Last Days Of Summer!

Nothing new to report...just enjoying the last days of summer. I hope everyone is doing that, too.

We celebrated our 31st anniversary on September 10th. Time sure flies by fast...our son turned 30 on September 11th....yes, I was in labor on my first wedding anniversary. We had dinner at a wonderful local Italian Restaurant Saturday night. Wonderful atmosphere and the food was scrumptious.

Cucina Bella

We also spent a great evening at a local Summer Sunset Fest last weekend with live music and a fireworks display to cap off the evening and the summer.

My husband video taped the finale from the fireworks. It was a nice way to end the evening.


He also took a video of a portion of one of the songs performed by the live band, Libido Funk Circus. They performed music from the seventies up through today's music. It was great relaxing under the stars while listening to yesterday's hits.



Here's our latest self photo as we wait for the live band and the fireworks. Awesome evening!




Until next time.....stay safe, happy, and most of all, have fun!

Joyce Linnae

Yes Shelley, I had a wildlife moment!

Shelley at Building A Log Cabin asked if we have ever witnessed a rare moment with wildlife. In her case, it was watching the Loons at her lakeside log cabin do an annual water dance.

Yes, I had a moment like this. One year a mother bird built her nest inside our stove exhaust vent. I think she was from unpopular Starlings species but I didn't have the heart to disturb them and decided to let them stay. However, as the little ones grew we started noticing little mites in our exhaust. Yuck. I couldn't bring myself to destroy life so I had my husband call a wildlife refuge and ask for advice. They gave us some wonderful advice and it worked.

We took an empty half gallon plastic milk container and cut out the side and nailed it under the eaves of the back of the house. Then my dh carefully took out the nest with the babies and inserted it into the milk carton. We waited to see what the mother would do. Would she find them just a few feet from the vent? Would she reject them?

It took her about an hour to find the nest and settle in. I gave a big sigh of relief but then I became worried about the west sun beating on the plastic container. So I had my dh install one of our old bamboo shades that I could lower in the afternoon. It worked. I would walk out and raise and lower the shade depending on the sun's intensity. One day I was out in the yard and I noticed that the mother was sitting in a tree "yelling" in my direction. I looked over and realized that the shade was too low and she couldn't land without some maneuvering. Obviously, she felt it should be corrected and was telling me in no uncertain terms. I adjusted the shade and she went about feeding her babies.

All of this qualifies as a moment with wildlife but it was not the best of the moments I experienced that summer. One day, when I was outside working in the yard, I noticed that she was perched on the house roof behind our house. She had a huge worm dangling from her mouth and she was tweeting loudly. All of a sudden one of the babies stumbled out of the makeshift nesting place and flew to his mothers side to receive his or her reward. The rest of the day she coaxed each of her babies to fly for the first time. All except the last baby who refused to budge from the safety of the nest. Finally at evening time, she relented and brought him or her a worm. The next morning, the same process began again, and the little one again refused. I kept checking the nest during the day because I wondered how long the mother would wait before shoving the last fledgling from the nest. Again at evening time, the mother bird relented and fed her baby in the nest.

The third morning, I was again working in the yard and watched the patient mother start the process again. She had the worm dangling and she tweeted instructions, and I'm sure encouragement. And wonder of wonders, the little one finally summoned the courage to step to the edge of the nest and fly to his mother's side.

It was such a glorious feeling to know that I had helped that mother raise her babies successfully and that I got to watch the wonder of a mother's love and patience up close and personal. We covered all of our vents with mesh and have never had a return visit but it was awesome to watch nature up close.

It was a moment to remember!

The Dog Days of Summer!

Wow - I can't believe how quickly this summer is flying by and I have been a very bad blogger. I think with the lovely weather we've been having in the Chicago area, blogging has taken a back seat. What am I saying....I know that's the case. I've enjoyed reading everyone's blogs via my Dashboard but I haven't felt inspired to post on my own blog. I'm sure there is a counselor somewhere who could help me with this dilemma but I believe it's just the lazy, crazy days of summer that have stolen my muse.

Today I felt just guilty enough to sit down and add to my blog. It will be a mix of this and that.

First up is a list of my Summer Favs!

We discovered two new restaurants - one on vacation to Tennessee and one in our local area.

Texas Roadhouse is a chain but their bread is to die for! It is the only chain restaurant we visited in Tennessee because we like to sample local, independent restaurants but this chain was open when we arrived in Pigeon Forge late in the evening. The only question I have is how in the world does a franchise started in Indiana decide on the name of Texas Roadhouse? Go figure.

Texas Roadhouse

The second restaurant is one that moved into our suburb about a year ago but we had never tried it. Fools that we are....anyway, one day we stopped in and I fell in love with Famous Dave's Barbecue. I especially love their Devil's Spit sauce...the name could be a little more appetizing but I love the hot sauce in spite of the name.

Famous Dave's


My Dunkin Donut favorite for the summer is their Strawberry Coolatta but they have some other luscious summer treats just waiting for you to try! They are yummy on a summer day.

Dunkin Donuts


We've only attended one summer festival this year. A local suburb has an annual rib fest and they also featured the classic rock group, Starship. It was a beautiful night with just a slight breeze. We took our chairs and enjoyed corn on the cob and ribs while waiting for the concert.

I loved Jefferson Airplane and the eighties Starship version which featured, Mickey Thomas as the lead singer opposite Grace Slick. The group, which still includes Mickey, sang all of my favorite songs like, We Built This City, Sara, and Nothing's Going To Stop Us Now.

Starship with Mickey Thomas

Joyce Linnae and Steve

This past weekend we were in Springfield, IL to attend the family celebration for my in-laws 60th wedding anniversary. Steve and I took a break from snapping pics so I don't have any from the event. Hopefully, all of the others who were snapping away will send us some and I'll post them later. It was a real casual, just the family, reunion and went by way too fast.

Until next time!

I've been MIA but now I'm dishing on what I've been doing!

It's been awhile since I've posted....I wish my vacation had been as long as my absence from blogging but no, I only visited the beautiful Smokies for five days.

Since I returned from vacation, I have been busy working on one of my volunteer projects and blogging took a back seat. I started volunteering several years ago with a group that sponsors an online Romance book cover contest. I have loved reading romance since I was about 13 and my aunt introduced me to Harlequins.

This March, I took over ownership and management of the website and became the chair of the committee that runs the contest. I have always wanted to see the website expand beyond the yearly contest and since March the site has added several features besides the contest.


The committee judges covers all year long and when they reduced the nominations down to ten covers in each of the genres we post ballots online for a month of public voting in the late spring. Then it takes about a month to tabulate, write, and code the results online. I just posted the results of this year's contest last weekend and now I have some more time to blog.

If you love reading romance and enjoy dishing about covers, stop by the website and check out the latest contest results. I will warn you, that some of covers today are more explicit than many readers are comfortable with. However, the contest judges all covers and they are featured, often in our worst category, reserved for covers that miss the mark or insult the reader's intelligence.

Here is the link to the website. Enjoy!
www.covercafe.com

Finally, here are a few of my pictures from my week in Tennessee exploring the Great Smoky National Park! We saw a mama and baby bear, and there were butterflies everywhere. The park is just packed with all types of trees, plants, and wildlife. It was beautiful!

Have a great week!

I'm Heading to Gatlinburg!

Happy Mother's Day Weekend - Photo Hunt - In Memory

Happy Mothers Day Weekend!

I hope you spend it filled with all of the things you love to do. Everyone has a mother, but I know not everyone has a wonderful relationship with their mother. In those cases, celebrate that your mother gave you life. And then, some of us have lost our mother and we can only remember her with love. And finally, there are those who are lucky to have a great relationship with their Mom and she is still living. Make sure you tell her how much you appreciate her being there!

Not everyone is a mother of a child but all women mother because that is what we do. Sometimes it's a beloved pet, an important cause, a friend, ourselves, or someone else's child. And all married women mother the men in their lives. I think it's in our genetic makeup. Enjoy the day, treat yourselves well, and celebrate that women are fantastic at nurturing others.


Below is some Mother's Day Humor to get the weekend started!

Things Mom Would Never Say To Her Kids from www.mothersdayworld.com

* You should let your hair grow…I would love to make you a ponytail!

* Why don't you miss school today…there is a great show on TV!

* How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back!

* Yeah, I feel proud that I used to skip school a lot!

* You should just leave all the lights on...it makes the house look more cheery!

* I have checked your shirt by smelling it…you can wear it. It is good for another week!

* Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I would be glad to feed and take him for a walk every day!

* Well, if Sonny’s mom says it's OK, that's good enough for me!

* I do not have a tissue with me...just use your sleeve to wipe your runny nose!

* Don't bother wearing a jacket; honey…the wind-chill is bound to improve!


PHOTO HUNT

The theme at PhotoHunt is "In Memory".

The first picture is a digital/oil on canvas combination. My late mother liked to dabble in painting. She had started a painting of her sister's cabin in the Black Hills and she planned to give it to her but then my uncle passed away and my aunt had to sell the cabin. My mother never finished the painting. When she passed away the unfinished canvas is one of the things I requested. I am NOT a painter but I couldn't let my Dad throw it away. One day I decided to take a digital picture of the canvas and then I finished the painting using Photoshop Elements. I changed it from a summer scene to a winter scene since I didn't know how the landscape around the cabin was during the summer. I then printed out a copy and framed it. It now sits in my den in memory of my Mother and Aunt.





This second photo is a scan of a photo taken at Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is a monument in memory of some of the early United States Presidents.