Cool Cat

Here is proof that we are in the middle of a heat-wave.
Even Audacious Audrey can't bear to completely tunnel under her blankie and chooses to keep her head out for air. Still, she loves her blankie.

Do you know how cats keep themselves cool on these hot summer days?

"Sweating" from their coats: Cats lick their coats to cool down which is why your cat may groom himself more in the summer. When saliva evaporates from your cat's fur, it provides a cooling effect, similar to a human's sweat evaporating off of their skin.

I have been watering everything religiously. The perennials get a good watering every night as the sun is so blistering hot. The weeds are horrendous; a nightmare with all this sun and high humidity,  rain, sun, then rain. Last night it rained and today will be hot again. Everything looks very lush.

I'm really happy with our 5 tomato plants. I counted 26 tomatoes today and there are many more blossoms yet to open. :)

Look at the cheeks on this guy.

Chippy has been hiding out in the rocks all day to keep cool.

Now he's ready to eat.

I'm sure if he had pockets they'd be full too.

My youngest is home from a fantastic holiday,

After a 20 hr flight she'll be good for nuttin' today.

Thank you for all your good wishes on a safe arrival.

hugs, Deb

Seeking out shade

Good Morning...
It's hot as blazes today in Ontario, Canada. Even the wild-life is looking for shady relief.

Like this little guy who found this little spot..

                                                                             
 Right at our old pump and flower garden.

 

I hope he enjoys it there but does not decide to uproot the flowers. *fingers crossed*

He's adorable, isn't he.

A visiting Nut-hatch.

 

We have enough yellow beans off our 2 bean plants to have with dinner tonight.

Next year we plan to have a big garden. Just too busy this year to plant one.

Allie is on her way home from her vacation in Vietnam and South Korea. Mom (that's me) is very nervous until I have her home. I know she had a great time by the photos that she sent us and I can't wait to hear all about it

 

That's her in the purple.

It's a lemonade kinda day

Have a good one, 

hugs, Deb

Tea at the mouse-house

Well, it may be noon before I get the bed made (thanks to Annie) but we'll still make time for tea at the mouse-house.

                                                          Look at those peachy toes. :)

It was black tea with milk and a slice of  Le Gateau est un Delice Strawberry Swiss Roll for dessert.
If you are as old as the hills, or in other words my age, you might remember these from your childhood.

Stop what you're doing...
And have some tea.
I'm joining Sandi at http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.ca/for Tea Time Tuesday.

hugs, Deb

Playing with the chickadees.

Sierra basking in the morning light.

I spent a good hour watching and interacting with the young chickadees today.

 They are so friendly and sweet. One surprised the heck out of me when it landed on my camera, looked me in the face and then flew to the closest branch.

There are probably close to 30 little ones that have discovered the feeders and bird-bath. I hope to get a photo in the bath but no luck today. This is a robin that came by for a quick drink.

It's so wonderful to have these little beauties back.

Maybe next year they will do me the honour of nesting in one of our little bird-houses.

Hope so.

Hugs, Deb

What made you smile today.

My latest dollar store bird-house painted and hanging in the oak tree.

The chickadees are back. :) I welcomed them with open arms. Some are new ones, fledglings, I imagine, as they are smaller and a little scruffy looking.

 Their heads are tinier than the adults and they seem to fly from branch to branch as if playing. I counted thirty in the maples right near the feeders. It`s so wonderful to see them again and hear the familiar "chickadee..dee...dee...dee...dee." I hope they stick around now.

We picked a few yellow beans off our two bean plants today. There are plenty more that are almost ready.

And dear, adorkable Audrey.

This is how she watches tv with me at night. Every once in awhile I put my finger in under the blanket and she bites it. Great fun. :-b

We are in for lots of sunny, summery days. Would you believe it`s time to cut the grass again. Who needs a gym when you live in the country.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend & Happy July 4th to all my American friends.

hugs, Deb

The old attic

It's funny how certain things can transport our minds back to a memory of earlier days. The smell of a wood-fire instantly places me in the attic of my grandmother's old clap-board farm-house.  A house that stood only metres from where we now call 'home'.

Granny's house was a two-story wood-frame; painted a light grey with an olive green trim. I remember ever detail of this old house. In the attic there was a wooden chest that held many black and white photos of our ancestors. Some of the photos were in tin frames and some were inside albums. There were old blankets and hand-sewn quilts that my grandmother treasured. I wonder now if they had been created by her mother. I loved looking at the beautiful lace doilies that were carefully tucked away inside an old book. I can still smell the old wood and remember the 'clang' of the hardware as you opened the lid. And the buzzing of wasps around the only window; a window that was just inches from the floor and if you lay on your tummy you could look out over her vegetable gardens and into her neighbour's field. The sun would stream in there and brighten up the shabby surroundings. The pipe from the wood-stove in the summer kitchen came up through the floor along with the smell of the burning wood, and if you put your ear there, you could hear the laughter and the conversations between the adults.  I can still hear my mother's laugh. :) 

 This attic was where I headed, as a child, once the "hellos" and hugs were over-with on every visit. "Now be careful with the photos", my mom would say.
 
And every late Spring, there was a very special reason for rushing to the attic on arrival. Maggie, my grandmother's brown & gold-striped tabby, would proudly show off her litter of kittens as she spent six weeks or so caring for them in an old wicker basket that my gran so lovingly prepared for her. To me, it was like entering the gates of heaven :)

                                                                       (pinterest)

hugs, Deb

The old green cupboard.

The old green cupboard was so tall that it took a chair and a balancing act on the ledge to reach  for the cookie jar filled with home-made hermits. I expect that the jar was kept high so we kids would not empty it in minutes. My gran would usually hear us fumbling with the rickety old chair and be towering over us before we even reached them. But, we always got a cookie or two no matter what time of day it was.

The old green cupboard almost reached the ceiling in the summer kitchen. It had glass doors displaying her tea-cups, glasses & knickitty knackitty's (as we called them). There were two drawers for cutlery and then more shelves on the bottom. Even at the age of 8 or so I was in love with this cupboard. I liked to re-arrange her cups and saucers and make sure the fronts were always facing out. I guess I was already a dishaholic by then.

                                                               

If I had to put a familiar smell to this old cupboard it would have to be the smell of orange kool-aid.  One of the drawers always had plenty of packets of the sugary stuff and we were allowed to pick a flavor each day that we were visiting. It was stirred up with the cold well water in a glass pitcher. My grandmother didn't have a fridge, just an ice-box where we would keep the pitcher if there happened to be any left. There usually wasn't.

If we had timed it right, gran would put the water on the stove to boil for tea. When it was steaped 7 minutes (I still remember her telling us to time it) we would grab our favorite tea-cup and saucer and fill it half and half with tea and milk and then a spoon of sugar. It was then that the cookie jar would be quickly emptied and we'd sit around the table or in front of the fire in the cook-stove and just have a good old gab-session. Gran would rock in her chair with Maggie, her tabby cat, almost engulfed by her big, white apron and she would laugh at the silly stuff we'd come up with. We must have said some pretty wild things sometimes because I remember her saying more than once, "Oh my goodness, now don't be tellin' your mother that."
It was all innocent,  I'm sure, as we were too young to have done anything that bad. :) I think she just liked that we knew we could talk to her about anything, silly as it was sometimes, and she always had a loving, caring heart to listen.

(our tabby girl, Sierra)

hugs, Deb