It is Lincoln's birthday today and not until I read my friend,
Debbie's post, did I realize it is actually his 200th birthday. I remember as an elementary student that we celebrated both Abe & George's birthday seperate instead of combining them into President's Day. There were lots of crafts involving beards, white wigs and cherry trees. Though I don't have any of those from my childhood I am a "saver" and while cleaning out a closet last week, I found this bust of Abe that my daughter painted. I took it out and was going to surprise her with it on my blog today, of course this weekend she was home for the wedding and was standing at the kitchen sink getting a drink when she looks into the LR and laughs and says "where did you find that!" Kind of killed the blog surprise but I guess I got to see her reaction in person. I love the painted on birthmark on his nose, such attention to detail J!
A note to mom's that still have young children, if you are saving projects write the year on them somewhere because at my age, you'll never remember. In the same box was an Abe that my son had created but sadly that one was broken. It was a real lightbulb painted black with a cardboard base, a black paper top hat, a painted on face and wooly beard. So since I am an equal opportunity mom, I present a candy dish he made me.
This one has been out and displayed for 20 years or so. I dug through the candy for a message for N & J...love you and thank you for all those childhood homemade gifts!
It was so much fun reading through those hearts, the text has really changed through the years. I found some that described me and my blog...
We have an ill family member so I probably won't be back to wish you a Happy Valentine's day until late in the weekend. So to my blog readers...Happy Valentine's Day! "Thank You" for taking the time to visit my blog, I "smile" when you leave me a comment. Coming to visit may not always be what you expect, but you do see the "real me" - what I'm up to, my family and my friends, the nature and wildlife I love. The "garden" blog has really become the garden of life blog this last year and I thank you for continuing to follow it.
You may have noticed the group blog, I participated in was disbanded and is longer on my profile. The "darling bakers" will still bake & cook on as individuals, but will post on their own blogs. When they/we have an event, I'll show the food and dishes with links to the blogs participating. We don't have one scheduled until St. Pat's.
To my all girl friends that were the former darlings, I hope you smile, I'll miss the group but understand we need the time to be true to our individual blogs :-) Happy Valentine's Day!
for those that asked, the birds yesterday were a female downy woodpecker, white breasted nuthatch, some type of sparrow, chickadee, junco, another nuthatch and a starling. I had just put out a fresh batch of the homemade "zick dough" and went back to the house and sat in the recliner to relax with the camera. The first shots were so bad, I had to wash the window and soon they were all back. I can't believe how fast that stuff disappears. It took me a while to find lard in the store, but once I did and discovered how easy it is to buy and shape for the log feeders, I'll never buy premade suet cakes again.
Jeff & I had a fun Valentine's getaway following the Mississippii River from Red Wing, MN to Winona, MN. We stayed in Wabasha, famous for the location of the Grumpy Old Men movie. If you are in the area in two weeks they are hosting a Grumpy Old Men festival with ice fishing on the river and a polar plunge. The guys are famous here...even on some of the fun benches around town.
Wabasha is also home to the National Eagle Center which we enjoyed visiting.
The center has four resident eagles who are unable to return to the wild so they are used for educational purposes. Meet Columbia...
and then Angel. The center has windows in their enclosure and the wall facing the river is almost all glass. Angel spent most of her time watching wild eagles fly by on the river and when they had her out meeting people she would screech every time an eagle flew by outside.
This is Harriet, the third bald eagle. 
They also have a resident golden eagle, named Donald. He is smaller than the bald eagles but still striking.
In the next post I'll share some of eagles we saw in the wild. I wanted to show you these first so you can spot the small white dots of their heads in the next photos (I need a bigger zoom, or tamer eagles) ;-)
