ODDS AND BODS - 7/1/25 - HAPPY FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH

and as this tickled my funny bone.

The kitties are wondering if the rain is going to startup again. We have had a lot of the liquid sunshine in these parts, as well as hot and humid weather.  

I am still a bit tired. How about you? 

Time for breakfast! I think I will start off with blueberries.🫐 

Muffins maybe…

Or this one.

Or something I used to have when growing up, one of my mother’s desserts. I could easily eat this for breakfast.

I love cute and pretty art.

This week I am very much enjoying seeing the bees and loving any bee-art I find…

and butterflies. A different kind of art which I find lovely!

Here is an interesting word below. It is the wrong time of the year for fires, but I find sitting next to a crackling fire very soothing. A memory: I was on a road trip traveling to a family reunion and we were in Canada out in the boonies somewhere. My dear other half wasn’t able to go with us. This was long before retirement and he was working on an important deadline. And so, son and I joined the rest of the family on this wonderful adventure. We had stayed at a small rustic lodge mid-journey, and built a fire that evening, in a fire pit, on a sandy area next to a large lake. Our cabins were behind us. I was the last one to move from the fire. Everyone else had gone to bed. I could have stayed there all night listening to the crackling of those burning logs, and watching the smoke curling up and disappearing into the night sky but, the supply of logs was just about done, getting down to ashes and well, my thoughts were on bears and other night creatures. Finally, and reluctantly, I went to bed. This memory makes me smile and even after all these years, it is very soothing to me. 

After our dinner earlier, the owner of the lodge was going fishing the next day and he told us just to toss the keys on the table where we had eaten the night before. (We didn’t meet his wife as she was visiting her family.) He told us he never locked the doors, that he wouldn’t see us again as he would be leaving early. I heard a seaplane take off on the lake in the wee hours, and assumed it was our lodge keeper.  I was absolutely in awe of his trust in us.  

And this next one should be titled, those were the days…

and while we are on the subject, do any of you have those ring or similar doorbells\security cameras, and what do you think of them?  I am toying with the idea of getting one. I would also like to have an automatic floodlight in a couple of places around the house. I feel, apart from the obvious, if I find myself out there in the dark, I would like to see where I am going and not fall flat on my face. I have a strong flashlight but would like a larger coverage in case a fox or a raccoon is about. Yes, I know they would scurry off into the dark. Anyone who has them, I would love to know what you think. Thanks in advance!

As it’s my birthday month I thought this would be fun. An oldie we all know probably.

This week’s iPad Jigsaw Puzzle I put together.

How about a few wise words?

I am me and what you see is what you get.

…and again, having come across this and how it also tickled my funny bone…

So on that note my dear friends…

I thank you for looking at the whimsical side of me,

and I wish you all a very happy July.

With my thanks to Pinterest for today’s inspiration. 

NO MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST, BUT A RESTAURANT.

 Another whole week has gone by, and I haven't made one new recipe. Our last meal was a salad. My dear other half fixed it. We had different tastes in our additions. This is mine: we both had the lettuce, sautéed mushrooms, sliced radishes with the miniature chicken and cilantro dumplings which had been dropped in boiling water to cook, plus a few blueberries and raspberries on mine. There’s also diced tomato in there somewhere. No dressing for me but dear man liked a little blue cheese dressing on his. We enjoyed them immensely and I think we will be eating a lot of salads this week with all the hot weather we are having.

I thought I would share a restaurant I mentioned in my daily journal shortly after we visited. March 20th, 2025 was the day we were there. (I will begin doing my journals again sometime, I miss doing them.) It had been my dear other half’s birthday a few days earlier and he wanted to try this restaurant after it was recommended by our son and daughter-in-law.

This is the Lazy Dog Restaurant and we were greeted by a sculpture in the window. We had come through the front doors into a small foyer. Beyond the glass window was the restaurant. I thought it would have been a dog, but I could see a horse's head made from metal parts.

Here is the view directly across the street.  We were in a large shopping area.

You can read a bit of its history here on Wikipedia.  The menu is quite extensive. I have added pages below and if you click on them, you can enlarge and hopefully be able to read what they have.

We were asked if we would like to sit inside or outside. Even though there was a little bit of a breeze, we felt it was nice enough to sit outside.  We were having a lovely beginning to the year and the weather was sunny if not hot. We were wearing sweaters and were very comfortable.

The appetizer above is what everyone was given. They were like crispy home-made potato chips. I ordered trout and Gregg the fish and chips, though no photo of his. 

We took a piece of cake home for us to share later, called Confetti Cake, and it was very good. 

When Gregg saw that I had written my blog post about this restaurant, he said he really liked the place and wants to go again. 

That's about it for today's food post. Thanks for looking and I hope your day is a good one.

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - WALNEY POND

 A favorite spot when we come here. There is a bench under the trees which offers welcoming shade. 

No sign of the beaver, and the beaver lodge nearby looks a bit dismantled. I am wondering if they have moved on. 

We have been thoroughly entertained on previous trips (not the last few times) and have watched them swimming and diving under the water. They are herbivores and like to eat the leaves, shoots, roots and even the seed capsules of the waterlilies. You can see them at this link from our visit in July 2021, which is where I found the above photo.

Looking across from the other side of the pond. The pathway goes all the way around.

We were here on the 19th June. The weather was lovely. I think the temperature was about 80 degrees. F. (26 degrees C. (?)). The heat didn't bother me as it wasn't humid. My dear other half, being a southern Virginia lad his whole life, let's just say the more heat and humidity, the better he likes it. It is the humidity that will turn me into a puddle. (As I type this at 2.29 p.m. on 6-25-25, it is currently 93 degrees F. (34 degrees C.) and I hear thunder - a few degrees cooler than yesterday. For the next few days we will be having thunderstorms and showers, so I don’t think we will be going for walks.

I have started using my cell phone full-time for photo taking. When I need to get a closer look to something far away, I ask Gregg for the camera with the zoom lens. He uses it mostly because a) he enjoys taking photos too and b) it's a bit too heavy for me to carry. He jokingly tells me he is my porter/Jeeves. He bought me a shorter lanyard for my phone that goes around my wrist, and I hardly notice it when I am walking along, until I need that photo. 

The plant is a Common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). The buttonbush is moderately toxic to humans and toxins can be found in the entire plant. It is a native to the United States and is a magnet for pollinators. Besides the bee you will find butterflies and hummingbirds enjoying the buttonbush.

The following is called Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) and native to the United States. It is found in marshes and along the borders of muddy ponds, which is where we found this one. I have only seen it grow in the wild but it can be cultivated for the garden or as a house plant. Also, it is non-toxic to humans and pets, not considered a weed and likes full sun. 

I always enjoy finding out the origins of plants name histories if I can. My plant app - PictureThis - says the name is a tribute to the 16th-century Italian botanist Giulio Pontedera. The genus name was given to recognize Pontedera's contributions to botany. 'Cordata' refers to the plant's heart-shaped leaves, with 'cordate' meaning heart-shaped in Latin. Commonly known as 'pickerelweed', it likely derives its name from its popularity as a hiding spot for pickerel, a type of fish, as they seek shelter amongst its leaves and stems in their natural aquatic habitat.

I have other photos but will share them another day.

Thanks for looking, and I hope your day is a great one. 

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - WHERE ARE THEY?

 

The Catbird didn't join in. He had been out of town and missed the whole visit. He was happy to be told all about it by his feathered friends, plus one furry friend.

And of course, as we all know, that's how it goes sometimes on a Saturday Morning at the Birdfeeder.

Have a great day everyone.

Thanks for stopping by.

For our international friends using the translation button on my side bar.

Photo 1: Thought bubble as Squirrel is wondering where the rubber duckies are. And then he says, "Where are they?"  The Eastern Bluebird tells him, "They have gone home."

Photo 2: Eastern Bluebird says, "I got this for you, so you won't miss them as much."

Photo 3: Catbird who does not speak.

A COUPLE OF OLD PHOTOS FROM 1973 AND EARLY 1980'S AND A FEW MEMORIES.

 I have mentioned that we've been downsizing, getting into the closets, into the garage, into the basement, etc. Oh boy, I knew this would happen. We have been finding things that we have forgotten all about, and it has slowed us down to a snail's pace today. Memories come flooding back as they do, and we have been having fun looking at old photos, old passports where I found the photo below, and goodness knows what else will be waiting for us when we start again. In the meantime we have boxes everywhere, and are gradually sorting things out. 

But, we did get rid of a few garden odds and ends that were of no working value to anyone. Off they went to the trash center, as well as three large plastic bags of 'no-one is going to want to do anything with those'. 

Two of the photos we found were getting a bit worse for wear, but I couldn't throw them away. Our son put the photo of the three of us through his tidy-up app. The old passport photo was taken when I was 23. It's been in an old Rubbermaid box in the garage for longer than I care to say, long forgotten. I paid 60 pounds sterling for that passport, which was more than I did for my 10 day-holiday in Austria, and it was a real nice hotel. I saved up the whole year and then some for that holiday.

A group of good friends and I were off on a skiing trip in March 1973. None of us knew how to ski but the package included skiing lessons. I wasn't a very confident learner. Once I remember ending up hanging over a fence at the bottom of a nursery slope, looking into someone's private home. True story and this proved to me that I was not built for speed. Very embarrassing but fortunately no one came out to see what was going on, and there was no damage done to their fence. I had a feeling I was not the first unintentional visitor over their not so very tall wooden fence. I wasn't very good at skiing, and I remember my skiing instructor not being too pleased with me. But, fun times with a bunch of great friends, and we used to look out for each other. One of my friends brought her husband along. He was/is the sweetest guy and looked out for all of us. I still keep in touch with them.

I remember the hotel vividly, where we danced all night in their nightclub, went to the coffee shop (also in the hotel) in the early hours of the morning after dancing, and then to our rooms to grab a couple of hours sleep, and to the slopes to learn how to ski, again. We were in a town called Seefeld, surrounded by snow-covered mountains (the Austrian Alps) and it was gorgeous! We had fun walking around town, doing a little shopping and souvenir hunting, small gifts for our families back home, then back to get dressed for a night of après-ski, more dancing till four o'clock in the morning, back to the coffee shop, back for a couple hours of sleep in our room, to start the process all over again. 

One time we caught a train to visit another area one of our friends had always wanted to see. It was many miles away which involved an overnight stay. Finding ourselves on a train going through the most incredible scenery, we didn't really know which stop to get off at, but a kind Austrian man who spoke English overheard us and said, here is your stop. 

Off we got, found a hotel (no ahead booking) stayed one night, had a good look around and back on the train again to finish off our holiday. I don't know how we did it and my parents would have had a conniption if they knew, especially my dear mum. Oh boy! Anyhow, here is my passport photo, a little worse for wear but yes that's me.

We went two years in a row on our skiing holidays. In subsequent years my friends met their life-partners, and two years after my last trip I met Gregg, which leads me to the second photo.

It was taken in the den of my in-law's house. That den was a haven for not only my in-law's but all the family and friends who visited. It was a happening place. There was always someone there, they knew no strangers. 

A big picture window looked out on the back of their garden. My dear mother-in-law sat doing her crossword puzzles, with a pair of binoculars on the end table. She used them to watch the birds coming to her feeders and had a book to identify those she didn't know. She was very good at identifying her birds, she didn't need the book but rarely. We both had fun watching them and I remember her squirrels too. 

On a Saturday Morning she and I would watch old Westerns, TV shows and movies. We both enjoyed those. Gregg and his Dad would be in the garage where father-in-law worked on his old cars.

 On a Sunday morning Henry delivered the New York Times and she would get stuck in with her crossword puzzle, but first we'd have a chat with Henry who was older than my in-laws at the time, probably only a few years older than I am now. He had bought the Sunday newspaper for years and was always invited in for a refreshment of some kind. He had become a good friend and was a fixture in the neighborhood. Everyone knew Henry, a friend to everyone.

Memories of 4th of July Picnics, Thanksgivings and Christmas', and everything in between. We lived in Washington DC for a couple of years when we were first married and drove down every second week or so. Later we lived nearby for a couple of years when Brad was about four years of age. Memories of Brad in his paper tricorne hat we made him out of Henry's newspaper once read, beating on the drum with his Nanna marching in front of him, with them both singing a good old marching song. She was wonderful, and so much fun!

Now, I wonder what we will find in the next clean-up session?

Enjoy your weekend everyone and thanks for listening.

AN OLD FAVORITE - LEAF ON THE SAND

Another old photo. This was found on a beach in Florida on our last visit there several years ago.  An old leaf full of glistening sand.

The beach is full of treasures not necessarily made of gold.  The fun is in the hunt for them, to open our eyes we just have to look outside the box. 

A little like life I think.
  

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Thanks so much for dropping by.

I wish you all a great day!