Friday Randoms - April 29, 2016

Joining today for the Following Memes: Fun Friday Favorites, Friday's Hunt, Random Five Friday & Willy-Nilly Friday Five.

RANDOM FIVE FRIDAY:  and FUN FRIDAY FAVORITES

1. I received a surprise package in the mail this week from a good friend of mine.  Inside was a card that I just had to share:

On the inside of the card it said:  Just a little card to "crack" you up. - How funny is that!

2.  Along with the card was this T-Shirt that she saw on sale and she just had to send it to me:

It's Bat Cat!  - I just love it.  It's a bit large but I don't care because it's just to cute not to wear.

3.  Does that cat remind you of someone?  - If you've visited the blog you are familiar with our cats,  Check out this one...

Now I want to find him a little Bat Cat costume!

4. I enjoy feeding the birds & squirrels (yes I actually feed the squirrels) and even have some of them named.

This is, "Notch" which apparently is a common name for squirrels with missing ears.  He visits regularly along with one who is blind in one eye.

5.  The weirdest thing happened yesterday.  I was sitting on my mom's front porch with her & Coleen when a car drove by slowly and a man waved at me.  I waved back but didn't really know the guy.  Pretty soon he drives back around and slows down in front of the house and yells out his window,  "Did you know you look just like Peggy so-and-so?"  I said, "No I didn't, but I'm not her."  -  Then he says,  "Well you should know she has a Federal Warrant out for her Arrest so you might want to be careful."  Then he drove off.   Geez!!!

I wonder if he planned to turn me in!



WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE:

1.  My 52 Frames shot for the week when the prompt was Food.  I wanted to do something different and decided to go with a Fairy Tale (Guess Which One).

2.  Pepper was enjoying a game of "Grab that Tail" yesterday.  That's Harley on the table and Pepper just eye-balling his tail.  He didn't really enjoy the game as much as she did!

3.  Took a drive about a week ago up Scenic Loop and here is the farm land from the view on top.

 

 

4. Thought I would share a photo of my White Bleeding Heart plant.  Most of the time you see the Pink/White variety so I thought it would be nice to see the other one. 

 

5.  Since last Friday I mentioned that Coleen was heading to the State Youth Bowling Tournament I thought I would share how she did today.

These are all the ribbons she won. - She bowled Team Event with scores of,
88-120-119.  Then she bowled Doubles with scores of, 125-165-95  (that's her highest game ever in red) and finally the Singles with scores of, 110-86-136.  She did extremely well and we were so proud of her.  She had a blast!  Wish we could have been there to watch her bowl.


FRIDAYS HUNT - Starts With R (My mom's yellow Rose blooming) It's one of my favorites.

 

 Texture:  I like the texture of the fuzzy poppy bloom.  As you can see it's been raining a lot this week.

 

Weeks Favorite:

 

 

 

Not necessarily my favorite photo I've taken this week but it is one of my favorite yard decorations.

 



Good Fences #110 - Every Bird Needs A Home

Welcome! - It's time to join Theresa (The Run-a-Round Ranch Report) for GOOD FENCES

One day while Coleen and I were out walking she happened to notice a fence find that I hadn't seen before.  I took a few pictures that day but didn't really like how they turned out (it was an overcast and dreary day) so I decided to walk back another day & take better pictures.

I just want to give Coleen credit for being my extra set of "eyes" because she often spots things that I might pass by and would miss out on being able to share them.

Here is her fence find:

The fence is pretty ordinary and a bit run down but the decor on it is the fun part.  Notice that window in the background...

It's a Window Box Planter.  I should go back and see if they have anything planted in it now.

The birdhouse roofs are old license plates.

The purple color here is fun.

I like the twisted wire on this one.

The Red stands out.  If you enlarge you can see the spiderwebs and the moss on the fence much better. 

Just a view going the opposite direction from the first shot.

I thought it was a fun way to dress up a plain fence and to give the little birds a nice place to make a nest. - I hope you've enjoyed seeing these Birdhouses on a Fence.

Don't forget to stop in at Theresa's blog and check out all the other Good Fences.
Have a great day.

Seasons - Blooms & Ducklings

It's been a super busy week (not much time for blogging) but I wanted to join Jesh (St Germain's) for SEASONS






Spring blooms abound around here right now.

I bought this lilac bush for my mom several years ago.  It's called a Bloomerang or maybe Boomerang Lilac.  It's a compact bush with small flowers that bloom twic a year.  This spring it's had an abundance of blooms.  I've only shown one stem here but the entire bush was loaded with those pretty pink blooms.

Sadly her French Lilac did not fair the winter very well and had very few blooms this year.

My Azalea's have been wonderful.  I love this White/Yellow one.  It's just so cheery and pretty.

I also love Snowball bushes, though I don't actually have any of my own.  This is from a nearby neighbors bush.

We've also had Ducklings visit this month.

This is mama duck and her 4 ducklings.  The lady across the street said she started out with 11 babies but by this day was down to only 4 left.

I took some pictures and really liked this one:

Sadly today mama duck was down to just 1 baby duckling.  To many outside cats in the neighborhood.

That's a small look at the season of spring from my part of the world.  Do stop by and check out the other Season entries.

Christian Movie Review

I was recently contacted by a member of Fishflix and asked if I would be willing to review a Christian Movie and offer an honest review of it on my blog.  I was very happy to do so.

The movie that was sent to me was:
My Son, My Savior

I would say that this movie was put together very well and was easy to follow.  It told the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus and how it must have felt for her to learn that she would become the mother of the promised messiah.

It started out with Mary as a young girl learning about the history of the Passover and wondering when the messiah would come.

The story continued as Mary grew up and found that she was pregnant even though she was a virgin.

Since the movie was only 55 minutes long it covered a lot of ground in a very short time frame.

As the movie progressed through Jesus birth and the start of his ministry you are given insight into how Mary felt as she watched her son grow and become a teacher of the gospel.  Eventually she must be witness to his crucifixion as well.  It was interesting to have an idea of how Mary must have felt during her son's liftetime and the events that lead to his crucifixion and resurrection.

While I thought the movie was accurate biblically I also felt that at times it seemed a bit "rushed" to fit everything into the time frame of the movie.  I felt it could have extended a few of the scenes and even added a few more to explain more about Jesus ministry.  I did enjoy that many familar scriptures were quoted throughout the movie in such a way that you felt as if you were right there listening to the words yourself.

One thing that I felt was a "positive" of the movie is that if you were watching as a family it was easy to follow and understand so that your children wouldn't be confused as to what was happening.

Over all I thought it was a good movie.

Friday Randoms - April 22, 2016

 Joining Nancy (A Rural Journal) today for RANDOM FIVE FRIDAY

1.  Bought a bunch more flowers to plant this week.  Still haven't planted them as it "rained" today.  Here is one of them.

2.  I've had a craving lately (no I am so NOT pregnant) for.....

 

3.  Took a walk this morning (before the rain started) to take some Macro photos.  Walked down this alley and heard a lot of buzzing noise.  I realize that the tree I was standing under was loaded with blooms and bees!

 



 You can only see 1 bee in this shot but believe me there were so many that I actually thought there was a swarm somewhere, they were that noisy.

4.  Speaking of flowers....My Azalea had 3 blooms that decided to wait until the proper season to bloom this year.  For the last couple of years it's bloomed in October instead of April.  These buds survived the winter and I've been enjoying them at the proper time of the year.

 

5.  I posted late today because I wanted to get a picture of Coleen before she left for her big weekend.  She is heading up to Tacoma, WA to bowl in the Youth State Tournament!  She received the jacket she is wearing for having the highest series for girls in her division on the league she bowls on here in town.

 

 



 It's going to be a big and tiring weekend for her.  Team event on Saturday and Doubles/Singles Sunday morning then a 5 hour ride back home.  We are so proud of her though.

WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE:  Also joining Tanya (Around Roanoke) with a collage of some mailboxes from around the world.  A friend of mine sends me stuff like this all the time so I thought I would share them with you.

Good Fences #109 - Snowball Decor

Good Day! - It is a good day.  Let's rejoice and be Glad in it.

Let's also join Tex (Theresa) for GOOD FENCES  It's always a pleasure to visit this meme and check out the other fence finds from around the world.

I was driving around the other day and spotted one of my favorite spring flowering bushes and decided to stop and get a picture of it.  That's when I happened to notice the neat little gate the people had in their yard.

Here you can see the gate and some of the fencing leading into their yard.  You'll also notice the huge Snowball Bush in the back ground.

A little closer look at the cute little metal flower on the gate.

Some of the snowball blooms hanging over the fence.

These bushes get really tall and very full.  The color of the blooms starts out as a pale green and eventually turns white.  Then they look like big "Snowballs" hanging on the bush.

They are so pretty and don't you like the lichen growing on the top of the fence posts.

What a lovely find this was.  I hope you enjoyed it too.

Don't forget to stop by (The Run-a-round Ranch Report) to check out the other Good Fences. 

Have a great day!

Tec Cup Mug Exchange Reveal

Today is the day when we reveal our partners from the 8th annual Tea Cup/Mug Exchange hosted by Stephanie for The Enchanting Rose blog.

First I want to say that this is such a fun event and how awesome Stephanie is for hosting and putting this altogether.  Thank you so much Stephanie for all your hard work in making this event a wonderful experience.

I had such a good time picking out items to send to my partner: Marilyn Moseley
She blogs at: http://www.mountaintopspice.blogspot.com/

She is a wonderful woman that I am enjoying getting to know.  We've exchanged e-mails with each other and found out that we live fairly close to so maybe one day we'll be able to meet in person.  Do stop by her blog and check it out.

The partner who had my name is: Pat Rutledge.  She blogs at:

http://www.gypsyheartandsoul.com/  - She's also a wonderful lady that I am enjoying getting to know more about.

This is what she sent me in the exchange:

A really nice Polka Dot Mug (the dots are a Navy blue color), Some yummy Brookside Candy.  I had been wanting to try those after seeing the advertisement on television so I was delighted when I discovered she had sent some in my package.  I like them a lot.
She also sent some wonderful French Vanilla Coffee and Earl Grey Tea (one of my favorite flavors.)  Along with that she sent a pretty gold candle holder.  I love to burn candles so that was a perfect little gift.  And look at those lovely dish towels.  Both in shade of teal which I love. -  Thank you so much Pat for all the wonderful goodies and for being a very nice person to get to know. 

If you have never participated in this exchange you don't know what you are missing.  Be sure to check out all these ladies blogs and have a wonderful day.

Friday Randoms - April 15, 2016

Happy Friday!  - First I want to thank everyone for their,
Concern and Get Well Wishes over the "eye issue" that I had earlier this week.  I'm happy to say that my vision is almost totally back to normal!

Now Let's join Nancy (A Rural Journal) and Tanya (Around Roanoke) and Cath (Cath @ Home) for some Friday Randoms.

 

RANDOM FIVE FRIDAY:

 

1.  We had a hail storm yesterday! - The morning started out pretty decent but by afternoon it had clouded up.  As I was sitting at the computer I heard a noise outside and looked out the window to see that hail was coming down.  I grabbed up the camera and snapped a picture of the hail on the lawn.

2.  I'm participating in 52 Frames and last week the theme was the "Golden Hour" - This is the photo I submitted.  I just loved the lines, colors and textures in this shot of a farmers field.  This week we are doing "Food" as the theme.  I haven't yet figured out what I'm going to do for the challenge but I have an idea.

3. Coleen and I went out for a walk last night (the rain had stopped) and we took my mom's dog Pixie with us.  Can you find her?  No....well you'll have to wait until further down to find her.  These people seriously need to mow!

4.  On the walk I was looking at different trees and happened to see this limb on one of the trees and thought that the peeling bard and bumps on the top of the branch were really interesting.  I hope you do as well.

5.  One more photo from our trip last week to McNary Dam.  These are scale models of Salmon.  They are huge when you see them up close.  We hope to go back in August when the Salmon should be returning up stream to spawn so we can actually see them in the viewing room.

WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE:

1. Spotted this cute little scene on our walk last night.

2.  This was my (2nd choice) for the Golden Hour but I went with the one of the field.  I still like the sunset here and how it is bathing the valley in golden light.

3.  Where's Pixie?

Here she is!

4. We almost had another cat last night (We don't need anymore cats!!!)

This sweet little thing came out from some one's yard while we were on our walk and wouldn't stop following us.  I ended up taking it back to the yard that it came out of, I tried knocking on their door but no one was home.  The cat started to follow me again but finally gave up and moseyed back the other direction.  Whew!

5.  Redbud blooms.  The trees here in town are spectacular this spring.

FUN FRIDAY FAVORITES:

Since this post is already so long I'm not going to include 5 more photos but I will share just one more Dogwood Photo with you as I simply love how this one turned out.

I told you the trees here were spectacular and I wasn't kidding.

These are all great meme's.  I hope you'll check them out.  Have a great weekend.