My Little Barista

My little 6 year old granddaughter surprised me the other day. I was at my daughter's house one morning to take their little dog home to them. I had been keeping him while they were out of town. My granddaughter stepped up to the coffee maker and proceeded to make her mom a cup of coffee. She was very businesslike. She got the perfect cup, turned on the coffee maker, got the K-cup, and pushed the correct button for the size of coffee that her mom wanted to have. Then, she got the cream and sugar. She very precisely measured out the correct amount of sugar, poured in the right amount of cream, stirred it all up, and took it to her mom. Then ever so professionally she asked, "Grandma, would you like me to make you a cup of coffee? I can make tea, too." I just about fell over! She was just too, too cute! I told her that I already had my coffee for the day. She seemed disappointed, so I asked her if she had any decaffinated tea. She did, so I let her make me a perfect cup of hot tea! She was very happy! My tea tasted very good, too!! So, I now have my very own, personal barista!!

Friendships

This week, I had the opportunity to visit with two of my friends. In today's world, that type of visit hasn't been happening. Friday, I drove down to the beach to see my friend from Tennessee. She and her husband came down to Tybee for a week. I haven't seen them in about two years. We took a nice, long walk on the beach and caught up with our families and just enjoyed being together. A few years ago when they came down, one of our hurricanes made it so they had to turn right around and go back to Tennessee. So we didn't get to visit. Yesteterday, I was able to visit with another friend whom I haven't seen since before the quarantine. She came by my house, and we just sat and talked together for a good little while. These two visits might seem plain and simple, but they were very important to me. Having friends is important, and having true , close friendships is even better!

Morning bike rides, Bible study at the lake, and Reading on the beach

Early morning bike rides are the best. Riding in the morning gives me a great start to my day. I actually went to the beach one day this week and just sat there for a couple of hours reading a short story. I haven't been to the beach all summer. Uh oh...It is September, not summer! oh well... Sometimes in the afternoon, I take a car ride over to the city lake and read my Bible study books. I just sit in the car, open all of the windows, enjoy the breeze, and read. There is a calming feeling about sitting there and studying. These things may not seem very exciting, but these small activities help to keep me grounded.

Jasmine all around

Jasmine is so pretty with its delicate white blossoms hanging over fences and in trees. The beautiful scent of the jasmine flowers is just awesome. This year, there are many beautiful little jasmine vines hanging over my back fence and on my garage. Each year, I have seen these vines all over the neighborhood, but they have never been in my yard. This year, I have a lot of jasmine. Each morning, I bring some inside to make the living room have a bit of outside beauty, not to mention a sweet, soft aroma. The flowers do not last too long inside, but they are pretty just the same. Sometimes, they will dry in the vase. Then, I can have a nice dried arrangement for another time. Jasmine, jasmine all around...I am glad that some finally came around! Each day now, I am going outside and bringing in fresh jasmine to put in the vase on my lighthouse table.

This picture is of the jasmine that is all over the side fence.

In this picture, you can see the jasmine going up over the top of the fence.

Jasmine loves to climb trees! It is just beautiful!!

I need to hurry up and get more jasmine to bring inside, because it is starting to go away. I hope that more will come back, after this first batch is gone. It is so pretty! Have a great day!

Old Movies, Toll house Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Bewitched

This weekend, I found a really fun movie. It is called "Fitzwilly", and it stars Dick Van Dyke. Actually, there are a lot of famous actors in this film. I call it a mild mannered Oceans 11 movie, because the characters do a lot of smooth cons. They do not hurt anyone with the cons, though. Dick Van Dyke is a butler to an older lady who thinks she is still a millionaire. Actually, she is penniless. So, her loving staff  "pull off" numerous cons and thefts to keep her living in the manner to which she has been accustomed. The movie is really good. You must pay careful attention to what is going on, or you might miss things! 

Today, I found an old Fred Astaire movie called "Royal Wedding". The movie is about a brother and sister dance team who get a performance job in London, which just so happens to be taking place at the same time as a royal wedding. This movie is also the one in which Fred Astaire has the famous scene where he dances with a hat stand. There is also a famous scene where he dances on the walls and the ceiling. His dances are awesome. I read that he was such a good dancer, that he had to continually find younger and younger female partners to keep up with him! He was 52 years old in this movie, and he moved like a youngster. Jane Powell was in this movie, playing his sister. She was around 22 years old at the time. So, she was 22 and played the dance partner sister of a 52 year old. HA! I kept thinking that she and her voice seemed familiar. Then, I realized that she is the actress who played in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. That movie is one of our all-time family favorites! As I always do when watching movies, I started using the computer to research all of the actors. I knew who some of the people were, but I did not recognize the woman who played the love interest of Fred Astaire. When I looked up the movie, I found out that her name was Sarah Churchill. She was a famous British dancer/actress. Guess who her father was!! If you guessed Winston Churchill, then you are correct. How about that!

Cookie dough - I bought some Toll House Cookie dough (in a roll) a couple of weeks ago, and it went away very quickly. Then, I could only find the kind that is in a package that is divided into little squares. Well let me tell you this. The square dough is not as good as the dough in a big roll! I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought FOUR rolls. Can you believe it! So, I made a batch last night and another batch today. I am on a cookie kick, I suppose. The dough tastes really good, though - especially raw! haha

After one of my YouTube flosstube videos stopped today, there was an icon for the pilot episode of Bewitched. I am not sure why this tv episode showed up in the middle of a bunch of cross stitch videos, but I clicked on it anyway. It was so funny. This show is the one where the two meet, court, and marry. Endora is introduced in this one, as well. Also, Darrin's old girlfriend is in this episode and tries to make Samantha look bad. Uh oh...that was not a good thing to do! HA! Samantha taught her a lesson or two really fast! hahahaha

Movies and television shows in the present age are just not as good as the old ones. Maybe that is why so many movies these days are just remakes of old movies! The writers nowadays cannot write decent movies, and the producers cannot find any decent movies to make!! HAHA!

Have a great night, and watch some good, old fashioned, feel good movies!!

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!

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!

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!