Unclassified

Have you ever seen anything like this? I guess I should explain. This is a tree across the street. After I met and made friends with Mama Squirrel, she had three sets of babies here beside my house--2 sets per season. The 4th set she had across the street in this tree. I could have stood on a step stool and I would have been able to reach inside to touch the babies. But I would not let myself...

Then last spring/summer we watched to see if she would use the tree above again, hoping she would since we had had the one she used over here cut down. We did not see her around it...then I forget who noticed, but the honeybees used it. By the end of the fall, I felt like it was full to the brim with honey. I always meant to go take a picture of the bees and just did not get around to it...for one thing I was not about to use flash so I am not sure if they would have shown up.

Now to this, I broke off a piece of it and brought it inside and put it on a plate...it melted and was mostly water I think. But it was sticky so it has to be part honey...I don't know if rain has blown in the hole, and thus making the tree so full it expanded or what. But I have never seen anything like it before and I thought I would share it with the rest of you.

Sepia scenes

Finally...
I thought of something else for your viewing pleasure besides barns. Not that there is anything wrong with barns...at least for me they are always great. But I realize some do not share my love of them so wanted to actually do a sepia scene post without one.
I kept trying to think what I had that would do and it finally dawned on me to use a picture or two from the Newport Hill Climb that takes place the first weekend in October every year. I have posted regular color photo of the bottom truck here. And I used it for Paintbox Pictures here. You have to scroll down for the version there though.

If you want to join, or just see more Sepia Scenes, click on the badge at the top of this post.

As an afterthought, I got to thinking about texture so went and played with these two photos adding texture...just thought I would show you how it altered them.

Alphabet Meme

Over at Joyful Reflections, Betsy did the alphabet meme...I thought it sounded like fun so she assigned me the letter: N. I am now supposed to list 10 things that I love that begin with the letter 'n.' If you want to join the meme, tell me so in a comment and I will assign you a letter.

For the first thing I am going to list that I love, it is

1. My brother, Neal. (Betsy gave me the letter N because of Neal--she knows we are brother and sister, and I sort of met her through his blog.) I thought it fitting that he be the first thing I listed.

2. Nieces and Nephews....several of my nieces and nephews are close to my age and feel almost more like brothers and sisters, but in reality they are all my nieces and nephews and I love them.

3. Newborns. I have always loved newborn calves or kittens. And I totally enjoyed my newborn babies...you know how you sort of dread hearing them cry to be fed in the middle of the night, but once you are up with them, you could sit and hold them forever and just look into their tiny faces and marvel at their tiny hands. (And if they don't cry, you jump awake to check on them)...but anyway, soon, we should have our own newborn grandbaby to hold. The due date was February 26th, but last week the doctor told her she could go any time and he really doesn't expect her to last till the due date.

4. Newly fallen snow--like in the picture above. I love to get out and tramp around in new snow...where my tracks are some of the first tracks to be seen. I loved eating snow where it is heavy laden on pine tree branches or off the top of fence posts. When I was a kid, I could never be out in a new fallen snow without eating my share of it. Now I am almost afraid to do that with all the pollution, but sometimes I still can't resist.

5. Nature. As you know from my post the other day, I sure do enjoy nature. Again, I used to be out in all kinds of weather seeing what I could see. And I would like to get back to more of that.

6. New. That doesn't sound like anything, yet it is. I love find a new author that I haven't read, one that I can't wait to read everything they have written. And I love hearing new songs that I want to listen to over and over. And I love picking out new pens and paper....I knew one of my nieces loves pens and paper as I do, but just a while back Neal told me he loved pens. They don't actually have to be new, just new to me. It really is hard for me to pass by those aisles in the store and not want to buy something. And I love my new camera my husband got me for Christmas.

7. Neil Young...I really love a lot of his songs. Some of his music I don't care for at all, but some of his songs are some of my lifetime favorites.

8. Neighbors. We have been blessed with having good neighbors most of our life and I am thankful for that.

9. Needles. Yeah, I am grasping at straws but truthfully, they are one of the first things I thought of. I haven't been doing much sewing the past year or so, but that is so not normal for me. I almost always have something I am sewing on. And I do enjoy hand work a big part of the time. Some people hate that last bit of sewing on the binding on a quilt but I really enjoy that last part where you are stitching it down by hand.

10. North Carolina Wrens...they are one of my most favorite things. I cannot hear one without smiling. I know in a way they fit in with nature, yet they are special to me. We always had wrens at home. They almost always had a nest on the front porch or back porch. One time they nested in my mom's wandering jew...I don't know how it survived cause we didn't really water it. Our dad had muscular dystrophy and was disabled. He sat on our front porch a lot and the wrens finally got till they would perch on his foot. Just for a few minutes, but that is still special. Or if one of us was sitting in the swing, they didn't mind perching on the chain right above our head. Either the last year I worked or the next to last year, the wrens built a next right above the washer. Thankfully, they were leaving the next about the time we started picking. I actually got to hold one or two in my hand--they were flying around where we worked so we caught them and took them out back where they would be a little bit safer.

I did have a hard time coming up with ten things that begin with 'n'--I bet once I post this a dozen more will pop into my head. I am glad this isn't a contest. If you want to try your hand at the Alphabet Meme, don't forget to say so in a comment.