Smoke and Shadow

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A Little Look Back

Before the afterglow from Christmas is gone, I thought

I'd post a few photos from last week.

There was a flurry of wrapping gifts, giving little thank-yous,

filling slippers instead of stockings and feasting.

Lots of fun memories.

I said last night that I'm going to miss the tree when we take

it down.  It's our prettiest tree ever.  The living room will seem

dark and plain without it's glow.  It won't come down until

New Years Day is over, so we have a few more days to enjoy it!

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November Rain

Smoke, napping the day away...

 "'Cause nothin' lasts forever, 

Even cold November rain."

....Guns N' Roses

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Smoke

Just another reason I love the color grey.....

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Around Here, Lately

1. A yummy treat.  Intense flavor.  Delish.
2. The rain made Garden Girl look like GI Jane!
3. Last week I started letting Star go outside.  She was begging!  The first few times I stayed out with her.  But she never wanted to go far.  She loves to look around a little and then nap on a patio chair. She hasn't gotten the hang of the pet flap yet and I'm not encouraging it.
4. The first time Star and I went out, I had to laugh as sleepy cats emerged from underneath trees and bushes to see what we were up to!
5. I love this picture of Smokey.  
6. Not all the cat stories are happy, though.  We haven't seen Domino in over 1 1/2 weeks.  I hate the not knowing what happened the most. :(
7. Remember Alex and the glitter?  I'm still finding it everywhere!  On me, on Marmalade, on Alex's toothbrush, in the bath tub... you name it! ha.
8. A cowboy boot carrot.

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Grocery Day

I think my favorite part of grocery shopping is getting home and 

putting it all away.  Especially days like today, when the weather 

 calls for severe thunderstorms and the first drop waits to fall 

 until I bring the last bag into the house.  And as I put things away

this afternoon, I thought how ordinary things can be  

beautiful when captured with a camera.  Here's what putting  

away the groceries looked like in our house today.

Of course, some grocery trips are not like this.

I'm thinking of the ones where the rain drenches me,

I forget my grocery list and forget important items,

I hit a bump in the parking lot and a pint of blueberries

pops out of the cart and spills all over the asphalt

(that happened last week!) and I arrive home just in time to

 meet the boys off the bus and all hell seems to be breaking 

 loose.  Groceries finally get put away after dinner. haha... 

It just doesn't have the same feel as it did today.

But for today, putting away the groceries was lovely. :)

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Sunshine After The Rain

While it was pouring rain last week, the cats spent most of their

time on the back porch watching rain drops and napping.

When that got boring, they amused themselves inside, playing

 relay races, leap frog or a combination of both!

When the 'moat' started to subside, it was time to go exploring.

This morning I could see that the spiders had been busy rebuilding...

And the hostas were putting out some blooms!

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The Weekend

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Around Here Lately

1. Some vintage jars full of cookies waiting to give to the bus driver and aide this afternoon.
2. More Etsy sales going out with a gift for the mail lady.  She does earn her pay on my account alone! ha.
3. Charcoal, snoozing by the glow of the tree.
4. The wreath is the only thing frosty around here.  It's cold enough for snow and grey enough for snow.  It just needs to fall now!
5. Some spicy soup to warm our tummies down to our toes.
6. Smoke, hanging out in the kitchen with me.  If he gets any bigger, I won't be able to tell him from Slate!
7. The boys at their Christmas program Tuesday.

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Aw.

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What I Did Wednesday #35

I picked strawberries, baked bread and bar cookies,

did some laundry, worked a little in the garden,

put a chimney in my new lamp,

made a gigantic pan of farfalla lasagna,

caught a triple cat hug, 

and cleaned out my purse.

And that was after I met with repair men

and ran some errands.  A fun, busy day!

Did you have a good day?

We're having lovely weather.

Cool like fall.  That makes me happy!

Gotta love a summer polar vortex!

♥