......Cling, Watch, Walk, Wait

The snow crusted raspberry vines cling to the fence...

while we cling to the warmth of the house...inside.

From the windows we watched the birds...

feed at the feeders and come to the porch...

to sit awhile.

~

Cardinals and a Chickadee



While clinging to the house...

I threw together (literally) some

Cherry Somethings...

....and watched a Downy Woodpecker...

visit the feeder.....





I also....
while clinging to the house...
had a few special treats with Alivia...






I often watched my favorite bird...
this little round Carolina Wren.
He spends the night, in the blinds...
on the front porch.






Home from school, because of the snow...
Alivia and I played dot to dot...
when she visited...







and we watched while the little wren...
did his dance on the suet feeder.




up and down.....




.....round and round.





Alivia loves to cook with me.....
Here, she seriously works.....
with a plastic knife.







With a slight bit of help.....
she makes a beautiful...
cheese filled omelet.....





and eats it with a smile!






Then.....
it's back to bird watching the Cardinals.....
while we cling to the house!






Some birds seemingly.....
were starting to disapprove!

Finally though,
I did manage a few walks in the snow!

One was a 2 hour walk on the frozen creek bed...

I followed some unknown tracks in the snow...

At the top of a hill...

looking at the valley below...

I saw 7 deer

slowly making their way

from one hillside to another.

(If enlarged you can see 4 deer...

they are small...like my shadow in the previous post!)

I found several spots.....

where deer had slept the night before!

Sunday morning.....

after a good night's sleep....

(walking does that for you)

.....we woke at dawn.....

to find...

Twinkling Snow!

Everything was frosted overnight.....

Icicles were hanging on the eves....

The swing by Walnut tree in the field.....

looked distant and Cold...

like it was waiting for Spring.

Along with a snow covered nest...
there was a

Cardinal, a Goldfinch, and a Sparrow

sitting in the apple tree....

They seemed to be waiting too!

(enlarge to see)

The tall grasses in the field...

had billowy snow at their feet!

The Forsythia and Bamboo

had fluffy snow.....

on their branches and leaves.

(enlarge to see how fluffy)


As I circled the Bamboo...

it started to snow.

Going home...
I walked through

the tall grass of the field...
and startled a Cardinal...

seen by the left

edge of the grass.

The snow became heavier...

and I became colder...

although dressed in many layers...

It was 7 degrees!

I'm just trying to stay warm like these

Chickadees!

Today is someone's birthday!!!

It's my friend Eileen's Birthday
and it's.....NOT.....her 29th.
But I can safely say...
it's somewhat less than mine!

Her grandkids do adore her
Jayden and Mia are their names.
They both call her Umma...
she loves them both the same.

Eileen is quite interesting...
sincere, sweet.....and kind...
she simply loves embellishing...
with driftwood that she finds.

Lives near...New York City...
gave us a tour of Central Park!
Her great Blog is more than witty
and warming to our Hearts!

~

Happy Birthday Eileen!!!

~

"Umma's World"

.....Cold and Staying In!

Saturday evening....

a thick layer of clouds rolling in....

looked almost like snow-topped mountains.

The temperature was dropping fast...

it was cold enough...

to close the drapes at the windows...

and by Sunday morning...

it was a frigid 4 degrees.

~

But.....not cold enough...

to keep the male Downy Woodpecker

from the suet feeder...

or.....
keep the female Downy from peanut butter

on a bagel...

~


~


She really attacked that bagel!




~
The day wasn't cold enough...
to keep Alivia away either...
and she was wanting to make a pizza.

~




First she had to decide....
would it be cheddar cheese...
mozzarella cheese...
or havarti?




We went with a little of each....

After taste testing

the cheese for the pizza...

we thought we would try it

with all the chocolate in the house...

left over from Christmas!

We had Kirkland dark and milk chocolate...

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...

Snickers...

Truffettes Truffles...

Hershey Kisses...

DeMet's Turtles...

Ghirardelli Dark with Mint...

and

Homemade Almond Marshmallow Clusters

I went first and took a small bite of each...

...it wasn't too hard to do!

I lined them up

with all my favorites in the bottom row....

and my least in the top.

Alivia.....

then did the same...took small bites...

...it wasn't too hard for her to do either!

She then lined up

all her favorites in the bottom row...

and her least in the top.
We differed on some...agreed on others

My most favorite

was our homemade clusters.....

but the truffles came in second!

Alivia surprised me...
Her favorite was the Ghirardelli Mint...

in second place was the homemade clusters.

We did NOT.....eat the rest of that candy!


We did go and...

SIT down to play Monopoly though....

Last week...

we played the board game.....Guess Who!

Guess who SAT.

We did however go back to the kitchen.....

for coffee flavored Milk with whipped cream for Alivia...

and coffee for me!

Without the cherry on top!

I went to the computer and SAT with mine....

to look at your Blog....

while...
Alivia created a picture

for her older sister Amanda.
It's a heart with a flower...

a bird screaming...It's a cat!...

and the cat saying...mmm, tasty!

It's been so cold...

we've been doing indoor things.
I do miss taking long walks...

they have been rather short ones lately.

If you search you can see my shadow...
in the next photo.

It's the short one...near the bottom left corner.

If I keep taste testing, playing board games,

staying in, and sitting at the computer....

without taking my long walks...

that shadow will be much easier to find.

It's cold and snowing outside tonight...

which means

I need to start taking my long walks....

on this......

and stay away.....

from...

this!

Nuts!!!