A Trickster In My Garden

Song - Cartoon Hoedown by Media Right Productions

Zipper the Squirrel is looking for me through my office window

He comes closer and double checks that I'm still here 

and not walking toward the door to pelt him with ice cubes.

Go to the right?

"Hey Zipper.....I see you!"

Better go to the left!

Zipper's got one hand on the prize but still checking to make sure I'm seated.

"Zipper - Don't you dare"-  Jeanette says while shaking her finger at him.

"I'm warning you Zipper - Don't you dare"

And he does.....

.... d a r e !

 How does he get into that little space?

I don't really know because just before he goes into the feeder - I'm at the door!

I clap my hands and throw an ice cube at him.

And by the time I sit back down, this is what I see.....

 

About a hundred times each day.

But Tyler and I have a trick up our sleeves - 

I'll send you a photo as soon as I catch him eating the nuts inside the horses head..... tee hee!

"Comedy is a necessity to get through life with the fewest scars. 

Humor is the best antidote to relieve all struggles." -- Suzy Kassem

TBT

Song - Vivaldi's Winter - The Piano Guys

My cousin Susan with Missy and myself with Molly at the family cabin in Lake Tahoe - c. 1965

A snowlady that I made with my friend Jill on the same deck as upper photo - c. 2012

"I want to become acutely aware of all I have taken for granted" – Sylvia Plath

Mr. B's Silver Ladle

Song - Gonna Fly Now - Rocky Theme Song

Every year about at this time of winter our friends, Bob & Chris hold an Annual Soup Tasting Party.  About 12 couples each bring a pot of soup which is anonymously placed on a table with a tag which includes the name of the soup and a number.  Each person gets a bowl and a voting sheet where they can take notes and rate each soup as it's tasted.

Most years I make the soup but this year Mr. B wanted to be involved...and it came down to the last minute of deciding on a recipe, shopping and cooking....'cause that's how he hangs.

I'm thinking that you kinda know what I am going to tell you.....

Yes...Mr. B's Tomato Soup won!

And the photo above is of Mr. B with his award winning recipe and trophy - a silver ladle.

Here is the recipe - as best as his memory recollects......

The base recipe was from a Ree Drummond recipe and he added a pinch of this and a taste of that until it was just what he was looking for.

 

Next year Mr. B has decided to use his ladle for tasting wine just like a sommelier! 

It's great to have a chef in the house!!!

"I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food." 

- W.C. Fields

Food is everything we are. It's an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It's inseparable from those from the get-go. Anthony Bourdain Food, History, Feeling Prev 1 2 3 4 .. 7 Next Matching Pages Authors Anthony Bourdain Popular Topics Inspirational Quotes Motivational Quotes Life Quotes Love Quotes Friendship Quotes Positive Quotes Funny Quotes Happiness Quotes Popular Authors Martin Luther King, Jr. Albert Einstein Buddha William Shakespeare Donald Trump Mahatma Gandhi Abraham Lincoln Winston Churchill
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html?q=anthony+bourdain

Food is everything we are. It's an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It's inseparable from those from the get-go.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html?q=anthony+bourdain

An Invasion

Song - Bird on a Wire by Willie Nelson


Saturday at noon we were invaded.....

...by a little Chickadee....

And a Cedar Waxwing.

Then two.....

They came to pick the ripe berries off of our Privet tree.

They hung upside down to find the perfect berry

And they came by the hundreds.....

No wonder why we have Privet seedlings coming up all over our garden!

Yes.....I'm talking about you Mister!

Two Waxwings each with a mouthful !!!

A Robin tried to join the berry picking but left shortly after he arrived...

...as these guys had taken over!

This guy has hair like Woody Woodpecker.

Can you tell that I was trying to avoid work and chose to be entertained by these flying beauties?

Because Friday was so calm in the trees..... 

Did you spot him?

"The early bird gets a choice which, to me, 

is more important than the worm itself."

--Stacey Alcorn

Somerset England

Song - This is Your Fight Song by The Piano Guys

Mr. B and I are planning a trip to England, Wales and Scotland this coming Spring and in preparation for the trip we are Binge-Watching the series Outlander.  It's a little graphic sometimes but we zip through those parts because I enjoy the costumes, settings and scenery.

Stogumber

It has been both fun and challenging to put all of our information together gathered from friends, professional trip advisors and the internet into a plan that works for us.  

The first part of the trip will be to several small villages where my father's mother came from.  As you may remember, I do enjoy working on our family genealogy. The villages are in Somerset and Devon England.

Stogumber - Crowcombe - Wiveliscombe - Bishops Nympton

My Grandma Violet's family worked for the railways.  In fact she and her twin sister were born at the railway station in Bishops Nympton.  And my Great-grandmother came from the little village of Crowcombe where the Beatles filmed part of A Hard Days Night.  Can you imaging what an upset that must have been to a village in March of 1964?

I'll keep you posted on where else we may be heading and maybe you can let me know if you have any suggestions!

"I like trains. I like their rhythm, and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, all anxieties of purpose being taken care of: for this moment I know where I am going." -- Anna Funder

California Rain!

Song - Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain by The Cascades

"Winter is the time comfort, for good food and warmth, 

for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: 

it is a time for home."  -- Edith Sitwell

Coming Back to Center

Song - Celtic New Year by Van Morrison

Twenty-sixteen was a rough year for both me and my family. 

I am looking forward to 2017!

There is a certain ebb and flow to our days and years.

Clarity and confusion.

Joy and suffering.

Finding balance.

Now is the time for me to recenter myself.

Rediscovering that core within me.

The one who knows how to feed my spirit.

Somehow through this last year I have forgotten.

It's not gone but just cast aside.

Learning to remember.

Needing that cue to set time aside daily...

...to work on my inner growth. 

My One Little Word for the year is "centering".

Just so I can 

Create

Journey

Cultivate

Love

and

Replenish.

Happy New Year to you and yours.

"One of the most essential things you need to do for yourself is to choose a goal that is important to you.  

Perfection does not exist--you can always do better 

and you can always grow." 

--Les Brown

Happy Birthday

Song - Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver

Happy 100th Birthday...to our National Parks!

Hope you can join us on Monday at The Lafayette Library for the reception!

Julia Parker's painting will be there!

 BASA's collaborative piece "John Muir, Starry Range of Light" 

is a beautiful focal piece for our National Park series.

Suzun Almquist, Joanne Taeuffer, Marcy Wheeler, Sharon Tama, Jeanette Baird

Bay Area Studio Artists will be there to greet you!


"Going to the mountains is going home." - John Muir

Choose Wisely Grasshopper

Song - Fix You by Coldplay covered by Jamie Lim

I have been pondering what my "One Little Word" for the upcoming year might be.  I have a list of about 20 words taken from a long list of suggestions and for now, I have the list where I can see these words often and try to get an idea of how they feel-resonate for me during the next few weeks.  Usually one pops out for me!

In the past my words have been:

Intention 

Balance 

Light 

Thrive 

Simplify 

and 

Grace.  

If we own the story then we can write the ending. 

--Brene Brown

Through Thick and Thin

Song - The Puppy Song by Harry Nilsson

Mika   2003 - 2016

“And it is exceedingly short, his galloping life. 

Dogs die so soon. 

I have my stories of that grief, no doubt many of you do also. 

It is almost a failure of will, 

a failure of love, to let them grow old

—or so it feels. 

We would do anything to keep them with us, 

and to keep them young. 

The one gift we cannot give.” 

 -- Mary Oliver "Dog Songs"

Gobble Gobble

Song -Thanksgiving Theme by Vince Guaraldi Trio

Mr. B and I are busy in the kitchen preparing a Thanksgiving meal for our family.  Mr. B takes on the tough stuff - the turkey (or turkeys), the stuffing and gravy.  I get the side dishes and set the table.  We have guests bring appetizers or desserts.  Luckily all of our boys like to cook just like their dad!

This is a photo of me in front of our Ponderosa house.  That was when Walnut Creek had Walnut trees and California had water!

We were probably getting ready to go to my grandparents home in Oakland where Grandma Sophie cooked for her four daughters (Grandma was Italian and no one else knew how to cookjust like her!), their spouses and the twelve grandchildren - my cousins!

Just wanted to say that I am so very thankful for FAMILY....little do you realize how important it truly is when you are young!

Enjoy your day, the food on your table, the family and friends around you and the love that is there!

“Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal.  It's a way to live.”  ~Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear