Slow Morning

Since it's almost noon, I don't have much time left before I have to start calling it a slow day. This morning I was up at my usual before-dawn hour (courtesy of my little cat who gets ants in his furry pants around 5:00 a.m.). Usually, this is no problem for me. I read email, check-in on social media, do my embroidery, eat breakfast, and drink lots of coffee.

This morning, I was so sleepy doing my embroidery after Mike left for work, that I laid down on the couch and took a long nap. I must have needed the sleep, although I'm not sure why. Could be just the work I put into dinner yesterday, but even that doesn't seem to explain it to my usual morning-person self. I guess it doesn't matter, and I'm not making excuses. That's just an observation that I was tired this morning and took a nap as a result.

It was a lovely day in every way yesterday. The sun was shining, and there was no wind. The wind often makes it uncomfortable to be outside for visiting, but there was none of that. Last week I bought two "Hum Buttons". You might have seen these on social media. They are little tiny (and surprisingly expensive) hummingbird feeders you can hold in your hand. I took this next image off Pinterest so you could see them:

I decided to give it a try when I saw some hummingbirds flying around our feeders. This is an Annas Hummingbird. In the right light, their throats are ruby red.

So I held the hum button up overhead where s/he could see it. Hm, s/he thought, this feeder right here will do nicely.

After half an hour, I hadn't enticed any hummers to eat from my hand, but I'll keep trying. If necessary, I'll remove their feeders and then see if they're more interested. There's more than one way to feed a bird.

Early in the afternoon, I decided to break out my new fingerpaints. For one thing, all the tubes were sealed, and I didn't want to mess with that after everyone got here. My family can be funny about things, and since I wasn't sure I could convince anyone to fingerpaint with me, I decided to strike out on my own. This is my masterpiece. I know you're going to be impressed:

Move over, kindergartners of the world. Perhaps I could make a quilt of this as well.

As it turns out, fingerpainting didn't fit into our evening. After the family arrived, we got engrossed in playing this game that Matthew and Valerie brought me.

It's a board game and a kind of puzzle wrapped into one. There are two players. The one who last had a needle in his/her hand goes first. (That was, unsurprisingly, me.) You move your piece around the game board. When both players reach the center, the game is over and the score is tallied. As you go, you're collecting buttons, which can be spent for "quilt blocks" (spread in a circle here). The goal is to fill in as much space on your individual game board as possible. If you are the first to create a 7 x 7 patch, you get a special "trophy" which will increase your point-holdings in the end. 

Matthew ponders his next move.

It was really quite fun! There is some strategy involved that I think one could figure out after playing it a few more times. It's also in a small box, so it's ideal for Mike and me to take along when we're traveling. Definitely a good choice for this birthday girl.

Erik and Mae brought roses. They almost always bring flowers. So sweet of them.

And those are all the pictures I took last night. Sometimes pictures just don't fit into the evening, you know? We had a good dinner and a good time, and it was good to see everyone. Their lives have grown so busy, we don't see them nearly often enough.

Today my goal is to do some planting. The weather has been lovely for the past several days, but at this time of the year, rain is always just a few days off. Today I'm ready to plant my new herbs and my sunflowers. It would be good for them to have a few cool rainy days to get them started. Also, if that doesn't wear me out, I'll transplant my tomatoes into larger pots. If there's time left over, I'll get some sewing done.

So with that, I'm off. Or maybe I'll drink another cup of coffee.