Coffee, Coffee Cake

Yum! This is Bisquick coffee cake, a Christmas tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Super easy, super good. And you don't have to wait until Christmas to have it--it's just as good on March 31!

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

 Sometimes all a girl wants to do is put on her bathrobe, sit on the couch, eat ice cream, and watch a marathon of America's Next Top Model. Isn't that right, Tallulah Mae?

Dramatic SKWERL!!!!!

 This SKWERL didn't like the cut of Tallulah Mae's jib--it sat up there on the telephone pole and barked at us as we walked by.

 This SKWERL was on my garage roof...

...and I swear, it turned and looked at me (I was inside, shooting through a window) and it was just like the Dramatic Chipmunk: dun dun DUN! [sound here, be warned]

Whatevs

Indeed.

Dove Love

Lovey-dovey doves...I love them!

They are so sweet. I know they aren't considered the smartest of birds (but then, other than magpies and crows, what bird really is terribly clever?), but they are lovely (look how they blend in to the landscape so nicely).

Tiny Beauty

The tiniest blossom, but so beautiful!

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Holy moley, roly poly!

The Falconer!

Me!

This is one of the instructors/owners...

Last Friday I had a falconry lesson. Yes, I really did! (It was a Christmas gift from my sweet B.--as we all know, I'm a bird geek!).

These are Harris's hawks, the only raptors that hunt communally. The larger bird is a female named Shanti, and the boy is called Heyduk. We put on gloves, called the birds, and then their reward was a bit of some sort of blended-up animal goo (yum!). Remarkable animals...it was soooo fun!

A Whale of a Day

After spending Monday at the Zoo last week, on Tuesday we went whale watching. Grey whales migrate up and down the western coast: they head down from the Arctic in December, traveling to Mexico where they give birth. Moms and calves then swim north, this time of year, heading back home.

There are regulations to protect the whales from harassment, so the boats can only get so close...you can see the "blows" and a wee bit of a tail fluke. Cool!

I'm not much of a boat person, but it was fun (if amazingly choppy out in the open ocean). A lovely lovely day!