof it again, but, it's a big job and at the moment I feel a bit whybother about further fixing that doesn't HAVE to be done.


Sara & Celeste had a photoshoot this week. More to come. I've made more work for myself sorting more photos, in a week where I am still trying to dig out from the post-trip blahs, write deadline articles and do income tax. Feh.

[fishy]

LOL, the "nicely stained woodwork".  It's just your basic brown pressure-treated from quite a few years ago.  The colour has leached out horribly.  I wonder how many chemicals have gone into the ground (and my water).  Have to take out a mat to sit on if I need to sit on it, after ending up with orange shorts the first time I did it.  I should waterproof it again, but, it's a big job and at the moment I feel a bit whybother about further fixing that doesn't HAVE to be done.


Sara & Celeste had a photoshoot this week.  More to come.  I've made more work for myself sorting more photos, in a week where I am still trying to dig out from the post-trip blahs, write deadline articles and do income tax.  Feh.

That looks so chill.

Oh, to be in the woodland listening to music...

[davidd]

What a lovely Hawaiian scene! This looks like it could be on the Big Island, or perhaps at a higher elevation on Maui where the nēnē geese live.

Excellent costuming and posing. Is Celeste the pinkish-blonde? Her hat even looks like the hat worn by island icon Hilo Hattie back in the day.

Ahhh... I'm so homesick now. Because, after 16 years there, I decided that da North Shore was my real home.

You know da kine: what'd you spend there, a year? And yet Hawaii is in your blood and calls to you still.

[Alliecat]

Yeah… Being in the woods listening to music – or just the sounds of nature and not trucks and ATVs – would be wonderful
You know, I never even thought of this as feeling Hawaiian, but I see the Hilo Hattie likeness now. Yes, Celeste is the strawberry blonde. I only spent 15 weeks there the first time and three the second. That was enough to fall in love with all things Hawaiian.  >siggghhh< 
I gather that I would not be eligible to move to the states, even if it was financially feasible.  I don’t think they even let foreigners buy land in Hawai’i now anyway, do they?


I never cheat on pic-a-week with phone pics, but I am in a bit of a state of overwhelm here. And I’m so bummed that I didn’t manage to get a Star Wars Day photo done. So Mariya saves the day at midnight with a badly lit snapshot. At least I have 5 pretty amaryllis flowers to enjoy.

[davidd]

I don’t think they even let foreigners buy land in Hawai’i now anyway, do they?


At least I have 5 pretty amaryllis flowers to enjoy.

The amaryllis are lovely, and rather than putting me in a Christmas mood, they have me... missing Hawaii. One year I planted post-bloom amaryllis plants outside in a planter box when I lived in Hawaii. The plants did fine, but they didn't bloom again... until snails ate the greenery down to the ground. I figured that was that. Instead, after being devoured, fresh shoots popped up followed by a flower stalk. So there's an interesting amaryllis factoid: rather than a cool snap, they will also flower, eventually, after being chewed down to nothing by marauding snails!

When I lived in Hawaii, most of the property was owned by Japanese nationals, particularly the valuable downtown property. Now, my understanding is that much of Hawaii is owned by Chinese nationals.

I have not heard of foreign nationals being banned from owning property in Hawaii, or in any state. China residents are buying up everything, everywhere, in many of the states. According to this website (updated this past March), it is a relatively straightforward process for Canadians to purchase property in Hawaii:
https://www.mtfxgroup.com/post/guide-for...in-hawaii/

Why can't you move to the States? The government is planning to bring in terrorists from Palestine at takspayer ekspense. So I guess you gotta start chanting "Death to America" and maybe go blow up some stuff and you'll get an all-ekspense paid invitation.

[Alliecat]

One year I planted post-bloom amaryllis plants outside in a planter box when I lived in Hawaii. ...

I have not heard of foreign nationals being banned from owning property in Hawaii, or in any state.

Funny about the amaryllis... but they do need a dormant period.  I read you are supposed to stop watering till the leaves die, then put it somewhere cold & dark for a while and then it will re-grow.  I did that the first 2 or 3 cycles.  Now the leaves just eventually die down on their own, and I stop watering but don't put it away.  After a month or so it starts a new bud.  Your snails must have simulated the dieback from drought that the plants needed.

I started to reply about foreign ownership & then thought I'd better try looking it up.  I guess it was this that I heard about:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesfarrel...ef09ac5cf3

Why can't you move to the States?

Because to get a green card, you have to be a victim of something seeking asylum; have an employer willing to do it for you; be related to someone; or be investing a million bucks in a business to create jobs.  (I looked it up again, just recently.)
Also, you need to have partaken in a certain medical procedure to be allowed to immigrate.
If you've got info to the contrary, love to hear it.

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"Mum thinks this trip may be a bust.  The lot we came to look at has some big pluses, and is near a great beach with beautiful sand, but the back-40 woods are impenetrable and we want woodland we can roam in.  Also Mum didn't like the proximity, or the look, of the neighbouring houses.  From ex-perience, sigh.  Anyway, we had a cold walk around this rocky headland too."

[davidd]

Why can't you move to the States?

Because to get a green card, you have to ... be investing a million bucks in a business to create jobs.  
If you've got info to the contrary, love to hear it.


"Mum thinks this trip may be a bust.  The lot we came to look at has some big pluses, and is near a great beach with beautiful sand, but the back-40 woods are impenetrable and we want woodland we can roam in.  

Yeah, I hear ya. Back a few years ago Canada was claiming "we want immigrants - we accept anybody - everybody is welcome." Because you make your island paradise appear so appealing, I looked up immigration rules. The big one is money. I forget the amount, but you gotta have buckets of moolah to legally move to Canada, and be willing to "invest" that moolah in the local economy. Even the fact that my mother and grandmother were Canadians doesn't seem to make any difference.

Apparently America is only open to illegal immigrants. F***ing states are giving f***king illegals drivers licenses now. If I want a drivers license, I have to show proof of insurance blah blah blah, but if I'm a drug-dealing child-smuggling gang-banger, woo hoo, drivers licenses, mobile phone, and in some cases, free place to live and cash allowances.

Anyway... I wanna see pictures of the "impenetrable woodland." Nothing a small chainsaw and a good set of shears couldn't clear out, I'm sure. Create meandering hobbit trails, that'd be awesome... and it'd set you up with a lot of firewood to keep the heating bills down. Is it really 40 acres, or was that a figure of speech? Is this a lot on which you'd have to custom build a home? Isn't that, like, super ekspensive, especially up there in remote areas?

The beach sounds nice. The rocky headland pic looks awesome. If that's the nearby beach areas, it looks great to me.

But... with the neighboring houses too close... yuck. I don't get people. They build their houses right on the frikken property line! I watch the new houses gradually filling up the valley across from me. They're five and ten acre "farm lots," but rather than putting the house in the middle of the lot, the people build their houses as close as possible to the already existing houses. Sucks for the first people who built out there... who have since sold and moved away... because their unobstructed view got obstructed by ginormous houses built around them.

[Alliecat]

... I wanna see pictures of the "impenetrable woodland."

Didn't take any.  I took a video of part of my walkaround for reference later to Think About It, but by the time I left the property I already kinda figured this was not going to be a fit.  Yes, it really was 40 acres.  And no, I am not interested in spending countless hours trying to make trails into solid walls of skinny little spruces all jammed together and stuffed full of underbrush and thickets too.  The one little overgrown trail there was would have taken way too much effort just to make walkable, and it goes nowhere.  Not what I would want to be doing with a new property.  Also the cluster of decrepit-looking sheds across the road looked like trouble.  It's too bad, because otherwise the location might have been OK.
I didn't get a pic of the nice sand beach either because by then it was starting to get dark and spit rain.
Oh well. 
Back to zero.



These daffodils had quit blooming, the past few years.  I never ex-pected to see them, but they made 4 little blooms while I was away.



The point at which Daphne's earring had come out and fallen into her mass of hair, and I thought I had lost it somewhere in the backyard.

[davidd]

The daffodils look like sweet little flowers. Something nice and bright to greet you on your return.

40 acres sounds like bliss to me. Overgrown and impenetrable sounds even better. And with the severe winters, you're probably not likely to have a homeless encampment spring up in the woods.

Decrepit looking sheds across the road? Those things have a propensity to burn down you know; fires of undetermined origin.

I'm glad you recovered the earring... hidden in that impenetrable mass of blue hair!

[Alliecat]

There are plenty of homeless encampments in Canada, including in NB and NS, through the winter.

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I guess it's "No-Mow May". I have no idea what these are but they have filled the patch of lawn that was destroyed by grubs. All I planted was grass and clover, and now I have a field of these. I really will have to mow soon, but I hate to chop them all down. Maybe I'll leave a little patch.