Guess Who Was Here

Guess who was here one day this weekend!

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Golden locks Alivia...that's who!

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First she dressed one of her three bears...in some

.

grandchildren's old baby clothes...that I keep

.

in a picnic basket, for her to play with.

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She loves to cook with me...so I try to always

.

have something simple for her to make...

.

This time it would be chocolate brownies!

It will be chocolate frosted brownies...
.
with cherries on top...her choice...
.
because she's the cook!




She does everything...
.
gets the small table out...
.
sets it with glasses, napkins and our stools...




then she becomes the waitress... .
serving me brownies and pink lemonade...
.
and guess who gets 3 extra cherries!




After working so hard...
she needs to rest in the hammock awhile...




As we were leaving the hammock...something
caught my eye I hadn't noticed before...





this hole shaped like a perfect little heart.




In the same area we found two pretty
.
red toadstools...


~ALL PHOTOS ENLARGE~


and then a family of three!




That's all it took to spark her interest to search

for more...so off we went into the woods

back behind the house...

She led the way and I followed.




We almost immediately found a turtle...

Then it was off again...following a deer path...

to discover more...

We came to a more open area of old

fallen trees...rotting on the ground.

Alivia had brought along a garden trowel...

for searching in the leaf litter for...

.

"bugs, worms, creatures"

.

doing this all while holding her stuffed poodle...

and then, by this large tree...

she discovered a tiny toad!

Some large trees caught my interest...

.

This dark healthy Maple tree contrasted with...

.

this dead brown tree it had for company...

This even larger Maple tree looked like two...

it stood at the edge of the hillside...

with a creek just below...but, this is not

the creek over by the field...this is the one

Andrew and Dylan cross over when they

come to gramma's through the woods.

When Alivia realized we were just above

the creek...she wanted to go down...and

was a little disappointed when I said...

we had to go home and couldn't go down!

But her disappointment didn't last long...
after spying this hollow tree
her imagination kicked in again...

.
It made her think of witches...especially

a life size Halloween witch I have in the attic...

where she is trying to talk me into going

when we get home.

Alivia spoke of witches and bad kings...and
how the witch in my attic made it safe there
for humans...and how she

would make sure the bag king stayed
in the basement when we get home.

So she's off...

and running...

and leaving me behind!

~

This is a short poem for the "Village" & Marcy!

.

Guess who was here with me today...
wanting to come to gramma's to play.
I know she loves me.....so I can say...
No! to some things and call it a day!

~

and...

this is just the very end of Alivia telling me

she would keep the bad king in the basement...

while we go to the attic!

Finding and Gathering

July left us with the blooming of these flowers...

known as Surprise or Naked Lady Lilies.

They look like gracefull ballerinas to me...

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~

~

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as does this...do you recognize what it is?

I found it on....

a tomato.

"Tomatoes"...
.
I'll be lucky to get any this year....the squirrels
.
have decided they like tomatoes...green ones...
.
I found them...
~



taking turns going up and down to a...




favorite spot to eat ones they gathered..




which is why we even had to move the planters,
.
from the porch...and erect a small
.
electric fence in order to have a few...




...for fried green tomatoes or a
salad with our meal.




So far...
the zucchini and peppers don't appeal to them...

which leaves us able to have fresh cole slaw...

or zucchini bread for dessert.

Sometimes I bring in more than I mean to

with the things I gather from the garden...

but it's better to find tiny grasshoppers

.

and deal with them...

.

than it is to find

.

giant stag beetles lurking by the back door...

although granddaughter Alivia would

probably try her best...

to capture one with her little green tweezers...

.

then put it in her treasure chest...

and run to show what she has just gathered!

.

It happens all the time!

She likes to gather bugs like I like to gather

berries to make cobblers or crisps.

It had been a very nice day in the field...

.

with clouds gathering in the sky...

the last time I gathered blackberries...

and

found

more

than

just

blackberries

gathered
on

the

...vine...


~enlarge for full affect~

I was reaching for that berry when it moved...

and slithered on it's way...and

~

No! I did not spill the berries!

~

It's an Eastern Ribbon Snake...notice

it's "keeled" scales...they look very pebbly.

So, in my field you can find...

a snake as well as fawn...

Guess what has their attention...

~

Their mom has just returned from the woods...

to find them...

and you can often find them all...gathered...

and resting in the field.

See how many 4 leaf clovers you can

find and gather in my field.

~enlarges~

"DON'T PEEK YET"

~

~

~

I gathered eleven!