Family Fun...

Today, was a GREAT day as we celebrated Thanksgiving with my extended family. I got to meet my new little great-niece Keena for the first time and she is such a cuddly sweetheart!It was also Alexis' 5th birthday so she was appropriately wearing a crown as a beautiful Birthday Princess.
It has been a tradition for many years that we spend the afternoon crafting while enjoying lots of good conversation and laughter. This year we made small rag wreaths, wire pumpkins, snow filled glass ornaments with glittery snowflake rub-ons and felt snowman ornaments.
A group shot of our accomplishments. Shortly, after this shot was snapped little Madeline in the front put her wreath on her head as a crown.
It was such a cute moment that some more beautiful girls tried them out as crowns and as we tried to take a group shot - little Madeline had lots of fun poses.

Her spontaneity was contagious!
I really do have fun when my family gets together :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mosaic Monday...fog, food and FRIENDS!

As I was driving home late this afternoon this scene of fog over a rural lake was so pretty I had to turn around and attempt a few shots :)
I went for my annual Christmas shopping weekend with my daughter, Jayme, and as always we had so much fun! On Saturday, we were lucky enough to meet up with my friend and fellow blogger, Barb and her friend Sue after we had shopped for 8 hours and were "almost" ready to drop. The cure for that "tired of shopping" feeling was meeting up with two of Jayme's friends, Jamie (aka Nez), and Melissa for a fun night out :)
There's nothing like good food and a lot of LAUGHS to show our friends from Iowa a little "love from Minnesota" :)

Please head over to our wonderful hostess, Mary, Little Red House to see all the other Monday Mosaics. This week, Mary is showing the neatest calendar mosaic that you know I'll be copying soon :)

Flashback Friday with Emily...

Since I've neglected blogging this past week, allow me to go back to last Sunday when I drove up to Barnesville to watch my niece perform in the annual High School musical. This year, Emily was Brigitta one of the von Trapp daughters in "The Sound of Music". As always, I enjoyed myself immensely - Emily and her friends do such a wonderful job and I am very proud of all of her talents!
I'm taking this post of Emily's talents into Flashback mode and joining Suzy, at Kitchen Bouquet for Flashback Friday. You can see the others participating by clicking HERE.

Emily in November 2008 performing in "Back to the Eighties".

Emily in 2007 performing in "Grease".

Emily in 2006 performing in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".

Yesterday, a salesman came to the door selling aerial prints of our farmyard taken in early September. We usually get one or two salesmen a summer who work for various companies that fly over the area and take photos of our farm and yard and then come door to door selling them for $100+. We've boughten a few over the years to show all the additional buildings and work that we have done to make our yard our home but how many photos of your farmsite does one person need? Yesterday, the guy came and brought a 16 x 20 aerial photo of the house area only showing the gardens in really great detail. It was a gorgeous photo especially to once again see the gardens in full color when my views have been of bare ground for over a month now. Instead of spending $139 on a photo I have no need or want of - I went back to the September photo files and looked at the color through my own lens :)
I hoped you enjoyed this flashback of Emily and the September garden.

Saturday...

Tonight we were blessed with another beautiful sunset...
and this afternoon a couple of goldies...

and a downy woodpecker came to the feeders.

Friday's feathered friends...

Sorry for the lack of posting this week, we finally are having beautiful autumn weather and I have been doing lots of outside chores. The garden and planters are taking on their winter look.This morning I am taking a few extra minutes with my coffee and camera and enjoying the birds coming to the feeder right outside my window...grab a cup and enjoy them with me. A goldfinch...
and a late season robin...
a white-breasted nuthatch...
and oh my gosh is that what I think it is?
I think this little guy is another late migrator...the ruby-crowned kinglet though he didn't stand still long enough for a better photo or id.
He wanted a drink but I have the fountain turned up so that the water doesn't freeze as fast and he was too afraid to go down to the water. He stared at it a few minutes and off he flew. I hope you enjoyed my feathered friends from this cloudy Friday morning.

mosaic Monday...

a soybean field and two dogs zeroed in on the scent of pheasants.
All those soybeans are making me think of chocolate covered soynuts...can you tell my mind is on the upcoming holidays?I hope you can all join me over at my kitchen blog on December 16th to celebrate National Chocolate Covered Anything Day. Details are HERE.


Head over to Mary's Little Red House to view all the other Mosaic Monday's this week HERE. Thank you Mary for being such a wonderful hostess!

November sunset...

The dogs and I were out with the camera last night playing around waiting for J to get home right before sunset. Look, there is J coming down the road...if I zoom out you can see the beautiful cloud formations...

and zooming in brings out all the beautiful colors.
Soon I heard the honking of geese in the distance and here they come...
as they flew NW over the sunset...
as they continued NW I decided they weren't exactly the most intelligent geese, they should be flying south and they haven't quite mastered the V-formation it was more like a giant checkmark.
It was a beautiful day yesterday...
with temps in the 60's and watching the sunset was a perfect end to the day.
I so enjoy the rural sunsets of autumn with the sounds & smells of the season surrounding me.

enjoyment...part two

Since my enjoyment post yesterday of watching the end of the season bird bathing was popular, I give you part two...a little goldie (sorry this one is so picture heavy but they are so interesting to watch in all their poses).


I am so glad I planted the service berry tree behind the rock last fall as most of the smaller birds land there immediately after their bath to preen. The first thing they do is brush their beak back and forth on a branch...
and then start preening feathers...

something always needs a good scratch...
and you have to make sure your privates are clean.
Don't forget your legs...
or the rest of these feathers.


All preened and fluffed and looking mighty handsome...
but then he goes back for more!
The splashing begins...


and ends...
and he flies up to a more photogenic branch for the beak brushing.
It looks like there was just one area that needed a little extra cleaning this time...

I hope you enjoyed :)