As another new year is upon us, it is time, once again, to jump start my fitness kick, record all of those calories, walk briskly around the boulevard, budget, and vow to make the most of our time on a slim dime! Of course, after projecting much more time for creating for others in December than I actually had, I continue to work on a few delinquent Christmas gifts. Hopefully, the receivers will consider them worth the wait! I did start the new year off right by spending an entire morning in every book store in town. My delightful excursions resulted in a boatload of “good reads” to enjoy and prevent me from spending dollars I do not have!
We attended a holiday party last night and made a number of new acquaintances, many of whom were McMurray professors and spouses. I tend to enjoy the “outsider” approach from afar when attending such events, but after receiving a little help from my friends and forcing myself to “step out” a bit, I considered it a highly entertaining evening. Actually, the first week in January is a perfect time to host a party. Everyone is ready to escape the comfortable, yet at times tiring ” room with a view” of home, with the opportunity to listen to fresh conversation. It was a wonderfully, cool night on the LeMaster’s beautiful, covered porch overlooking the creek. I believe BG looks similar to this picture of Mr. Buttons, following his partying, though he is not inside of a box today.
At the party, I was able to find out this year’s location of our previous neighborhood creek visitors , two Great Horned Owls. Apparently, they are “hooting” during this, a later time of year than usual, off of Rivercrest, where my Aunt Ginger and Uncle Hubert used to reside. I want them to return to us very badly, as photographing them was one of my favorite creek activities!
I saw a great deal of evidence of our large fox population in my backyard yesterday afternoon. I need to replace a light bulb, so that perhaps I can catch a photograph of them one of these evenings.
My endless project of card creation continues:
Child of the Rock Garden 
Beautiful cards! And the books look interesting too!!