Hello My Dear Friends! Merry Christmas!!

Oh my gosh, it's been so long since I've written, I'd almost forgotten how to get on, write and post to my blog!

I have been so busy - I visited with family all over the country through October, and then began a series of oral surgeries.  Why do we women always think, 'ah, not a big deal, I'll be up and around in a couple of days!'  Really a good question - it's because WE ARE WOMEN!!  When did we take time being sick, or lazy or down when our children, or even our grandchildren were really little - we didn't - unless we were half dead!  Which may be the reason things hit us so hard now.  But, I digress.  The last surgery I had was a 3 hour bone graft 10 days ago.  Doc explained, 'going to be taking bone from the back of your jaw and screwing it in here (showing me on ex-rays, like that's really English to me!)  If we need to - we'll take some from the chin area - ack!  Wait a minute, CHIN AREA???  Like - isn't that going to leave a bruise?  'Donna, you're going to have quite a bruise anyway, this is major surgery.'  Hangs head - me, that is.  Well, at least it was scheduled after all of my business meetings.  My sweetie is still taking really good care of me.  Tonight - Christmas night, I ate my first full meal - last one for a while because I'm in a lot of pain now, but it was yummy, and I did get to help cook most of it.  We were able to laugh a bit throughout this entire process, no talking really because at first I sounded like Scooby Dooby Doo, then like Sylvester the Cat (still do when my mouth starts to hurt because my tongue swells badly.)  But we go on - life is good, it's wonderful, today is the day our Lord and Savior was born to save us all!

Our garden still has it's lovely visitors - even though we have had many nights at 25 degrees.  Because we are so close to the coast, we still get many, many hummingbirds.  They must know how much we love them, as we are still feeding them at the rate of - - - drum roll please - - - one half gallon of sugar water A DAY!!  We have two feeders up, about 10' apart or so, and they love our home we have for them!

It's really something to see so many birds feed in our yard, and then our neighbors for a block in all directions my get a stray bird once in a while.  The only thing I can think it could be is water.  They will not feed on tap water.  Ours is reverse osmosis and they'll drink regular water if it is boiled, but most people won't take the time to do that for them.  It's so worth it for us!

We have about 2 months when we have no birds at all, and take the feeders down - usually January or so, then one will go up for a month around March, then the other goes up shortly after that.  At first, we will get One male who will try to lay claim to the feeder - but when all come

home, and hundreds are here, there is no room for bossy boys here!  They say they come back to the same feeding area each year, and I must say, each year, we have had more and more birds.  Feeding one half gallon of sugar water a day is feeding a lot of birds - and they are a joy to watch.  These are the two feeders we have.  The blurs are 'birds in flight!'

Have you all been keeping your crafts up?  It's so much fun to create something with our hands!  I've been making tons of journals.  I love making them for gifts.  I can't seem to find my folder that has all the photos, so here's the latest one I made.  I made it for one of the ladies in our Daughters of the American Revolution chapter as a Christmas gift.  I loved having a tree, symbolizing the 'family tree' aspect of the group!

Then, as always, I have a crochet project in the works.  My friend told me of this pattern, though she never knew the name.  She said, 'all you do is double crochet 10, chain 10, until you have the length you want, then I'll show you how to twirl and tie it up.'  You know me, I'm always game for something new, so I double crochet, chained 10 to what I felt was a comfortable width, and length - it looked like this -

Then twist the chain 10, pull through the next chain 10 and repeat until all are finished.

It's actually very pretty and looks as if it's braided strands and not twisted and brought through. 

When all are twisted and brought through, I went around the entire afghan twice in a very nice half double crochet, placing 3 stitches in each corner to have it lay straight.  The color scheme I used was a variegated with dark brown, medium brown, orange, tan, and beige - 6 colors total.  The pattern was 5 rows of each 6 colors, 3 rows, 1 row to the variegated and then 1 row back, 3 back 5 back. 

The colors came out beautiful!  The size was a bit smaller than I first thought it would be, but never making it and not having much to go on, it's great.  My next one will be twice the size, as this is just for one.  But, it was given today to my newest granddaughter - my grandson was recently married and they are expecting their little wee one on March.  This will keep her nice and toasty.  The fringe was a new one for me, a triple knot.  I really like it, for fringe.  Only on one end.  I prefer no fringe because it always tickles or makes me think something is crawling on my neck when I'm sleeping.  But, it was a gift, so I fancied it up.  I read a pattern on Pinterest some time back and they had a variation of this as a ripple and called it Jacob's Ladder.

Also done a bit of sewing.  My little Wee One, Leila, asked for a Yoshi blanket for her gift.  So how does one make a Yoshi - well, first buy the material, then take it all to Colorado to my daughter there and ask her to help!  My son married an Angel and she sews like a professional, so she helped me.  Son made the Yoshi pattern, I cut, daughter did sewing - a family affair!

She loves it Auntie Kim!!  Thanks Uncle Jeff for helping, too!  And yes, each piece is sewn on separately!  It was a lot of pieces, a lot of work, I can't thank Kim enough as she has this beautiful, professional sewing machine that really hit the mark! 

These are my kids who do costuming professionally.  She does the sewing of costumes of fabrics and leathers,




he does all of the props or items fabricated in different metals or plastics.  They are an amazing team together!

And, so with that my good blogging buddies, as Yoshi to the right is ready to say good bye for now - I promise it won't be another 4 months before I stop back by.  I do get by to see many of your blogs, but have just not had time, as you read to leave messages.


May God bless each and every one of you, keep you safe, loved and forever thankful we live in the greatest country in the world. 

For those who have soldiers away from home, God bless you and them.  Thank them and thank you for your service to our country.  Without them standing on the front lines, keeping our liberty and freedom, and you all keeping the home fires burning, we would not live in the greatest country any longer.  God bless you all.

May you all have a wonderful, healthy, and Happy New Year!  May it be all you want it to be, bring you the happiness you deserve, the prosperity you work for and the health our Lord bestows on you.  This new year I look forward to better health, a brand new Great Granddaughter (Grandson and new Granddaughter will be having her in March) and a wonderful new year.

Blessings and hugs,
Donna

They're Back!!!

These two are keeping a watchful eye - maybe even directing traffic!

You all know how I love our Hummingbirds!  Well, we've been a bit worried we may have lost their homing in on our home because of a new development being built behind us.  And, for the first couple of months of the season, we had a few birds - but this last week, we went from feeding 1 quart of syrup each week to 1 quart of syrup A DAY!!  Yes, you read correctly - a quart a week - to a quart a day!!

The five blurs are those coming in and going out!  It's a busy feeder!

A second feeder will need to be put up this weekend to accommodate all of the birds.  I counted 19 at one time trying to feed this morning.  (Before dawn, and I couldn't get my camera set up quickly enough.)

All are beautiful, the males have the gorgeous iridescent neck and head feathers!

The males are so beautiful with their bright purple/pink iridescent head colors.  We love having them fly in - but with this crazy weather - are they going north or south?  Coming inland from the Coast?  Our weather patterns have - well - been rather unusual as they have been over much of the US and probably the world!

The blurs are birds coming and going!  I was so amazed this morning!

Honestly, no matter to me, to us, about what or why - they are here now and we love feeding them and caring for them!  Next year we hope to have a spraying fountain with mist for them to bathe in and a butterfly bath and feeder.  These are the closest things to pets we have and we love caring for them while they visit us!

Would love to see some from other parts of the US as the colors are so vibrant and beautiful!

Have a marvelous weekend, my friends!
Blessings,
Donna 

Blog Land Blogging Blobs

OK Any one else notice blogging is taking longer to do?  Longer to post, longer to leave a message, longer, longer and then POOF! A comment we left for a friend on their blog is gone!

I have felt a lot like this guy lately!  Hee haw!  My blog was switched to the new Blogger format way back when it was introduced, I had a ton of trouble trying to do the everyday things I had just learned on regular blogger.  So, I worked at it and finally felt like I was getting along fine. Then the whole thing with Chrome verses regular Blogger came up.  My sweetie got me all set up with that and I'm finally use to it.

I've even been able to get my photos on faster and easier - well by mistake, actually.  I accidentally double clicked on the photo I wanted and it loaded lickity split!  Easy Peasy! Another notch in my belt.  Now another problem the past couple of weeks, going to leave comments for friends and up pops 'select profile' - O K - select my profile and my message is gone.  At first I figured it was saved and went on my way.  Then a few of my friends we missing me as I hadn't left a message in several days, not like me.  But I had!!  There must be a million posts, pictures and messages out in blogger outer space!!

So I had to put on my thinking cap - pretty nice one, hug?  Now what I've figured out is for what ever reason, I need to not just refresh my page, but sign out - sign back in and then I'm ready to roll.  So - for my sweet friends who missed me, 'THANK YOU' for letting me know, for asking. Maybe this will help someone else.  I think it's a bother, and always wonder what is going to pop up next?

I had a friend ask how much time I spend a day blogging, because it's very easy to just get lost in here.  So I have to stay on track or I loose track of time!  I'm finding everyone is weighing these issues, too.

For those of you who are very computer literate, I'm very happy for you that you don't ever have any of these problems.  For those who confided in me that you have the same kinds of things going on - we're all here to help each other.

Cutest thing happened to me today!  I was out giving all my plants a drink of Miracle Grow.  A pair of Hummingbirds who are nesting in the tree on the side of our hill came and took turns taking a sprinkle shower from the hose!  You all know how much I love these little guys!  No camera, and because it was so hot, all the windows were closed so I couldn't call Don to come take my picture with them!

First one would come and shower for a bit, then the mama would come and shower - I stretched my hand to her and she came over to see if I had a gift for her.  Next time I'm out, I'm carrying my camera and some oranges or yarn for her!

Well, it's late, and with all the yard work today, the heat and oops - I forgot to freeze the peaches - need to do that first thing in the morning!!  Thank you to the Graphics Fairy and June at Dezinaworld for the images I used here.  I'm off for a cup of tea before jumping in bed!

Blessings to all for a wonderful new week.
Donna

Grandma, Grandma - Let's Go Harvest!!

Oh my goodness, I can hear her now!  My grandchildren and daughter in law are coming next week to help me celebrate and when she sees the 'fruit on the vine' my little Leila will be grabbing the vegetable basket.  I'll need to get a small one.  Last year she was so disappointed when we took the big garden basket and had two squash and a tomato or two.  She looked up at me, pointed to the basket, and said, "How do we fill it up?  Is there more plants somewhere? This is not a harvest!"

Now - I'm going to show what we have today - and no laughing - it's still a young garden!  And, the plants were itty bitty or seeds - so we've come a long way, baby!

 3 Butternut Squash in the middle, 2 Spaghetti Squash - 1 on each end.



We took out over half of this side lawn to use for garden and trees.  In the background are our 4 Citrus Trees.  We have babied them for over 4 years, and this is their first time out in the elements.

Fruit almost ready on all 4 and new blossoms!  Good signs of being happy!






I know it looks like I may have gone overboard with the squash plants, but last year we had some that just didn't make it.  The weather again this year is crazy!  Near 100 last week - barely  80 tomorrow!  Here are the 2 Zucchini and 2 Yellow Crookneck!  So, I over planted - a little.




Lookie, lookie!!  Our first Zucchini!











And Yellow Squash!

3 Pepper plants - Red, Orange, Yellow.  And, a must, Tomatoes!

The Peach Tree is growing and getting very sturdy.  The new Blueberry looks great, too!  And it even has several of these.  Not enough for a pie, not even for a tart, but enough for Grandpa and Wee One to see if they are tasty!

And the favorite part of our yard ~ ~

Yep!  My Humming Birds!  You know how we love these little guys.  Papa and Mama birds!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - be safe, be happy and have lots of fun!!

Blessings,
Donna

My Newest Wreath ~ Red, White & Blue

I love making wreaths!  I have 8 or so I rotate and refresh throughout year. 

I hosted our El Paso de Robles Daughters of the American Revolution monthly meeting this month, so I grabbed my wreath and hung it up.  But, it needed major refreshing and refurbishing this year.  So once everyone left, down it came.  Here's the finished project!

A wreath is just a wreath is just a wreath UNLESS there is something unexpected like ~

 



   LADY

   BUGS!!

And, how about a butterfly!!

What about a few bumble bees?  Oh yeah, at least a couple!

Oh my gosh!!  Look who I found hiding in my box of bugs and birds??  A hummingbird!!  OK  ~  almost complete  ~  In any Patriotic Wreath you just got to have  ~  The Eagle and a couple of Old Glory!

Thanks for taking a peak at my wreath!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed weekend!

Hugs,

Donna

They're Baaack!

Here it is the third week in March, and our Hummingbirds have come home!  Well, probably not all of them - but they are beginning their migration north and we couldn't be happier!  These are our only pets, well almost only - there are these guys that take delight in walking up and scaring the socks off me.

That's him, hiding behing the dog's ear, over on the rock!  Yep, they get me everytime I walk outside.  Everyone knows if they hear me scream it's just only of my little friends sneaking up on me - guess I'd better stop that in case there's a real emergency! 

These are the ones I'm so happy to see!  This is a male youngling or a female because of the lack of color and small size.  This is the first one I could catch on camera this morning!   We saw a feeder on the neighbor's tree last week, but, we were expecting a freeze last weekend, which we did get, and I don't want to find my pet's "feet up" below the feeder!  We aren't expecting any more freezing weather this season, after all, it is almost the first of April!

So, yesterday afternoon, we decided to just put up two cups to see if they were really around - we didn't see one bird yesterday!  But this morning, my Sweetie yelled to me, "Our birds are back!"  I got the camera ready so I'd catch them when they came in.  Those little guys are fast! 

Here's another species, a male, and he does look like a mature bird.  Look at the black around his throat!  He could actually be a "Black-Chinned" Hummingbird.

This one could be an "Anna's or Allen's Female" as they are near the coast all year - and come inland during the warmer periods.  It is early for the females.  Or if it is a migrating bird, maybe ?? 

See the one sitting in the bushes!  Find the knot in the wooden fence and go straight down to the top of the bush - see her!!  Wish I was better at identifying - this does look to be an Allen's Female!! 

 This looks to be another "Black Chinned" bird, and this one is a mature male.  See on the side of his neck how pretty his purple iridescence is?!  SEE??  Sweet!!

Later in the afternoon came an "Anna's" mature male. Look at this color!!   Look at the beautiful head and neck and the ROSE iridescence of this bird's head and neck - and the one above, with just the spot on his neck, is purple.  I hope you can see them clearly enough!

While they are migrating and just checking out territories they still share the nectar.  Once the nests are built and eggs are laid, they can try to keep others away.  Kind of hard when there are hundreds visiting our yard though!

Oh,  guess who else came to breakfast?  No, not that cat!  An Oriole!  I saw just one last year that was the brightest yellow, and then this morning.  It looked around a bit, then left after about 5 minutes.  Every time I lifted the camera, it would turn it's back to me, camera down, turned back around.  After a few minutes of this I lost my patience, so you'll just have to take me at my word on that visitor!

Tomorrow is Friday, so I wish you all a blessed weekend!
Donna