HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - MOTH PAINTING EXHIBIT AT LEWIS GINTNER BOTANICAL GARDEN - JUNE 25TH, 2026

 Today I thought I would take you back to Lewis Gintner Botanical Garden. We were there on June 25th where we met up with our family. 

As I have been talking about moths and butterflies and others lately, I am sharing the paintings on display inside the visitor center. This is truly incredible art. I have provided links where you can see an actual photo. 

My first is of the butterfly (and moth) display in the visitor center. It was on the right as you walk through the doors. I wish I had taken more notice as there are artist tags identifying them. They have a very nice butterfly garden inside a section of the Conservatory, which is in the large greenhouse structure that you will see once you get outside. It is in the next photo in the background. The frog fountain is a definite favorite of mine. 

The exhibit is on the walls of a very long hallway on the left. These paintings are by Deborah Davis. Link here to see these paintings. 

Luna Moth

Pink-striped Oakworm Moth

Hollow-spotted Plagodis

The ID is at the top of each photo on my collage below. I could have happily pulled up a chair to study each painting. The detailing was exceptional.

I have included additional links below for more information.

Small-eyed Sphynx Moth

Polyphemus Moth

Rosy Maple Moth

Pink Shaded Fern Moth

Nais Tiger Moth

White Spring Moth

Here is a pretty graphic I found on pixabay.com

Thanks for looking and 

I hope your day is a great one.

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - CUPCAKE?

  

That's an old groaner, even the house finch is flinching.

In the imagination of 'she of the house', the cupcake is made of all good things that the birds like to eat.

That's how it goes on a Saturday morning at the bird feeder.

Have a great day, thanks for visiting

 and from the both of us, 

a big thank you!

For our overseas friends to translate using the widget on my sidebar:

Photo: "What's this?" 

"She of the house said it was the Mister's birthday."

"How many candles on his cake?"

"She didn't say but I noticed she had the fire extinguisher nearby."

Bird: "The Mr and Mrs want to thank you all for the 

birthday wishes for Mr's Birthday."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 for those who are celebrating…

and for everyone else, 

I hope you also have a wonderful day.

I am not back yet. I put these on here ahead of time as I wanted to let you know I am thinking of you all and miss you. Looking forward to catching up probably when December arrives. 

Comments are still off. 

(The top image is a jigsaw puzzle completed on my iPad) 

THERE IS NO WIFI…

 

 “There’s no WiFi in the forest, but I promise you'll find a better connection.”

~Author Unknown~

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - SHARING A BLUE JAY TAKEN BY...

our son on a walk near where he lives. I am always grateful to him for sending his photos as I haven't taken any birds lately. I share some facts about them below.

They are known for their intelligent, noisy nature and are important for planting oak trees by burying acorns, many of which they forget, helping to spread and plant oak trees. 

Their striking blue color is an illusion created by the feather structure scattering light, not pigment, a phenomenon known as light interference. 

 Many notice that Blue Jays, who are fairly quiet during the spring and summer, are noisy little neighbors during the fall. In spring and early summer, when they are nesting, they tend to be more secretive. Come fall, when they are scavenging for food and hawks are more present, they communicate a variety of information and warnings through their calls. Blue Jays can also mimic the calls of other birds, including hawks.

They use their crests to communicate mood and aggression, with a flattened crest indicating relaxation and a raised one signaling stress or threat. 

They develop strong social networks and have complex social behaviors. 

You can't tell the difference between a male and female Blue Jay, they look identical. 

They eat a variety of foods, including nuts, seeds, insects and even the eggs and nestlings of other birds.

They prefer deciduous or mixed forests but can also be found in suburban areas and city parks, especially those with oak or beach trees. 

Blue Jays can live for a long time; the oldest known wild Blue Jay was almost 27 years old.

Blue Jays have been known to chip at and hoard light-coloured paint, probably to stockpile a source of calcium for the spring. If Blue Jays are chipping away at the paint on your house, try providing an alternate source of calcium like crushed egg shells – this usually stops the unwanted behavior.

More information can be found at this link.

Thanks for looking and with thanks to my dear son who provided the photos for today's blog post.

Have a great day everyone!

BRING BACK THE DAYS…

 

Bring Back The Days

~Tamara Hillman~

Bring back the days

With play an' laughter,

no worry or strife.

Let me Swing so high

In the old apple tree,

Like monkeys in a jungle 

screaming with glee.

I want to chase chickens

Back into their pen,

An' ride the young heifers

'Cross the land again.

Run in the sunshine,

Play in the field,

Hide in the sweet corn,

Eat Apples, unpeeled.

Rope-swing into haylofts,

Ride horses on roads,

Wade Ponds by the dozen

Searching out toads.....

Those were the days!

 

AROUND AND ABOUT FROM 3-3-25 TO 3-9-25

This is our weather forecast for this week, from Monday 3-10-25 to 3-17-25

Hello Family and Friends, thank you once again for your encouragement. Here Is this past week’s daily journal. 

Monday, March 3rd, 2025: father and son were off out for the day. I enjoyed my usual pottering. Not much went on here but Gregg returned with a gift from one of the bookstores they visited. He always says books find you, you don't find them. He saw this one on a display table and picked it up immediately, looked through it and knew I would love it. He was right. It's a new one by Amy Tan and all the art is her own.

Tuesday, March 4th, 2025: 

We ran an errand today, I just went along for the ride and stayed in the car while Gregg went into the dry cleaners. I saw the leprechaun and unicorn again on our way home. This time there was an Irish flag.

Not long now before St. Patrick's Day but in advance I'll wish you: 

"Lá fhéile Pádraig Sona Dhuit" in Irish. 

According to Google it actually translates directly to "Happy Day of the Festival of Patrick to you".

• "Lá Fhéile Pádraig": Means "St Patrick's Day".
• "Sona": Means "happy".
• "Duit": Means "to you". 

This shows its pronunciation:

With it being Shrove Tuesday I made pancakes this evening. It was a tradition in my family when I was growing up, and is still tradition in the UK I'm thinking, to make them once a year (Brit friends please let me know if this is still going on). Mum always made it a lot of fun. She would toss the pancakes up in the air to flip them back into the pan on the other side, letting us have a try. Quite a few landed on the floor and nothing but laughter and giggles, and lots of happy times.

When we first met, Gregg told me he was surprised that pancakes were only made once a year, which he had found on the Royal Navy ship he was stationed with for two years. When we were first married and he asked if I could make him pancakes, I remember being very surprised that pancakes were made for breakfast, and often. It certainly wasn't Shrove Tuesday. 

I still make them the way my mother used to, something between an American pancake and a crepe, but more like a crepe, which fortunately he loved and still loves. We always served ours sprinkled with lemon juice and sugar over the top, and intended to make them that way today. At the last minute we found we had used all our lemons, and I didn't want Gregg to go out just for those. Maple syrup it was! I added blueberries on mine. 

Wednesday, March 5th, 2025: when we saw them last Sunday, our son and daughter-in-law brought pastries from a place called Chateau de Chantilly Cafe. Gregg enjoyed his very much - a fried croissant with a cream filling - and suggested we go over there this morning for breakfast. We are also checking places out when our overseas company visit us.  They will be arriving a little over a month from now. 

This is actually our second visit to the cafe, our first was last year. Visually, and I thought it a bit strange, as I looked at all the variety of delicious delights they offered, I found myself a bit overwhelmed. 

I couldn't decide on anything. I ended up getting what Gregg had come here for, a fried croissant with a cream filling. It was outstanding. Gregg also purchased a coca-cola and ordered a latte for me, except that he accidentally ordered me two. 

I was so annoyed!

And yes I am joking. My unexpected café au lait pour deux? Lovely, and so was that fried croissant. I was wired for the rest of the day. That silly face was after my dear other half asked me if I enjoyed the extra cup of coffee and that was my response. They are not small cups!

A big thank you to him for such a nice treat with my extra surprise, and the nice drive to get out here.

I would describe this place as shabby/chic. I am comfortable wearing a sweater and jeans. It is in an old building with tall ceilings. When son and daughter-in-law were there on the weekend it was packed out and they were lucky to get a table. We had no problem mid-week, and we always go on an off hour when people have gone back to work.  There is an upstairs for the overflow. We managed to get a parking spot right out front, so I left my cane in the car and used Gregg’s arm. They are open every day from 7.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.

On the way home we had a good old Virginia downpour. I took this photo between the window wipers going at full speed. I have quite a few which I deleted before this one.

We had a FaceTime with my brother-in-law in Germany, another nice long chat. I feel blessed that we have such a close friendship with him after all these years, and with such distance between us too. I am grateful to this technology that allows us to keep in touch, almost like we are all in the same room.  

Thursday, March 6th, 2024: father and son were out again with my blessing. Gregg left the house around 2:00 a.m. I did nothing special and pottered! He knows I enjoy my quiet time. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them anyway. They like to gadabout all over the place and I would slow them down to a crawl. My time went quickly and when hubs got home late evening, he caught me up on his day and I told him mine. He won! I can’t remember everything I did now, I just know the day went quickly.  

Friday, March 7th, 2025: I woke up to the wind howling outside. It was a little after 1:00 a.m. I could hear the sound of the tree branches whipping into a frenzy. It took me forever to get back to sleep. I could see the light of dawn coming through the shutters before going back to sleep.

The first thing I did this morning was look out on the deck. The only thing I could see amiss, was a small branch from the fir tree. When we first moved here, that fir tree was tiny and remained that way for years. I was told the roots hit the water table and from there on it grew and it grew, and it grew. It is way above the house, and we are going to have to do something about it soon, but unlike our other trees that had to be cut down, it looks very healthy. Someone quoted us $1,200 and because of priorities, don't want to do that right now as we have other things to take care of. It is a healthy-looking tree, and this price quoted was just for pruning. This seems to be the going rate and they certainly are very skilled. When the last man cut down the tree, he was like a lumberjack, shimmying up and down like it was no effort at all.

We picked up an item of clothing from the dry cleaners and that was about it for my outdoor adventure today. There was even more traffic around today.

Look what we saw on the way home? I think the leprechaun and his steed were a wee bit tipsy, or perhaps competing in a rodeo?

The more logical explanation is that with the wind last night, they were deflated.  I saw them flattened on the ground earlier with a couple of bicycles on top acting as weights. I think it was in the process of being inflated again.

Saturday, March 8th, 2025: I took one of my books down off the shelf and picked out a walrus to sketch. This book is not only educational, it has the most wonderful artwork inside, just like the new book Gregg gave me.

This is the one I chose. I remember seeing them once and they are magnificent marine animals. You can read about them at this link.

Here's my scribble sketch.

Nothing else of note today. We had a very quiet day, very relaxing.  

Sunday, March 9th, 2025: son just left at 12:30 p.m. He usually arrives between 8.30 and 9.00 with my coffee in hand and also a muffin. I look forward to his weekly visits. He and his dad will be getting together on Tuesday again. It's becoming a regular thing. 

I have a doctor's appointment coming up next week to see what's going on with this knee, as there are no marathons in my future until I get it sorted out. Not that there were any marathons in my past either, but it would be lovely to be able to get out on a good walk around my favorite places. I am very lucky, I have Green Spring Gardens as it's a short trip to where we park the car and is an easy, flat area.

It feels good to look outside and see the sun shining. 

I think I am going to end this week's around and about here. If something exciting happens I will add it before I publish. I have a feeling it's going to be all quiet, so at 5.13 p.m. I'll say bye-bye for now and until next time...

thanks so much for continuing to read through these things, always appreciated. 

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - ROCKIN' WHO?

If you want to hear the original version of Rockin' Robin, there's a great YouTube at this link.

The full lyrics are below, with thanks to all the good little birdies rockin' in the treetops.

Rockin’ Robin lyrics

Our key: Overtones

Other versions to check out: Bobby Day (arr. based on this one), Michael Jackson

Intro

Verse 1

He rocks in the treetops all day long, hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song

All the little birds on Jaybird Street love to hear the robin go tweet-tweet-tweet

Chorus

Rockin' robin, Rock-rock-rockin' robin'

Go rockin' robin 'cause we're really gonna rock tonight

Verse 2

Every little swallow, every chick-a-dee, every little bird in the tall oak tree

The wise old owl, the big black crow flappin' their wings singin' "go bird, go"

Chorus

Rockin' robin, Rock-rock-rockin' robin'

Go rockin' robin 'cause we're really gonna rock tonight

Bridge

Well, the pretty little raven at the bird bandstand taught him how to do the bop and it was grand

They started going steady and bless my soul, he out-bopped the buzzard and the oriole

Verse 3 (same as 1)

He rocks in the treetops all day long hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song

All the little birds on Jaybird Street love to hear the robin go tweet-tweet-tweet

Chorus

Rockin' robin, Rock-rock-rockin' robin'

Go rockin' robin 'cause we're really gonna rock tonight

Bridge

Well, the pretty little raven at the bird bandstand taught him how to do the bop and it was grand

They started going steady and bless my soul he out-bopped the buzzard and the oriole

KEY CHANGE

He out bopped-the buzzard and the oriole

Verse 4 (same as 1)

He rocks in the treetops all day long hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song

All the little birds on Jaybird Street love to hear the robin go tweet-tweet-tweet

Chorus

Rockin' robin, Rock-rock-rockin' robin'

Go rockin' robin 'cause we're really gonna rock tonight

Outro (like intro)

And that's the way it is on a 

Saturday Morning at the Birdfeeder!

Thanks for flying in 

and have a great weekend!

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - MOON GAZERS

 "Okay", said the Wren, "what do you have?" 

The lady replied "Why did the scarecrow win an award?”

"I don't know," said the Wren, "why did the scarecrow win an award?"

"Because he was outstanding in his field."

"Oh boy!" said the Woodpecker.

"Oh boy!" said the Blue Jay.

"That's a groaner!" said the Wren. "It was nice of you to tell us a joke though."

And the three of them gave her an A+ for trying and said she could stay with them to look at the pretty moon, but she didn't have to tell them any more jokes.

And that's how it goes on a Saturday Morning at the birdfeeder, groaners and all. Some days you win and somedays you just keep trying.

Have a great weekend everyone, and

thanks for visiting.

(The birds are from various photos, the moon I took the other night, the corny joke I found online, the lady came from pixabay.com, and I put them altogether in Paint Shop Pro.)

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - I AFFIRM THAT…

“I affirm that the daffodil is my favorite flower. For the daffodil comes, not only before the swallow comes, but before the many flowers of summer; it comes on the heels of a flowerless winter.Yes a favorite flower must be a spring flower.”

~A. A. Milne~

Alan Alexander Milne (18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-the-Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. Milne served in both world wars, as a lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in the First World War and as a captain in the Home Guard in the Second World War.

Milne was the father of bookseller Christopher Robin Milne, upon whom the character Christopher Robin is based. It was during a visit to London Zoo, where Christopher became enamored with the tame and amiable bear Winnipeg, that Milne was inspired to write the story of Winnie-the-Pooh for his son. Milne bequeathed the original manuscripts of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories to the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge, his alma mater.

More can be read here.