Kitty computing

There's a cat that lives in my computer. I found her here this morning. Do you think she was bothered by my computing?


I kept wondering where all the white fur was coming from and NOW I KNOW!

Halloween treats

What's Halloween without a black cat?

and a "trick or treat" surprise?

This wonderful package of treats was received this morning and, boy, was I surprised!!!! Thanks so much to Susie of Susie's Space for sending this sweet-smelling bundle of goodies. As you can see, enclosed were the six hand-made turkey napkin rings (they are soooo cute) I won in Susie's giveaway. Also enclosed (a complete surprise) was a beautiful pair of decorated socks, a package of apple spice and cinnamon potpourri, a pumpkin votive candle, a package of fall napkins, and a fall hand towel, all wrapped in orange paper and tied with a beautiful fall ribbon. Won't my Thanksgiving holiday table look bright and cheery with all these goodies? I am overwhelmed by Susie's thoughtfulness and kindness. Thank you, dear friend.

As we get ready to celebrate this holiday next Wednesday, I hope all your little goblins and ghoulies are looking forward to having some sweet fun.

Praying on a Sunday

Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate, commonly with a sequence of words, with a deity or spirit for the purpose of worshiping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins, or to express one's thoughts and emotions. The words of the prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person's words.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer

This is what we saw this afternoon right outside our kitchen slider. This was the biggest one we have ever seen and we don't know if it is a female or a male. I wasn't going to ask either.

Do you think our friend came to pray for us or to prey on us?

Dawn's early light

Good morning, Sunday. The Earth says hello.

Blogging with kitty

Here I was late last night, wracking my brain searching for something interesting to blog about, when persistent Tiger Lily decided she would "help" me. It was a bit awkward because she kept pushing my keyboard and then my mouse so I couldn't move it properly. I picked her up several times and finally made her go some place else to sleep. And then Blogger started acting up and wouldn't let me post any pictures and I finally gave up!

It is now early Sunday morning -- when I should be in bed -- seeing if Blogger has fixed itself. It has and so I blog. I also tried to download a very cute kitty video that daughter-in-law had sent, but Blogger just wouldn't accept it. Blogger sure is getting picky lately.

Our area of the country has been under severe drought warnings all summer. We've had restrictions on outside burning and outside use of water. We are not having quite the extent of the problem that several states in the southeast are having but it's still pretty bad. Luckily we have received some rain in the past several weeks but are still about 11 inches shy of normal precipitation for the year. On Wednesday and Thursday we were under tornado warnings but the really bad winds skirted around us. Other areas were not so fortunate for which I am truly sorry. I did manage to get a few shots of the storm that came through on Wednesday afternoon.

Can you see the rainbow?
We could see both ends but it was too big to capture in one picture.

O say, can you see? Our flag was still standing after the storm.

I managed to send some of our rain over to Susan of Patchwork Reflections. I hope it helped. As we were driving around the past couple of days we noticed that the fall colors were finally showing up. It's been in the 70s and even the 80s lately and it's hard to believe that Halloween is almost here.

For all the mothers out there who are getting ready for Halloween, I offer this.

And, finally, here's for the rest of us revelers.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Smile and the world smiles with you

Thanks so much to dear friend Susan of Patchwork Reflections for this lovely award. Yes, most days I'm smiling, especially when the grandkids are around. Some days I'm grumpy (ask husband) but all it takes is reading a post from some of my bloggedy friends and I have found my smile again.

Now, if I could figure out how to put this thingy on my sidebar, I would really smile. Maybe some kind soul could help me.

I also present this award to my equally smiley friends

Alipurr of Kitten Yarn
Sandy of Abandoned in Pasadena
Heather of Nurseblogger
Kerri of Colors of the Garden
Sweetie of SweetieTime
Rosa of Living As Rosa
Susie of Susie's Space

I think I messed up already. I was supposed to add a little name game with the following letters:

Make someone smile today
Otherwise they might be sad
Take the sunshine from the sky
Help those you know feel glad
Every time you smile
Run and jump and play
Keep your heart happy
It's a brand-new day
This is my happy wish
To all my bloggedy friends
You make me happy, so smile like a fish

Fancy feet

The following picture and cutline appeared as part of the lead story (on the front page) of daughter and son-in-law's local paper today. Granddaughter was so proud and happy, she called us this evening to excitedly tell us she was on the front page of the paper.

“Dancer Girl,” 6, demonstrates a lunge during her father "J’s" modern fencing class for children ages 6-9. The class is held Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. as part of “L” Sword Arts training.

Our eldest granddaughter is so graceful and talented. In addition to weekly ballet and piano lessons, she is also learning the art of fencing from her instructor, her long-haired daddy, who just opened his own fencing studio. Dancer Girl and Little Sister are also being home-schooled by daughter Alipurr. And, boy, are those girls smart!

Daughter + 3 just spent a long weekend with us and we had a wonderful time doing all sorts of wonderful things, including playing footsie.

Alipurr + 3 (ages 6, 3, and 4 months)

Everybody loves mommy

Baby Boy enjoying his first taste of cantaloupe

We had a great time visiting with daughter and her three young'uns. The weather was just perfect and we were all pleasantly tired by the time we took them home. The picture with granddaughter fencing was taken by the newspaper that afternoon. She doesn't look tired, does she? Grandma and grandpa took it easy today!!!

Can't wait to see them again really, really soon.

Come out, come out, wherever you are

Haven't all bloggers done this? Lurk and skulk around the Internet and scores of blogs, always looking for something and some place interesting, perhaps even a little titillating? I know that I have done this perhaps every day since I started blogging. I'm guilty as charged.

Thanks to Moogie of Moogie's World for bringing this to our attention. That sound you hear is me breathing a sigh of relief because I don't have to feel quite so guilty anymore about visiting your sites and not leaving comments as frequently as I've should. In the future I promise to stop being such a lunkhead and actually comment on your wonderful posts. So, for all my fellow lurkers, come out, come out, wherever you are, and join the throng of fellow delurkers -- even for just today. Feel free to leave a comment, if you're so inclined.

On a sorrier note, what is happening to time? Yesterday was a perfectly beautiful day -- warm, sunny, with everything looking and feeling just like summer. My potted flowers on the back deck are still really beautiful and our tomato plants are putting out blossoms and setting fruit. Husband and I even broke a sweat as we were working outside. This morning I awoke around 5:30 a.m. and it was DARK AS WINTER outside. And, it was actually a bit chilly as I opened the slider to let in the kitties for their breakfast. I like the changing of the seasons and the colors of fall, but I don't like winter any more with the cold, snow, ice, sleet, and short days. Brr, makes me shiver just thinking about it.

Such a pretty scene, but who likes to shovel snow and actually have to get out and work/drive in bad weather? Maybe it's because I'm getting too old to have to put up with winter. My bones like it to be really warm outside. No wonder birds and some animals migrate south. Their bones must like it warm outside also.

With all the beautiful weather we've been having, the signs are everywhere that the end of the year is fast approaching. First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Year's. Yikes, are you ready for all that?

I was watching The Lake House with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves the other day and in this fantasy film there was a period of time when Sandra Bullock was in the year 2008 while Keanu Reeves was in the year 2006. I thought that was a bit odd but then I thought about how we are going to have to start writing 2008 on all our checks, documents, and correspondence in just a few months. When I was a kid I used to fantasize about what I would be doing in a particular year. I would dream about 1980 or the year 2000 and wonder about what great things I would have accomplished or how rich I would become. Snort!!! Now that it's almost 2008, I'm still wondering what my situation will be in, say, 2025 or 2050. Will I even be alive to see if we make it to Mars and beyond?

Time -- it's like quicksilver. It's elusive, it never stands still, and tomorrow gets here faster and faster as we get older and older.

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
Till Eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

-- Jim Croce, Time in a Bottle