Happy Birthday Jason!

The two most important dates on my calendar are today, February 8th, and December 10th. Those are the birthdays of my wonderful grown up children, Jason and Kim!

This little bunny is on his way to Jason's house in Maryland and hopefully will be delivered today. I was just there this weekend for a visit and had planned to take this little guy. Unfortunately, he wasn't finished when I left last Friday. As soon as I returned home Sunday, I started sewing to finish him up and headed to the UPS store yesterday to send him on his way. I thought it appropriate since this is the year of the rabbit! My Nikon battery was not ready to take photos yesterday, so I took this snapshot with the Iphone. I took other gifts and baked a birthday cake for Jason over the weekend, and we enjoyed some birthday shopping while I was there. Let's hope this little bunny (he gets to name him) will arrive to help him celebrate again today!

P. S. I am happy to report that Little Bunny arrived on schedule in time to let Jason know how very special he and his birthday are to me! L. B. doesn't have a name yet but is well loved already!!!!

Change

When one seeks to change something that is very small to begin with, the changes are....well, small. Toward the end of last year, I began looking at my very small bears and thinking of how I might give them a new look. I carried one little "Daniel" to the Hunt Valley show and he was adopted very quickly - without my taking anything but a snapshop of him with his new Mom. Others saw him and are awaiting more of this new little guy.
So here's what I've done. This new little man has a smaller (not shorter) snout, smaller nose, shorter legs, and ears that are sort of pointed toward the back of his head. So far, I've kept the wired arms which are so handy for carrying flowers, candy, iPhones, etc.
I haven't abandoned the little face and body which I've been making, but as in all things, change is inevitable, and change is good.
Toward the end of a workday, he and I were admiring that "golden hour" that comes in the early evening, and he agreed to pose for a few "artsy" shots.

At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized -- at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do -- it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we're talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.

We are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame -- but rather, how well we have loved --


President Barack Obama

These words were from the speech President Obama gave last night at the Memorial in Arizona. You can see the entire text of the speech here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/obama-arizona-memorial-sp_n_808335.html

Icy Gifts

This last visit of Nature's winter gusto left delightful sparkles. We had no great mounds of snow this time, but glorious little gifts reflecting today marvelous sunshine - especially if you look closely!

The holly leaves look as though they are wearing delightful dangly earrings!

A New Recipe - Tomato Bisque Soup

Yesterday, I tried a new recipe and I thought I'd pass it along. One of my favorite things to have is Tomato Bisque Soup. I had never tried to make it but love having the restaurant kind. So, in the often used phrase of one of my favorite tv shows from the BBC (the show is Top Gear by the way - and I know nothing about cars - just love the presenters): "How hard can it be?" I searched online for recipes and then went shopping. I sort of made it up as I went along.

Here's what I used:
1 can of petite diced tomatoes (28 ounce can - I think it was Hunts)
1 can of vegetarian vegetable broth (14.5 ounce can)
2 TBS of tomato paste
1/2 medium onion finely diced
1 TBS sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste. I like a lot of black pepper!
A dash of Oregano
1/2 to 3/4 cup cream (you could use half and half or just milk if you'd rather)

Here's what I did:
Saute the onion in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil. Add the big can of diced tomatoes, the vegetable broth (you could use chicken broth as most of the recipes I read used it), the tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper, and oregano. Let this simmer for 15 minutes or so. Be sure to taste so that you can adjust the seasonings. Then add the cream and let it come to a boil again. It's just about ready to eat then. Lower the heat and simmer until you are ready to serve it. Serve with some crusty bread for dipping.
The recipes I read said to puree the tomatoes, but we liked the texture of the tomatoes and onions in soup. I can't tell you if the leftovers heat up well as there was none left! I think this could serve 4 people if your bowls are medium size, but if it's the main course it will serve 2 nicely.

And so as not to make this a dull post, here's a cute photo of Beaker in front of the Christmas tree shortly before he and Kim left to go back to Pittsburgh.

Mr. Big Eyes

More Snow, Birthday Fun, and the Further Adventures of Beaker and Rocky

Snow on Bare Branches

At the end of the snowfall, we had accumulated 14.2 inches - third highest amount in recorded history for the Hampton Roads area of Virginia!

As my birthday plans were changed by the record snowfall, Jason baked "Birthday Cookies" for me. Kim layered a couple and added a candle. I was seranaded by "Happy Birthday To You" and got to make the traditional Birthday Wish! 
And for all you Rocky and Beaker fans, I thought I'd pass on some of their antics during the package wrapping before Christmas:

Beaker makes the crucial fold in the wrapping while Rocky adds words of encouragement.

Not ones to miss a good opportunity for fun, the boys gathered the scraps of wrapping paper and made a mess!

And Miss Cleo, dignified in her Zen-like elegance, can't be bothered with the boy's mischief. She simply enjoys nature's bounty!









A White Birthday!

My Front Yard

Today is my 64th Birthday! and I woke up to what became the biggest snowfall I've seen here in southern Virginia. It was a great day which went a little different than planned, but Jason and Kim were both at home so that made it just the best birthday I could have hoped for. I don't think we quite expected all this snow, but by golly, it is beautiful.

My Street

Kitty Fun - Oh Christmas Tree!!

Rocky supervises the lights testing.





Last year Rocky and Cleo were still kittens so we opted to forego a Christmas tree with lights and ornaments. I did, however, decorate with trees. I placed real little trees of all kinds throughout the house. This year, Kim and Beaker are visiting and we've decided to give it a try.

Beaker checks to see if the tree is straight.

Please be assured that these kitties were well supervised through the decorating process and not one of them has attempted to climb the tree...yet.

Rocky admires their handywork.

Beaker adjusts a string of lights to even the coverage.



Pretty Miss Cleo just relaxes in her puffy bed while the boys do all the work.







Whose woods these are I think I know...

We are fortunate to have woods on our property and they looked quite magical with yesterday's snow.

The snowfall was quite unexpected. We thought we may see "flurries" but it just kept coming!

Nature is full of wonderful gifts!