Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Dog. Lip. Dog lip.
Dog. Whiskers. Dog whiskers.
Dog. Nose. Dog nose.
Dog. Eyeball. Dog eyeball.
Dog. Cuteness. Dog cuteness!

Insects on Parade: Thursday

We couldn't have an insect parade without a butterfly, could we? There are some lovely, big, lazily floating ones outside right now, but they never seem to land so that I can take their photos...don't they know they'll be immortalized forever in the blogosphere? If they did, they might stop and strike a pose...

Insects on Parade: Wednesday

Miss Ladybug was traversing this strawberry patch...

...leading to a lovely juxtaposition of red and green.

Insects on Parade: Tuesday

Check out Miss Bee here--she's COVERED, head to toe (as it were) with pollen from sunflowers in my cutting garden. Usually I see bees with the sacs on their back legs full of yellow or orangey pollen, but I've never seen one with it all over her body and wings. Cute, no? (Bonus: little yellow inchworms sharing the space with her!)
Action shot!

Insects on Parade: Monday

I love the color contrast here (green/yellow; round/pointy). This is a very delicate flower, yet this McBuggerson is so delicate itself that the flower petals don't even register its weight. It sproinged away right after I took this pic.

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Laaadies and Gentlemen! May I now direct your attention to the center ring where you will be amazed by (crowd gasps in unison) Miss Tallulah Mae's Amaaaazing Tongue of Wonder (clap clap clap)!

See it in action!

See it from the front!

See it from the side!
Watch it disappear! (Roars of approval from the crowd...cue the hurdy-gurdy...)

A Fledgling's Tale

While I was in Phoenix at my parents' house, this baby bird caused a bit of a ruckus. (Not sure what kind of bird it actually is--probably a starling or blackbird?)

My mom spotted him/her in the swimming pool, huddled in that indented bit with the flapper (I don't know what it's really called!). He/she was just sitting there, rather calmly, but also rather wetly. I reached in, gingerly, and got it out; I was initially afraid that it was injured and so couldn't fly. It sat for a moment, then hopped over behind some bushes.
Love its little grumpy face! It was clearly a fledgling...a fledgling who was a bit unclear on the concept. I left it alone after I took this photo, went inside, went back out to check on it a few minutes later, and it was gone. Good, I thought, it has figured the flying thing out and has flown somewhere for the night. Alas, no...my mom saw it fly into the same flappy pool place AGAIN, a few minutes later. I got it out again, put it on the pavement, and it sorta flew--its wings were clearly wet and not working properly--and landed on the hose of the pool-sweeping thingy that was floating in the middle of the pool. It perched there on the hose, seeming rather bummed out. So I carefully reeled the hose in, over to the side of the pool, and got the bird again.

We were concerned because it was the end of the day, and we worried that it would get too cold, be left on the ground in a vulnerable position, etc. I know you're supposed to let fledglings figure it all out for themselves, but this little guy/gal seemed to need our help.
We got a paper towel and carefully patted it dry, and I held it cupped in my hands for at least twenty minutes. It never tried to get away...occasionally it would spread its damp wings and shiver. I stroked it and talked to it, and it was perfectly calm. Then it flew/hopped over to the edge of the porch swing... ...where it proceeded to dry itself/preen/fluff up its feathers. It kept closing its little eyes and having a rest...finally, it looked up at me--I kid you not--cheeped loudly, three times, and then flew up into an orange tree at the back of the yard. Yay! Fly, baby bird, fly! And my parents have not seen it since, which is a very good thing!

The (happy!) end.

Want.

OK, so don't YOU totally want this darling little travel trailer? Turquoise! With a stripe! With red wheels. OMG! Too cute...It should be pulled by a 1950s Chevy pickup, don't you think? Maybe one painted butter yellow, or red to match the stripe and wheels...

We could take it to this place and load it up!

Sewn

Every year my garden club--The Mission Hills Garden Club--has a very well-attended garden walk. This year a craft/white elephant booth was added, so I volunteered to make some things to sell. I made these frayed flower pins out of vintage fabric, vintage buttons, fastened to vintage cards... And not ONE of them sold...
I also made lavender-filled sachets...I think 3 of these sold... And finally, some pressed-flower gift tags. Two sets of 5 sold, out of about 50 that I made.

Oh well--I liked them, even if the garden walk attendees apparently didn't! It was fun to spend some time crafting; I even got my poor neglected sewing machine out of the closet and now plan to make myself some summer togs...

Cookies for the Girls

Miss Robin over at Various and Sunday organized a Bake for Hope bake sale on May 9...and the sale raised a whopping $835 for the Susan G. Komen foundation!!! Wow, very impressive, huh? I made chocolate chip cookies for the cause and packaged them like so...

Thanks, Robin, and all of the others nationwide who hosted bake sales for this most important cause...

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Oh my, that face!


P.S. Thank you so much, everyone, for all of your sweet words and kind thoughts regarding my brother. It's appreciated more than you can know...

Gone

My one-and-only big brother, Theodore Allen Steele Jr., left this life yesterday after a valiant struggle against huge odds. I love him dearly and he will be greatly missed by all who love him. Please hug your dear ones a little closer in his memory.

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

A little ditty, performed by Miss Tallulah Mae: "La-di-da-di-da..."

"Doodle-deedle-da..."

"Yaaawwwnn..."

The End.

Cynara Cardunculus

My artichokes have been amazing...they're so delicious and so pretty!

Creepy or Cute?

You be the judge...

Fire-Breathing Ahead

I truly love this: not "Beware of Dragon," but "Be Aware of a Dragon." OK, I will, thank you!

Water Colors

Rainbows never cease to fascinate, do they?
Even the ones made by the sprinklers...

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

This is Tallulah Mae's sad face...this might mean "Please, m'am, may I have your Starbucks cup so that I may lick out the foamy dregs" or "Have you forsaken me? Isn't it way past time to go for a walk?" or (most likely) "FEED ME!!!" It usually works, too...she IS named after Tallulah Bankhead, after all! This oh-so-sad face gets results almost every time.

(She's also named after Mother Maybelle Carter, BTW--and while she's quite a singer, she hasn't yet learned how to do the Carter scratch technique on the guitar...but give her time.)