The Magic Tree

 

How would you like to decorate this beautiful tree?  It's

  covered with a total of 37,000 lights.

  It's called The Magic Tree and can be seen in Columbia MO.

  The Magic Tree was previously in the yard of the man who decorates

 it but was moved this year to The Village of Cherry Hill. 

 The traffic became unmanageable after a few years on

his street so a new home was found this year on a

  cherry tree that will grow larger.  The former Magic Tree was a

 mature crab apple and had twice the lights as this year's tree.

I was in Columbia after dark the other night and driving down

West Broadway I saw a very similar tree to the Magic

Tree by a church and also a tree covered in all white lights

in a yard a few blocks down the street.  All very beautiful!

Until next time...

A late start...

Hi Ho, hi ho, it's off to work shopping I go.........Yep, I'm afraid to say that shopping is not the most fun I've ever had!  I don't mind when I know what I'm looking for, but this Christmas I don't have but a couple of ideas!  Help!!

And yes, I'm just now getting ready to leave and it's past noon.  I just couldn't tear myself away from the blogs today.  I am going by Michaels to pick up some craft glue after reading about this wonderful craft over at Vee's blog.  Thanks, Vee, you may have helped to get me in the Christmas shopping spirit.  At least for craft items!

Isn't this cute?  It's one of the items I purchased at Never the Same, a little shop in one of our nearby towns.  It's made from an old wine bottle...they drilled a hole in the back to stuff some lights in, painted, and voila!  I also bought a larger bottle and other goodies I'll show another day.

This was our tree from last year.  I haven't gotten it put up yet this year because I just know Princess Chunk Stormy will be climbing it like last year and I fear for it's life!   The tree, that is, and just maybe Stormy (just kidding!) if she breaks some of my treasured ornaments.  I buy one or two each year and have ornaments from several years and while they are not expensive they are special to me.   I do remember that I lost some red balls off the tree last year, hence the bare spots you see....hmmm, wonder how that happened? 

Until next time.....

Thursday again?

How can it be that it's already a week past Thanksgiving?  Didn't we just sit down to turkey a couple of days ago?  I'd better get out and do some Christmas shopping!  Have you finished or are you just getting started?

 I saw four deer late in the evening yesterday.  I grabbed my camera and

went out to the patio to get a photo.  This one was a little 

braver than the other three.  You can just see the white tails running

away from me below.  

Did you see in the news recently about the 44 lb. (yes, that big) cat that died at age 10 of congestive heart

failure?  Prince Chunk had appeared on a couple of tv shows.  He looked a lot like our own Princess Chunk 

Stomy who is being put on a diet after reading about PC.  She is getting a bit chunky herself and I just can't imagine 44 lbs leaping upon my chest while I'm sleeping!  Can 44 lb cats even leap?  I

don't want to find out. 

She likes to sleep on her back.  Maybe that is because she's getting such a

big belly? 

Okay, no more dry food plus canned food, or ice cream whenever she can mooch some.  She loves her ice cream...how can you say no to an ice cream lover?  I'll just keep a picture of Prince Chunk in mind.

I'm off to run a few errands, one of which is to pick up some cracked corn for my feathered friends.  I've not seen as many birds this winter as I usually do.  How is the population in your neighborhood?

Until next time...

Home again....

We're back from our wonderful trip to Branson.  The photo above is from Thursday which saw falling temperatures and snow!  You might see the snowflakes if you look close enough.  We had dinner in our condo and a fire in the fireplace was really cozy on Thanksgiving Day.  

Same view above as the first photo, but what a difference a day makes!  Sunny skies were seen Friday and throughout the remainder of our stay.  

We went to Silver Dollar City Friday and had a great time.  The City was decorated beautifully with more than 4 million Christmas lights, it's always an amazing sight.  The rest of our stay we just relaxed by the fire, playing card games and watching movies and napping.  This trip was more for relaxing.  It was definitely in order after the past 3 busy months we've had.  

It's really hard to catch the beauty of all the lights, at least with our cameras.  

If you've never been to SDC, it's a magical 

place to see and children of all ages just love it, too.   There is so much to see and do, food to eat.   We just kind of grazed around the park.  One thing I just had to have was their apple dumpling with cinnamon ice cream!  It was very yummy.

We had soup in a bread bowl at one stop.  I bought some delicious divinity and fudge at the Candy Shop.  

You don't have to worry too much about calories at this park as it is quite a big place and you walk up and down a lot of hills! 

I saw lots of wonderful things in the shops, but I only bought a couple of new ornaments for my tree at home and a candle.   Oh, and a sack of kettle corn.   I was quite proud of my restraint!   And I didn't want to have to carry a bunch of stuff, either.  :)

We had a wonderful mini vacation and it was over too soon.  Aren't they always?  We had good weather to drive home in and our little Stormy was so glad to see us!  We had a friend check on her several times while we were gone.  She's barely left my side after since we've been home.   

Speaking of Stormy, did you notice her peeking between the branches of the tree in my header?   About the header...it is not quite what I wanted, but I just couldn't get Picasa to cooperate this time and made it in Picnik.  I'll probably change it to something else when I have time.  Do you have good luck with Picasa?  I'm sure it's just me....:D

I can't wait to get around to visiting all of the blogs and catch up on what everyone has been doing.  Hope you had a wonderful holiday, too!

Until next time...

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for so many things it is impossible to list them all.  I am very thankful for the wonderful people of blogland.  You make my days brighter.  Thank you!  I wish all of you a very blessed Thanksgiving! 
I will return to blogging next week.  
                                                                       Picture Courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

My door is always open...

 

No, this is not my new fixer-upper!  :)  This is an old shed on my FIL's farm that my son was deer hunting by last weekend.  I thought it made an interesting photo with the sunlight coming in the door.  Son did get a deer, so we will now have deer meat in the freezer.

Here's the outside shot of the shed.  Son took these with his Blackberry in the Sepia tone.  The old shed and the deer hunting there will be a memory soon as the farm is being sold. 

Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving?  We will be in Branson again this year, I can't wait!  Am hoping that the weather is good as I refuse to travel on bad roads.  The forecast doesn't look bad at all. 

Where has the year gone?  Time is flying by and it'll be Christmas soon.  I've already seen some early birds with their trees lit up as I've driven by at night.  We've gotten out our collection of snowmen and santas.  The tree will go up after Thanksgiving...that's soon enough for me.  This year, we're worried about our furbaby toppling it over if she decides to climb it like last year, as she's much heavier than last year when she was a kitten.  Last year's picture of her peeking through the branches in the tree will be this year's Christmas card.

Thanks to all who commented on my last post!  I'll say again that I love blogging and have no intention of stopping.  Although I may have to go on a short hiatus for one reason or another from time to time.  As the photos show above, my door is always open, I'm thankful for good blogging friends and your comments are always appreciated and welcomed.  Stop by any time! 

Until next time...

Of Blogging...

This has been a very busy few weeks around our household.  And with the holidays approaching, it will undoubtedly get busier.  At such times blogging has to be put aside for awhile.  That is why I love the button that says "Blogging Without Obligation".  I love to read blogs and I love blogging.  But there are days when there is simply no time for it.   Other bloggers make time for posting everyday or nearly everyday.   If they have the time and want to do that, great!  For those of us who can't, don't or won't blog everyday...that should be fine, too.  As far as I'm concerned, there is no set rule for how often one should blog.  Unless, of course, you are blogging to get lots of hits for whatever reason...such as making money or page ranks. 

One of the great things about blogging is that we can say what we want...within the guidelines set forth by Blogger, of course, and even design the look we want!  In other words, we can write our own script, design the stage, and play any part we choose.  How fun is that?

We can pretend that everything is hunky dory when we are hurting or worried and no one will ever know.  We can pretend the house is immaculate and we have a gourmet meal on the dinner table (a beautifully decorated one, of course) and we're getting ready to fly to New York for the weekend and no one would be the wiser.  However, one of the things I have found to be true, is that most bloggers are simply down-to-earth people.   They share the ups and downs of their lives; the good, the bad and the ugly.  Because that is Real Life.

There are those who blog like I do without worry whether they have X number of comments or followers.  Others may worry if they are not receiving what they think is a fair number of comments. I think that depends on why you started blogging to begin with.  My blog is a sort of online diary with some photos...a place to muse about what's going on in my world or to share memories of days gone by.  I'm aware that my thoughts might not invite a beaucoup of comments.  :)

I have some questions about blogging.  Why do you visit a particular blog?  Is it the writer you feel you've become friends with or is it the content of their blog?  How do you keep blogging fresh?  Do you ever get where you think blogging is too much trouble and think of quitting?

Do you have a counter like Site Meter and check it often?  I have Site Meter, but I don't check it very often.  I do wonder why it says I'm from a different city that's about 200 miles away from where I actually live.   Not only the location of a blogger may not be accurate, but the length of time it shows may not be the amount of time spent reading a blog.  Many times I've gotten on a blog and am called away from my computer for one reason or another and a lot of time may pass before I get back and it will probably show I've spent an hour or more at a blog!

Blogging is many things...fun, entertaining, and even therapeutic.   There are so many wonderful writers out there whose work I enjoy, wonderful photos of beautiful places that I haven't seen yet, great recipes that I plan to try, and decorating photos that I enjoy seeing.   Blogging friends are great people.  I hope you are still enjoying blogging.  It's a wonderful world and I hope it stays around for a long time to come!  Happy Blogging!

Edited to add:  Just wanted to say that I have no intention of giving up blogging even tho I may not be able to post as much as I'd like some months.  I thought some may think that is the direction I was headed in reading a comment or two.

Until next time...

Veteran's Day

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."     -Elmer Davis 

Thank you to all the brave men and women who have served or are now serving our country.  

Thank you to my dear hubby who is a Vietnam War veteran and my late FIL who served in World War II.  

There are many other friends and relatives who have served but I won't list them all.  I hope they know how much their service to our country is appreciated.   God bless you and God bless America!

Until next time... 

Of trees and waiting....

 

I've had plenty of time today to walk around outside and take pix.  I've been waiting and waiting for a service man to show up.  They said he would be here sometime between 8 and 5.   Finally, he has showed up at 2 pm!!  I should have known it would be closer to 5 than 8!  Guess, I'm not very good at waiting.  

The trees are just about bare around here.  It's been so very windy lately that I feel that I'm in Kansas!  The above tree is one of the maples in my yard.  The following pictures are of my neighbors trees.  They have a different maple than ours, I guess.  

Next is the big oak in our back 40 6 that was just beautiful last week with deep red leaves.  I love the big, majestic oaks and also you'll see to the left of the photo is a sycamore tree.  I really like the white bark on these trees.  We didn't get very far from home this fall, so I don't know what the fall foliage in other parts of the state looked like.  We've spent every weekend at the farm working.   And, I haven't looked at the Farmer's Almanac to see the winter forecast, yet.   I can't say that I want it to be too snowy or cold.  Snow is beautiful to look at and covers up some of the barren landscape of winter, but I don't like for my loved ones to have to drive in it.  Too many people don't know how to drive in good weather!

It's going to be a busy week here with something going on nearly every day.   I'll probably be making a big pot of chili this weekend.  I have a recipe for chili from a former co-worker that she had brought in to work for our group to share that was very good.  I'm thinking of trying it out on my family. 

Darcy's Chili

1  1/2 pounds ground sirloin, cooked and drained

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon oregano

1 can pearl onions (or use onion powder..I use dried onion flakes)

1 Tablespoon chili powder (add more later if desired)

1-15 ounce can of pinto beans

1-15 ounce can of  black beans

1-15 ounce can of red kidney beans

2-15 ounce cans of diced tomatoes

1-15 ounce can of corn, drained

1 small can of button mushrooms 

Place in pot and cook until done.  If the consistency needs thinning, add

1 small can of tomato sauce.  

 Salt and Pepper to taste

Note:  I did try it out and it turned out delicious!

Until next time....

Be sure to vote today....

There's an old saying you've probably heard and that is "elections have consequences".   I think we have found that to be too true, especially in recent years.   This may be one of the most important elections ever.  The future of the United States of America as we know it is at stake.  Please, exercise your right to vote today!   

Until next time...