Unrestrained Joy

This is my little peanut, my four year old granddaughter Cassidy. Her mother took this photograph and she calls it "Unrestrained Joy". It personifies this little wondrous girl's personality and love of life. She teaches us each day to be joyful.

Animals R Us

Most of these photos were taken last weekend as we toured the New England Shire Horse farm here in Ocala. The horse in the photo above was running toward the wagon because he knows the wagon is full of people with carrots to distribute. He's a very smart horse.
These are the horses once they have arrived at the wagon full of people bearing carrots. This is a very fun activity, by the way.
This is Viagra, the donkey. I know, that's a very odd name but if you think that's odd, think of this: the other donkey is named Levitra.
This is not a horse or a donkey. This is Cocoa, the performing house dog. This is her famous stance when she is begging for cheese or anything else edible.

Another New Family in Residence

The eggs hatched and babies have appeared, wide mouthed, awaiting mother wren to bring the grub.  Last night as I headed to my shop, I glanced into the watering can and there they were, mouths agape, baby Carolina wrens in their entry porch nest.  I ran back to the house to tell Shirley, and we decided to close off the entry gate for a few days to keep traffic to a minimum. Much to and fro by the parents all day as we peeked out the front door watching. It was a bit of a pain to go all the way around the house to the big door and enter the shop that way, but well worth it to give the wrens some peace and quiet. Not that they seem to notice us much. They do build their nest it the most interesting places. Lots of food nearby, as the bugs crowd around the porch lights which are on all night. Easy pickings for birds and the many, many green tree frogs that attach themselves to the walls every night. Occasionally a huge toad also takes up a nighttime post for feeding.  Just the front porch menagerie living in happy harmony.

Another View From the Window

I spent a lot of time in the garden today taking in all that had bloomed overnight. One of my favorites is the indigo salvia whose purple flowers are in contrast to all of the red, orange, and yellow in the garden right now. The day was spent doing a lot of "tending". There were weeds to be pulled, leaves to be spread in the beds, and feeders to be filled.
Our late afternoon chores were interrupted by thunder and light sprinkles. Fortunately we were able to wash another expanse of soffitt as we slowly make our way around the house. Tomorrow, we are touring an English Shire Horse Farm that is a few minutes down the road. Stay tuned.

Windows to the Garden

Several years ago a friend of ours, who was associated with the Fire Department, took us to an old burned out house, burned deliberately in order for firefighters to practice their craft. Once there, we recovered many old antique bricks, old lumber, and these old window frames. We have since used the bricks to create garden paths and tree rings but could not think of a creative way to use these windows.
Last week, I placed the windows up against the garden fence and that gave Janet a great idea. "Why don't we create windows to the garden?", she said. And so, we did....or she did. Today, Janet mounted the windows up on the garden fence and created windows to the garden. Now, the honeysuckle and the roses can trail all they want and we will have windows that don't need cleaning with a wonderful view.

Foolish Frugality

Hi, Cocoa here. I know this is telling on my mom, but I just can't resist. She had a cracked egg that she was too frugal to throw away, so she planned to cook it for me yesterday. Well, she put it in the still warm frying pan after fixing her own breakfast, and I was so excited! But then she went into the office and sat at the computer ("Just for a minute, she said.") Of course she forgot all about the egg cooking on low for me. When she suddenly remembered and rushed into the kitchen, she found the egg VERY well done. It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but looks are deceiving.  The egg is petrified!  Guilt made her quickly cook another for me, so I really did not lose out. Thanks, Mom.   She is making a journal page with it amid lots of laughter.  She has even saved the egg. Humans are really strange.

Art Night

A blessedly unscheduled evening gave us the opportunity to devote some time to our new pursuit, watercolor journaling. We watched a DVD on journaling while we were at Barkwell's on Spring Break, and decided to give it a try. I bought watercolor pads, and pocket field sketch boxes of watercolors. With supplies in hand, we each set forth on our first attempt. How differently we work! I do lots of practice sketches on scratch paper, arranging and rearranging the elements until I am ready to transfer the the work to "real" paper. I do make it very laborious, as I do in all things. Shirley, on the other hand, is a free sketcher, with no practice pages, never knowing how her page will turn out. The lake and cypress scene is from her weekend visit to Melrose, Fla. The daylily is from her garden. She has not done her lettering yet.
Allowable Treats is my lament over all the foods I can no longer have. It's not a hot fudge sundae, but those days are gone forever.