Back to the Here and Now

All righty then, let's get on with 2013,  shall we? I'm bursting at the seams with both photos and happenings to share....

Have a look at this bug will you? I feel like a real dumby because I can't for the life of me figure out what to call it--a cricket perhaps? Anyway, I was fooling around a bit in the gloomy weather, looking around the yard for things to photograph with the macro lens attached to my Nikon. Taking photographs of the red berrie clusters on our Nandina plants, what should I see but this!

That little business hanging from his body kept moving back and forth--very interesting. As you can see, I've not yet mastered the lens but it's fun to use it every now and again. Angela's yard got the treatment as well.

What a great neighbor she is too. Have you seen those commercials for Gazelle? I'd paid no attention until she told me that my old computer was commanding a whopping $106 from them and they would send the box and pay postage as well. The check came in yesterday's mail and although I insisted we split it, she gave me the full sum. How nice is that?

I don't do this often enough but it is a good idea nonetheless. I had to run out to Costco for a few things and while there I had them make 85, yes you read that right, 4x6 prints which set me back all of $11.00. What for you ask? Instead of seeing the image only on my computer it's really helpful to have a bunch of things, scatter them on a table and see what seems striking. Instead of buying a big canvas to sell without actually holding the image in my hand I need to commit to doing this every time I'm wanting something new. As I have a big show in just a couple of weeks, I need to get cracking on my order. Both Angela and Bruce picked their favorites from the lot. Actually, once I had the prints I quickly eliminated a good half of them for being junk.

They both chose a few of the same ones--me, I like them all for one reason or another, but Lord knows I don't need this many!

I bet Matt about fainted when I wrote about my huge tea buy a few weeks ago--440 bags to be exact. Which reminds me, I kept forgetting to pay Jonathan. Bad girl. Anyway, one of my gifts from Matt and Tom was this neat tea tin from London. There is always room for more tea in this house!

Apparently, Rosy Lee is a Cockney slang for a cup of tea. Closer to home I've been using my new mixer every chance I get.

I've made the pie crust, a banana cake, some pizza dough and now I've made some bread and rolls.

Starting with the white bread recipe that came with the mixer, I'll get more adventurous with time. Because I have only one loaf pan you see what I did with the rest of the dough! My large loaf looked pretty good after coming out of the oven except for a slight dip in the top. Practice, practice, practice.

Pretty soon I'll quit writing about the Matt gifts, but expect to see this again when it really gets going:

Yup, it's a little egg with seeds inside, which has just begun to hatch, if you will. It came fully an egg which I didn't have the nerve to break, but Matt did. Isn't it adorable. Plus, it's a daisy....

It's already the First Friday of the month which means it is FAVO night in about an hour. Last evening Bruce helped me hang the walls. On our way home we drove through downtown and I was delighted to see the star was still hanging as I'd not seen it this year.

Earlier today I returned to FAVO (good thing it is close by), to finish things off. Here's one side:

And, here's part of the other one:

The weather is gloomy and drizzly which probably means very few folks will come out. Who can blame them? Not I. Truthfully, I'd rather get into my favorite polka dot pajamas and cuddle up with Bruce on the couch to watch some of the many DVDs from Jonathan and Alissa. I've now got Mad Men and Homeland to watch. Plus, we've never even finished Friday Night Lights what with our DVD player problems. But, as we discussed yesterday I'll dress for success when I finish this and hope for the best.

Apparently this icky weather is meant to hang around all weekend which means I don't know what just yet. I hope wherever you live the sun shines both Saturday and Sunday! It's that time of the year again. What time Gail? Tabebuia tree blooming time, that's what! Before this afternoon I'd only seen a handful of trees just beginning to show their pretty little yellow blooms, however, maybe the pink trees bloom sooner?

Now, there's a little something pretty to leave you with...

p.s. no editing today as I'm meant to leave within a half hour! Yikes!