Wordless Wednesday

~we had rain!~

Comments closed.  I'll be away from my computer for a few days 

and won't be able to comment myself.  See you soon!

Barn Charm

The sun hadn't come up yet and the lighting wasn't the best for this shot.  

However, at that time of morning, the traffic was very light and I was able to slow down and point and shoot quickly.  I'd love to capture this barn in better light so the quilt block would be better seen.  There just isn't a good place to stop.  The sunrise was gorgeous and I wished I'd had time to take some photos of it, but I had an early appointment at the vet for our kitten.  

To see some fantastic barns around the country,

just stop by Tricia's Barn Charm.   

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...

Bird Watching

Good Monday morning to you!  It's going to be a spring-like

day with temps near 70 degrees.  More of the same tomorrow.

It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow.  We need it.

Then we'll cool off toward mid-week with temps back in the 30s.  That will feel like winter again.   The birds must be confused.  When it is warmer, I don't see many at the feeders.  I've been putting out some cracked corn and they haven't been eating it as much as in past years.  The woodpeckers, like this Red-bellied Woodpecker, love their seed cakes.  I'm still waiting patiently for a Pileated Woodpecker to show up.  He is about the only woodpecker I haven't ever seen at the feeders. 

I'm beginning to have my doubts whether we have them around here.

  

Now I'm off to get my hair cut.  Bird-watching will have to wait another day.  Note to self...buy a couple more seed cakes and suet cakes.

Until next time...  

Friday Favorites

~Coco~

It's Friday!  I've decided that each Friday, at least for a while, I'm going to post a photo from the past depicting something that was meaningful to me in years gone by.  This week my photo shows Coco, a favorite kitty of mine who lived with us around 30 years ago.  There is not a lot to say about Coco except that she was an exceptionally good kitty and we loved her a lot.  I don't remember how old she was when she left us, but she had lived many years.  

This is my daughter many years ago with an armful.  I think her favorite kitty in those days was whichever one would let her hold them.  I do know that Coco was special to her, too.  That is her bed in the first photo with a Holly Hobbie quilt that Coco is resting on.  Any one remember Holly Hobbie?  

Sissy is home today from an overnight stay at the Animal Hospital.  I took her in yesterday to get spayed.  Poor baby had her tummy shaved and is looking pretty chilly without all the fur to help keep her warm.   It will be interesting trying to keep her calm for a few days.  

Until next time... 

Wordless Wednesday

~wishful thinking~

Barn Charm

 This red barn photo was taken somewhere in mid-Missouri in September.  I'm unsure exactly where.  It was another of my drive-bys and I'm thinking this might be the back of the barn.   I do remember it was nice and warm that day.   Unlike today, which was nice and cold.  It's 16 degrees right now.  Brrrr.  

Be sure to check out Tricia's Barn Charm to see

some really nice barns around the country!

Thanks for visiting.

Until next time... 

We've had "it"

Last week was a rough one for all of us at my house.  We had "it" in the form of coughing, fever, chills, sore throats and headaches.  I'm still not at 100 percent, but I'm improving.  Hubby went back to work today. 

You know when you are sick one of the things that you do is sleep or nap a lot.  Some of us have some goofy dreams when we are asleep.  Just yesterday, I was napping in the recliner and I remember very well the last dream.  Do you remember your dreams?  Well, anyway, the dream had me at home and the phone was ringing.  It was my doctor calling me to tell me that I only had two months to live unless we got rid of the carpeting and drapes.  LOL!!  Now, I've been procrastinating over getting new window treatments forever for quite some time now, but I didn't know they were making me that sick!  I told my hubby about the silly dream and he had a good laugh over it, too.  I realized then that was the first big laugh we'd had since we had gotten sick.  You know you are on the mend when you can laugh again.  I hope you've been staying well at your house!  

 

Until next time...

January Note Card Party

It's party time!  I've chosen yellow for my theme this month.  January is often gray and wintry and I think yellow is a cheerful and happy color to help brighten up those cold days.

 

Gerbera daisies blooming last summer.

Mr. Goldfinch watching me snap his picture.

Tulips

Stella D'Oros in my back yard last summer.

I hope everyone is staying well during this flu season.  It sounds like nearly every state has been hard hit.  We've been battling bad colds, viruses, or headaches since the weekend at my house. 

Just head over to Vee's at A Haven for Vee

  to see some beautiful note cards!

Thanks for visiting.

Until next time...

Barn Charm

This drive-by barn shot was taken last September.  Oh, how I miss September days now that it has turned so cold.

I'm linking to Tricia's  Barn Charm.
 

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time...

In memory of Leontien...

Oh heart, if one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body, answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains.  ~Kahlil Gibran

Rest in peace, Leontien.  We will miss you.

Peanut's Great Adventure

As you can see, it's a rainy day.  Looking out my dirty kitchen window is my little, always-into-something-except-when-she's sleeping, Peanut.  Yesterday, she nearly caused me heart failure.  I may have mentioned a few weeks ago that she had caused me to hurt my right hand and it's still not back to normal.

 

My windows are casements, the screens are on the inside.  I often take a screen off and roll out the window for taking pics of the birds.  Peanut is very fast and had hopped onto the sill and was past me and out on the brick ledge before I could catch her.  The problem is not that I feared for her going outside, but falling two stories (walkout basement here) onto a concrete patio.  I tried coaxing her in to no avail, I couldn't reach her and if I could have I was afraid she would squirm out of my hands and still fall.  Then I thought "treats" and grabbed the sack and called to her.  She did turn around, almost falling in the process (another heart failure moment), and came right on inside.  Funny thing about the treats trick is that she is the only one of the now 4 kitties we have that doesn't really like them.    

All's well that ended well....but as you might imagine, it was quite a moment.  Have you had any trying moments with your pets lately?

Until next time...

Wordless Wednesday

Some days you just should stay in bed.....

Barn Charm

I've been going through some old photos from the past in hopes to

get them in some kind of order and eventually into albums.  I

ran across this old barn photo that was one of the barns on the farm where I grew up.  It was eventually torn down and a modern metal building was erected.  I spent a lot of time playing in this barn with my younger brother.  We rode our horses and played cowboys and Indians.  Sometimes we'd hide up in the hayloft from the bad guys.  :)  Our old faithful German Shepherd, Rex, was usually trailing along after us.  We would jump from the upper hay mow to some hay just below and pretend to be hurt just to tease the poor dog.  He was such a wonderful watch dog.  It wasn't always play, sometimes we had to help herd cattle

 or hogs into the corral to be loaded or moved from one pasture to another.  Then in winter, there was a tractor or truck to be driven slowly as hay was thrown out to the cattle or corn and grain was put into the feeding troughs.

This photo is probably over 50 years old and I think I must have taken it on my old Brownie camera.   Even as a youngster, I loved barns!

This photo shows my dad and son fishing at the smaller farm he bought after he retired from farming and sold the family farm.  He loved fishing and always did it the old-fashioned way with cane or wooden poles.  He seldom would use a rod and reel.  I remember many times we went fishing with him or went to the lake to feed the fish.  He would honk the horn on his pickup as he approached the lake and the fish knew it was time to eat and would come to the top looking for the food to be thrown in.  

This farm had a nice barn on it.  I didn't have a good camera in those days so the quality of the photos isn't very good and they've faded over time.  I'm so glad I still at least have these photos.  Now you know why I have such a love for barns with old, weathered wood.  Hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane!

To see some wonderful barns all around the country,

just go over to Tricia's at  Barn Charm.

Until next time...

It's Friday!

One of my projects this winter will be going through most, if not all, of my old photos that are scattered here and there, and trying to get them in some kind of order.  This is a job that I've put off for far too long.  My photos online need to be gone through, too, and many should be put in folders that are easier to find and others just need to be deleted.  Maybe I'll run across something that might even find it's way into my blog.  Do you have a special project you're wanting to get done this winter?

The photo above was taken last winter.  I'm afraid that the water is frozen over right now.  The ice isn't thick enough to walk on, as a man in a nearby town just found out while trying to rescue his dog who had fallen through the ice.  Luckily, someone saw him and risked his own life to see that he was rescued.  The man should have known if the ice wasn't safe enough to support a dog that it wouldn't support him.  It's said that ice is never 100% safe since it doesn't freeze uniformly.  So, please, be careful if your pets want to venture onto frozen ponds or lakes this winter.

 Last Friday, we had friends over for dinner and I served the above pie for dessert.  This is not the plate I used for dinner.  I actually brought out the placemats and the Mikasa for company.  :)  The pie is very quick and easy to make ahead of time.  Here's the recipe:

Candy Bar Pie

8 ounces Hershey candy bars

1 teaspoon instant coffee, dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water

12 ounces Cool Whip 

1 graham cracker crust

Melt the candy bar and add the coffee mixture, stirring well.

Fold in the Cool Whip until well blended.

Pour into the graham cracker crust and freeze for 2 hours.

That's all there is to it!  Easy-peasy.  Just my kind of dessert recipe.

I made mine about 3 hours before company arrived and it still wasn't frozen very solid and was easy to serve.  Our friends liked it so much that the recipe was asked for, so I thought I'd share it with you.  My chicken breast recipe was also asked for, so I'll share it another day.  

It's hard to believe it's Friday again and another week has flown by.

Hope you have a terrific weekend!

 

Until next time....

Thursday's This and That

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Day and days in between.  Lots of fun, food and relaxation.  Many naps were taken which proves the theory that turkey makes one sleepy.  Or, maybe it was the late nights spent playing various games!  Hubby had several days of vacation that he took the last of December and our son was here several days on vacation, too.  We've enjoyed our Christmas decor so much that most of it is still up.

The big surprise is that our Christmas tree survived with the 4 kitties running around.  We didn't even lose an ornament although a few were batted off the tree.

  

Here's Stormy looking at a present wondering if it belonged to her or more like wondering if it had food in it!  I'm going to have to put her on a diet this new year.  We won't talk about whether I need to!  

Stormy, as heavy as she is, is the only one of the 4 I saw climbing the Christmas tree.  The spray bottle came out and that was the end of that. 

Maybe the others took note and decided it wasn't worth the effort.  In any case, they were a lot better behaved around the Christmas things than I had anticipated.

I made some time to indulge in one of my favorite past-times, besides napping, which is bird watching.  This little Dark-eyed Junco was snapped just a few days before the snow fell.  

I edited my photo of Mr. Goldfinch a little bit in Photoscape.  I really like this free editing program.  On this one, I used Water Painting.  

An update on my aunt:  She is home from the hospital.  In fact, they released her about 5 days after her fall.  She had the choice of going to rehab for therapy, but she opted to go home with the home health services coming in to give her therapy.  She's had a rough time of it, but is feeling stronger now and the bruises are subsiding quite a bit finally.  We took Christmas dinner to them as she couldn't get out.  She doesn't get around real well yet, but I'm happy to hear her say that her energy is returning. 

    

I didn't make any resolutions for the new year although I do have a list of things I hope to get accomplished this year.  Don't you just love it when you can cross those goals off a list and mark it done?  

Until next time...