Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Cookies and Bread


On Monday the littlest car girl and I made cookies.  We had lots of fun!

Last week I made cinnamon buns. Tuesday I made bread.  If I don't watch out, I might become some kind of cook!  Then what would the chief cook and bottle washer do to entertain himself?


Today, the wind and cold were fierce.  I spent the day making a mobile and some crows.

Friday, October 23, 2009

For My Artsy Kids/Grandkids

For those of you who love art and who likes spooky things, here is a couple of this month's art efforts.


Today, I had three flickers, a blue bird and the wax wings visiting.   I set the cactus out with seeds so we could watch them from our chairs.  So far... not one bird has found the seeds.  I guess they will eventually. The birds are very cagey up here, and suspicious too.  I saw a lonely squirrel on the rock wall and even he was staying away.  I have decided that the cactus looks somewhat like an upright human with big arms upraised so maybe that is why they are not visiting it yet.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Gone


Most of the birds have headed to the land of warmer airs, I guess. Only one blue scrub jay hands out here and a few sparrows. The group of robins seem to have gleaned everything they found delicious in the garden and about. No hawks, either, flying by the windows. I did get a glimpse of a lone magpie this morning, that's about it. Now, I don't know if I am slow or what, but I just moved the cactus over to the west so I could see the birds feeding in the bowls on it's tips and now they are all mostly gone. Cheez! Maybe some new ones will find us and I will have a new model for another painting, like the Flicker above.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Sticky Flies!


The flies get obnoxious this time of year! I keep a fly swatter glued to my hand as I cannot bear to have them flying around me or landing on me! I have done this like forever! This year I have run into a problem, grrrrrrrrr. I seem to have lost a bit of my coordination... I don't know what it is but I have been quarreling with the same fly for two days! I keep the flyswatter where can grab it easily, and when he lands, SLAM, I swat him a good one. But, unfortunately I miss him. I am really getting agravated-with him and my self! At least he is not as big as the fly I took a picture of last summer when I was walking along the rock wall, lol. That one was an inch long!

More Bird Art


This is mostly just a doodle... but it was fun. One of those things I do while watching boring TV!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Birds



Today, first thing this morning, a flicker, or what I have always called a wood pecker, was hanging around (this is not the first time either) the house. All at once it lit on the bar of the big window and stayed there for me to view him for a minute. He has an orangy undertail, but the rest of him is black and white. Then he flew to the other side of the house and lit on the bird feeder hanger and pecked at the metal bird there. Later, I saw him, and one of the scrub jays out by the pines have a few cross words with each other. Evidently, what he had to say won, as the scrub jay left. We also have had a flock of young robins here for a week or so. They are pretty busy. We always have the sparrows too. And the big mouthed blue jays have a big mouthed friend, a magpie, that hangs with them. I see and hear him almost daily.
I have been doing some wood batiks of the birds I see here, I like the batiking and the bird theme. Funny, the little hawk lit on the bird feeder and pecked at the metal bird too a while back. How odd is that? Perhaps the shape of the bird entices them?

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sunday Morning Breakfasts


In thinking about breakfast Sundays, DH and I were talking about pancakes. I bought a package of pancake mix to take to camp but that did not happen so now we have to use it for Sundays which is the only day we ever cook breakfast. We delightfully remembered the applesauce pancakes and the corn pancakes we used to make when our kids were small. They liked them! We thought we should try that again this winter. I spent some time looking for the corn pancake recipe in Granny's old cook book. The applesauce pancake recipe just came about through evolution. Some one gave me some apples, I made applesauce that no one wanted to eat, so I started using it in the pancake batter one time when I was a bit short on milk and the batter needed a bit more moisture. We all liked the pancakes and it was a great way to use the applesauce.
We like to have Sunday breakfast with any of the willing to eat family members. Jack's family, for instance, just comes up whenever they can and we all pitch in and help-the men cooking, the women waiting patiently, lol. The menu is usually whatever we have on hand. I think the idea is not so much what we eat, as it is a way of getting together as an extended family.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Anniversary Time


This time of year I really think lots about anniversaries. J&D in July, D&M Oct 1 (TODAY and Happy Happy One I hope) mine and DH Nov 1, and my Mom and Dad's was Nov 2. I remember how we had a big combination anniversary and pheasant hunt years ago. All the families would group at Granny's house and the men would go pheasant hunting and the women would play and cook. Usually after dinner we would play cards. The kids would play underfoot somewhere. Those were fun times for the most part and good memories. Sometimes I would go pheasant hunting with the guys. I used to like to do that, hunt. And doves too. Now, that I have learned that doves mate for life, I couldn't shoot one. And pheasants I think are pretty much a thing of the past as far as public lands go. But it is nice to have sweet memories, don't you think? Maybe I should stick a pheasant in my drawing above... just for old times sake!