Good Morning Phoebe

This Fall I have had a pair of Phoebe visiting every morning. Each morning the male sings from some spot. Usually a tall tip of a tree. But this morning on a water spigot. He dips and swoops, runs under the house eaves for bugs.
I am besotted with the Phoebe as much as I was last year with the Screech Owls. You just have not lived until you have seen a wobbly headed baby screech owl manage to get his head peaking out of the hole. And to watch one fledge was unforgettable. They sit in the opening and throw their body back and forth as if in a game of "ready, set, go". It must be scary and look a long way down to them. And who knew the first time they must climb a tree. I learned so much about them. And I learned that squirrels destroy their bird houses. I hope my pair of screech owls
come back this March. The first week they were nesting. I saw at dusk, both the male and
female bathing in the birdbath together. It was almost too much. I felt like a voyeur who had
pulled back the curtain on someones love making.

Ok, I have to go christmas shopping for someone who lives in England. And if I don't get their
package mailed this week they will never get it in time.

Pillow Snatcher

Tiny is the love of my life. But Girl is my first born. In the dog world that is. I try so hard
not to let Girl see my baby talk Tiny. But it is soooo hard. Like when you have your second
baby and you do not want your first born to be jealous. So, you try and kiss their footsies when
your first born is napping. Oh, its so hard to add an addition to the family.

I made lemon curd squares today. I love them. They remind me of my grandmothers lemon
curd tarts and her banbary tarts. My grandmother was born in England and moved to Canada when she was sixteen. But she kept all her English ways. She would say, have a cuppa.
And she had many English habits. She made trifle and yorkshire pudding. And she made
lamb and kidney pie for my grandpa. I miss her every day. I was her "girl". Of all the grandkids
I took after her. And I am the only grandchild who can make apple pie like she did. I treasure
that gift. She used to let me watch her make the pie dough, and roll it out. Then she gave me
the trimmings to make jam tarts with. I had a magically childhood. One my children never
knew.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Tiny taking a nap.

Hello all. I have not had time for blogging much since Tiny came in to our lives. He is only
ten months old and he does not understand computers, other than, "That thing that takes my mommy away from playing with me." Right now he is under the covers of the Futon and very mad at me for being on here. Puppies require lots of attention.

Thanksgiving was hectic. I was the cook. For the first time in my life, my apple pie was not even edible. I have had bad pie crusts but this one was just mush. I tried to cook too many things
for one day. Next year I plan to go out to eat. Not sure what the rest of the family is doing.
But I am letting someone else cook.

Got this great spider shot this morning and then one of the husband and dog sleeping together.
Ha. Thats all. I must go play with the puppy.

I'm back...................

While we were gone my husbands Aunt Lillian passed away, all alone with no family nearby.
I have no idea how long she was before she was found. We have picked up her little dachsund
puppy because I had told her I would take him if anything happened to her. Her daughter sure
made it down here quickly enough to clean out her house. Do I sound bitter. I am bitter.

While on my trip I fell over a guide wire at an R.V dealer that should not have been there.
Either bruised or cracked a rib, and scraped a knee and hand. As Gilda Radner used to say,
"It's always something."

I am reading the book. Eat, Love, Pray. I love it. I can relate to that author because I have been
right where she was. But in my case, I did not end my marriage. I actually made it better.
We got Aunt Lillian's coo coo clock. Her daughter was going to throw it out. I think I will
give away all my stuff now so the kids will not have to do that.

I do not have much to say. And the new puppy does not like me on the computer as then
he does not get attention.

Rosie, Where For Art Thou?

The Rosie O'Donnell web site is down. I guess
they are upgrading. This butterfly photograph
was taken by my husband yesterday. It makes
it look like the passion flower has butterfly wings for ears. ha ha.

We are taking a little trip up North. My shoulder injury is all healed up. I have not updated here in a month. I have two blogs. It's hard to keep them both up.

I hope my flowers I just planted are going to be alright while I am gone. They are just now getting to be about an inch tall. What a waste that would be if they all died from lack of water.
I can't stay home all the time just because I am worrying about my flowers. No one but posts on here anymore. I guess that is because I don't keep updating. Pretty soon I will be putting my owl house back up. It won't be long and the owl family will be back. I sure hope we don't have the same squirrel problem again. All the birds are eating less and less now that all their babies
are grown. I never noticed how quiet it gets in the Fall.
Bye for now. See you in five or six days.

This one's for my friend Flash

Why, yes, I completely forgot the photograph. I have too many blogs to keep up with.
I also have a friend who is in her nineties and she runs circles around me. Since she gave up
her car, I have been taking her more places. I think she could have continued to drive a bit
longer but I admire her ability to give up the keys.

We have Red Hat groups here. I have not joined one yet. But I aspire to eccentricity. Much
to my husbands embarrassment. There have to be some pluses about getting older. And not
caring what anyone else thinks is a great one. I think I have read that poem. I belonged to a poetry group but I think I outlived everyone in the group. I live in a town which attracts a lot
of retirees as the cost of living is low here. Property and taxes are low.

In this photo, we were taking a back road from Maryville, Tennessee to Pigeon Forge, recommended to us by our godparents grandson. The journey to Pigeon Forge was much
nicer than the actual Pigeon Forge. Pigeon Forge has become a tourist trap and the closer we
got to the town, the more traffic we encountered. It became so awful that eventually we decided
to skip Pigeon Forge. But we did enjoy the scenery on the way.
Today is quite grey looking. I am hoping for a huge rainshower.

Getting Old is Not for Sissy's

My mother's cousin says this all the time. She is 87 and already younger acting than I am. She
has painted the whole inside and outside of her house. I get tired just watching her. This morning I tilled some plant food into my new flower bed. I was then worn out. I must get in better shape.
I am trying to walk one hour per day. So far, I cannot even make it to 40 minutes.
My favorite television show will be coming on in thirty minutes. It was not very well written
last week. I hope the storyline is better tonight. If not, I have some great books to finish reading.

I am anxious for Fall weather. This summer has seemed to go on forever. This morning it
was almost cool. It lasted for about two hours. I opened the windows and the cats loved it. I love when a cats eyes widen very large. I wonder what they are thinking when that happens. I saw a snowshoe siamese at the humane society pet adoption. My husband just gave me "the look".
Maybe I will outlive him and I can become that sherry drinking, eccentric cat lady. You know
the one with 50 cats who has all the empties lined up outside the door. Sadly, I had to give
up my Harvey's Bristal Creme. It was putting too much weight on my hips. Which, I have not
yet lost.

Sometimes I think my husband does not appreciate all my great qualities. For instance, I like
to sing out loud in the grocery store and I talk to perfect strangers. In my opinion, a stranger
is just a friend I haven't been introduced to yet. Men are so proper. Glad I was born a woman.

Here is a photograph we took on a back road whilst on our way to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It
was lovely. I would like to live in a little house in that field. Ta Ra. Goodnight Sweet
Princes of Maine.