Sean, my son, is an Earth and Science major at PSU soon to be a meteorology major up at the main campus in ’07.

You Are Rain

You can be warm and sexy. Or cold and unwelcoming. Either way, you slowly bring out the beauty around you. You are best known for: your touch Your dominant state: changing

Don’t you love the little marigolds? I had them last year and had to get them again for thr fairy garden. Brian gave me the miniature ‘bubble’ gazing ball a few years ago.
I have my van back and it seems to be running better (it should for almost a grand) especially the air! No popping was heard from the steering wheel, so I guess my ‘little firecracker’ will be the van’s knickname because of it’s color of red.
I did run around the store-finally. Of course I forgot a few things, I always do.
Have a great weekend!

I just ordered yet another cookbook -one with Panini sandwich recipes. I have the Cuisinart press I haven’t tried yet. I think I’ll make some turkey clubs tomorrow-that’s if I get to the store. I also ordered To Kill A Mockingbird on DVD. Thank goodness for Amazon and their used section-though these were both new.
I need to go food shopping! I’ve had a bad week with you-know-what and just couldn’t walk around the store, plus Sean wouldn’t let me use his car if I wanted. Well, he probably would if I asked nicely. ; ) I was just snacking on Cheerios-the cupboards are getting half full-lol.
Hopefully I’ll go later after we get the van if it is indeed ready to be picked up.

This is called Morpho hyacinthus, a rare and almost extinct butterfly. I believe this photo was taken in El Salvador. I think butterflies are some of the coolest creatures on earth. I even let some milkweed sprout around the side gardens for the Monarchs to enjoy.

Here’s a little info I found:
They reside in tropical jungles and can often be found in clearings. Most of their later life history is still unknown. What is known is that they normally spend their nights hanging from trees and the underside of leaves.

Microscopic ridges on the backs of their wings fracture and reflect light, making them appear iridescent, like blue gemstones. When their wings are folded they show only the bottom of their wings that are camouflaged dull brown side with “eye spots”
This allows for the morpho to fold inward the bright side of its wings when it sleeps and show only the side that blends into the environment.

The leaves were covered with ‘rust’ and all the sites said to cut them off.
Such a pretty salmon color too. It looks so bare without it’s big frilly leaves. I guess after it blooms, I am cutting it down to the ground. I happen to turn on GW’s press conference yesterday and saw hollyhocks behind him that looked like their leaves were cut back. Maybe theirs was only for show though.

How many cross stitch books do you own and how often do you use them?
Before I answer this, you have to be aware of one thing-about 7 yrs ago I wasn’t doing eBay and only had a small box of cross stitching charts let alone books. Then I began selling things and I started to find cheapie book sales and would buy one for me and one for the eBay table. Needless to say, I have an entire closed cabinet of hardback books now. I do go through them to look for certain designs. I also have several crates of leaflets. I plan to weed these out-someday-so someone else can enjoy them. Right now, I have to sell off or give away the eBay cross stitch related things.

…because of darn this old van! $1300 to fix it all. I think repairs that have to do with brakes and air conditioning are important and that seems to be the majority of problems with the popping, grinding and humming. The day we were at my mom’s a few weeks ago was miserable as it was in the high 80s and the air wouldn’t work properly-it heats up the second seat where I was sitting! I’m trying to get a hold of Brian to tell him the ‘good news’. Last night we had 3 of the 5 numbers in the powerball-wow-$7!! If only. Since I don’t see us purchasing another vehicle for me in the near future, I would recommend us getting all the repairs. We have the home equity loan and I need a car. Peace of mind so be it.
Blogger won’t let me upload photos. I don’t know what it’s problem is.
It is a nice day before the heat is suppose to hit tomorrow. Sean said he’ll cut the grass. So maybe I’ll settle on the lounge chair with my book and stitching and stop worrying about things-for at least a little while.
~Update-blogger didn’t publish this earlier. I talked to my brother the mechanic and Bri and they said to stick with the brake repair and the a/c. Not sure if that will bring the cost down that much.
I tried to sit outside and the bugs were bothering me. I’ll find something else relaxing to do.

I just got finished watching the 3-hour long ‘most inspirational’ top 100 movies of all time as rated by the American Film Institute. Now I must be daft or my brain is water-logged because I didn’t even think about ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ being voted as #1. It certainly is one of my top 10 favorites as is Jimmy Stewart, a fellow Pennsylvanian definitely is one of my favorite actors of all time. I do have a few ‘collectables’ from the movie-a IAWL cookbook written by Karolyn Grimes, the actress who played ‘Zuzu’ Susan Bailey in the movie. And I also have the Zuzu porcelain doll (I was into dolls a while back) and the trading cards too.
I’m glad to see ‘Rocky’ in the top 10. I’m wondering if I’ve ever seen ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ as it was #2 in this list and #1 about a year ago in another AFI special. I’ll have to make a mental note to buy that one.
Not much is new. Brian’s car is home and repaired at a tune of almost $800! I decided to leave my van to get the air conditioning checked out and a few mystery noises hopefully figured out. My brother the mechanic has tried in the past to do this. I call my van ‘the red firecracker’ because as soon as it warms up outside, I get a popping noise when I turn the steering wheel left or right. We also have some grinding and humming noises. I think when Sean was learning to drive, he was backing up and really went over a curve bad enough to give me a bubble in the rear right tire that needed to be replaced. I think it’s out of alignment. I want to have a vehicle I am not apprehensive to drive.
We went to Carrabbas for dinner (across from car dealership) and came out to torrential downpour.
I spent the evening watching the above show and worked on my ‘A Walk in the Woods’ cross stitch piece.
BTW, I added a link to Make A Child Smile in my sidebar. It’s an web based organization where you are only asked to send 3 sick kids a greeting card each every month. I’ve been sending the cards to the different children for almost 8 years now. I’ve come to know many them, lately little Joanna whose mom Lorie sends me email and photos. What a precious child Joanna is.

I’ve gotten the following photos in email, so I don’t know who to credit for these, but aren’t they fascinating?

According to Wikipedia: Many animals with albinism, however, lose their protective camouflage and are unable to conceal themselves from their predators or prey. The survivability rate of animals with albinism in the wild is usually quite low.
As albinism is a recessive gene, the chance of offspring with albinism resulting from the pairing of a creature with albinism with a creature without albinism is very low.

I’m also interested in albinism as we have a mostly white robin (he’s rather mottled in appearance), living around here. I’d love to get a photo of him sometime to share.