Success!

Courtney loves Willow, and the challenge is to hold her. Of course, Willow's kinda big, so Courtney can't very well pick her up. And Willow's not too in favor of the idea, anyway. ;-) But it does help if Grandma picks her up and puts her in Courtney's lap. So here are the happy looks of successfully holding Willow.

Willow doesn't seem quite relaxed, does she? ;-)

Below is the look that says, "Uh oh, Grandma! I think she's gonna get away!!"

And that is exactly what she did. :-) But it was nice for a few seconds, anyway!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, so these videos don't really have anything to do with Thanksgiving. But they do show one of my favorite little people in the whole world to be thankful for. :-)

And they just may give you a few giggles.

Here's Courtney putting up some of her art work for Grandpa to see when he comes home.

I have no idea what she thought she was brushing off of that one page. As far as I know, there was nothing on it. Perhaps she'd seen someone do that somewhere. Methinks she was 'pretending' something! :-)

I believe she likes to tease Grandma, too. ;-)

That last one 'cracks' me up every time! LOL

I found another one!

Do you see what I see?

C'mon, look closer... way up high!

Closer yet....

Zoom your eyes in there!

Okay... here's my best shot.

Now do you know what it is? Remember those baltimore orioles I fed during the summer? Well, this is their nest! I happened to notice it when I was out on the deck washing windows a few days ago. They sure do have a way of hiding their nests, and they're usually up near the top of a tree.... as this one from last year was also.

Now if only I could get up there and get a closeup look at how it's made.

Poll Results

The results of the poll "How often do you recycle?" are as follows:

• Every chance I get (7 votes)
• Most of the time (4 votes)
• Sometimes (2 votes)
• Not very often (0 votes)
• Almost never (0 votes)
• I never recycle (0 votes)

Looks like there are a bunch of recyclers here! Good job!

Thanks for voting!

Cookies with Courtney

We baked cookies last Tuesday. I didn't get any pics/videos of the process, though. It took all of my attention to make sure they went together right and nothing ended up on the floor. ;-)

I did, however, get some pics of the official taste test. Since the cookies contained chocolate chips, the chips of course needed to be tasted individually.

Then a bite of the rest of the cookie.

She liked the whole cookie, but the chocolate chips were definitely the best! And the stickiness was half the fun.

I guess you could say she "chipped" her front tooth. ;-)

Of course there was a remedy for the sticky fingers.

Mmm...mmm...mmm!! These cookies got the stamp of approval from both of us! They were from a new recipe that I'd never baked before, but when I saw it, I thought it sounded like a winner, so we gave it a try. They're called Super Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, and the recipe can be found here. They're soft, like cake... taste like pumpkin pie... and contain chocolate chips... the best of all worlds!

We made them BIG, like the recipe suggested. And JHRME, you could pile on the powdered sugar as high as you want! ;-)

Let's pretend, Part 4

(Click any photo for the full effect!)

That's the end of our frosty tour. I hope it helped you enjoy a little more of the beauty of nature 'after the fact'.

Let's pretend, Part 3

More lovely decorating by Jack Frost (back on October 9th).

(Click any photo to enlarge. They're better that way!)

Young artist at work

Well, every artist has to take a little break now and then. She did that first. :-) (And yes, those are her shoes on the table.)

Then she concentrated.

TA DAAA! Auntie Jess would be proud!

Let's pretend, Part 2

Frost on the sedum:

(Be sure to click to enlarge, especially the last one.)

To be continued.....

Let's pretend, Part 1

Let's pretend that it's way back at the beginning of October and we didn't have a month of snow, rain, fog, mist, and all that yucky weather. Let's pretend it was just a normal fall, and this is how it started out.

Early morning, October 9, 2009. This is the scene after our first really hard frost.

(Click to enlarge each photo and help you pretend.)

Let's also pretend I didn't procrastinate so long in getting these pics posted. It was simply because I took so many and knew it was gonna be a big job. But better late than never, right? And surely they're a lot better to look at than the totally bare trees we have now.

To be continued..........

YUM!

Remember the elephant video and Grandpa's cookies at the end? Well, here's what happens when Courtney gets to have a cookie out of Grandpa's stash. Especially when that cookie is an Oreo. ;-)

(Click to enlarge.)

Looks like she rather enjoyed it, doesn't it? And she already knows the "proper" way to eat an Oreo. ;-)

New in the birdbath

It's a new sighting! Never appeared in the birdbath before (maybe because of the water in it?). Seems to bathe only at night. STRANGE bird, indeed! Get a load of those EYES!

(Click to enlarge, but ignore how grossly dirty the bath is.)

Raising livestock

A week or so ago I came across a box of old toys that I'd put away after our kids outgrew them. I figured Courtney would enjoy playing with them, and she certainly has. She's a real livestock farmer now.

(Oh, and she enjoys a good mug of blueberry tea while she works, too.)

I'm sure some (if not all) of these animals came from my grandma! I think. Sometimes my old memory gets confused. ;-) In another post someday, I'll have to show you the little set of dishes that I KNOW came from her. Courtney has fun with those, too.

Poll Results

The results of the poll "How often do you wear a watch?" are as follows:

• Every day (3 votes)
• Almost every day (0 votes)
• Occasionally (2 votes)
• Rarely (0 votes)
• Never (1 vote)
• What time is it? (1 vote)

I'm lost without a watch! :-)

Thanks for voting!

Speaking of Willow

She's found a new favorite place to relax... in front of the storage heater in the basement. Nice and warm right there. Ahhhhh......

Hmmm... looks like her belly needs brushing. Well, so does the rest of her. :-)

You've come a long way, Baby

Yes, Courtney has. But this time I mean Willow. Considering that she used to spend the entire day under the bed when I first started keeping Courtney, she's made a lot of progress in her sociability/tolerance/patience. She'll finally let Courtney walk up to her and pet her, although she's still a bit wary (and rightly so, on occasion).

Not that she's necessarily thrilled about it.... heheh....

The flattened ears might be an indicator of her pleasure. ;-)

But look at her patience when offered a cup of tea!

Oh, yeah.... they love each other. Or something.

Even if the fur gets rubbed the wrong way a bit.

Or even if Courtney makes a special effort to get a reaction:

And then there was last night...

Looking the other direction.....

Quite a harvest moon, huh? At least harvest is continuing, albeit way behind the average for this time of year. But the forecast for this week looks very promising (promising good weather for a change). I'll take it!

Halloween evening was so pretty

We actually have been having a little sunshine lately! I took this pic just before the little elephant arrived. In fact, I was still outside with the camera when she and Mommy and Daddy drove in.

Enjoy the serenity....

(Click either photo to enlarge.)

There was an elephant in the room last night!

Yep, a little trick-or-treating elephant! But before she came into the house, she had to stop and greet the kitty that was outside. Elephants really like kitties, did you know that?

This elephant was so soft and cuddly, you just couldn't help scooping her up and hugging her!

Soooo.... what does one feed a little elephant? How 'bout a bag (made by Grandma out of those oh-so-familiar fabrics).....

.... full of peanuts? Circus peanuts, of course!

I think the little elephant was pleased.

Yep, a successful treat! Little elephant was very happy.

Grandpa found that the little elephant's tail was just too much of a temptation.

But he didn't get his kiss. Little elephants don't like scratchy faces very much. ;-) She did know where Grandpa keeps his stash of cookies, though!

This was the best kind of "elephant in the room" ever!