For Much Love Monday this week my photo doesn’t actually contain a heart in it, but it includes the word! This is a mysterious sign, saying Hotel Heartbreak, hanging on Queen Street West. However there is not, nor has there ever been, a hotel there as far as anyone I’ve talked to about it knows. The internet doesn’t have much to say about it either, except that it may be the remains of a nightclub that was once there in the 90s. So while the origin is long gone, the interesting sign is still there. Now, if only someone could figure out how to get the neon lit up again!
My story about love pertains to squirrels. We have many of them around our place, that we can see through the windows. We have come to know the mamas and their babies when they emerge from their nests in late spring, and we noticed last fall when a new grey one joined the colony of black coloured squirrels.
We both laughed in delight last week as we watched one digging in our leaf compost bin. For the longest time, only her hind quarters could be seen, with her little legs straight up in the air and whole head and front arms buried. Then, suddenly she popped upright, clutching a completely intact round seeded cracker in her tiny hands, that had obviously been stored in the leaves for later retrieval. Then, right in plain view to us, she began to munch on this large cracker. After a while, she realized that there was no way that she could eat the whole thing in one sitting, so off she dashed to find a new hiding spot for the rest of her treasure.
That is the love part of the story, but now I have a ‘not-so-lovable’ part. Suddenly, and very noticeably, the whole colony is gone! We are talking many squirrels who were ALWAYS out and about frolicking with one another and jumping in the trees. For the decade we have lived here, at any given time during any day, we could see at least 3 of them, with most times giving us a view of about 8. Yesterday we noticed they were nowhere to be seen. We looked all day and neither of us spotted a single one. I’ve just looked again today and nada.
I can understand if this colony had nested in someone’s roof and were not welcome there. Perhaps they have been moved to a nearby park. Or maybe this is natural squirrel behaviour after a major wind-storm such as we had a couple of night ago. I just don’t know where they have gone. I only know that definitely something has happened to them. I am hoping beyond hope that there is a happy ending to this story. I choose to believe there is, even if I never find out what happened to our squirrels.
I will be residing at Hotel Heartbreak if they are gone forever.
Wishing you a good week,
loulou
[Edit: Links to Much Love Monday have been removed because the site is no longer active.]