London

We have booked a week in London this spring. I cannot wait. It will be my second trip to England but my first time seeing London. I hope I can squeeze in as many things as we have time for.
The Eye, Changing of the Guards, Liberty Lawn store, Hyde Park, Harrods, Buckingham Palace,
Trafalga Square. A friend wants to take me to London Dungeon. It sounds like scary rides to me.
I am not sure I would like that. Oh, and the Tower of London.

Just finished my part in a video my friends and I are making for a celebrity's birthday. It is a secret. I hope they are still showing the movie Juno on my flight, but right now it is showing on
Virgin in March. I never get to see first run movies. My husband does not like movie theaters.
My hollyhocks are putting out buds. I am so excited. I hope they do not bloom while I am gone.
I hope my puppy, dog, and cats will be alright. I wish I could hire a pet sitter to live in.

I am reading Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly and just now getting interested. I did not get
obsessed with the story right away like I did with The Tea Rose. I have an injured ACL in my
knee. This means I am not walking fast or running. I just know I will gain back all the weight
I have lost. I keep putting negative thoughts in my head. I wonder why my knee had to do
this right when I was getting so healthy. Was I not careful enough, did I push myself too much
on the treadmill. I was only going by the experts who say you need to walk at least thirty minutes a day to lose weight and preferably sixty minutes. I was noticing my knee and tendon
was tight. And then I stepped down in a hole in the yard. And that was it. Pain. Can't bend
the knee too well.

Hopefully I will have Hollyhock flowers to show you soon.

Whew........... too many blogs not enough time.

Ha Ha. I think in my younger years that was supposed to read, Too many men. I have two
blogs and two photo albums online. I cannot keep up with all of them. Did anyone watch American Idol last night. I was so afraid that the sixteen year old David would be eliminated. But he is
still there. And I love Michael and the other David, and Carly.

I have not gotten really in to my new Jennifer Donnelly novel, The Winter Rose yet. I think
it is because I keep wanting it to be about Fiona and these are new characters. I usually do not
like trilogy novels. The second and third are never as good as the first. But so far, this one
seems to have the same interesting characters and detail. I love detail in a novel. I am watching
Ellen Degeneres while I type this. She is having a special Valentines show. And she has laryngitis.
Ellen sure does get sick a lot on her show. I watched David Letterman the other night and he
was soooo flirting with that Evangeline chick from the series Lost. I think she is gay. No proof
but I think so. She mentioned taking some big trip to Japan with her "girlfriend". That is cool.

Tiny is sulking so I have to go. He got in to my roses outside today and decided they tasted good. I really spend too much time on this computer.

Oh, and I am going to London for a whole week on May 13th. Yes, we came into some money
from a contest. I am going to be right on the Thames and I am going to do the whole tourist
thing. Ok, take it away Tiny..........................

Goldfinches Galore

There must be a flock of at least thirty goldfinches in my backyard. I love them but they are very
aggressive birds and run off my red cardinals. And they are such a small bird but I have even
seen them run a squirrel from the black oil sunflower seed bird feeder.

The latest novel by Jennifer Donnelly, Winter Rose, second book in a trilogy is in the mail.
It just became available here around Jan. 18th. I am so sad that she has chosen the UK.
to publish her second and third books first. I think she told me she had changed publishers.
I imagine her books went over big in the United Kingdom. They read like an historical novel
and she researches each one thoroughly. I have read great reviews about his book and I just
can't wait until it shows up in my mailbox. Whoooo Whoooo. I have bought three copies
of her first book, The Tea Rose and given them to family. My copy is well worn and dog
eared. It is a book you can go back and visit like an old friend. I especially loved the character
Nicholas, or Nick for his kindness and gentleness and I cried when he passed away. I have
written Jennifer and begged her to write a novel all about Nicholas. I know, I'm crazy.
But, wouldn't you like to know more about his life and past before they met on that ship
crossing?

Ok, just a little goldfinch to make your day all golden.
A Beintot. Sparroweye

This is a safe place.

Because no one comes here or reads this. I am sad. Very very sad. I was in a group. A lovely
group. And we were all friends. We formed the group because we admired Rosie O'Donnell.
Not an easy thing because people either love her or hate her. She is very outspoken but she
is not afraid to speak her truth.

So... it was a nice friendly place. And then one day one of the group had an idea of a way to
thank Rosie. She made this video with all of us participating and writing down a word which
described Rosie for us. The video was so lovely that it made me cry. And then the video
became so popular, like 44,000 views. So, we sort of became famous. And then Rosie O'Donnell
put it on her web site. And then the that ugly green envy reared it's head. And people started
feeling left out of little clicks in the group. Or so they thought. And the next thing I knew,
what started out being a loving, friendly group was gone. And Pooof. It happened so fast.
But, I still admire Rosie O'Donnell. And the video still makes me proud. Thank you KellyW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CdKBS3Iblc

I'll be back tomorrow. I like the quiet here. No one comes here. My dog Tiny would love it here too.

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.