Barking Mad

Pinterest Isn't a Complete Waste of Time After All!

I was slow to the join the rest of what seemed like everyone else, jumping on the Pinterest train.  To be honest, I don't think I really understood exactly what it was until just recently.    Of course, there were those who warned me, "Don't do it.  It will suck you in and you'll never escape!"     I didn't really want to get involved in another "time suck" as it is.  I'm on Facebook entirely too frequently, and Twitter?  It's hit and miss.  I have periods that last weeks without tweeting once, and then I'll have spurts of time where I never shut up.   I balked at adding yet another social media app that might require me to pay attention.   Silly me, I just didn't get it.

Well, now I do!

And ya know what?  I like it.  A lot.  Especially now that I know I can actually find cool information out there and put it to use!   This is handy when one is not particularly creative or original as is the case with me.  So, I love all the easy and fun cooking ideas!    I was born without a Martha Stewart gene, and my Betty Crocker gene has one too many chromosomes.  Souffles come out as soufflops!  I've also taken advantage of a lot of the homeschooling information available via Pinterest!    I'm grateful for a lot of it because we're still sort of feeling our way around this homeschooling thing.

This past weekend being Memorial Day weekend, we were invited to a couple of cookouts.  If we're not the ones hosting them, I pretty much struggle with what to take.  Oh and don't think of telling me, "Just bring yourselves! We don't need anything else!"  I hate showing up to things like cookouts, empty handed.

So, after having been on Pinterest for a little over a week, I had a small stockpile of what looked like simple, fun, and good ideas for things to take to a cookout.    Much to my amazement, once I was done putting together a few of the ideas I had repinned from other pinner's boards,  they came out looking like they were supposed to! 

Rainbow Fruit Kabobs . . .

(All images are mine.  Click for full size)

Then there were the fun little Ladybugs at the Ritz!  

And finally, Low Country Kabobs...minus the shrimp, which is typical of a "Low Country Boil"...my eczema flares really bad if I so much as touch a raw shrimp! 

Everything went over so well at the cookout!  I was still socially awkward and spent too much time hiding behind my camera, but I had a great time just the same.  Also managed to get a couple of really great shots of the folks at the cookout, as well as the two "mascots" . . .

Pretty Sadie . . .

Then there was the ever-present blue jay, just waiting for a morsel of food to be dropped so he could swoop down to gobble it up!     The more and more I photograph birds, the less terrified of them I become!

Of course, I couldn't help but snap a photo of Gaby kicking back, being wistful . . .

And Then They Were Gone

I took this photo at 11:21AM EST this morning . . .

By 4:43PM EST our baby robins had graduated from the nest. . .

Gaby is, as I was expecting, crestfallen.   However, after she dried her tears and told me that she hoped the babies would come back after they were all grown up and raise their  own babies in that very same nest, she went and sat at her desk and started writing stories about what Pippa, Twitter, Flutter and Bambi were doing out in the great big world.

Good luck fledglings. 

Good luck to anyone who finds themselves graduating from your own nest, be it high school, college, or even Kindergarten.  May the big wide world embrace you and may you embrace it back.

Spread your wings and fly!

Until They Fly Away

Gaby has said over and over again, that she's going to stand there until the baby robins fly away, so that she can say goodbye to each one. 

Gaby and I have gotten so attached to these adorable little peeps that we've named them!  While I can never be sure who's who, we've christened the chicks,  Twitter, Flutter, Pippa, and ...Bambi.  I know I know, but Gaby insisted.   So Bambi it is.  I have no idea which is male and which is female, so just go with me here, after all, it makes Gaby really happy! 

Every morning, I sit and wait until mama and papa robin are off foraging for worms and other yummies for their babies, before I step out and snap a few quick shots of the babies.   I had a bit more time today so I stood on a step ladder and noticed that each of the chicks are taking turns moving to the top of the pile and spreading their wings and fluffing them out.   Surely it won't be long before they are on the precipice of the nest, and then they'll take that leap.   It looks like Twitter made his or her way to the top of the pile and is fluffing and trying to spread his wings in anticipation of eventually taking flight . . .

I imagine this might be Pippa, getting ready to fluff her wings, and also maybe practicing for when she has a brood of her own babies.

When  they do make those first few furtive jumps, Gaby has promised she's going to be there to wish them good luck and say goodbye...