Hummer Joy!

For Bird d'Pot with Anni and Wild Bird Wednesday with Stewart...check them out!  More Anna's Hummingbirds from the yard...

Female Annas

Male Annas

Here, take a shot of my "good side."

A rare (for me) capture of one hovering above my head!

You Tube Mynah "Kaleo" and Peepers the Cockatoo

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  Here is my Saturday after Christmas Camera Critters and Saturday's Critters.  Hope you enjoy!  And go by and visit these awesome memes!
Our great-nephew has a cockatoo named Peepers:

Look at her pretty feathers!

Such a pretty bird!  After the photos of Peepers, enjoy a YouTube video of a mynah bird that is incredibly cute!

Springtime in Magnolia

Not everyone who follows my blog follows my Mom's blog Living Life on Main Street or her new one Springtime in Magnolia.  So, let me tell you a little about my mother....

When I was a young girl, Mom and I shared so many things, including a love of books.  I started writing as a teen and still do and I have been published in small magazine/paper publications and one regional magazine, but I've never finished the book I started many years ago.  My mother, on the other hand generally takes the bull by the horns!  She did a regional history of their Alabama community years ago when she was heavily into genealogy.  But, many years passed and Mom had a lot going on, not least of which was the constant care of my Dad, who died with Alzheimers four years ago.  Still, she told me one day that she started writing a novel, and she worked tirelessly on this task until it was completed.  Last month the publisher sent her the first of her published books.  A major achievement for which she can be honestly proud!

The work is called Springtime in Magnolia and is about a family in Mississippi during the Depression and World War II years.  It has many things that reflect her family in those years, and the people she loved and was raised among in Alabama, but it is a fictional tale.  Still, the depth of her sense of family, her love for my Dad  and of her faith are beautifully reflected in the book. I read it first as I helped edit it, but still I approached the lovely bound book as if I did not know the story...and I started reading.  How beautiful!  I can highly recommend this testament of family and faith to anyone looking for an awesome read!

Here are some photos of Mom with her book.  I am so proud of her!  Please check out the link to her new blog above and order your copy from her or from Amazon!  You won't be sorry!

Mom at her first book signing.

 

Christmas Wishes Willy Nilly

As we approach the glorious celebration of Christ's birth, and share magic and joy with family and friends, I would like to share a few Christmas wishes with you on Tanya's awesome Willy Nilly Friday Five...

1.  This is our favorite Christmas movie, The Nativity Story, made I think in 2006.  We watch it every year:

2.  When I was a little girl in elementary school in Bainbridge Maryland where my Dad was stationed, I was in Chorus.  Time came for the Christmas play and we were to sing carols, and also a vignette of some of us in the nativity scene.  (Back in the DAY when all of this was OK!!!) There was to be a solo  of Away in a Manger to be sung by the girl who played Mary . I have always had a strong voice, and I wanted to be Mary with all my heart.  But, instead one of my friends was chosen to be Mary.  She had waist-length blond hair and a soft singing voice, which would be appropriate for a lullaby.   I learned about sin the night of the performance when I felt great satisfaction that as Mary sang to her babe in the manger, her voice didn't project past the second row of parents and guests in the audience.  It isn't a moment I am very proud of!  :-) (BTW--we practiced the carols so much, I still will automatically go into the "next" on in the program in my mind after singing one of the carols!  And that Christmas program was almost 50 years ago!)

3.  Two years ago I decided to read something to our grandson that I had never even read myself...A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  Oh, we all know the story.  We've seen version after version of it and have loved some more than others.  But I'd never read the actual STORY.  Well, the two of us LOVED it!  What a literary genius!  It's no wonder that this tale is one of our favorite parts of Christmas on the screen...but if you've never actually read it, you are missing out!

4.  When our grandson was small, I was doing handmade ceramic items and tiles, all hand-glazed by little ole me.  I worked a Christmas craft show in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. There was a Santa Claus that arrived...a very convincing one.  My husband, Russell went to him sneakily and told him that when he came by our table, to show the little boy there that he was the REAL Santa by calling him by name.  When Santa came by, he said "Well hello there, little C..... You've been mighty good this year!"  Our grandson was amazed that this had to be the real deal, and that he knew his name.  The look on his little face was priceless! :-)  It was a cute little ruse that we told him about within the last couple of years.

5. Lastly, I would like to share a wonderful, heart-warming story by Kristen in Texas over on The Rambling Introvert.  This is something that happened to she and her Mom in a shop they went into, and you are going to love it as much as I did, so click on the LINK.

And as a post script I just noticed that The Nutcracker Ballet premiered on this date in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Since that connects well with my header picture, and last week's Willy Nilly I thought I'd mention that as well!

Merry Christmas to Each of You! I am so grateful for all of my Blogger Friends!  God bless you all!

Video of the Verdin

Everyone has enjoyed the photos I've shown of the verdin shouldering its way into the hummingbird feeders to the consternation of my hummers.  I was able to get a little video one day just of a male verdin.  Sharing with Bird d'Pot and Wild Bird Wednesday today.  Enjoy!

And here is a short one of the Anna's Hummingbird...

Saguaro Series--part II

If you missed my Saguaro Series part I, see it HERE.....
In keeping with completing the photos from the trip, I start with the view we had as we entered the Sonoran Desert in July, almost home.  Saguaros, unique to the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Mexico, (and Wikipedia says also in small amounts to a desert section of California) are unique and fascinating cactus.  The word saguaro is a Mayo or Yoreme Indian word, a Native American group from Mexico.

Saguaros grow from seed, very slowly.  Some live more than 150 years and can get as tall as 40 to 60 feet.  Their bloom is the state flower  of Arizona.  When the saguaro in my yard grew two arm buds this year and bloomed for the first time, it meant the plant is at least 50 years old.  Here is a photo of my few blooms (with white winged dove)...

These next three photos were taken at the Audubon Preserve here in Tucson.

Interesting saguaro shots from my archives....

This is an example of cresting (see my part I saguaro post for explanation)

Willy Nilly Friday Five--Some Good Stuff

Here is this week's Willy Nilly Friday Five with Tanya.  Check out this great meme...

1.  A number of you have commented on my new header photo.  What I would like to reveal is that the beautiful Sugar Plum Fairy dancing in the Nutcracker Ballet in that photo is my daughter, Yvonne at age 14.  Here are a couple of additional photos of that time in her life:

 

2.  This is my daughter today...wife, mother of a thirteen-year-old, pastry chef, and incredibly wonderful person:

3. One day at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, El Molinitos on W. Ina Rd., we were serenaded while we ate:

4.  I've been having a terrible time catching up with everyone's comments because I am just so busy right now!  But I know that is true for almost everyone in December!  Go by my quilting blog and see what all I have been doing!  The LINK.  Also, here are a few photos that show Tucson in early December:

Dawn...taken by my husband a few days ago

Another shot of dawn

The only autumn tree near our house...fall in December :-)

Golden light on the Santa Catalinas one afternoon

An hour later, reflecting the sunset

5. And here is the almost full moon rising in the late afternoon a bit ago:

We have had a lot of rain the last couple of weeks which is so unusual for Tucson in December.  In this picture, you can see storm clouds over the east part of town.

More of Yvonne's Beautiful "Rubbish"

More of my daughter's photos of vintage structures from near the North Carolina/ Virginia line for Roan's Rubbish Tuesday:

The old house was being taken over again by the woods

You wonder what lives people had who once resided there

The farm shed next to the house

The Texas Sage Bush

When we moved in three and a half years ago, we discovered that the Texas Sage bush at the edge of our yard was a haven for literally dozens of birds every day!  It has been the reason we have had so many bird visitors to enjoy and photograph.  At any given time, you can hear them all, even hiding in the depths of its branches, singing and "talking" to each other like crazy.  It's actually LOUD! :-)
This one bush has been a huge blessing.

First, let me tell you about the Texas Sage...It is also called  Texas Ranger, Texas Rain Sage, Cenizo, Texas Silverleaf, Ash-bush, Wild Lilac, Purple Sage, Senisa, Cenicilla, Palo Cenizo, Hierba del Cenizo   It is the proverbial "purple sage" of movies and lore.  But it is not a true sage of the genus salvia.  It is Leucophyllum frutescens.  Year round it has lovely silvery green leaves and then after the barometer drops, and rain has presented itself, this lovely hardy hard-wood shrub blooms into lavender purple profusion.  Here's what it looks like now.  It has been pruned, which is a good idea in the fall to maximize the blooms next summer.

And at almost any time of day, these branches are adorned with house sparrows and house finches...

You can see how complex the branches are...makes great places for the birds to hide.

Even the doves love the Texas Sage bush!

I am hoping this will work, linking with the two bird memes I enjoy so much!  I linked in to Camera Critters and Saturday's Critters and my computer is not showing the other posters on that meme, so I am unable to click on any of them to visit.  let's see what happens with  Bird d'Pot...keeping my finger's crossed Anni!  If it is ok, I will also be connecting with Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday.