Samara was visiting with Papa T and GiGi,

and Papa T asked her if she wanted to build a birdhouse.

Oh me, Papa T!

Can I do that?

I’m only three!

Papa T said, “We just need a hammer

and some nails and a little wood!”

Wow-wee, Papa T! 

Hammer nails??

I’m only three!

Papa T said, “Of course you can,

and what a good job you’re doing!”

That sure was fun,

Let’s build some more!

After all, I’m almost four!!

It's Nothing Personal

In the words of Kathleen Kelley, played by Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail, “What’s so wrong about being personal... Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.”    I’ve noticed that in this age of electronic devices, we are losing the desire, and possibly the ability, to be personal.    We can send email, text messages, tweet, update Facebook, and read blogs, and we never have to say a word to another person.    Personal conversation.    It’s becoming a lost art, going the way of the handwritten letter. 

While in Target recently, I passed people on the phone, some talking loudly, some not so obviously, but in their own little world, taking up space where I needed to be while they were stopped and in the middle of a full gossip session.   While making my purchase, the person in front of me talked on her phone the whole time she was being checked out, hardly sparing a glace (much less a word) to the cashier.   The person behind me was also on the phone.  I was in the middle of two loud one-sided phone calls.    It was rude to everyone within hearing range, and especially to the cashier…and yes, even to me.   

Then there are the folks with the hands free devices, walking around seemingly talking to themselves.   And the Blue Tooth pieces stuck on the ear?   Perhaps they could reconsider if their phone calls are really that important!   Can we leave our house without a cell phone?    I’ve gone back into my house (after locking it up) to get my phone when I’m only going 1.5 miles down the road!    (And I’d probably do it again.)

Since we live in a free country, they are free to talk on their phones, and I am free to think they are rude.  I rate a loud cell phone conversation (in a restaurant, store, or workplace..or any public place) right up there with being subjected to a glaring backside of someone who doesn’t realize that the waistline of their pants isn’t on their hips! 

Maybe it’s just me, or my Southern upbringing, but if a person is doing a service for me, whether they are paid for it or not, they deserve the common courtesy to have me acknowledge their presence.   

War!

As in Civil War.   We took a little road trip to Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee.   It was a beautiful day, and I got lots of pictures.    That was Saturday before last.   Last Saturday, we went to Ethridge, TN to visit Mennonite Country.    Got some yummy homemade bread and peanut brittle...and some fried peach pies that canNOT be beat!   As you are probably aware, the Amish people fear getting their picture made, so I didn't take any shots.   There were the cutest little children, though, that I wanted to badly to take a picture of, dressed in their little hats and old-timey clothes, pulling a wagon.   Too cute...but I resisted.

Have a great week, y'all!

That’s for the birds!

While in Florida, my sister and I stopped at a café on the Boardwalk. We sat out on the patio near the water, and were entertained by birds. A couple of sparrows were at my feet eating crumbs, and I tossed them down a couple of pieces of bread. A short while later, one of the sparrows hopped up on my table and just looked at me with its head cocked. I pinched off another piece of bread and intended to lay it down near the bird, but she plucked it right from my fingers before I had a chance to do that. That was petty cool. So I then held out another piece toward a sparrow on the ground, and sure enough, it plucked it right from my fingers and flew away.

This cafe was in Mt. Dora, not where the birds ate my bread.

Which reminds me of a time some years back when I was going to feed some Canadian geese at a Tennessee park, and they not only plucked the food out of my hand, but tried to get my fingers in the process.

One of the geese at Deibert Park chased my pretty Samara around last summer…

Then there were the beautiful Lorikeets at the Nashville Zoo (I’d post a pic but they were all lost in the great computer crash of 2009) who would sit on your finger and drink nectar…or in my case bite a thumb.

We have a couple of bird feeders in our back yard. Squirrels eat there, too, even though we put out squirrel food, as well. Last Friday, a dove hit my back door (sliding glass door) pretty hard. It didn’t knock itself out, but it was dazed. Lucy, our big mutt outside, came running up to check it out….so I opened the door to chase her away, and the dove took off flying. A hawk was right on her tail. The poor dazed dove didn’t have a chance.   I didn't take pictures...but here are some more Florida pictures:

Mt. Dora Boardwalk

Central Florida Zoo

Central Florida Zoo

Here’s one for the dogs:

Everybody knows Peppy is Ole Boy's third son. My nephew called last week to talk to him about a computer problem. But when Ole Boy first answered, Nephew disguised his voice and said he was from Animal Control, and they'd picked up a little white dog running around in our neighborhood with a hypodermic needle stuck in his back. Ole Boy was looking around trying to figure out where Peppy was and telling Nephew, "…well I have a little white dog, but I know I didn't leave a needle in his back...."