Outdoor Wednesday...it's cold out there!

It's Wednesday so of course I'm headed outdoors to share the fun with Susan, A Southern Daydreamer. Click HERE to see the many other bloggers participating.

It is only 1 degree F outside this morning but I bundled up and filled the feeders. I use a different feeder for the peanuts each day just to see how long it takes the jays to find them and by the time I was back inside and got my boots off, the bluejays already had the snow flying as they swooped in for their daily treat.






The 16 oz plastic cup of peanuts was completely gone in less than 5 minutes but they moved onto the sleigh feeder just in time to for me to catch it in early morning lighting.






Have a wonderful Wednesday and if you haven't already, pop in over at my Kitchen to post some chocolate goodness...after all today is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day!

Mosaic Monday...family fun!

I had a wonderful weekend traveling up north with Nathan and Tammy, to spend some family holiday FUN time with Jayme and Scott. We took so many photos that mosaics are a perfect way to share them so even though I am a late entry I am joining Mary at the Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. Please click HERE to see Mary's Merry Christmas mosaic and the 90 others participating.

We have been going to the Bentleyville Tour of Lights for many years at it's original location in the country but this year it was moved to Duluth's Bayfront Park. With more space it has expanded even more in size and is a wonderful place to view beautiful scenes of lights, enjoy visits with Santa, Frosty and some famous reindeer while strolling paths of wonder. There are marshmallows for roasting and cocoa and cider for warmth and cookies and popcorn to eat if you can stand taking your mittens off long enough to eat one :)
We also toured several private homes that go above and beyond anything I have ever seen locally. A lady on Park Point has her backyard and walk to the beach of Lake Superior open with paths lined with ice lanterns for a wonderful stroll through a winter wonderland. The Sawyer house in the upper left corner was synchronized to music that you tuned in on your car radio through an FM station. You need to click HERE to visit Jayme's blog as she took a short video of one of the songs on her camera. It was pretty awesome...even if I am heard talking at the beginning of it...sorry, Jayme I didn't see you were videoing :)

On Sunday, Jayme & Tammy and I got into the Christmas mood by making treats for all the upcoming get-togethers as well as National Chocolate Covered Anything Day. We spent MANY hours baking, melting and dipping away and...
in the evening Scott & Nathan joined us as we took a break for more fun watching the Sawyer Brown Christmas Show.

You are all invited to come and join in the chocolate fun starting tomorrow evening at my kitchen blog, Marsha's Kitchen, where you can see what the girls and I were up to :)

Friday's Feathered Friends and...

one fuzzy foe!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week but I have been busy doing a home improvement project and getting ready for the holidays. It has been so cold out that I really have to bundle up to fill the feeders and I can't believe how fast they empty. We have an unusual amount of house sparrows and squirrels this year and they can eat an ice cream pail of seeds a day - when a squirrel is close enough for me to see my house reflecting in his eye then he needs to head back to the grove.

Mosaic Monday...Como Park Conservatory

I'm really beginning to love Monday's so I can join the mosaic party hosted by Mary at the Little Red House. Click HERE to see Mary's Vintage White Christmas and many more wonderful mosaics contributed by a talented group of bloggers.

On Saturday, I had a wonderful sister day with Renae and we visited the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul, MN. Como Park is a large park complex with beautifully landscaped grounds, a small zoo and the conservatory. Admission is free but they have signs asking for a $2 adult or a $1 child donation. I hadn't visited since my kids were young and we went to the zoo but it was so nice this weekend that I'll definitely be back next summer to enjoy the outside gardens and zoo. I'll have to pull out my giraffe purse again to blend in :)We left the cold December outdoors and stepped into the tropics. Immediately we had to take off our coats and wait for the camera lens to unfog. Our first stop was the sunken garden for the holiday flower show. They change the display in this area several times a year and this was the first day of the holiday flower show after they had replanted from the autumn display.
There were many different varieties of poinsettias, hibiscus and begonias in all sizes and colors.
From there we went into the huge domed area where the trees are so tall they are about to touch the roof! We were in the tropics for the 3 remaining display areas and all the tropical fruits, flowers and orchids were stunning and gorgeous.



We saw this sign in the "spice" room, it looks like chocolate was loved for a long time :) I took this photo to remind you all...
to join me for the holiday party next week.
I will try to have Mr. Linky up on my kitchen blog the evening of Tuesday, Dec 15th and I hope everyone comes and joins in. I can't wait to see all the wonderful chocolate covered creations.

Sunday steeples...

I love a beautiful church and especially steeples. When you consider the age of some of these churches and the tools the workers had available they are masterpieces of art whether ornate or simple! In our area, the newer buildings built in the last 10 years or so are foregoing the beautiful steeples...probably a cost thing, but I miss them! Looking through my photo files it seems like I take a lot of steeple photos and never really do anything with them so I have decided to start Sunday Steeples as time permits. Winter in the garden here in MN is pretty boring and how many bird photos can I show? A lot actually :) but I'll try not to bore you with them every day! While I cannot remember where I took all of my steeple photos this week's is Saint Stanislaus Catholic Church in Winona, MN. I shot it last February on our eagle watch road trip.Today's birds outside my dirty window :)

Feathered Friends Friday...

Yeah, I know the sunrise isn't showing any feathered friends but it was such a gorgeous pink sky this morning!

The bluejays continue to find the peanuts and I hide them in a different area each day. They have to be watching me when I come outside to put them out because they usually are at the feeder I choose by the time I am back inside!

Isn't it cool that all the tail feathers are tipped in white except for the middle two?
A little chickadee...
and a junco trying to find water on a frozen pond.

It is COLD outside - I was going to wash the window looking out over the feeder and my window cleaner froze on the glass before I could wipe it off. Made for quite a smeary mess so hopefully the sun comes out to warm up the glass and I can get that done later. All my winter shots are usually taken through the window so I need them cleaned :)

Deck the Halls Tuesday...

Today, I am excited to join in the first of many holiday parties with Susan, from Thoughts from Over the Rainbow. Click HERE to see Susan's beautiful decor and all the other's participating and since I haven't started indoor decorating yet - I am hoping to catch many more wonderful decorating ideas :) At this time, Mr. Linky is being Stinky and stubborn but you can catch all the blog addresses in her comments section.

We just finished celebrating extended family Thanksgiving parties on Sunday eve so I have not had much of a start on my indoor holiday decorating so today I am showing you some of my garden holiday decor. It is very unusual for us to not have snow but it does not bother me :) The candy cane lane is leading to the icicle covered cabin and Mr. Moose is checking out the pond.
I took many more shots of the outdoor lights but they all turned out blurry - I'll have to post them another time. Mother Nature had a fantastic holiday light show this morning!
We live in the country with rural electric poles so we decorate 3 of them along our property with street lights. Though they are not lit this morning - the sunrise highlighted them beautifully.
Rudolph is standing guard in front of the barn...
and the sunrise makes the backyard bird feeder pole into a beautiful silhouette.
December's garden flag reminds me that next Tuesday I should show my nativity sets.
A little Santa welcoming all the birdies to the garden.
Remember those white wire lighted sleighs and reindeers that are everwhere at this time of year? I had two reindeer and a sleigh and every year it was a huge struggle trying to get all the lightbulbs to work. Last year we didn't even take them out of storage and this year I gave them a makeover with NO lights to fight. The smaller reindeer got a rusty color paint job and a grapevine and moss makeover and is posed ready to take a drink from the pond. Mr. Moose might be losing his lights next year as currently we can't get his back legs lighted thanks to a certain male dog doing his business on the poor guy's legs!
All the pieces got the faux rust paint job but I ran out of grapevine so the bigger of the reindeer is looking a little bare this season. Next summer, I am going to cover him with chicken wire and make him into a topiary.
The sleigh was made into a bird feeder by adding a seat made out of window screen.
As soon as I set out the bird candy, I mean peanuts in the shell, bluejays were everywhere. There is one that always takes away two at a time...little piggie :)
I just purchased this wooden snowman a few weeks ago and made him into a bird feeder as well. His hat is filled with ear corn and peanuts and his hat brim is filled with shelled sunflower kernels. You will be sick of seeing him by spring :)
As I said I haven't really started the indoor decorating but I did switch out the autumn greens in my lighted planter in the dining room for a winter look.
This is how it looks when lit...
I just love these very unusual faux spider mums. They are glittery and fluffy and just too cool!

Hopefully by the time Tuesday rolls around next week my "Halls" will be decorated!

If I have any new readers today from Susan's party - you are invited to join me over in my kitchen for National Chocolate Covered Anything Day on December 16th! Click on the pink/brown icon in my left sidebar for more info...another great holiday to celebrate in December.