Bird song outside my window...

It's the first day we've had when it's really warm enough to open windows. Suddenly, it's summer! (I'd better not jinx myself!) I even sat out in a lawn chair, until I discovered a wood tick climbing up my pant leg. Micah explained to me that wood ticks climb the longest piece of grass they can find and wave their arms around until something touches them. Ha ha. Can you envision that? My grass is pretty long, so that helps them out. I'm going to have to go in search of a lawn mower. We have several dead ones. Maybe there's a good repairman nearby.

The birds stayed away while I was outside, but one little hummer perched on a dead branch high up in a tree. After a long time he flew down and drank out of the feeder. Then he flew back up to the same branch. I think he's guarding the feeder. Keeping it all for himself.

Josh got this ghostly photo of a hummingbird a few days ago. Can you find the bird?

Female oriole-she's after the little dish of jam that Josh put in that planter. :)

 We've been wondering if we would see a scarlet tanager. It showed up day before yesterday!

 Yesterday morning I woke up with a swollen throat and achy muscles.  Things gradually went downhill as I developed a whopper of a fever, so I cancelled my physical therapy appointment and spent most of the day in bed. At about 10:30 last night I realized that my fever was gone. Feeling better today, but my throat is still a little sore. I'm wondering if I'll go to my PT appointment tomorrow. I really dislike going to appointments, and my neck is gradually improving (SLOWLY! It's been almost 6 weeks!) I guess I'll see how I'm doing in the morning.

Got my desk cleared off...sorta. I've been enjoying using it today to make a few cards. I switched out the chair. That WWII swivel chair had a lot of character, but it was kind of a wrestling match to get it to do what I wanted. Notice the lamp. That's lamp #3 in my little bedroom. I don't use the overhead light at all. It casts a glaring light. Light's a big deal to me, and I like it close to what I'm looking at. The bulb in this little lamp casts a bluish light. That's a no-no. I'll have to get some new bulbs. What a weirdo, right?

A couple of cute grandkid pics... Thatchy poo and his big sisters.

I think I forgot to post Hazel's kindergarten graduation pictures. Bad grandma!

And there's Sully and Della.

I finished this book:

I HIGHLY recommend it! Nabeel does a wonderful job of showing us his upbringing as a Muslim in a loving home and community. He meets a young Christian man (David Wood) in college and they spend several years becoming close brother-like friends, as well as debating the pros and cons of their belief systems. I came out of the experience knowing a lot more about Islam and Christianity. He treats the subject with humor and with a passion to know the truth, no matter what. I couldn't put it down! (He died of cancer in 2017, I believe, but not before writing several books that will bless a whole lot of us. A brilliant young man. He was part of Ravi Zacharias' ministry and some of his videos are still available on YouTube.)

Okay. Long enough! God bless you, every one!
Shalom!

Thrifting...

I'm enjoying the general air of summer fun with all of the tourists and busy shops in town. I needed some things for my room, so I visited the thrift shop and one garage sale.

I didn't have a good place to work on my art and found myself trying to do it on my bed, which didn't work well at all. Especially with my neck pain, which is still hanging around, though it's getting better. I don't want to spend long periods of time sitting in an awkward position. I thought a little desk was needed. I found this cute little desk at the thrift shop and loved the fact that it had lots of little drawers to hold art supplies! I love desks in this age bracket! The drawers are pulled out because I'd just wiped them out with a damp cloth. They all work fine. The lady at the thrift store managed to wedge the desk into my trunk with half of it sticking out. Ha ha. We made it home!

At the garage sale I found the little vintage (WW II?) office chair. The vinyl is in bad shape, but it's a battleship of a chair otherwise. They made them heavy duty back in the day! I'll just throw a quilt over the seat. (My usual fix!)

Also at the garage sale, I found a pair of snowshoes! Did I mention I wanted to get some last winter? These were a fraction of the cost and I think they'll work. I also found a few old books I couldn't pass up.
MK, have you read this one? You mentioned loving D.E. Stevenson. Hope it's a good one!

The only reason I grabbed this one is because I remember my 2nd or 3rd grade teacher reading this to us when I was in school in Texas. It's about an abused dog who is rescued, if I remember correctly.

I find books about India fascinating.

I also found this cute gameboard at the garage sale. It's Parcheesi on one side and Backgammon on the other. Just need to find some playing pieces! It's a cute bit of art in its own right.

After the desk was moved in I started on the task of finding places for all of this stuff, which used to live in the corner where the desk is now.

The bed has now been cleared off with one full tote left, which I stashed in the laundry room. It contains canvases and some other things I won't use often. I have one large empty tote which will go to the barn. The guitar found a corner to lean against behind my rocker. And this is all I have left to go through.

I'm hoping to clear off the front 2/3 of the desk for crafting space. A lot of what you see is paper scraps used for collage. I'm going to go through it all and see what I really want to keep. I also have art supplies stashed in the living room cabinets. Mostly acrylic paints, which I don't use often. Anyway, I feel like I'm making a good place to sit and make ATCs! I may turn the desk and back it up to that window. It kind of blocks some light, so I haven't quite decided. It's fun to have a real space for art!

GM, you mentioned that you don't see many of the colorful birds I showed in the last post. Neither do we, usually! We've really been surprised at how many colorful birds have shown up this year! You also mentioned that your son trains for triathlons. Did I mention that my son is training to do some half marathons this summer? He's not a swimmer, so triathlons were out of the question, lol. I hope your son does well!

Everyone have a glorious day! I need to go sort through my art papers and see what I can get rid of! :)
God bless and shalom!

Ornithological Geekery...

Everyone have a safe Memorial Day weekend! The city folks are descending on us in droves! I'm so thankful I'm out of the "city" limits of my little town this summer. No RVs parked by my windows! No bar bands playing 'til all hours of the morning! Woo hoo!

We have some green finally!

Sorry my pics always include stacks of building materials, lol. Those are the siding boards for Micah and Adam's house. But you can see the green!

I drove to Bemidji (about 45 minutes away) yesterday for  a brief shopping trip to Hobby Lobby and to meet the kids (Micah and family) for Chinese food at the closest Chinese restaurant in our little neck of the woods. It's been a year or so since I've gotten to Hobby Lobby. My intention was to buy some little Tim Holtz paper dolls for my ATC collages. They're so cute. (This bunch will last me a lifetime!)

They range in size from about 2" tall to maybe 4". I really just wanted the smaller ones (shown in the picture above) but they come mixed together. I'll think of something to do with the larger ones since they won't fit on ATCs. I can even give them to other crafters as gifts. :) (Or cut them up and use parts of them.)

For size comparison:

 I also found this really cute bunch of washi tape with camping designs. I'll have to make some camping ATCs!

This is a shot of my garden! The petunias are a Mother's Day gift from Micah and Adam. The other basket contains two little seedlings that Nathan brought home from school. I also refilled my suet feeder so Josh might get some good woodpecker photos. We saw an indigo bunting this morning! First time I've seen one "in person". And Josh got a photo of a pileated woodpecker yesterday, but he hasn't posted it online, so I don't have it to show.

I took a break after posting this last picture and visited with Josh, asking him if he might like to post some of his bird photos so I could use them on my blog. He was nice enough to start a Facebook album called Ornithological Geekery. So here are a few of the birds that have graced our yard. (These were taken with his phone out the window for the most part and he's aware the quality isn't the best. He purchased a little zoom but it doesn't work well.)

American Goldfinch-They used to be our state bird!

Eastern Kingbird

Baltimore Oriole

Common Loon-our current state bird. :)

Indigo Bunting-My first real sighting.

Hairy woodpecker

Eastern Bluebird

Pileated Woodpecker-One of my favorite birds of all time.

Downy woodpecker

Chipping Sparrow

Rose-breasted grosbeak

Indigo Bunting again.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Okay, now that I've inundated you with bird photos, I'll try to just add them as we see them. Josh saw a scarlet tanager the other day. I saw one about six years ago. I don't know why some birds are so rare. Maybe they strayed here by accident? It's an interest Josh and I share, and it's kind of fun checking out the feeder throughout the day. Lots of swans around, too. I guess they were almost extinct a few years back, but they're back in a big way now.

I've been pretty lazy so far today, but I think I'll venture into Nevis and walk on the trail. It may be busy, though it's overcast with only occasional sun. I skipped walking yesterday because of weather, so I'd better make up for it today. Here's a pic of the only sky I saw yesterday. That circle of blue was kind of unusual. I hope we see more soon. The sun has broken through a couple of times today, but I think we may have more rain in the forecast. Summer begins!

Looks like I have lots of blog reading to catch up on when I return! Happy thought!
Thanks for stopping in! God bless and shalom to all! :)

Nothing too unusual...

I don't have a lot of new news, but I thought I'd post a few photos. My step-son, Trev, who lives with his family in Maryland, had a business trip to the Ft. Worth area, so he got to visit and have dinner with Jordan and Brooke! I think this is his first time to meet Brooke, since he couldn't get to their wedding. (That's been almost TWO YEARS AGO! Wow. Time has sped by!) Anyway, here's a cute shot of them. Trev is 11 years older than Jordan. We have quite an age span among my 7 kids since my hubby was 14 years older than me and came with a set of 4 kids. :) Everyone lives so far away from each other that these little get-togethers are rare and very precious!

Brooke, Jordan and Trev

Here's the rest of Trev's family back in Maryland. They live in a suburb of Baltimore. This was Rhonda's Mother's Day picture.

Chloe, Kristen, daughter-in-law Rhonda, Cody and Katy, front right.

This is a picture of the "other Grandma Lisa" I mention now and then. This was taken at the "Author's Tea" put on by the second grade. There was a tea party in honor of the kids and the books they wrote this year. Audrey wrote 12 books this year. I really enjoyed reading them later, but I had to miss the event in order to babysit younger siblings. Wah.

That's Audrey's cousin, Cali, on the right and Audrey on the left.

And a photo of my step-daughter, Missy and my grandson, Aaron and his family. They live in Fargo.

Aaron, Lukas, Hailey, Chelsea, Missy

Mother's Day is a good source of family photos on Facebook!

My most recent swap was called "Put It in Your Pocket". The card needed to have some sort of pocket or slot so you could slip in a few pieces of "ephemera", as we call it. Little things which can be used in collages. This was kind of fun. I may make more!

I've been keeping up on my 2 mile/day walking, although I probably won't walk today. I plan a trip to the laundromat tomorrow, and that's right next to the trail, so I'll definitely put in a couple of miles then. Every once in a while you have to have a rest day!

Josh captured another glorious shot of our town's lake. We're surrounded by various lakes, but this is the one our town is built around.

Jordan and Brooke sent me a book for Mother's Day. I look forward to reading it. This young man was part of Ravi Zacharias' ministry, but died young from cancer.

They also sent me a kit to grow five different BONSAI TREES. I told them I hope I'm smart enough to make them grow! I have the seeds soaking right now. Tomorrow I'll begin planting them. Wish me luck! (Not the greenest thumb, here.)

My stomach says it's dinner time, and I never ignore that signal! Thanks for stopping by, everyone! Have a great weekend. Shalom!