The kids have flown the coop - now they wanna drive

Last I posted about my little birdies -

they were all still in the nest.

Or i thought they were.

Remember their charlie's angels pose-

i thought one birdie was hiding.

From here on out we'll call him

Bosley.

He wasn't hiding at all.

Bosley had indeed flown the coop - or the nest as it were.

Monday early evening my husband called to me with an urgent voice.

I ran to his office which is at the front of the house. (Very close to the front door where the nest was built.) His office has large floor to almost ceiling windows. He called me because he saw Bosley - sitting on some bushes in front of the office windows. Here's a picture of Holly looking out the office window at Bosley

(i suspect she was thinking *#@!$%*&^!!! bird!)

here's a view from inside the house - see him there in the center?

so cute

I went outside to see what he looked like closer up. And found out something very interesting.

There were birds in the trees and atop the house looking down
He had a whole family out there

Keeping a watchful eye

so that little Bosley was safe (from us evil people i suspect)

it was a little like Hitchcock's The Birds (well i exaggerate a bit but still)

Upon seeing all these family members - i realized little Bosley was probably safe. The next morning Bosley was still on the bush outside the office. I saw adult birds bring him food. Sometime, mid-Tuesday, I checked the office and Bosley appeared to be gone. Later on my husband was out in the yard and said Bosley was definitely gone from the front of the house. He'd looked around and found a little bird, which looked an awful lot like little Bosley around the side of the house, sitting on an azalea bush. We figured that might be the last we'd see of him. The other 3 birdies were still in the nest but seemed to be making motions as if they'd be leaving too. Wednesday morning I took my daughter to school in the morning - when we left I was thinking about our birds and looked around for Bosley but he didnt seem to be in sight. Little did I know.

I came home and prepared to have some company - some girlfriends were coming over to make cards and chat. As they arrived I showed them our little nest. There seemed to be only 2 birdies visible at that point. By the time my friends left, no birds were in the nest.

I was a little sad. It seemed they'd decided to leave while i wasn't looking. Oh well i thought. I hope i get to see them around the yard.

Wednesday around 4:50 pm I went to my car - in the garage - to drive to my daughters bus stop. I opened the car door and put down my purse. I was about to pick up the mail and bring it with me (to read while i waited for the bus to arrive.) But I stopped dead.

There - on the dashboard of my van - was Bosley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO I'M NOT KIDDING

Let me back up a bit. Tuesday nite - when we'd lost track of Bosley - we had left the garage door open til maybe 10 o'clock. I went and closed it and it didn't open again until we left around 6:15 am. I often leave the car windows open if the car is in the garage. When i drove back into the driveway I was thinking of the birds and swore i heard a squeak in the car but dismissed it - i did have the radio on and I was thinking about the birds.

Apparently Bosley was in the car for the drive to and from the busstop on Wednesday morning and all day until i opened the car door on Wednesday afternoon. The garage door was closed all day so he couldn't have gotten in then - I suspect he got in the car on Tuesday nite.

So there he was sitting on the dashboard.

It was 10 to 5 and i had about 10 minutes to figure out how to get him out of the car.

I talked to him and he talked back!

He also held his mouth open for food! That was hilarious - as if i had come to feed him. He did that over and over.

I didnt want to pick him up fearing it might either scare him to death or make him unwelcome in his little birdie community.

Finally i grabbed a small branch that was in our yard recycling. I thought i might encourage him to jump on it.

He flew closer to the car door.

(at that point i'd opened them all)

I prodded him again and he flew out the door onto the garage floor

One more gentle prod and he'd flown out of the garage and onto the front lawn.

He started calling to his family who were not immediately available.

A few more squeaks and some of his famille showed up.

I checked my watch and realized I had to fly!

We're keeping the garage doors closed from now on.

And we're not giving Bosley the keys to the car anytime soon.

the birthday queen bestows belated wishes

cos she's a little flakey these days.

the birthday queen screwed up. she meant to post yesterday but got caught up in all the birdie happenings. Forgive me Kris.

I hope your birthday was wonderful and filled with all sorts of birthday things - cake comes to mind (it always comes to my mind)

the kids are growing up (and other things)

Daddy's Home and he's brought take-out

Where'd he go?

Okay - let's pose for that lady

(i laughed my head off after i saw this picture - kinda charlies angels-esque - i figure the 4th birdie is hiding - either being Charlie or Bosley.... )

We are having the best time watching these sweet little birdies. I know I could get more today but it gets a little much. I have to drag a chair into the hallway and stand on tippy toes with arms extended upward with camera in hand and start snapping away. Yes I'm using a digital camera with a large screen so i'm able to see what i'm doing. But as much fun as it is to see them closeup through the photos, I think i'm ticking off the Mom & Dad (not to mention the babies). They fly in to feed them over and over during the day. If they see us near the doorway they fly back out to the pear tree, like this:

If you look really closely you'll see who I believe is the Daddy - with the reddish head - hiding out til the coast is clear. Once we saw both the Mom & Dad at the nest feeding the babies at the same time - I ran to get my camera but they were too quick for me. Oh well.

I don't know if those babies are long for that nest - we see them wiggling around, flappin their sweet little wings and we're thinking they are practicing to try out those wings for real. In the meantime i'm gonna enjoy them while they are here.

Other things...

we were sposed to have company for the weekend but someone ended up ill. It's been a fairly quiet weekend. We did have my son home for Saturday - he left Sunday. Saturday night the four of us went to a great Japanese Restaurant in town. The kind of place where they cook in front of you and chef is not just a chef - he's a performer. What a hoot that was - the chef was amazing and the food was just wonderful

Let's see - besides laundry, what have i been doing. I made potato salad. I haven't made that for 2 years i think. So yummy - we're having it again tonite. I really should share that recipe. Another of my mom's and its fabulous. Oh yeah - i've been playing around with a punch, watercolor crayons and a little stamping and embossing. General playing in my sketchbook - i think i may turn the flowers into a card. we'll see

lunchtime

Is it time to eat, ma?




Yes, dear.




bon appetit!

7 things about me

well my friend Linda tagged me so i'm going to give this a go and tell you 7 things about me (maybe you know these, maybe you don't)

1. I love old movies - i love most any movies (even the trashy ones on Lifetime) and have all kinds of movie trivia in my head - just ask me LOL
2. i love to cook - i really love to bake but i try not to do it too much because of i really like to eat!
3. i have been on some kind of diet most of my life
4. i love television. i know some people don't like it but i do. some people even say "oh i never watch tv" and well i've stopped apologizing for myself a long time ago. i watch all kinds of programs - i've got a wide area of interest - from animal planet to the history channel to the food network. all kinds of tv. because i'm interested in just about everything.
5. i have zero knowledge about digital anything - i'm a photoshop idiot. As much as I'd like to understand it, I don't. I am sure if someone sat me down and showed me, I'd be a quick learner but I don't get it. It's strange because usually I'm rather good at figuring most things out - but that stuff - i just don't know why but it thoroughly eludes me.
6. I love to read. I really love to read books but i'll read just about anything including the back and sides of a cereal box. I read the Washington Post everyday. I miss the newspapers I grew up with and read daily: The New York Times, The Daily Post, The Star Ledger and the Daily Record. The books I read are mostly for entertainment meaning although I've read a few of Oprah's Book Club type books - I really don't wanna think that much LOL! I want to be entertained and transported away. Rarely the transport takes me to unhappy places if you catch my drift. So the books i'm reading are generally fun although I like a good crime novel as well.
7. i really hate laundry.

So now who can I pick on, I mean tag, to let us know more about them.... I tag Donna, Barbara, Tina and Michelle.

Oh and speaking of movies - if you can please rent Pan's Labyrinth. We watched it Saturday night. It was amazing. A fabulous movie. Violent in parts - definitely not for children - its Rated R. but it is such a wonderful movie - you must see it. Here's a website to give you some info - just the website alone should make you run to your Blockbuster and get it

www.panslabyrinth.com

a wee birdy smackerel and periwinkle purse

A few weeks back I was walking past my front door and stopped to take a look out. On either side of the door there are windows. And for some reason that day I looked up and saw a wonderful thing.

A bird's nest

Our front door has a copper roof that sits atop two pillars. And under that roof, on top of the inside of the pillar (which are mostly decorative i believe) was the wee little nest.

Opposite the front door is our pear tree. I know I've mentioned this tree in another post

(friday march 16th). It is a gorgeous tree and has really grown since it was planted 10 years ago. Huge and a lovely home to a variety of birds. We regularly see all kinds of birds - my favorite being a cardinal who I am able to spy on occasion if I'm lucky enough.

So it wasn't a surprise when i saw a bird flying from the pear tree to the wee nest under the copper roof for my front door.

Initially the bird flew right out of the nest as soon as anyone approached the front door. Slowly, however, over the past few weeks, we have noticed if we are quiet or don't approach the door too quickly we can see the bird in the nest. It doesnt move - it just looks back at us - as if to say "ok, i know you now. I know you won't harm me or my eggs".

And because the little birdy is now one of the family she allowed me to take her photo this morning.

I am in love with this sweet little creature and I'm so looking forward to seeing if there are any baby birds (it's impossible to tell if there are eggs in there but that bird rarely leaves her spot these days so it makes you wonder).

Ok - onto other things....

Yesterday in the mail I received a long awaited package. If you all recall i made a felted purse for my dear friend. (see march's postings - there are pictures there) I wanted to make one for myself but they've been backordered on the color yarn I wanted. Periwinkle. A gorgeous periwinkle. When i saw the package in the mailbox i could not wait to rip it open - and there it was - just as gorgeous as I'd hoped. Now i took a few photos this morning but i dont think the color in the photo is true - which is MOST annoying. However i'm going to post a few pictures in hopes you'll get the idea that the color is just spectacular

i placed the yarn on top of things i thought would help show off the true color. The photo on the left - the yarn is on top of a magazine article about a local artist who does the most stunning work in pastels - the color is amazing. And oddly enough there was some periwinkle in that particular piece he did. The second photo i took next to an easter card my mother had given me. The iris on it was a lighter more lavendar color however it improved the photo as the camera seemed to be picking up a little too much blue if you ask me. Anyway i really am looking forward to getting started on my purse. A little wild for a purse for me - but hell - i could use it!

Got a minute

grab a can of spray paint and do like this
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1246174515665636969
my daughter sent me that link
most cool
makes you wanna just make something fast -
no editing yourself
just doing it.

"Personally, I think alligators have the right idea....

they eat their young."
now isn't that a great line for Mother's Day? no...
well it is one of my favorite lines from a great mother's day movie
Mildred Pierce
starring Joan Crawford (the title character - won her the academy award - self-sacrificing mother who would do anything for her selfish daughter - Vida) ,
Anne Blythe (as the aforementioned daughter - Vida - what a pip - on your worst day, no one deserves a daughter like her),
Eve Arden (plays Mildred's friend - she's got the best lines in the movie - the alligator one as well as this favorite of mine - she says to another male character who is eyeing her up and down, "leave something on so i don't catch cold") and
a whole host of other great actors.
Fortunately this wonderful movie was on earlier this afternoon and I was lucky enough to catch it. I try to watch it every time it's on. It is such a great movie - and it doesn't make you cry. There is a an absolute tear-jerker of a mother movie - if you want a real good cry - rent the movie Stella Dallas starring Barbara Stanwyck. A-mazing movie that at the very end will totally reduce you to tears. What a mother will do for her child. Ugh. i'm getting teary just thinking about it. Not the same realm as Mildred Pierce - as Mildred's daughter is endlessly selfish and Mildred means well but doesn't know when to say no. In Stella - the mother and daughter love each other very much and Stella makes a huge sacrifice for her daughter to ensure her daughters future happiness.
Okay one last movie about mother's Imitation of Life - the version with Lana Turner and Sandra Dee and Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner. Oh the tissues!!! The final scene - I dare you not to cry. It's not possible.
Ok - so i've got you set to rent some faboo old movies. Now how about some newish movies you might like to rent?
Last nite we watched Little Children with Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley. Got oscar nominations for the two of them. Interesting movie. I liked it but it was entirely different than what i'd expected. Rent it - and for those of you with kids - it is not for their viewing.
The Pursuit of Happyness we rented that week before last and while it is ultimately a happy ending - wow - it was a little rough - a little hard to watch if you ask me - very depressing. Great message and all but by the time the payoff at the end came I was happy to see it over. I guess I'd prefer something a little less real.
The Queen last weekend's rental and a definite great movie. Very interesting to see what was going on - or at least what the movie showed happening behind the scenes at the palace in the wake of Princess Diana's death. Get it.
So other than watching a movie today i was just a lazy mom. One child is not home for this mother's day and the other one is busy doing homework and that's fine with me. She's here and that makes me happy. I just had the other child home for a quick visit so that will have to suffice. My mother is coming over and we're going to enjoy some our dinner cooked by my husband who always tries his best to take over all my duties on mother's day - so i can have a day off. I think i'm going to help him out a little with dinner just so we eat tonite. He actually cooks quite well however getting it all to appear on the table at the same time - in my mind at least - takes years of practice. He can do it all, and quite fine but i don't mind helping him so he's not completely stressed out over it. He doesnt complain - it is his idea in fact to do it each year - and i think he actually enjoys doing it all. His own dear mother passed away a few years back and I think it makes him feel good to do it for me and my mom.
And then later - after my mom has gone home - we have a date to watch Survivor - tonite is the finale. I don't know if you watch but we do and this year has been extra good!
I'm rooting very hard for Yao Man - i just love him to bits! here's a link
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor14/survivors/yau_man.shtml
if you watched only one show of this years survivor you'd think - hey this is an old guy. he'll be going home in no time. I had no idea he is as young as he is - only 55. And is he wily. What a smart guy not to mention clever and athletic! well gotta go... talk to you soon

asbestos fingers and charming insanity

so sometimes you find you are just too busy to be bloggin.

that's sorta true lately round here
to be bloggin i find i have to:

1. be in the mood
2. have something i wanna talk about
3. have some time to deal with the method of bloggin (for the most part blogger is most cooperative but every once in a while....)
4. and its nice if i have some kind of photo or something to add

so in keeping with the above list

1. i'm sorta in the mood
2. have nothing really to talk about but we know that never stopped me
3. i just sent my son on back down south (he's working this summer as well as taking some classes) as well as having baked and cooked this morning (more on that in a minute) so i have some lovely free time
4. and i actually have a photo of something i made semi-recently to share

first of all the temperatures are quite annoying here yesterday and today - we're heading in to the 80's again today. i am not a fan of warm weather - at all. I like spring time. i feel i got rooked this year. winter, a few teaser spring days, and some evil hot days already... and now we're pressing right on into summertime temps. yuk. but that is the way it is so....

I decided I'd do the real cooking for our dinner this morning in an effort to keep things a little cooler round here come dinner time. One would think with all the windows we have in this house and its fairly open floor plan the circulation would be good - just open the windows and things would be comfortable - but not so. (when the summer really gets rollin i have to have the AC on prior to noon to have any hope the house will be cool )I think the high ceilings are to blame but i digress.

I cooked up a whole batch of meatballs (we'll have salad, pasta and garlic bread added to that - but no sauce - trust me - its good) and baked some of my chocolate chip brownies (here's the recipe: take a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough made from the tollhouse recipe on the nestles chip bag - dump it in a 9x13 pan, bake for around 25 minutes at 350 and voila - yummy brownies.) i finished all that by 10:30 am. My son's ride showed up and i entertained her while he packed his things in the car and they were off. I finished cleaning up in the kitchen, threw on some more laundry (isn't there always some of that?) and here i am.

I was in a swap recently with some dear friends - a charm swap. I've done a goodly variety of swapping in my day but never a charm swap. Well i must say that there were some pretty gorgeous creations - all very talented women, my fellow swappers. Here's a picture of mine. Note the paper plate - a lovely way to display your fine art pieces.

I used a die (of a slide mount) to cut out some shrink plastic that i had already inked with blue. then i separated the pieces and stamped on them using a lovely floral background stamp from Stampinup and a face stamp by renaissance art stamps. Then i put the pieces in the oven to bake and shrink. Well whenever i get these bright ideas i never quite realize until i am in the midst of it how insane it will really get. One would think that the pieces would fit back together but people i am here to tell you that shrink plastic is an imperfect art. And you can fit a rectangle into a square if you work it right. and have asbestos fingers.

i added some sugar dust all around and a flower bead at the top (and my version of a jump ring out of wire - not shown in pic above - cos no jump ring known to man - or any store in the greater leesburg area- will fit thru that damn bead.... i am wire impaired - we'll just leave it at that).

so you can see why i haven't blogged in a bit - my burned fingers and relative insanity after finishing those charms.
off to change a load of laundry - see you sooner than later