and thus, Caius

Chilly temperatures mean a lot more birds coming to our feeders.  There's always a round, clear circle underneath the feeders, as foraging birds clear leaves or snow, looking for castoff seed.

Everyone knows red cardinals, but I am partial to house finches.  Their song is prettier and they just seem more pert and cheerful.

I often see birds, like this chickadee, rubbing their beaks against branches after eating.  It's their equivalent to a dainty napkin wipe!

Nuthatches are here, there, and everywhere, keeping an eye on everything that's happening on the ground below.

Woodpeckers find lots to eat in the dead branches of the tree!

Birds aren't the only creatures that we're seeing more of in these colder temperatures.  One stray has come often enough to warrant a name, so here is Caius, sticking his tongue out at us from a safe distance.

We've increased the amount of food we're putting out to help keep these guys a little bit warmer and better equipped to survive a cold winter!

Speaking of food...Thanksgiving was this past week.  So much food!  We hosted, so I put together a pretty large dessert table.  All pictures taken hurriedly with my cell phone...so the quality is not very good.  I made cherry muffins with almond glaze, an apple slab pie, pumpkin cake, chocolate no-bake cookies, maple brown sugar cookies, and confetti sugar cookies. 

My first attempt (but not last!) at making dough lettering for pies!

With the kids at a separate table, we had just enough room for the grownups at the big table.

Nothing fancy, just a couple of Fresh Thyme bouquets...

...and some leftover pumpkins from October.  I picked some rose hips from the bare multiflora rose bushes outside and interspersed them with the pine cones to add a little color.  

I think I made too much food...besides feeding 17 guests, who even took platefuls of food with them, Todd STILL has a week's worth of leftovers!  I love holidays, but I'm glad that Thanksgiving has passed.  Holiday seasons are tough for people who have food issues, like I do.  This has been a rough year with the upheaval of another move, and I think I've gained about 30 pounds!  I can't really get into a rhythm of losing weight again until the holidays are over.  Just too many pitfalls.  So I will enjoy a few more tasty pitfalls and then look forward to getting back on track in the new year.

Have a great week!

Pics Fix

After 18 months in storage, and after living 18 months with blank white walls...WE HAVE PICTURES.  Oh, how I've missed you!  Everything that I hang has a special significance. 

A tiny (and only remaining) photo of my great-grandmother's house, where I spent many happy afternoons playing in her garden.  A photo of my landlady from my college days, a wonderful surrogate mother to me, along with her daughter.  A Western Union telegram from the Navy to my great-grandmother in 1945, asking if my grandfather was old enough to enlist.  And a children's art piece - bears and bees - both great loves.

I also added a quilted wall hanging to that corner.  It's so bright and cheerful now!

A photo of the grandparents who raised me, with the "surprise!!" letter from my grandpa to his parents, informing them of his sudden wedding.

A hallway lined with my favorite children's art...a trio of framed Victorian bird puzzles in the entryway...and lots of other beloved nature prints in other areas of the house.  Other favorite family photos, too, like this one, which shows my grandpa and his siblings riding in a goat cart in 1926 (note:  my great aunt is still alive!).

Lest I seem like a wall hog, Todd is happy with whatever I want to put up.  :)

It's also been so wonderful to see my pottery again!  My Emma Bridgewater mugs and dishes pair nicely with my navy-colored German pottery.

There are still some stacks of things that don't seem to fit anywhere just yet, like on the bottom shelf of this cabinet...

...but things are slowly falling into place.  It's amazing! 

Now that these things are done, I can turn my attention to some seasonal tasks.  Dahlia tubers don't do well in our cold winters, so they must be dug up in the late fall...

...and stored in some water-retaining medium, like compost, until spring. 

Mice are loving our slightly-warm barn, and the live animal traps have to be checked and emptied daily. 

Todd walks them out to the edge of the property and releases them.  They'll find another place to live, or become food for one of our beloved outdoor animals. 

This season brings such beautiful sunrises.  Winter is my absolute favorite with creams, peaches, and pale blue.

We get some bright colors too!  I can see the sunrise from my office window, and it's amazing how every day is a bit different.

Meanwhile, the cats stay blissed out on their heat mat.

But they're also kissing on the couch...

...or participating in fabulous late-afternoon group naps.

Have I mentioned that I love this season?  There are no group naps in summer!  :) 

Have a great week!

the dispatch of a nine patch...

We've just had our first 'big blow' of the season!

Three inches of snow was just the right amount for a beautiful blanket on the fields, and the bright sun made it extra pretty!

Lots of mysterious animal tracks...

...and the not-so-mysterious.  Here's Leonidas, coming in from the fields for his morning treat.

I love seeing the birds...

...and the horses.

The skies have been gorgeous!

It was the perfect time to finish a quilt, and I did...although the top was completed when we still lived in South Carolina.  It's a very simple nine patch called HOPSCOTCH with a slightly updated version of 1930s fabric.

It's quilted with a simple diagonal.

This is the best job I've ever done with finishing a quilt, and it's all thanks to my new sewing machine.  It's so much easier to work in 11 inches of space, rather than 5.  My shoulders are very grateful!

The cats have been staying warm, too, in their very own beds...

...or anywhere else where they can snuggle in.

Total opportunists.  :)  

Have a great week!