Friday, July 10, 2020

Mamma Redbird - Cardinal

On my bike ride today, I saw a pretty mamma cardinal flitting around some bushes. She hopped from one little branch to another. She didn't fly. She hopped. She is hiding in the one on the right. Can you see her?



It was interesting to watch her move from branch to branch. I took several pictures of her, using the zoom part of the phone camera, but they did not turn out too 'zoomy'. I wish that I had set it on video, so that I could show her doing that. The flitting from one branch to another was really fascinating.



My cousin said that the bird was probably protecting her babies. We could hear little squeaks in the bushes, but we never saw the little ones. She must have been trying to distract us, with her hopping, so that we would not bother her babies. 

Mamma bird was smart! She fooled me!












Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Crepe Myrtles, Birthdays, Rides, and Old Movie Favorites


    This morning, my cousin and I took an early bike ride. We thought that we would miss the extreme heat  by going out in the morning, rather than the late afternoon. Yesterday, the heat was way up. The 'feels like' weather was over 100 degrees. This morning, it was supposed to be 82, but it felt like 95. So, I suppose that is better than feeling over 100!


We rode 5 1/2 miles! We saw a lot of pretty crepe myrtle trees blooming today.
There are trees of all colors.

We saw white, light pink, deep pink, and mid-pink all over every street. I took a few pictures to show.

There are two big myrtle trees in my backyard, along with a pretty mimosa.

The mimosa has bloomed once already, but there are pretty flowers trying to peek out again.



    My awesome granddaughter turned 6 years old yesterday! She requested a rainbow cake several months ago. She knew exactly how she wanted it, too. It had to be a chocolate, three-layered, rainbow cake. Then, she described each layer. I asked her to draw it for me, because I knew that I would forget by June. So, I finally got a description and wrote it into the notes section of my phone. Layer 1 - Straight lines, just straight rainbow lines (she said while demonstrating straight with her hands).
Layer 2 - Curved rainbow lines
Layer 3 - Curved big rainbows and LOTS of Rainbow dots EVERYWHERE!!!! (with a big hand and arm movement to dramatically show 'everywhere)!

 

Ruby and Dora helped me bake the cakes the other day. I made a feeble attempt to decorate yesterday. At first, I got really upset. I could not make a straight line to save me!  So, I decided to make them all a bit wavy. That way, no one would know the difference!  I made the icing a bit too loose, so the lines on the second layer would not attach well. I waited a while and then tried again. Finally, I got the second layer kind of curvy and wavy, with the rainbow colors. Red is a hard color to make in any type of icing, but the other colors all turned out well.


The third layer was the easiest, because it was a perfect size to just make a big rainbow on top. Luckily, I remembered about the "dots all over the place!" and started putting them all over the top and the sides. Those dots saved the day! They really made a difference in the look of the cake.
If you don't look too closely, you won't see the mistakes! Ruby and Dora loved it, so that is all that matters!!

    With the virus thing going on, my daughter decided not to have a regular party. Instead, she asked everyone to do a drive-by party. So, the family members each rode by with birthday signs and said happy birthday. Ruby loved it. She said it was the best birthday ever!  She didn't even realize that there was no real party. However, the grandparents got to have cake and ice cream later in the evening. That was nice! Here is my sign!

   

 I found a neat channel on YouTube this morning. It is a channel by Josh Gad, who has gotten together the casts of some of my favorite movies for reunions on Zoom. The shows are called, "Reunited Apart', and they are really good. I watched the cast of Ghostbusters, Splash, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Back to the Future. Each of the shows is an homage to the producer named John Huges, who always made 'feel-good' movies. The actors said that his movies always left you feeling good, which is much different from most of the movies of today. They also said that he always treated young people well in their depictions and actions, which they stated is a lot different from how young people are portrayed today. Each show is also created to raise money for a specific charity that is directly related to the current pandemic. The first one that I watched was Ferris Bueller. Here is the link. You can find the other shows once you get on the site of Josh Gad.

Reunited  Apart = Ferris Bueller's Day Off
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOaa3Znh75w

I have one big cross stitch project that I am anxious to start. It is a piece called "Shakespeare's Fairies", and it is called a Mirabilia. The designer is a woman named Nora Corbett. All of her Mirabilia patterns are very big, so I have a large task ahead of me. She also designs smaller pieces, and they are simply called Nora Corbett designs. One of these days, I might just be able to post a picture of the project. As for now, I will just show you a picture of what it 'will' look like one day. However, I am using either a pink fabric or a light, moss green fabric, rather than the dark green that you see in this picture.

    Teddy went home Sunday. I took one more picture of him, before I took him home. He had taken over these two little toys while he was here. One is a very old Care Bear, and the other one is a Starfish. Sunday afternoon, he put them both on this chair and then sat with them. So, I just had to take them home with him. He is still playing with them at home! I wonder if he misses me! haha
  Have a great day!