Another egg group picture -
They are commer- cially available painted wooden eggs. I can put them on my spring branches secure in the knowledge that the cats cannot destroy them. :-D

There is one little bird that seems to be working for the squirrels. I actually saw it pushing lots of seeds out of the tray. The squirrels immediately came out to eat what was under the feeder.

There were three squirrels. From time to time, one tried to claim the area as its territory. It would chase the others away but they always returned. They were also chasing each other around the backyard. Every once in a while they would stop running and chasing to wildly twitch their fluffed up tails.

I got the recipe for the French Breakfast Puffs from Christine's blog. As you can see, she got it from Paulette's blog. Scroll down in the entry to the pictures and recipe. I prepared it as posted with the exception that I added ½ teaspoon vanilla. I think vanilla is a marvelous flavor enhancer. In answer to Christine's comment about Naomi's observation that the puffs are fiddly to make. They are. The batter is very straightforward. The fiddly part is dipping the tops of the baked puffs in melted butter followed by a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. I have a neat little substitution so that I do not have to do that. Before baking the puffs, sprinkle raw or turbinado sugar on the tops then bake as directed. Here is a link to a specific brand of sugar that is generally available in the US. I like to sprinkle the sugar on muffins before I bake them.

Enjoy Some Scones

This is primarily for Kathy but everyone else is welcome to it.

Dried Cranberry Scones
Makes 12

Sift together:
1 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda

Stir in:
½ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

Cut in:
1/3 cup margarine or butter - I used margarine.
Work the mixture until it looks like tiny crumbs.

Stir in:
½ cup dried cranberries

Add:
½ cup buttermilk
Mix until the dry ingredients are moistened.
If the ingredients are not combining, add a little more buttermilk.

Gather the dough into a ball and knead lightly (12 strokes or so) on a lightly floured surface.
Pat the dough into a circle ½- to ¾-inch thick.
Cut the circle into 12 pie-shaped wedges.
Transfer the pieces to a baking sheet. If you wish, you can assemble the pieces into the original circle.

Brush the tops with milk or cream and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes. During the baking time check the process because oven temperatures can vary and you may use a different baking sheet from mine.

I am thinking about adding some chopped pecans.
Instead of dried cranberries, you could substitute your favorite dried fruit.

Yes, I am baking again and it is a recipe that I tried for the first time. This has gone over well with the family.

The featured eggs are my decoupage eggs. I cut the pictures out of spring and Easter themed wrapping paper. Through the years a couple of them have been broken. Almost all of our cats have been fascinated by them. In the spring, I would cut a couple branches from the pussy willow and fruit trees to force. I liked to hang my eggs on the branches until I discovered that the cats like to play with the eggs. Now the eggs primarily live in an egg carton in my buffet. I have also painted eggs with simplified rosemaling designs. I made them as gifts and unfortunately do not have any examples. When I took these eggs out, I discovered that I have 6, maybe 7, undecorated blown eggs. Perhaps I should think up a purpose for them.

Between what they eat and what they spill, the birds go through about one cup of seed every day. Yesterday and today, three squirrels have been eating the corn, old nuts, and spilled birdseed. At least for the time being, they are not shaking the feeders. Yesterday in the late afternoon, two rabbits came in and ate much of what the squirrels did not eat. This morning, a mouse came by. There is a lot of seed on the ground, every little creature that eats a mouthful cleans up that much seed.

You are invited to come over for some freshly baked cranberry scones. This time, they are from a recipe, not a commer- cial mix. I really do not know if it is tra- ditional to add things like dried cranberries but we all have fallen in love with this recipe. I will pour you a little milk or orange juice while you look at my china egg boxes.

The one that hardly shows in the background is bisque and part of the floral design is missing. As soon as I find another bisque egg that I like as much, I will replace it. Actually I think that the painted eggs are bisque egg shaped forms. Until I took pictures of the Ukrainian eggs, I did not realize how many eggs I have. This has been a revelation to me although I see my eggs every day.

Our temperatures are low. They may not be bone shattering low but they are still a little below normal. We can generally say that at the end of January we will not have bone shattering cold. I think that the cold has kept the birds away from the feeders as well as the hawk that was out yesterday. Only a couple birds were out this morning. The squirrel has discovered the nuts and the corn. It ate the nuts first and then went to the corn.

More Egg Pictures for You

Here are my two painted eggs. Yes, I like violets. I believe that the eggs are hollow porcelain. I have no idea when they were painted but guess recently. One of the reasons I like these eggs is because the violets are highly suggestive of a violet design in Sweeter than the Rose from Leisure Arts. Even the colors of the painted violets echo the colors of the violet designs.

When I looked at the pictures of the Ukrainian eggs yesterday, I could not help thinking that spring is coming. I think that it is because eggs are so closely associated with Easter which is in the spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

This morning the sunrise was so extremely colorful. For those who stitch, the sky looked like Sky Blue Pink (005) by The Caron Collection. The day has noticeably more minutes of sunlight than a month ago. I helps us believe that spring is coming.

Earlier this week, I discovered that I had made several miscounts on my reproduction box top. In the end, I cut every stitch out. Unfortunately, I also cut one of the fabric threads. Tuesday I rewove a thread. Yesterday I began to stitch the box top again. This time I decided to start with the central motif instead of the border. I will still have to count the border stitches very, very carefully but it should be that much easier if I have the central motif in place.

I think but am not absolutely certain that at least one of the squirrels climbs part way up the bird feeder post and shakes it as hard as it can. The feeder swings wildly dumping out the seeds. There is a wide scatter pattern of seeds around the feeder which suggests this. Over night I put out some dry corn but no one was interested. This morning I put out some of the rancid walnuts but no one is interested. I put some seed in the bird feeder. As soon as I went into the house, the chickadees were in the feeder. Right now, it is as quiet as can be outside. There is a red tail hawk in the neighbor's tree; it is just looking for lunch. I hope my little bird friends do not become lunch.

Eek I thought I published this this morning!!

Here are the Ukrainian eggs. The two are my new ones and the three are my original ones. The two new ones are more contemp- orary designs using traditional motifs. I had a contemporary green egg but Mooch decided it was his. It broke while he played with it before I discovered what he did.

At 6:40 a.m. this morning, the sky was beginning to show light. When we got home almost an hour later, the sky was showing color but the sun was not up yet; it was light enough to see colors. Spring is coming. The temperatures are colder but at least they are not bone shattering cold.

Something got into the bird feeders yesterday. I am not certain what it was; the feeders were completely emptied. I am afraid it was blackbirds. I think the rabbits ate the squirrels' peanut butter sandwiches. I put out some nuts for the squirrels; the nuts are a little old and do not taste appetizing so I hope the squirrels do not notice. I put a couple scoops of seed into the feeder and want to try to find out what is getting into it.

It is 1:00 p.m. and I have been busy to- day. In the morn- ing, it was my regular Tuesday morning hospital volunteers followed at noon, by a quick run to the post office with a bulk mailing for church. On the way home we decided to stop for Oriental buffet lunch as we passed the little restaurant. That tasted good and was something nice to do together.

Last Thursday, we left a little early for tutoring. When we passed an estate sale and decided we had enough extra time to check it out, we did. There were a lot of interesting glassware, crystal, and china. I got this little covered serving dish. It is about the same age as my china. My china set has the same same type covered serving dishes. I also got two Ukrainian eggs. Maybe I ought to show them to you too. :-) Perhaps tomorrow.

At long last, the sun is out and it is extremely uplifting.

Sunday, five or six squirrels chased each other through the trees in the park behind our home. They jumped from branch to branch and tree to tree. They turned flips; one unfortunate fellow fell to the ground from the cottonwood tree. I hope it did not hurt itself. Yesterday and today the squirrels chased through the yard. So far, they are leaving the bird feeder alone. They are eating seeds that have dropped to the ground. Yesterday I took the last pieces of crackers that fell on the floor and turned them into peanut butter sandwiches for the squirrels. We first put them out quite a distance from the bird feeders because I did not want to do anything that might encourage them to climb into the feeders. They did not find their snacks so I moved them closer to the bird feeders and put them right on the path the squirrels would take from the apple tree to the seeds below the feeders but I did not put them under the feeders. Sometime during the morning today, something, most likely squirrels, ate up all the peanut butter sandwiches.