Baby Black and White Warbler

Buried

Swan On Ice

Bye Bye Tree

We had some tree work done today - including the complete removal of a tree beside our house.  Kind of fascinating to watch.  They took the tree branch by branch over our house with a crane.....

Too bad Josiah was in school for most of it.  He would have loved to watch!

Marbled Orb Weaver Spider

A little Science lesson hanging outside our patio door today...

Duck Duck Goose!

Mute Swan

Building A Nest

Dark-eyed Junco

See? I'm A Black-capped Chickadee!

White-throated Sparrow

The birds are finally coming around . . .

December Blooms

Can you believe my front yard currently has a cherry tree in full bloom ?!

Fall Flowers

I'm kind of happy with the amount of flowers that are still blooming around town these days.  Everything is still so pretty and with the rain, it all looks so lush!  I rather enjoyed my ride through the woods today that carpooling requires of  me.  Even a few trees starting to rust.

 

 

Wheel Bug Multi-tasking

Have you ever seen a Wheel Bug mating while eating a bee?  Well, now you have!



Snorkeling In The Molokini Crater

Didn't take this photo.  I just want to show you
where we snorkeled.  Pretty cool.

This is Paul - since you might not recognize him...

Shifrah was "gung ho" to go but didn't actually last that
long in the water.  Then, she fell asleep on the boat.

Turns out that it's quite difficult to hold a camera still while snorkeling.  :)

Kaua'i By Air

We were told parts of Jurassic Park were filmed here.



Waimea Canyon

My Adventure Boy

Beautiful Kaua'i

After many delays, we finally made it to Kauai, Hawaii - 12 hours later than scheduled.  (My kids are such travelling troopers!)  Kauai was described to us as the "beautiful but sleepy island" of Hawaii - which sounds like my kind of place!  Pictures will never tell of the jaw-dropping beauty that greets you here at every turn.  We have a very creative Creator!

.

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

Isaiah 55:12

"The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed

according to their own kinds,

and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed,

each according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good."

Genesis 1:12

Organic Pest Control

We are watching these Praying Mantis egg cases.  Each case will hatch between 200-400 little nymphs.  When the nymphs come out, we will scatter them throughout our yard.  In the meantime, we get a Science lesson and can marvel at God's creation once again.

We also bought some nymphs already hatched and freed them onto our yard last week already.  I wonder what percent will survive...

And a nymph closeup photo for you.  I knew you'd want to see that.  The nymphs are only about 1/4 inch long so this is a rather enlarged photo.

Squirrels

This bold squirrel was rapping on my patio door
looking for more bird seed!



Happy Birthday, Little One!

Five years ago, we went to sleep in a Rochester hotel and were awakened by the news that our baby girl had been born. Life has never been the same since.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet, affectionate, spunky, active, always exploring, crazy-curled, God-loving, ever curious, always smiling girl. Shifrah, you make my world go 'round. And 'round. And 'round. So glad God put you in our life!


Shifrah shares her birthday with this little robin born just today!  We looked at the eggs last night and one was cracking.  I had forgotten this morning but Shifrah had not.  She came running into the house to declare his birth with much excitement!

Last night, we noticed the one egg starting to crack.

Foxglove

The Foxglove is one of my favorite perennials.  I'm enjoying this even though it's currently surrounded by weeds!