Just another post

I visit blogs like a doctor makes rounds. I follow links blindly until I wonder how did I get here? Then when it comes to posting on my own blog I'm in a funk. Sometimes I just don't know where I fit in. I'm happy to be me yet at the same time I'm boggled by our diversity. I'm bloggled!

This is a part of my world - what I saw looking out my kitchen window. I ran to get the camera and shot through the window pane. Didn't dare go outside because I might scare "it". Out of 3 quick clicks this shot was the best I could come up with. Upon close study I suspect it's a female Cardinal molting her feathers in a drastic way. But at the time all I could think of was I've discovered a tiny vulture species.

All the other birds were keeping they're distance.

I watched for her but haven't seen her since. Now most people would go on about their day and not give another thought about it. But...not me. I think about her. I blog about her. I wonder how she is and I somehow can relate to her. I imagine she sees her own reflection in the shiny plastic window of the bird feeder and is thinking --that's me?--Gee, I feel much prettier than I actually look.

Well......it's not much is it? But its all I got today. Thank-you for the visit. xox ~Elaine

Happy Easter

Good Friday

First Day of Spring

These little snowdrops welcomed me to spring over at Green Briar Nature Center, Sandwich MA.
If you get to know me well then you'll discover I love wildflowers, birds, being outside and basically anything to do with nature. Today being the first day of Spring seemed a good time to pay my tribute to the heralding snowdrop. Green Briar has hundreds of them marching through the landscape as if on parade.
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This is one of the few clumps I have growing in my own backyard.
Now with all these flowers you would hope to see them open and smiling but noooooooooooooooooooo. So I had to google one open to show you.

Or .....you can bring them inside where it's cozy and warm to coax them open as my sister did here.

A Day to Remember

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.- Mark Twain

Xavier just turned 6 years old.

Instead of making the usual cupcakes for the class, I thought up another treat. I bought a box of giant POCKY sticks and tied a bright colored party blower to each one with a length of blue rafia. Then I tucked them all into a Spiderman gift bag and Xavier brought them to school. It was also his classmate Clarissa's birthday and the children did have cupcakes after all.

The theme of Xavier's birthday cake is my original idea but yet simple...another year older. A toy bulldozer pushing 5 birthday candles out of the way to make room for the Big Number 6. It's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting just as he hoped for but with pink vanilla frosting between the 2 layers for a little extra surprise. The cake is sprinkled with tiny bright colored confetti candy.

We have a tradition in our house that the birthday person may have the birthday meal of their choice. This doesn't usually get out of hand except for the one year Emma requested a cornish hen for each of us. I honored the request but the entire meal was very expensive and consequently her presents were limited that year. Since then she's been more frugal with her requests. Xavier had his favorite, spaghetti.

He got lots of presents and enjoyed his birthday. I hope it will be one for him to remember, although I must admit I have a hard time remembering many of my own past birthdays.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yesteryear

I have been trying hard to clean and organize my things. One thing that is just pouring out from boxes and bags are old photos. I have a steamer trunk full of them and then some. I came across this one of Emma and a garden that is no more. We had an addition put on the house and the town used my lovely garden as a second test hole for the new septic system we needed to have. One hole wasn't enough....they just had to dig THERE. I lost it all. I'm thankful for this Kodak reminder of the way it was.

I will make it my goal to get it back. It can't be the same, I now have a much needed clothesline nearby but it will be fun gardening again and it might even be better someday.

Oh and for those of you loving the chards of pottery bordering the garden? I do remember it was a pain in the neck. Not only was it hard to cultivate the weeds but the ants had a field day playing amongst them. At the end of summer I gathered them up and saved them for a serious mosiac project that I have yet to get around to. Maybe it will be in the near future however because my Mother- in -Law dropped 2 of her nice old mixing bowls today and they smashed and broke together. She was going to throw them away but I rescued them with loving hands and hope to make something good come from it.

Thanks for stopping by ... sorry that my posts are so sporadic.

As far as crafting goes----well?

I just can't create when my house is a mess and I'm still working on how to fit a set of bunk beds.

(which we still haven't found yet)

Don't give up on me. xox~Elaine

Well she was just 17,

and you know what I mean.

Hmmm, come to think of it, many of you may NOT know what I mean.

I was singing a Beatle's tune.

My little Emma has turned 17!

This is a picture of her making her big birthday wish.

Whatever it was she wished for I hope it comes true.

If you had but one wish --- THINK --- what would you wish for?

Don't tell me.

Just make a wish right now and blow out all these pages.

xox Elaine

Fire Safety

I never realized that a wet dishcloth can be a one size fits all lid to cover a fire in a pan! This is a dramatic video (30-second, very short) about how to deal with a common kitchen fire ... oil in a frying pan. Read the following introduction, then watch the show ... It's a real eye-opener!! At the Fire Fighting Training school they would demonstrate this with a Deep fat fryer set on the fire field. An instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz cup at the end of a 10 foot pole toss water onto the grease fire. The results got the attention of the students.The water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out. On the open field, it became a thirty-foot high fireball that resembled a nuclear blast. Inside the confines of a kitchen, the fireball hits the ceiling and fills the entire room. Also, do not throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite. This is a powerful message----watch the video and don't forget what you see.

The above post entry is an email I got from my friend who is a fire fighter and would like to educate as many people as possible about how to control a grease fire in your kitchen. I hope you are able to view the video with your connection. xoxo~Elaine