Spring!...So That's What It's Suppose To Look Like!!!

     Is that?......Really?!.....Nahhhhhhh!....SUNSHINE!!!! ^_^ Yes!....Yes!...I think it is!........SPRING!!!!...'Bout time!!!! LOL

     I'm surprised that I woke up early enough to actually see it! LOL Hubby and I got back home very early this morning from our 'virtual' trip to Texas to see the FGCU Eagles play the Florida Gators!...*wink! wink!*...We only got a little 'cat nap' before the alarm clock went off at our usual 'get up' time...which is around 5 a.m.!!
      After we threw a shoe across the room and knocked the alarm clock off of it's perch, we went back to bed for another hour or so! ^_^ But now...there's sunshine in the backyard!!! :-)
       

     I'm happy to see the sunshine! The way my body was aching last night I thought we were gonna get rain!...That must've been just too much traveling! LOL

        Now, the days will be longer and I can get more stuff done!...That's the way it works in theory anyway! LOL

     Right now I don't wanna do anything except wake up completely...and get some tea and food in my belly!...All of those peanuts and popcorn at the game last night only made me hungry for some real food!! LOL
       Hubby just made me a scrambled egg, and some oatmeal with honey and peaches! I'm off to 'get my grub on'!! LOL...Sorry winter birds...
 

     ...your free meal ticket is over for this year!...We've got to prepare the area for the hummingbirds!! :-) We want 'Wug Backyard' to be a 'Drive-Up' for all of Jehovah God's birdie creatures!! :-] 

        Have a good day, Everybody!! :-)

Spring Is The Rain

Spring is the rain,
when the flowers grow again,
and new life is let remain.
After months of drench and drain,
you now see roses down the lane.

Spring is the rain,
and the budding of the grain,
and birds, out your window pane.
When the weather makes you sane,
and its no longer on your brain,
'cause there's no cold to give you pain.

Spring is the rain-
the time for traveling on the train,
for watching trees, not weather vanes,
and raking leaves-Autumn's disdain.
You lift your head, just like a crane,
and now your thought's no longer vain.
You think of seasons that were plain,
but now its blooming, down on Main,
because spring is the rain.

Yes, I Know That Tennis Isn't The Only Thing Going On In The World!

(Personalized Children's Hand Stamped TENNIS Charm Necklace by LillyEllen)

          We had such a beautiful day here in Holyoke yesterday! The weather was just gorgeous...most of the day anyway. The hummingbirds, who are LOVING the new feeder, were flitting and flying back and forth to it all day! In fact, this morning when we looked out at the feeder, through the pouring raindrops....Yep! It's POURING this morning!...

 (Summer Rain Wellies Original 12x16 Watercolor by HandyHappy)

         ......we saw that the feeder, hanging out there near the surviving tree, is almost empty!

      And guess what else?!...The robin mommy is attentively manning her nest and turquoise blue egg babies in the same tree too!...To think, last year I was almost teary thinking about how I was never gonna see anymore bird action right outside my window! :-] I'm glad I was wrong!

      Speaking of 'action', it's tennis time again! :-) 

********** For the first time in his career, Roger Federer dropped a set to Nicolas Mahut during their match yesterday, but, in typical Roger Federer style, he shifted things up a gear to win...6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.........While Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dismissed Fabio Fognini, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

       Svetlana Kuznetsova showed that she's still very much a force to be reckoned with in her 6-1, 6-2 demolition of # 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska..........Maria Sharapova took only one hour to dispose of Ayumi Morita, 6-1, 6-1. With Serena Williams gone from singles play, Maria is on a course to win the only major she is yet to win, Roland Garros.

      The story to watch for me yesterday was Sloane Stephens!

 (photo from rolandgarros(dot)com)

        For the first time in her young career, she made the fourth round at a Grand Slam! CONGRATULATIONS Sloane!! :-) 

       Today's matches include Maria Sharapova vs Shuai Peng....Rafael Nadal vs Eduardo Schwank.....Na Li vs. Christina McHale, (which is going on right now)...Francesca Schiavone vs. Varvara Lepchenko and Andy Murray vs Santiago Giraldo....You know where I'll be!!...What? You didn't think I was gonna say that again?! ^_^ **********

        Tennis wasn't the only wonderful sports news yesterday!...but I'm gonna take a little break here...for the 'tired-of-me' non sports fans out there. ^_^ I'm gonna share a couple of other colorful Etsy finds first!....

(Bicycle Art Watercolor Print by WatercolorByMuren)

(Custom Engraved Leather Wrapped Bracelet by BookFiend)

(Rainbow Button Concealed Platform Pumps by MerloDesigns)

       About those shoes....Ooooo Child!!! ^_^ My inside teenager is jumping up and down!!....Of course, my outside arthritic, almost hammer-toed self, is cringing!!! LOL

      Okay, while I dream of sore feet soaking in an ice bath, let me tell you the other sports news that burned up the wires last night!...

      First, the Boston Celtics, my Massachusetts com padres, won their first basketball game of the series with the Miami Heat last night, bringing the best of seven series to 2/1. Okay Boston, only three more wins to go!! :-)

    And lastly, New York Mets pitcher, Johan Santana, after surgery in 2010 and doubts that he would ever pitch again, pitched a 130 plus pitch "No-hitter" baseball game last night against the Saint Louis Cardinals!!! This was the very first No-hitter in New York Mets history! It took 50 years and over 8,000 games for the Mets to finally achieve their first no-no! :-) All I can say to you, Johan Santana, is 'BIG PROPS' baby!! :-]

 (Youtube)

    Okay...that's all folks!...except for a personal 'BIG PROPS' to my 'chef Jeff' hubby! He, for the first time last night, marinated some pork chops!! Woohoo!! He got up before the sun did this morning, excited to cook them and see how they turned out. I just had one for breakfast...along with a slice of cherry cheesecake that he also made last night!!! ^_^ Good job, honey bear!!!! Now we're all fueled up for the day ahead!...Now where are the umbrella and galoshes?! O_O

     Have a good day, Everybody! :-)

Spring Is The Rain

Spring is the rain,
when the flowers grow again,
and new life is let remain.
After months of drench and drain,
you now see roses down the lane.

Spring is the rain,
and the budding of the grain,
and birds, out your window pane.
When the weather makes you sane,
and its no longer on your brain,
'cause there's no cold to give you pain.

Spring is the rain-
the time for traveling on the train,
for watching trees, not weather vanes,
and raking leaves-Autumn's disdain.
You lift your head, just like a crane,
and now your thought's no longer vain.
You think of seasons that were plain,
but now its blooming, down on Main,
because spring is the rain.

If You Ask Me......

         "If you ask me how I'm doing, I would say I'm doing just fine. I would lie and say that you're not on my mind. But I go out, and I sit down at a table set for two, and finally I'm forced to face the truth...no matter what I say, I'm not over you..." :-/
      If you're a music lover like me, you probably already know that those are the lyrics to Gavin DeGraw's song "Not Over You"...



       But the reason the song popped into my head first thing this morning had nothing to do with a relationship that went bad. In fact, my relationship with hubby...except for his occasional bad attempt at cooking beef...is going great! ^_^ In fact, we've got our 30th wedding anniversary coming up this summer! :-) ...We're still not sure what we're doing! O_O...Anyway!...
     But there is a relationship that I can't seem to get over...it's my relationship with this pesky cold...bug...flu...virus...thing! Just like the lyrics to Gavin's song, if you ask me how I'm doing I'd say I'm doing just fine...especially when I'm sitting somewhere minding my own business, not talking! That thing isn't even on my mind at those times!
     But if I go to try and exert myself to do something, or to answer the phone and talk to somebody, I'm forced to face the truth....I'm not over it yet! UGH!...I'm still working on it though. And hey!...the fever's gone! So I know it's heading in the right direction! 
     While it's taking it's time moseying on outta here though, I've got the pretty pussy willows that my friends gave us yesterday! :-) ...

       Hubby put some of them in my cobalt blue vase, with the oriental scene on the side of it...so pretty!...and sat it in the backyard...in all of that gorgeous eighty-something weather we had yesterday!...and took a picture so I could show you! :-)
     I kinda wish he had took a close up of them too, but that's alright...Wikipedia had a close up of some...

      They just look like Spring, don't they?!.....And officially, as of yesterday, that's the season we're in now...so good! :-) ...If you ask me, I think we've been into Spring for months now here in the northeast...This has been some crazy weather!! O_O
     Now all I have to do is wait for these pesky coughing spells to stop...and to get past the sneezing and wheezing of the first blooms of Spring...and start seeing some ripened tomatoes in the grocery store or at the farmer's markets....

           (Polka Dot Tomato Pincushion by SeaPinks)

        ...and I'll officially believe it...just in time for summer, no doubt!! LOL...But if worse comes to worse, and there's some upcoming weather anomaly that postpones or delays any of this....thanks to Framed Cooks blog, I'll still have baby butterfingers! ^_^ Butterfingers that I can eat alone...

      ...or have made up into some butterfinger and chocolate truffles y'all!!! :-) Check her blog >HERE< to see what I mean, and get the recipe!


        So, like the fish in my header photo today, if you ask me...I'm doing just fine, but I'm not completely out of the weeds yet! :-)) I suspect it won't be much longer...Scratch that!...I HOPE it won't be much longer. :-/ I've heard a few people are getting hit with 2nd and 3rd rounds of this thing!..."Listen here Mr. bug, flu, or whatever you are...you better not even THINK about it!!!" Grrrr!...Maybe that'll sufficiently scare it off!.....*looking left and right* :-]
     By the way, I got the new Giveaway up finally! Click the right-hand sidebar photo of the turquoise brooch. There's new rules posted for entry this time too!...I'll be waiting! :-) Have a good rest of the day, everybody! If you ask me, it looks like it's gonna be a good one!...It's Spring!


Spring Is The Rain

Spring is the rain,
when the flowers grow again,
and new life is let remain.
After months of drench and drain,
you now see roses down the lane.

Spring is the rain,
and the budding of the grain,
and birds, out your window pane.
When the weather makes you sane,
and its no longer on your brain,
'cause there's no cold to give you pain.

Spring is the rain-
the time for traveling on the train,
for watching trees, not weather vanes,
and raking leaves-Autumn's disdain.
You lift your head, just like a crane,
and now your thought's no longer vain.
You think of seasons that were plain,
but now its blooming, down on Main,
because spring is the rain.      

YIPPEE!!!!!

You would think, after weeks of sitting still looking out the window, with my camera at the ready...and cramps in my clicker finger...I'd be tired of looking at...or for...hummingbirds! Well...you'd be wrong!

Not only am I still enjoying the constant watchfulness I have to be in every time something flies by the window...a butterfly, cardinal, large insect, or robin...but I'm also loving looking at hummingbirds in prints or paintings, like the original watercolor hummingbird by asho in my header photo.
Or this print set of two painted watercolor hummingbirds by rachellelevingston.

But guess what?!...As beautiful as their hummingbird paintings are...and they 'are' beautiful!...I no longer have to settle for just a still painting of a hummingbird. Yippee!! We finally got footage of the resident Holyoke, 'sitting in, and flitting around the tree in my backyard', hummingbirds!!! :-)

I know...it's not very good footage, but what do you want?! I was so excited to finally be in the right position to get some footage that it didn't matter what kind of footage it was...LOL...the 'first time' that is!! :-)) ...Yep! We got some more!!! :-) Take a peek at "Hershey" the hummingbird!

"Hershey" got his name because hubby thought he looked sorta like a chocolate drop. *Teehee*...Hubby named the other three hummingbirds....YES!!!! Three!!...that were hanging around our tree yesterday too!
He named the baby grayish one "Horacio". I asked why and he said: "He's so tiny that he needs a big name!" I asked why he thought Horacio was a 'big' name.....and then that saga was about to begin...You know the one like we had about the parrot...So I said: "Never mind. Horacio it is!" LOL
"Hershey" has a little white band around his neck. "Chico" is bigger and has a splash of red under his chin. And "Zip" is brownish, with all of his feathers always out of place. ^_^
"Hershey" though, is apparently now considering our feeder and our backyard tree his personal home. :-) It was pouring rain all day yesterday and he just kept coming back, flitting around, sitting in the branches, and preening himself and sipping nectar...all day!! :-)
As a matter of fact, this morning when hubby went out there to get the feeder down, to clean it and put more fresh nectar in it, "Hershey" was flying around the tree keeping an eye on him,...flying away, and coming back.

Hopefully now we all can just live in peaceful human versus hummingbird existence, and I can stop boring you guys with my hummingbird sagas all the time! LOL
Now I can go back to boring you with my crochet sagas!! ^_^ Speaking of which, I had a repeat customer recently, a gentleman who likes my men's boutonnieres. He was the hit of his niece's wedding recently, wearing a boutonniere from my shop...and he sent me a picture and gave me permission to share it!!!! :-)

Doesn't he look 'dapper'?! Hubby and I love the combo of the boutonniere, pocket handkerchief, and hat. "THANKS so much for letting me share", Mr. Excellent Customer!!! :-)
Okay, I'm all done...except for one more thing...I found a video on Youtube with directions for those of you who want to make your own homemade hummingbird nectar, so you can get some hummingbirds to visit and stay in your yard! It's 'Easy Peasy'!!!


And Oh Yeah! I didn't forget my movie theme for today either! ^_^ I thought this one was the perfect one for today!!!


Spring Is The Rain

Spring is the rain,
when the flowers grow again,
and new life is let remain.
After months of drench and drain,
you now see roses down the lane.

Spring is the rain,
and the budding of the grain,
and birds, out your window pane.
When the weather makes you sane,
and its no longer on your brain,
'cause there's no cold to give you pain.

Spring is the rain-
the time for traveling on the train,
for watching trees, not weather vanes,
and raking leaves-Autumn's disdain.
You lift your head, just like a crane,
and now your thought's no longer vain.
You think of seasons that were plain,
but now its blooming, down on Main,
because spring is the rain.

The Good Weather Is About To Launch!!

      Okay.....so the photo is a 'little' misleading! LOL You're not in the sunny beaches of the Caribbean. You're just in my backyard. LOL But it should count for something if your mind REALLY wants to be in the Carribean!!! ^_^ 
     Speaking of which, you can kinda go there...sailing the warm seas I mean...with Vicki and the Gardener and friends, from the blog 2 Bags Full. They just got back from a cruise and she brought back lots of photos. Go check it out!! :-)
     Before the cruise they had a short stay in Florida, where they...and a few of their friends...got to see the last launch of the Space Shuttle DISCOVERY!

      I love the photos (via some friends of hers on Flickr). They make you feel like you're sitting in a lawn chair right next to the launch site! LOL
      But that's not where I am....I'm in Massachusetts, looking out the window, waiting for the good weather and Spring to hit "Lift Off"! So far all I have is a backyard without snow...at least for a few more minutes!...Hey!! My backyard doesn't have snow!!!! 

        I've been waiting for that to happen all winter!

        It's still very wet, but even that sogginess will be gone soon.....Well, eventually.....maybe. :-/

       Believe it or not, the forecast here today is for sleet and rain, with a high of only 45 degrees...*sigh*...I just saw on the news that we may get 1 to 3 inches of snow by tonight....*Big Sigh* :-/ .....but at least there's no snow in the backyard right now!!

       Okay....so there's a 'little' snow, off to the left (far on the left there,....and behind the tree line). But I can live with that! ^_^ 

      It'll be gone soon....and the stuff that's falling today will be gone too!....How do I know?!...Because the first 'critter' has shown up in the backyard!!

       Can you see him?!......It's a squirrel!

      He looks like he's trying to remember where he buried those nuts... :-] With all of the snow we've had, who knows where those babies floated off to!! ^_^ Now I'm going to float off too. 
     I'm going to use up some extra crochet thread today, making little backless flowers for my scrap-booking folks. I figured I could 'kill two birds with one stone'...so to speak. I'll finally use up these little bits of thread, and I'll have something to put in a new section of my Wuglyees Etsy shop..."supplies"! 
     Maybe I can finally get rid of some of this pink!!! I'm sure there must be some scrap-bookers out there looking for some little pink flowers for a scrap-booking project for somebody's baby girl!....Right?! ^_^ Well, you can look for these in my shop maybe some time later today......I'm going to be looking for Spring.....and now......snow and rain. *sigh*


Spring Is The Rain

Spring is the rain,
when the flowers grow again,
and new life is let remain.
After months of drench and drain,
you now see roses down the lane.

Spring is the rain,
and the budding of the grain,
and birds, out your window pane.
When the weather makes you sane,
and its no longer on your brain,
'cause there's no cold to give you pain.

Spring is the rain-
the time for traveling on the train,
for watching trees, not weather vanes,
and raking leaves-Autumn's disdain.
You lift your head, just like a crane,
and now your thought's no longer vain.
You think of seasons that were plain,
but now its blooming, down on Main,
because spring is the rain.

Surviving The Summer?

   I haven't shared any pictures with you lately of the backyard. Frankly, I haven't done it because the backyard has been UN-inspiring. Between all of the thunderstorms, wind, and blistering heat, the backyard has just been...trying to survive!!

    But this morning this pretty little lilac colored flower, the one in the header picture, was lifting it's little head, as if to say: "I haven't given up yet!" And considering that most of the other flowers that used to accompany it are gone, I just think it's wonderful!!...Even though where it  is-is just hanging off to the side in here...

    WOW! It really IS a survivor!...It's not alone though. The other potted plants are hanging in there too...

   ....This last one has a hanger-on too...

   Okay, so I would love it if they looked like this...

Image by Martin LaBar (going on hiatus) via Flickr

Image by Martin LaBar (going on hiatus) via Flickr

      But that's not happening right now...*Deep Breath*...But it's still amazing how a plant can show the same resilience as a strong human being! That's what mine are doing. So I'm going to give them some encouragement..."HANG IN THERE, BABIES! MAMA LOVES YOU...you poor sad things!"  :-))

    There are some sunflower plants that my hubby planted in the backyard that are just now trying to start a cycle of growth!

     But if you look at their leaves you can see that the summer critters are trying to eat them before they get a good start. UGH! He'll have to put on his Superman suit and get to work on them before it's too late!

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

     If he's successful, one day soon I'll be showing you big pretty sunflower photos from my own backyard that look kinda like these...

Image via Wikipedia

     Okay...Maybe not THAT many!! LOL

       In the meantime, I know, it looks kind of gloomy in the backyard. But guess what? It's not ALL gloomy. There are some plants that are growing beautifully!!...

    And if you look close you can see the buds! That means there WILL be some new and beautiful flowers in the backyard soon...YAY!!!...It's not Springtime anymore, but it is SOMETHING! And I could sure use something pretty to look at in my backyard again!!

     (Which reminds me...I'll have some updates on a few things in my post tomorrow for those of you who read my posts regularly. If there is anything particular you want an update about, let me know in today's comments.)

Spring Is The Rain

Spring is the rain,

when the flowers grow again,

and new life is let remain.

After months of drench and drain,

you now see roses down the lane.

Spring is the rain,

and the budding of the grain,

and birds, out your window pane.

When the weather makes you sane,

and its no longer on your brain,

'cause there's no cold to give you pain.

Spring is the rain-

the time for traveling on the train,

for watching trees, not weather vanes,

and raking leaves-Autumn's disdain.

You lift your head, just like a crane,

and now your thought's no longer vain.

You think of seasons that were plain,

but now its blooming, down on Main,

because spring is the rain.

Yep!...More rain!!!

You know, I could be really irritated at all of this rain, but...I'm finding the best things to do while it's ping pinging and thunder clapping outside. Look! I finished the brown hat!!!

As you can see, I even put one of my babies (flower) on it! I didn't make it a permanent fixture though. It can be removed. But why would anybody want to remove it!!! LOL {Going through a bit of rain logged delusion.}
  While I was inside crocheting hats, hubby was all over town taking pictures! He's really getting into this picture taking thing! I'll show you some of his pictures of our little town tomorrow. Today I wanted to show you some of the ones he took in between the rain storms. I start off with one he took of a neighbor's rose.

   He wasn't as interested in her rose as he was in the leaves of the rose, all drenched in rain water. I think the rose was hiding anyway...Here are a few others he took around our yard.

   The forecast for today is 88 degrees and sunny! But for Thursday...more rain and thunder showers. I guess I'd better start figuring out what my next crochet project is going to be. For sure it looks like I'm going to have nothing but time to work on it!
   I've probably shared this poem with you before, but with the weather, I thought it was appropriate again!

 Spring Is The Rain

Spring is the rain,
when the flowers grow again,
and new life is let remain.
After months of drench and drain,
you now see roses down the lane.

Spring is the rain,
and the budding of the grain,
and birds, out your window pane.
When the weather makes you sane,
and its no longer on your brain,
'cause there's no cold to give you pain.

Spring is the rain-
the time for traveling on the train,
for watching trees, not weather vanes,
and raking leaves-Autumn's disdain.
You lift your head, just like a crane,
and now your thought's no longer vain.
You think of seasons that were plain,
but now its blooming, down on Main,
because spring is the rain.