The Ravens II


More raven stuff! It's been snowing again like almost non-stop so I've had a lot of time to watch the ravens. Oddly, there was one evening when the weather just cleared up in the middle of a snowstorm and it looked like... spring. I went to the colonial harbour, it was calm and serene and would you believe it: warm! I sat on a rock for a while, watching the sunset, listening to the waves playing with the sand and it felt impossible to believe that if I just turned a bit, I'd see mountains of snow. I can imagine spring and summer here and it must be beautiful. Just please, for all that is good and holy in this world, let me see it before I leave!


Watching ravens iskind of like playing hide and seek with somebody who's infinitely better at it than I can ever be. I put turkey for them on the balcony (they still like the chicken best, little cannibals) and they're kinda dancing around, wondering if they should take it. They won't, if I'm too close to the window, or the balcony door which is made of glass. I'm not even sure how they can see me. Or why they care, I'm on the other side of the glass anyway. What do they think I'm gonna do? It's pretty rare to catch them taking the treats I leave for them. I have some old-ish chicken in the fridge just waiting for them, if it ever stops snowing I'll go up the hill and try to lure them to pose for me.


A few days ago, on the other side of the house, they were digging into the neighbors' trash (sorry neighbors) and making an incredible mess. I think a passerby had just dumped something in the trash, between the bag and the can, and the ravens got wind of it and in one day, they just tore the whole trash can apart. The neighbors were probably away for a few days, so the birds had a field day. As fun as it was looking at them, it was kind of disgusting, with old food strewn around the yard and poop even on my porch. Messy little devils.


I spent that day trying to catch them on my camera but they're always faster than me. The minute I even take a peek from the window, they fly away. How the hell can they see me even if I'm being really careful and quiet? Also, there's a lot of snow in front of the window and one of my biggest obstacles is that I'm too short to see over it, even if I'm standing on my toes. So I'd basically have to stand on a chair but then they will see me for sure.



Finally I figured out a way to sort of worm myself to the window right next to the wall, climb on a chair out of sight and then just quickly snap photos. They still usually see me soon and flee but I have a moment or two. I even saw a crow jumping! It's freaking hilarious. Here it is, justbouncing around:


Some of them seem a little different, I wonder if it's another species? Some are sleeker and a bit tinier and some have this big fluff around their neck, it almost looks like a mane. If you get close enough, they are damn big birds. Definitely would not want to fight one.






It's been almost three weeks now and soon I'll be at the half-point of my residency. What have I learnt so far?

- That yes, actually I really do spend a lot of toilet paper. This has always been a point of contention with my boyfriend (who I live with) and I've always refused to take the blame. But now that I'm the only one using the toilet paper I buy, I find it is true that I use a lot of it. Not gonna stop, because having all the toilet paper you need if one of really important luxuries in life. And yes, I am aware it's a privilege.

- It's really slippery here. It shouldn't be that different from home but it is. I'm usually quite good at staying upright but I've fallen quite a lot of times now. I also fell down the stairs the other day and hurt my ass. Ouch. And have also broken the coat rack twice. I wish I could say this is unusual for me but I guess it's not. I break things a lot.

- Doing art is difficult! Everything I do feels like crap. I hope it will be clearer at some point but I doubt that's part of the process.

- I cannot wait to be able bitch about summer heat again.


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