Life in the Bristolwood

I thought this picture of a little female Downy Woodpecker was appropriate for the header I chose!  She was peeking out from the feeder to let other birds know it was *her* turn!

When my missing-in-action blog showed up again this morning, I was nearly in shock! It was so tough being disconnected for what seemed so long. I was also rather surprised to see that the entries I made on Saturday even showed up. I would get on the computer, and one minute my blog was functioning okay, then the next, it was gone!

 Our webhost (Christian Webhost) did some maintenance last weekend, and I am not quite sure, but think they ran into some problems and worked on it more this past weekend. It then turned into a nightmare for them and as we read the blog they have, we began to see it was deeply troubling for them. They are concerned many of their clients might leave because of the delay in getting websites back up again. They host many churches and missionaries. My own website (olivetreesoaps.com) was down, but I am okay with that.

Sunday was a busy day, as it was the day before Michelle’s birthday. Before I ran around with Ben, I decided to take a plunge in the hot tub. As I was getting out, I shrieked! The kids nearly jumped out of their skin, wondering what was wrong. Dripping wet, I told them to *hurry* and get my camera! Totally puzzled by such a strange request, (regarding the fact that I was now still dripping wet with my robe over my swimsuit)  Michelle brought the camera to me.

It was only then that I explained to the kids to “look upward!”

In my last entry, I noted the Moon Halo I saw on the morning of October 31.  Well, on this day, I spotted a Solar Halo!

With Nikon’s bright eyepiece system, they warn never to look into the sun with the camera. I took these two shots by aiming the camera in the direction I wanted it and they show the halo fairly well.  Living in the woods is where I love being, but at times like this, it made for a small shot…The trees only allowed part of the halo to be seen.

Ben and I went off in the Explorer to do our errands…As we drove along, I saw this Redtail Hawk. (been seeing them a lot lately!) Poor Ben just rolled his eyes as I parked alongside the road to take a picture. He seems to think I am “afflicted” with some sort of disease…”shutterbug”?

We passed through Cheshire, the small community I photgraphed on Halloween night. I was a bit surprised, as the trees are barely covered in toilet paper. Believe me when I say there is usually MUCH more than this. I think the leaves lingering on the trees so late this year diminished the fun, as TP catches much easier on bare branches! In the two photos, you can see the great wads of TP left on lawns, though.

Ben and I returned just before the sunset. This was the weekend to reset our clocks for daylight savings, so as I passed this field of cattle, I went down the road a bit, then looped back to take the picture. Once again, Ben showed a bit of displeasure, but the colors were so beautiful and intense! How could I pass this by?

Yesterday, we basically took the day off to celebrate Michelle’s special day. Although we were prepared to take her out to dinner, she wanted to stay home instead. She was thrilled with her big gift of a new camcorder. This was what she had really wanted and I was so pleased Mark found one for a good price.

A highlight of her day was when the phone rang. The twin brothers who went with Ben and her and their sister to see the last of the Pirates of the Carribean movies called to serenade her over the phone. They were on the phone for half an hour, singing and playing the guitar. What delightful young men!

We ended the day by watching the movie Pride and Prejudice as per Michelle’s request. It is just so hard to think that she has grown up so quickly!