So lax I am . . .

Thought I had killed the Mandevilla but voila, it has lived.

Can't believe I'm not keeping up with this poor blog. Not sure why. I really don't do anything special but it seems I'm too occupied to sit down, relax and put a few words on the iPad parchment.

We spent a quiet 4th of July at home. It was a gray day but we still cooked up some hot dogs and hamburgers that were very tasty. Perhaps they were so good because we don't indulge in them often. The best part was the strawberry shortcake I made for dessert. The berries were so sweet I ate too many as I sliced them. They hardly needed any sugar. I had bought some Bisquick, first time in many years, to make the galettes. Wow, Bisquick has improved over the years. The galettes were out of this world delicious - warm, sweet with just the right crispy top. I broke down and bought a can, yes a can of real whipped cream instead of Kool Whip! It was a storybook ending to a perfect 4th of July with the best love on God's green earth.

Bought a new camera and I can't seem to stop playing with it. It has so many settings but I'm not even afraid of it. We bought a very good camera about nine years ago and it befuddled me for all of those years. For some reason I want to play around with this Panasonic.  Perhaps it's because there are actual YouTube videos that explain the camera in terms that I can understand, at least I get a little of the instruction. The nice thing is I can repeat watching the videos until some of the instruction sinks in. I have also downloaded a free eBook about the camera which backs up the videos. I do have the CD instruction book but it's a painful exercise to even know where to look. In any case it will take me years to get all of the particular information I need to take perfect photos but in the meantime I'm having a great time missing the best shots of my feathered friends because I'm so slow at setting up. I have to leave the camera in the house when I go outside to relax on my garage swing or else I'm always looking for the next perfect shot. We have so many beautiful birds in the yard I can't keep up with them. I often sit on my swing and will see hummingbirds at the feeders near the house and in the dogwood; there will be bluebirds hunting in the garden and up on the hill; the rose-breasted Grosbeaks, the various woodpeckers, finches, doves, cardinals, towhees, blue jays, sparrows, titmice, catbirds, cowbirds, nuthatches, chickadees will be attacking the feeders near the porch and the robins, grackles, crows and starlings will be searching for bugs on the lawns as the hawks fly in for a tasty morsel from time to time. I will see the the turkey vultures and swallows skittering overhead while a stately heron will glide by. The birds take turns, except the hummingbirds, bathing in the burned out stump of the largest tamarack.  Along with all of the flying creatures we can watch the turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, foxes, neighborly dogs and cats when they also come out to play. All in all a pleasant way to enjoy this sweet existence on planet earth.

Quote:  No nation can be destroyed while it possesses a good home life.   __J. G. Holland      (Are we ever in trouble.)