This morning I saw four catbirds trying to maneuver around these leaves in order to do their thing in the birdbath. Note to Claudia: Time to scrub the birdbath (something I do a couple of times a week).
The other day, I watched a shimmering green hummingbird sample each and every one of the pink geraniums in the three whisky barrels. You can see one of the barrels in the photo.
It was magical. Wings moving faster than the eye can see, flitting, hovering, heading toward the chicken wire fence, then stopping abruptly to reverse direction. No time to grab the camera and, truthfully, sometimes it’s just nice to be. To simply glory in the wonders of nature.
Hi-Tech month has come to a close. (I think I’ve been spelling “Hi” as “High,” which might be incorrect in this instance.) Yesterday, we took a little trip to Target to buy…brace yourselves for this exciting news…a new dishpan, drying rack and dish drainer. Yep. We went all out. And we bought a pack of socks for Don. Whoo hoo!
Actually, I did buy something with the money I got back from Apple when I exchanged computers. I bought a Bose wireless speaker for the office. It’s small but mighty. (I’ll show you a photo of it tomorrow). At times, I like to listen to music when I’m working, yet I find I don’t want to be wearing ear buds. Too restricting if I need to get up and move around. So this kind of thing seemed like the perfect solution.
And I can take it with me when I’m working out of town!
I tried it out when I got home and it delivers excellent sound quality. Bose is a favorite of ours.
It’s much cooler this morning. I’m actually wearing a shawl. And socks! Even though I’m resisting the seasonal change, I must admit I like the cooler weather.
Today, I will put together Little Z’s dollhouse, scrounge through my stash for anything I can pass along to him, and search for more sturdy furniture online.
Speaking of Little Z, the other night he asked us if he could come visit us in “N as in New York” which is how he always says it, and I pray he keeps saying it that way for at least a little bit longer. It’s so charming. Of course, we said yes, and we told him we were going to be coming to Florida to see him next month. He corrected us, saying, “You’re coming down to Florida.” Ummm….yes, you’re right, smart nephew of mine!
Today we have to write a letter and send it to his school. They always do something for Grandparents Day but Z doesn’t have any living grandparents, so we’re going to stand in for my mom and dad. The school sent us an envelope that was supposed to include a drawing from our ‘grandchild’ and a request for the letter, but what we received was the packet for a student named ‘Delilah’ – nothing from Little Z! Ah, well. We’ll return the stuff from Delilah when we send the letter to Florida.
Apparently, the teachers read each letter aloud to the students and then post them on the bulletin board.
Side note: Why are pillowcases so expensive nowadays? Two standard pillowcases for $30? Seems a bit pricey to me, so I’m going to search for a better deal. Maybe a trip to HomeGoods is in order.
The winner of a copy of Beulah’s House of Prayer is Martha! Martha, I’m sending you an email. Congratulations!
Oh lordy – I had to add this. My former student Chris Nee (she’s a BU grad) who is a wonderful person and extremely funny, too, is the creator of Doc McStuffins. This is what she tweeted:
Happy Thursday.
Hahaha – that ending got me laughing out loud! Little Buddy is quite the character isn’t he? Adorable. We’ve been noticing more “winter” birds arriving lately – chickadees and titmice and I saw a cardinal the other day. We have not seen any hummingbirds in a week or two now. I’m enjoying the cooler mornings with coffee on our patio.
Don’t know if I mentioned, but I finally started a blog: thethreadedlane.blogspot.com — just put up a couple of pictures of our dinner guest last night!
Yay for you, Vera! I’ll stop by today!
Your photos today are especially gorgeous! Love the first one of the bird feeder. And, yes, about those pillow cases . . I’m tempted to take an old sheet and make my own. HomeGoods is a good idea. Little Z is a hoot!
Have a great day, Claudia!
Little Z is very, very funny, Karen. He makes us laugh all the time!
Sewing your own pillowcases is easy. Since you’ve quilted, Claudia, sewing pillowcases is not beyond your realm of ability. My daughter has fun sewing pillowcases from the many prints one can buy at fabric stores. She loves scrounging through the sales bins. Grandparents Day at school is pretty special….how loving to stand in for your parents for Little Z.
We just sent off our letter to the school, Wendy. It was fun writing it!
That tweet is pretty funny. I’ll have to check out more about Doc McStuffins. Sounds like we could be on the road to FL at about the same time.
When are you leaving, Shanna?
Our plan is to leave around October 10, if we can get everything put away and winterized by then. It’s always such a big production.
We probably won’t leave until later in the month, though we’d like to go now! Mere thought it would be cool if we were there for Halloween and also, the first anniversary of my dad’s death is on the 29th. It would be nice to be with my sister then.
Oh, shoot! Guess we won’t be having pie and coffee at a truckstop with you, this time.
(Hope Delilah’s grandparents knew they were supposed to write a letter to the teacher.)
I hope so too! Well, they can always re-send the material I sent back to them.
Ha! Made me laugh today. My grandson loves Doc McStuffins. And you will love your new Bose! When the fire was heading towards our house my little Bose was the one item I managed to take with me. I have the aqua colored one. Music keeps me sane! Enjoy your day! xo
So glad you got the Bose at least, April. How are you all doing?
Halloween with Little Z!!!!!! Oh, how FUN!!
Pillowcases!!!! I looked for them earlier this year. Unbelievable prices!! Look on Amazon. I found some really nice thread count ones for less than half of what I was seeing in the stores. Haven’t looked at them lately. Hopefully the prices are still holding.
Loved the tweet. I am getting more and more and more scared. I really can seldom watch the news any longer. Never thought I would EVER bury my head in the sand, but it seems to be a self-preservation tactic for me in this mess we are experiencing. sigh.
I am too. Did you see Keith Olbermann’s new (about 10 minutes long) show the other day? If you didn’t, here’s the link:
176 Reasons Donald Trump Shouldn’t be President.
http://www.gq.com/story/176-reasons-donald-trump-shouldnt-be-president-olbermann
Oh, Claudia…… it breaks my heart listening to this. How…. …… seriously, HOW can this be?? Is this what/ who we are? Are we TRULY in the minority? I have lived through this similar mess in Wisconsin, not believing it could happen. And it did. Nothing surprises me any longer. I just am anticipating so much worse to come in the next 6 weeks. Orchestrated, horrible things ahead. I am beyond words as to how this is crumbling around us. It is also beyond madness.
When you hear that list, it’s overwhelming isn’t it? And yet this despicable excuse for a human being is closing in in the polls. What have we come to? Where are our morals? Where did our sense of decency go?
Nice tweet! How wonderful that you get to see Little Z in October…he must be so excited! I’m thinking you are too. Yes…somewhere along the way I’ve noticed that lots of things have gotten more expensive. Guess it’s the way of the world….but, I don’t like it! I’ve noticed that we have not have our normal population of hummingbirds this year…wonder what’s up with that? And just so you know…I find shopping for the mundane can often be exciting! ;)
I hardly ever see hummingbirds. Usually once or twice a summer. But this was a nice long viewing and I was thrilled.
Oh Claudia, one thing my techy nephew is ALWAYS telling me to get is one of those great little Bose speakers. Little but powerful. Maybe I should think about it, but since I usually listen to music in the car, where I generally have my iPod plugged into a USB, it seems smarter – for me – to keep that $ back for a new computer [eventually]. How nice that you’ll be in Florida as honorary grandparents for little Z – bet you have a wonderful time. All the “grandparent events” we did when I was teaching were pretty memorable – for all parties too. I predict little Z will be gaining some permanent long term memories of his own [as will you guys, of course]. PS – your student Chris is a new hero of mine. 🇺🇸 And did you check Etsy for pillowcases? I LOVE Etsy. I sometimes find unbelievable deals there, and on such good quality.
Actually, I think the grandparents event is now, the teachers are going to read our letters aloud to the class, but this will be well before we get down there. Last year, my brother-in-law’s sister and her partner wrote the letter. This year, we are doing it.
Chris is the best! She is a lovely person who has a big heart.
Make your own pillowcases! YouTube “burrito pillowcases”. You can make them with your own fabric stash. I’ve made over 100. A group I belong to send them to pediatric units to hospitals in our area. I have also made them for family and friends and sent a bunch when my granddaughter had a service weekend with her church group. Each girl got a pillowcase with the same fabric (cowgirl boots) and different cuffs. You came make two in a couple of hours-start to finish.
I know I could, but I’m not a big fan of that kind of sewing! I’ll find ten other things to do rather than that. What can I say? I know myself!
Pillowcases are ridiculous. Last time I looked they were 40 dollars per pair. Instead I buy a nice sheet at Goodwill and sew the pillowcases. I also made some out of quilting fabric for gifts. You can be quite creative that way.
I know, but I’m just not one to do much sewing! I’ll find some somewhere!
Little Z will love the house. I love the picture of the vines all twisted, so interesting how they grow. Congratulations to Martha on winning the book! I have it on my list to look for.
I can’t wait to find some furniture for his little house, Doris.
You Go Doc! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhhaaahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
She’s a pip, Judy!
Little Z will love that dollhouse! I can’t wait to see some furniture for it. Oh and I LOVE Doc McStuffins!! Tiger doesn’t watch it much anymore but Scout is just about ready to enjoy it on occasion! I am always on the lookout for pillowcases at the thrift store just for that very reason!!
hugs,
Linda
Jeez, they’re so expensive! It’s crazy! People are always impressed that I taught Jim Parsons and Chris Nee (because of Doc McStuffins). Others, too, but these two bring the biggest response.
Had to chuckle about the mix-up in the mail with Delilah (delightful name, ‘Delilah’ [have I even heard that name, since the old Tom Jones song in the 60s?]; ‘vintage’ names we don’t often hear these days…like my great-aunt’s mother, who was called ‘Mima’ [short for Jemima…I always thought it to be a rather exotic name for a 100% Scotswoman born in Scotland in the 1800s]…or how about ‘Jerusha’, the long-suffering wife [actress Julie Andrews] of Abner in the book/film “Hawaii” [James Michener]). I wish I knew more about the origins of names; I imagine so many are found in The Bible.
Jemima was a Biblical name, one of the daughters of Job. And those names were used rather frequently long ago. Jerusha – also Biblical.
Easy to tell that you’re one well-read woman, Claudia! Interesting; thanx for the tidbit. I do love so many of the old birth names/given names.
I do, too!
For Little Z’s house, you might look at Plan Toys dollhouse furn on-line. It’s chunky wood. I use it in my daycare and am happy with it – other than the little knobs falling off. IKEA used to have similar items.
Someone else mentioned Plan Toys and I’m familiar with the name. I’ll check it out, Barbara – thank you.