Coffee and Birds

Coffee and Birds...an odd name for a post....but that's what I have for today!  I was so happy to see this gold finch at my feeder, his feathers are turning such a bright yellow.  Is it a sign that spring is in the air?  Probably not, but seeing a bright yellow bird is still pretty special.  I'm not sure if he has something in his mouth or if he is sticking his tongue out at me.  Whatever it is was sticking out there for a long time!

First a bird, now the coffee.  I was craving blueberry muffins today.  I had blueberries in my refrigerator, and oats in my cupboard...I measured, mixed, poured and baked...then I had muffins.  A sunny spot, hot coffee and warm muffins.  I wish every morning started out this way!

Coffee and birds...plural means more than one so here's another bird.  The chickadees were busy in the front yard today so I snapped a picture of one in the crab apple tree.  Hang on tight little chickadee, it's a very windy day!

I hope that your day had some coffee and birds in it...or anything that you could enjoy.  Sometimes noticing the little things that you like can make all the difference in a day.  Thanks for stopping by!

Orchids at the Arboretum

There is a beautiful tree of orchids at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum right now.  In December they had this wire tree covered with white poinsettias.  Last weekend they swapped the poinsettias out with orchids.  Hundreds of beautiful orchids.  It's pretty spectacular when you walk in and see them from a distance.

It draws you in, come closer...

...a little closer.

But my favorite way to look at the orchids is from very, very close!  This is a photo filled post, so I'll stop yapping and let you enjoy the beautiful orchids, up close and personal.  Pick a favorite color if you can!  I love them all!

Sometimes we just need to take a minute and stop to smell the roses...or orchids!  I'm glad that I did.  I hope you do too.  Thanks for stopping by!

Finding Stuff

My "Losing Stuff" post had too much negativity.  Today's post is about the other side of life.  We can find so many positive things, especially if that is what we are looking for!  Here are a few:

The cats are actually getting along!  I had set up this little basket for Greta to watch the birds while I'm working.  It kept her off my keyboard!  Well, once Molly decided that she was over her snit about having a kitten in the house and finally came out of the basement, she started sitting in the basket to watch the birds too.  On Sunday, Greta was parked there minding her own business when Molly came along and decided to plop right on top of / beside her.  Greta didn't even notice.  New found friends.

We have had a string of warmer days in a row...so nice after the deep freeze!  The ice globes are melting, what a nice sight to see!  Speaking of nice...I had mentioned losing my fitbit in my last post....not so nice...but  I contacted the fine folks at fitbit, they are replacing my pedometer for free!  I emailed to ask if I could buy a replacement at a lower cost since I had the charger etc...they checked and said it was under warranty, what color would you prefer??  What??  When does that happen?  Best customer service ever!

News like that can make my whole day happy!  So can happy flowers!  I treat myself to flowers when I go to the grocery store.  Bright yellow gerbera daisies.

Doesn't it just say "sunshine"??  Brighter sunny days ahead!

One of my favorite flowers.

These are pretty too, but it's always the gerbera's that catch my eye.

Oh...remember those friends from the start of the post?  I found them napping together on Billy's unmade bed today.  Still friends.

And with that, I better hop to it.  Sheets to wash, beds to make.  Finding some routine in my days now that the boys are both back in school.  I hope you are finding things to make you smile today!  Thanks for stopping by.

Losing Stuff

Apparently this has been my weekend for losing stuff.  I guess I should say things.  Sometimes it's my lost mind that I miss the most.  Oh well, that's just the way it goes sometimes.

First things first, my photo of the day from Thursday...a chickadee at the feeder....no doubt happy that the days have been getting warmer.  Thursday was the first day of losing something...our volleyball matches in the play-offs.  We were higher than both teams that we played in the standings...the first match should have been close...and it was...but we lost.  We should have easily won the second match.  Our passing skills were lost, so was the game.  So it goes.  It's not like it's the Olympics or anything. The good news is that the new season starts in a couple of weeks.

On Friday we went ice fishing with a friend.  It was awesome!  Except for the part where I lost my fitbit monitor.  It's an overpriced activity / sleep monitor to help keep track of how much activity and how much uninterrupted sleep you get each day. A fun motivator. I had just gotten dedicated to using it again everyday. And then it fell out of the cheap clip that it came with sometime Friday night.  Argh.  It's just a thing, I know that, but I hate the thought of spending money on something like that again. Darn it.

On Saturday we went to the country to visit our parents and celebrate my mom's birthday.  It was a beautiful, warmish day that seemed even warmer after the deep freeze we were just in.  There was some unique frost on the rocks by the river, so I spent some time taking photos in the park.  I was SO excited about one set of photos...I thought that they were going to wind up being the best photos I've ever taken.  I looked at them on the camera, a couple of times.  The scene was perfect, the lighting just how I wanted it...I had to look at them again and again. I wish that I hadn't.  My screen read "Image processing error" or some horrible thing like that.  I couldn't open them.  When I got home I couldn't down load them.  I couldn't copy them.  After several different and failed attempts to get them, they ended up being wiped from my memory card.  Unfortunately running the check disk utility got rid of them for me.  Apparently my memory card had failed. Great.  80 plus photos.  Again, not really a big deal, but still a little hard to swallow.  I had so much hope for a few of them!

The losing ways didn't stop there. This morning I found an almost full pan of lasagna that didn't get put into the fridge after our trip home last night. Today's lunch...lost.  And then, Billy headed back to school this afternoon.  That has me feeling a little lost too.  I think that my half full glass has developed a leak.

So...aren't you glad that you stopped by for this little pity party?  Do bad things come in 3's or do we just stop counting after that?  I think I'm done counting.  And done complaining.  Really.  A new week is ahead...and so is most of the new year...and that's pretty nice to look forward to!  Thanks for stopping by...come back again...things are bound to be better!

Hope in the Forecast

 It's -2 degrees F as I type this, but it doesn't feel nearly as bad as the last few days have felt.  It's not windy, so that's part of it, but the main reason is that there is hope in the forecast!  Warmer days ahead!  Cold today but 19 degrees tomorrow...and 33 degrees on Friday.  Above freezing...what??  It's going to feel down right balmy.  We've survived the "Polar Vortex".  Now Canada...please shut the door, we don't really want your cold air down here!
My post is a little different today, not just the daily photos for a change.  I started out looking for something interesting inside to take a photo of on Monday.  My blooming Christmas cactus seemed to fit the bill.  Such an odd plant, it usually starts blooming around Easter...not this year.  Still pretty.

I was minding my own business taking a picture of the flower when this little beast decided to get into the action.  Look at me in the window, I'm cute, flowers are boring.

How about me on the chair?  Peek a boo.  Our little kitten is quickly turning into a cat!  A very shiny sweet but crazy cat.

"Who you callin' a cat?  I'm a puma and I pounce!"

Sometimes she's fierce, sometimes she's sleeping, sometimes she's just watching what is going on around her.

Our old cat Molly seems to have gotten over the horror of having a kitten in the house.  She wanted to get in on the action.  I think she's claiming this chair as her own.

She can pose for the camera too, it's not just kittens that are cute!

"What's that, a rabbit?"

And yes, we've all gone a little stir crazy being cooped up in the house when it's -20 degrees outside.  But Molly, there is hope, there are warmer days ahead!

There are warmer days ahead for you Greta, don't worry.  And no, you don't get to have ALL of the attention.

And with that, I'll end the crazy cat lady post and get back to the photos.  I have another amaryllis getting ready to bloom.  The stem on this one is nice and tall.  It's in amidst the paper whites stems that I haven't cut down yet, the flowers are just starting to dry up, but are still pretty.

And finally, my two photos from today.  I took about 10, here's the first one...

...and the last one.  I could have saved some time and not bothered to take the ones in between, but sometimes you have to take the journey to find out where you're going.  Or something like that.

I just know that I liked the first one and the last ones the best, and that seemed sort of odd.  And with that, I'm going to go and check the forecast again, just to make sure that they are still predicting the hope of warmer days ahead.  A little hope changes everything!  Thanks for stopping by.