Show and Tell Friday- Christmas revisited

Today is show and tell Friday. Head over to Kelli's blog, There is No Place Like Home, and see what everyone else is sharing today!

We only have a few nativities that we put out at Christmas time. The one I want to show you today is our newest one, my DH found it at a local thrift store, and it is really fun.

One of the things I like about this nativity set is the adorable faces. I don't know if these were handmade, or bought somewhere. The green-tone of the glaze is unusual, but I like it a lot.

Overall, I'd say DH did well on this purchase. This will be something we will enjoy every time we get it out for the holidays.

President Gordon B. Hinckley, 1910-2008

This pictureof President Hinckley is from the Meridian magazine:

What a great man President Gordon B. Hinckley was. It is stunning that he has passed away, even though he was 97 years old. I am glad he is with his wife again, and I hope to never forget the inspiring example he has been. He was an example of kindness, of ‘get it done’; of ‘lengthen your shuffle’; of soldiering on. I hope I will always remember his example of service and character. He was the epitome of humility and humanity.

I was grateful to have the opportunity to be in General Conference meetings (and other events) and be part of the crowd who stood to show respect and honor to the president and prophet of the Lord. I appreciated his sense of humor as he used his cane, not to walk with, but to playfully tap people on the head. He was gentle and unassuming, but powerful in following the Lord and getting things done. I hope I can be more like him. I want to be better, I want to serve better in the church and in our home, and be able to end my life with no regrets, as he did. What a great man! He said, “I’m just trying to move the work forward.”

Green Thumb Sunday early Jasmine bloom

Well, it is a great surprise to see that my pink Jasmine is about to bloom! It is sitting in front of a window with it's larger cousin, glad to be in out of the cold. Yahoo! I love the wonderful smell of jasmine. Don't know why it is blooming so early, but I am not complaining. Happy GTS to all!

Show and Tell Friday - Why Red is better than Green

It's show and tell Friday again, head over to Kelli's blog to see what everyone else has up this Friday!

This is a little 'knick-knack' I bought at the local knick-knack shop, it was even a deal.

I see a lot of John Deere tractor 'stuff'' - I think there is some nostalgia for those of us who grew up in the country, but I like the red tractors better than the green ones.

I am a farmer's daughter. My Dad is retired now, at age 74, and even sold his tractor last year. (He was renting out a field so he could 'farm' a little bit.) My Dad's tractors were always red or orange, because he preferred Farmall and Case tractors to the more ubiquitous John Deere.

When I saw this harvest tractor, I thought of him. When I was a child, it was a special privilege to get to ride with Dad on the tractor, as he was coming in from the field. I remember him fixing it when it broke, and even a tractor race he had one day with his brother out on the road they lived on.

GARDEN BLOGGERS BLOOM DAY JANUARY 2008

Well, nothing new is happening around here, our best crop outside is snow flakes. The African violets are still blooming, purple with white fringe, the pink ruffly one, and the red-purple violet. I see a few buds on my other plants, but so far, no new colors.
The creamy white poinsettia is still plugging along, even though Christmas is long over.

My little rosemary plant is still blooming, too. I am thinking I will be able to keep it alive until I can plant it out in the spring.

I am looking forward to my two jasmine plants will bloom, but that will probably not be until March. Happy GMD!

Show and Tell Friday

Want to see everyone's show and tell? Head over to Kelli's blog, There is no place like home and enjoy the fun.

Does anybody else feel like the week runs by too fast? I can't believe it's Friday already.

This decorative jar was a gift from a dear friend of mine. It’s basically an oversized knick-knack, and I keep it on top of my dresser. I love the color and design. I

have a few other oriental type decorations that I keep there with this. We used this and other blue and white oriental-type decorations for one of our daughter’s receptions.

Just as an aside, the top disappeared after that reception. I figured it just got lost or thrown out accidentally as we cleaned up and packed up at the end of the reception. Months later, I saw that another daughter was using it as a butter dish! So I snagged it back.

Endless snow !

I've mentioned before that we've lived here in Utah (on the 'bench' at 5,000 feet) for 7 years. We've seen some pretty good snows. We need the snow so we have enough spring run-off for the reservoirs, Utah is a desert, after all. However, we've been blessed with plenty of snow these past few weeks. This first picture was taken on Christmas day, when we had a total of 12 inches of snow, over a period of a few days. (the ruler that you can see sticking out here is still out there, buried somewhere in the snow-we'll find it in the spring.) So we put a yard stick in the yard. It actually measures 48 inches instead of the usual 36. Although it is hard to see, by January 6th we had a net measurement of 14 inches. The snow tends to compact somewhat, so even though we got more than 2 inches, that is our measurement for Sunday.

We actually got about 6 inches or so that day, trust me, my achin' back knows, after two sessions of shovelling that day.

This is the yard stick showing the new snow we got this morning. At 8 a.m., we had gotten 11 inches on the driveway.

This is the birdfeeder, such as it is. I cleared it off twice today so our little finches and chickadees could get to the food.

Yeah, I can't read this, either.

Let's get in a little closer. Oh, it reads at 30 inches!!!!! Bottom line, it has snowed all day, I've never seen it snow this much here before. We spent a lot of the day shovelling the driveway, and the sides of the driveway are piled so high, we can barely throw the snow up there. We estimate we got 24 inches today. Crazy...

Here is the 12 year old, trying to knock some of the snow off of the tree.

Lots of effort, as you can see.

Happy Winter, everyone! We are hoping they are just kidding about the additional 2 - 3 inches we are s'posed to get tonight.

Green Thumb Sunday same old, same old

Not many changes for this Sunday: the rosemary is still blooming,
the poinsettia is the last Christmas decoration up, and the African violets are blooming, but looking a bit faded. These mums are the last of some lovely flowers I received earlier.
It is great to have seed catalogs to study through and dream about spring!

Check out others who are particpating in Green Thumb Sunday.

More backyard birds

We see these Stellar jays around the neighborhood from time to time. This guy made quite a few pit stops at the (decaying) birdfeeder today, between storms.
This is not the best photo, but this little bird is a fast one. We think it is a mountain chickadee. Again, anyone with more bird knowledge, please let me know if I've got the names wrong.

Stocking up before the storm...and bird I.D.'s

Today we have had temperatures above freezing for the first time since before Christmas, I think. The weather forecasters tell us it is 'the warm before the storm' that is blowing in from California. My daughter and I set up this redneck birdfeeder, a few days ago,which hasn't seen much action before today. I am italicizing my added remarks. We went to the library and checked out a few bird identifying books, and so I think this first bird is a housefinch (with the lovely red markings). You can see it is a creatively styled birdfeeder made from a shoebox and aluminum foil. The pine branches are supposed to protect the food from snow, but are more decorative than useful.

I'll try and find out what kind of birds (finches??) have been visiting, the little red headed one is a favorite of mine. My best guess on this bird with the black head, is that it is an oregon sparrow. If anyone has some better ideas, please let me know! We are not experienced 'birders' here, by any means.

At any rate, they were coming and going at a fast pace, while I tried to snap pictures through the back door (you can see the window frames in the first pic).

After I had taken a lot of pics of the birdfeeder and birds, I heard the familiar scrawtch of pheasants. They weren't about to get up on the back deck to reach the bird food, but they were out and about! I often see them in the yard.

Today I saw two (only got a pic of one), and was also lucky enough to get a photo of that one pheasant flying away.

Maybe I'll put some food out for the pheasants, too. They really are lovely birds.