'mornin' all. I sell on eBrat and need a photo for EVERYTHING. Way back in the day I started out taking actual pictures on actual film and sending them to my sister 800 miles away who did not sell - but had a scanner. I would do the auction and with my password she would open it and revise adding the photo. WOW! What a complicated system, but ya gotta start somewhere. Then I got a scanner which does my flat things like books, magazines, fabric - and scans photos of larger items. Quite a step up! About 5 or 6 months ago my Dad got me a digital camera as a gift. Wow again! What a difference. So easy, so quick. I did immediately take it back and get a bit better one right away to be sure it would really serve my needs. Oh, I forgot where I was going with all this. ;) Oh, yeah. Our Wally World has a huge table of dollar a yard fabrics. I'd often see them and think "eww! what would anyone do with these?" But then I was thinking about making living room drapes for my FOUR GIGANTIC PICTURE WINDOWS EACH A DIFFERENT SIZE (previous owner/builder should have had his head examined) and I went there to look at the fabric. There was actually some rather nice stuff there if I kept my mind off of quilting. ;)) I 'got over' the drape episode thank goodness, but bought 2 yards each of 5 or 6 fabrics that I thought would be good backdrops for photography. They have worked out beautifully. I picked knits that didn't wrinkle when I scrunched them, not too thin, not too thick. That's helped a lot with my indoor photography but the outdoor is still chancy. Sometimes ya just can't edit out the ugly. Sigh. Sometimes I can't even PhotoDeluxe it out. Double-sigh. GH-

YESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is the hermit thrush!!!! (NOT EVEN LISTED in the MAssachusetts bird book which has 280 pages / 2 pages per bird, or about 140 birds) and he is NOT singing!!!(even though he is listed as having the most beautiful song of the songbirds of North America)-- he is just scrounging for food. Also, I appreciated the song sparrow ID, as well, because that helped identify yet another bird in the collection. So big THANKS to Jeanner (glorious photos!!!--what camera do you use?)and Kendra2 (such a cute pic of sparrow in the snow!) for helping me out. I'm just thrilled to have a Vermonter (hermit thrush is the state bird of Vermont) visiting at our place.

When we moved to our new house we had "1" cat his name was "Token" he was always an inside cat...he loved to sit on his window shelf and watch the birds and other wild life...we moved from the city to the country and live it...! We noticed a couple of other cats hanging around then they "we" all became friends. ..the other cats never left...! Then it started to get cold and colder outside. ...so we took a roll of clear plastic and small strips of wood and closed the whole back porch in with a lil' slit down one side of the steps so they can get in/out of....we made a nice lil' place for them to be warm and snuggly all winter....! We have done this for the past 4 years now.....and just bought the stuff this past weekend to do it again....! Soooo......I'm guessing the cats are happy and now "ours" Lol ♥

I like staring out windows, too, but I do find I do it more when I'm doing things I dislike, like washing dishes. I've got bird feeders 6 feet outside my kitchen window, Chickadees, gold finches, nuthatches, cardinals, it's great! My dining room table is next to the glass sliders with the same view of the feeders but if we are sitting there it's only for holiday dinners and we are talking with our guests, etc. I suppose if one uses the dining table all the time it might make a difference. (DH likes his meals in his recliner in front of the TV,) In the house we're building the dining table isn't near any windows, there really isn't any place to put it unless I replace the island with it. It would make a good farm table but I need that counter space! Now I suppose I could take my life into my hands and post that portion of my floor plan for suggestions? Pretty sure I've tried every combination possible though.