Awards Celebration with Banana Bread

My blog has had an exciting week as it has been honored with several awards from some fine fellow bloggers. I invite my readers to share in the celebration with a slice of freshly baked Banana Bread with mini chocolate chips.

The first award I received is from Bob, over at Blackholes and Astrostuff. He sent me the Amazing Blogger award, and I am most honored to receive it from such an outstanding blogger.

He posts amazing photos of the moon and the planets that he takes himself with his telescope that is quite an impressive size - in fact it has it's own little house!

With his unique sense of humor and his love for all things in the night sky, he writes his posts in easy language so we can all enjoy it too.

Many thanks to him for giving me this award!





It is now my turn to pass it on to another deserving blog. We are going to leave outer space and head under the sea to find the recipient.

If you have not visited Bobbie and Jerry over at, The Right Blue, then you are missing out on an extraordinary underwater adventure.

These two have been diving for decades all over the globe and they have such amazing photos.

They share their exciting experiences as well as the proper names for the sea life - their knowledge is vast!

It makes one yearn to explore the ocean depths and see for ourselves the underwater beauty that they photograph and share with us.

They are Amazing Bloggers and are so deserving of this award - stop in for a visit, they will soon become one of your favorites too!


I have received several more awards that I will list in another post - I think I need to make some more banana bread - we are running out!

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ABC Wednesday - S

(The Wordless Wednesday post is beneath this post.)

S is for Soft yet Sharp .......

While the cat was dozing on the warm hood of the car, I slowly and quietly crept up on him and snapped a few photos.

This soft, furry paw is so enticing to stroke - the fur is almost hiding his sharp claws.

I've seen them in action many times, and I would not want to cross this tough little feral cat.

After cracking open an eye to prove I wasn't getting anything over him, he cast a disgusting glance at the black box that is always after him, and went back to napping.

Nothing was going to interrupt his warm delicious nap on this chilly afternoon.






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Wordless Wednesday - Old Log Cabin

Old Log Cabin






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Green Thumb Sunday - Boot Planter

Boot Planter for Green Thumb Sunday







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I did a post titled Green Succulent on 11/11. It was a macro image of a Hens and Chickens succulent in a boot planter.

A couple of viewers requested that they would like to see the whole planter.

Today's post shows the entire recycled boot that is used as a planter in the garden.

It also made a unique display by the doorstep and on the steps.

It was interesting to see this hardy garden plant used in another setting - and it adapted itself quite well.






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ABC Wednesday - Rusty Car

(The Wordless Wednesday post is beneath this post.)

R is for Rusty Car .......

An old car from days gone by sits rusting in a salvage yard.

Destroyed by fire, there are no tires or interior.

There is also no roof - which makes me think it must have been a convertible.

Not sure there are too many good parts left on this one except the heavy metal frame and exterior panels.

It must have found a home somewhere - it was gone the next time I went back.





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Wordless Wednesday - Bridge to the Ocean

Bridge to the Ocean






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Green Thumb Sunday - Grasses in the Water

Grasses in the Water for Green Thumb Sunday







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It was an overcast day when we climbed a small mountain to this little spring fed pond.

The light reflecting off the water was enough to make these water grasses appear to glow.

By using a polarizer, the glare was cut down on the water, and the roots became visible beneath the surface.





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Mixing and Baking

A very busy week is ahead with the baking, cleaning, and preparations for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

I will do my best to keep up with my meme posts for this week.

Please forgive me for the tardiness that will happen - I will be hosting Thanksgiving at my home and will have a full house with tons of work to go along with it.

I will make my rounds and visits once things have settled down - thanks for your patience!

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ABC Wednesday - Q

(The Wordless Wednesday post is beneath this post.)

Q is for Quilt .......

A quilt is draped over the clothesline, drying in the warm summer breeze.

It is the Log Cabin pattern made from several green and purple flowered calicos.

It is completely hand-stitched and is the first (and only) quilt that I have made.

The quilting on the first block in the center is atrocious but by the third block I finally mastered the stitching technique.

I have had to stop myself many times from redoing those first couple of squares, reminding myself that there is no such thing as perfection.

They are are part of the history of this creation, and my kids remember my frustration with it in the beginning.

To "fix" it would change it's story and the lessons it can teach.






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Wordless Wednesday - Dragonfly Macro

Dragonfly Macro






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Green Thumb Sunday - Green Succulent

Green Succulent for Green Thumb Sunday







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This is a macro of a Hens and Chickens succulent plant.

You can see the sole of a boot just under the leaves on the lower left.

This old, worn out boot was recycled into a planter for this little plant, and it is totally filled with all sizes of Hens and Chicks.

My sister came up with this clever idea and it is a unique, beautiful addition to her garden.





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Broken Links

I have been working on the side bar on my blog to make it appear more organized.

As of this post, I belong to three different blog memes that have rather long blogrolls.

I now post only the link to the blogroll instead of having the entire list on the sidebar.

To do this, you need to create a blog post that is way back dated. Then you post the link to that entry on the sidebar.

To create these pages you need to know some html codes. Since I only know the very basic, my pages are not too fancy, but they accomplish what I want them to.

Broken links on a web page is very irritating, so I make sure that each link I create gets tested. I also use them periodically to make sure they are current and working.

I have the pages set up now so it is as easy to add a new link as it was before with the blogger link system.

The copy and paste keys are my best friends - especially since I have them programmed into my mouse - two clicks and it's done!







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ABC Wednesday - P

(The Wordless Wednesday post is beneath this post.)

P is for Paw Print.......

A paw print in the wet sand - not yet disturbed from a passer-by.

Hard to tell from the photo, but this was a large print.

There was only one as it was just a small sandy spot - glad the dog chose to walk through it.








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Wordless Wednesday - The Harbor Marker

The Harbor Marker






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Green Thumb Sunday - Variegated Hosta

Variegated Hosta for Green Thumb Sunday







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I did a post titled Green Hosta on 10/26, and posted a photo showing the changes the plant had made.

Today's post has an image of the Hosta that has not changed.

The beautiful greens and creams are swirled along the length of each leaf.

The leaves are smaller, thicker, curlier, and they have more pronounced details in the veins.

They are a beautiful ground cover that lasts all season.






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Google PageRank

Time to celebrate - my blog now has PageRank!

Google must have done an update on their PageRank algorithm - both my blog and and my website are showing a ranking that was not there last week.

I use the Firefox browser with the Google Toolbar add-on. It shows the rank of each page that gets loaded in the browser, and I just noticed that I have a green bar on both of my sites now.

One of the factors that Google uses to help determine the rank are the number of links that a website has coming into it from other websites.

And for that - I owe a huge thank you to all of you who have included a link to my site on your site.

And I offer you each a piece of homemade toffee in appreciation!

It was hard to photograph this bowl of candy - the chocolate kept melting under the hot lights and I had to keep sticking it in the fridge to firm it back up.

The all-natural ingredients include just butter and sugar with chocolate melted on the top. A simple and sinful treat that melts in your mouth - Enjoy!!






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