Pinch Me!!

I must be dreaming.  Please pinch me to see if I am.  

Becky and Julie, In the Company of Friends, have an interesting blog.  Right now, they are exploring topics that are related to things we think about when we think about Halloween.  I enjoy reading the blog and so do a lot of other people.  When they hit 200 Followers, they decided to have a giveaway to celebrate. 

If you have a giveaway, I am very likely to fall for it.  I never am picked in giveaways but I still sign up for them.  This one was no different.  I followed the directions to sign up for it and promptly forgot about it because after all what were the chances my name would be picked??  Probably one in a gazilliion. 

Then Friday I got an e-mail from Becky telling me that my name had been drawn.  You could have heard my jaw clunking on the keyboard as it dropped.  I cannot tell you how much I wanted to give their giveaway gift a good home. 

Just in case you did not follow the link to Becky's and Julie's blog, Becky gave me permission to post the picture here. 

Isn't this just the most gorgeous set you have seen?  I gave one of Becky's and Julie's boxes to a friend in Australia.  My friend is still raving about it.  I am still raving about Becky's and Julie's service as they sent it to Oz for me. 

The Postal Service sent me an e-mail to let me know that Becky popped it into the mail.  I can hardly wait until it is delivered. 

What Kind of Winter Will It Be?

This is the first woolly bear caterpillar we have seen this year.  It is one of the biggest I have seen but will it accurately predict the winter?  

According to legend, the wider that middle brown section is (i.e., the more brown segments there are), the milder the coming winter will be. Conversely, a narrow brown band is said to predict a harsh winter. But is it true? 

I am not even certain if this is a wide or a narrow brown band. 

At Last, A Finish

Yesterday I framed this sampler.  I cannot begin to tell you how pleased I am to have it ready to go to its new owner.  Now, her sister will be getting married this coming year.  As soon as Katie has selected her colors, I will get busy on another sampler.  I hope that I can finish the new one before the wedding.  It just never ends.  Would I want it any other way? 

The hummingbirds' vine is really named Cardinal Climber (Ipomoea x multifida) and the hummingbirds love it.  The vine has its idiosyncrasies. It has taken all summer for the vine to produce flowers and they seem to bloom for one day.  Flowers seem to open when the sun is shining but not when it is heavily cloudy.  It could be a temperature related thing as the cloudy days have been cooler than the sunny ones. 


After a series of warm, sunny days, the hummingbirds became accustomed to eating from all of the open flowers.  When the flowers stopped opening on a cloudy, cool, rainy day, the hummingbirds flew all around the vines and then hovered in front of them.  It was as if they were trying to figure out where the flowers went. 

The melons are ripening.  We have now eaten two.  When I bring them into the house, their delicious aroma fills the kitchen.  We always plant at least one melon vine but this is the first time we have produced any fruit. 

Guess Who Paid a Visit Today

It is not so surprising that the bumblebees were in the garden today. 

Over night last night, the temperatures dropped and there was frost in the area.  We were fortunate; there was no frost in the gardens.  Just in case, we covered a lot of the tender plants for the night.  This morning before we removed  the covers, one of the hummingbirds was in the garden checking out the covers.  It went to every one and paused for a little; we assume it was looking at the covers and maybe saying, "This wasn't here yesterday."  

We are beginning to prepare the garden for winter but decided to leave the broccoli because the bumblebees are still in the flowers. 

Just before I went back into the house, I decided to check the nasturtiums and melon a little more closely for a potential picture.  I looked up to see a pair of shiny little eyes looking at me.  The weasel was back in the garden.  We had seen it this morning for the first time since the day we first saw it.  Now, here it was so very close to me and I had the camera out.  As luck would have it, the weasel is quite shy.  Every time I moved even a little bit it scurried away.  Every time I tried to set the camera to take a picture, the small click sent the weasel running for cover.  But, I did get a little picture of it.  Thanks to the miracle of PhotoShop, I was able to make the image a little larger.  Unfortunately, it is also a little grainy.  Yes, the weasel's head is on one side of the shed door and its little furry butt is on the other side.  :-D    And yes, it is under the door.   :-D

Can it already be ten years?  

It seems as if it were just yesterday.  

The events of 9-11-2001 are so deeply seared into our hearts that time has been suspended.  

When we are called to sing your praise with hearts so filled with pain that we would rather sit and weep or stand up to complain,

remind us, God, you understand the burdens that we bear; 

you, too, have walked the shadowed way and known our deep despair.  

When we are called to sing your praise and cannot find our voice,  

because our losses leave us now no reason to rejoice, 

remind us, God, that you accept our sad laments in prayer; 

you, too, have walked the shadowed way and known our deep despair. 

When we are called to sing your praise and life ahead looks grim,

still give us faith and hope enough to break forth in a hymn, 

a thankful hymn, great God of Love, that you are everywhere; 

you walk the shadowed way with us and keep us in your care.  

                                                                                  - Mary Nelson Keithahn 

On the first anniversary of 9-11 we were in Wells, England.  I had tied three ribbons into a bow of red, white, and blue.  I fastened them to a small safety pin so I could wear it on the lapel of my blazer.  A friend gave me a small crystal teardrop that I fastened onto the bow below the knot.

While we were in Wells, we went into the Cathedral where we saw the U.S. flag displayed as a memorial to D-Day.  On that day, it comforted us to know that the people of Wells so appreciated the U.S. efforts in 1944 that they memorialized it in their Cathedral. 

Hummingbirds

I honestly do not know if the weather will hold long enough for the hummingbird vine to have more than a couple flowers open at a time.  I really did not expect the hummingbirds to find it. 

Today there are three flowers open on the vine.  One of them is visible in the picture.  It is at the top and just slightly left of center.  This morning, a hummingbird found the vine and ate from each of the three flowers.  When it had finished, it flew around the terrace and then hovered in front of the window from which I was watching.  I wonder if it knew that I was watching.  I wonder if it could even see through the window or was it just a reflecting mirror? 

The hummingbirds fascinate me.  They are so small it does not seem possible that they do what they do and that they migrate such long distances.  By comparison, the goldfinches, nuthatches, and chickadees which all seem so small when I watch them during the winter, seem big.  The blue jays and crows seem like flying monsters. 

Earlier this week, I made fresh syrup for the feeder.  When I had the feeder in the house to clean it and refill it, a couple hummingbirds flew around the empty space where it hangs.  They would hover and appeared to look through the empty space.  It made me hurry out with the freshly cleaned and filled feeder.