Home Again, Home Again

Northern Virginia Countryside

I've been away for a couple of weeks, visiting my sister and her husband, who live just outside Washington, D.C., in northern Virginia. I don't get up there very often; my last trip was about two years ago. I usually go alone, and drive the almost 1,000 miles each way; it's a long and physically taxing trip, but I very much enjoy the scenery through Tennessee and Virginia.

This time, I was afforded the luxury of flying, courtesy of my brother-in-law, and the trip took just over 6 hours. Airline routes being what they are, I had to fly from Little Rock to Houston, then Houston to Washington, D.C.

While Arkansas was experiencing downpours (October, 2009, was the wettest October on record, with over 16" of rain during the month), there were only light showers in Virginia -- just enough to prevent us from getting out and enjoying the fall scenery -- until the last day of my visit, when the sun came out and things dried out enough to let us to go out to lunch at my sister's favorite restaurant, Heart in Hand, in Clifton, VA, and for a short drive in the surrounding countryside, where I took the photo shown above.

The area around Clifton is "horse country" and there are literally hundreds of miles of fence similar to the one shown in the photo above. There's some serious money in "them thar hills!"

I think my cats were glad to see me come home; I can't sit down without having one cat in my lap and another yowling around my ankles. I was glad to see them, too.

More, later.

P.S. The Kairos card count is now almost 1,400. The ladies have been busy since I've been away.

Kairos Card Count, So Far

Friend "B" has used her time as a volunteer in the church office to put Kairos cards and envelopes together. As of this morning, there are 1,031 cards! Yay!

There will be some more to add to that group before the card-making is done. We may have to rent a U-Haul to get them all there! (just kidding, but they will fill a large box.)

Our minister is delighted with the results of our card-making efforts, and the ladies of the church who assisted feel the effort was well worth-while.

More, later.

Coming Up for Air

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been busy. Really, really busy!

Card-Making Activities

The card-making frenzy is over -- for a while, at least. In an earlier post, I mentioned the Kairos Prison Ministry. Last Friday evening, in our church's Parish Hall, nine other women and I produced almost 900 Christmas cards. That's nine hundred, folks! All these cards will be taken to one of the state's prisons, Tucker Correctional Facility, where they will be made available to the inmates to send to their families during the holiday season.

We ran out of envelopes at 796 cards, so had a bit of shopping to do. One of the church office volunteers will finish putting envelopes with cards this week. I suspect that we'll have more than 900 cards when the final count is done.

My friend "B" and I furnished all the supplies and materials for this effort, so we had a LOT of paper cutting and folding to do, but it was worth it.

The volunteers who joined us in this effort said they had a great time, and are interested in making another huge batch of cards (Easter, birthday, all-occasion) in the spring of 2010. We'll make "stampers" out of them, yet!

Just Stuff

Back to Earth!

Hot Air Balloon Ride

Should you be wondering why I haven't posted again about my marvelous hot air balloon ride, it's coming, it's coming! Sorting through and choosing the best of several hundred photos is taking time, and I do want my tale to have some sort of order to it. My fellow passenger is sending me a CD of the photos she took, BalloonLR is sending a CD with photos taken from the ground by the Chaser and, with their permission, I may include some of those in my post.

 Greeting Cards
I'm not working on much of anything EXCEPT cards! Our World Card Making Day event was a success, with 16 ladies creating 240 cards. As I've stated in a previous post, half the cards are going to the Little Rock Ronald McDonald House, and half will be sent to Cards for Soldiers. Below are photos of two of the cards we created during this event.


As if that were not enough, one of my church friends and I have organized a project to create Christmas cards for the inmates of one of Arkansas' prisons. Several members of our church are actively engaged in the "Kairos Prison Ministry" there. Our priest told us of a need for cards for the inmates to send to their families and several ladies have risen to the challenge. We'll be making Christmas cards next week -- several hundred if we work it right.

Why Have All the Birds Gone? 
All summer long, my yard was filled with birds: four or five families of cardinals ; a plethora of squawking blue jays; grackles by the dozen; lots of sparrows of different sorts; some randomly visiting chickadees and nuthatches; a family of hummingbirds. I filled my feeders at least twice a day and spent hours watching them. On the first day of Autumn, except for the hummingbirds, the majority of them disappeared, leaving only a few stalwart hangers-on. I've seen only one blue jay in the last three weeks, and not a single grackle. Even the squirrels have deserted me. I suspected that the neighbor's cat, lurking under the trees, had scared them off. I shooed her out of the yard every time I saw her (Maggie's a nice cat, but I don't want her around my birds).

Maggie may be playing a part in their absence, but something else is scaring them off, and today I saw the culprit! A large hawk swooped through the yard and perched in the branches of one of my trees not far from the feeders. I've never before seen a hawk in this neighborhood, much less my own yard! Of course I ran to get my camera but was not quick enough. Just as I was focusing the telephoto lens, off it went!

I watched for quite some time, and finally a brave little nuthatch visited the feeder, soon followed by two cardinal pairs. The hawk must have been long gone for them to come out of hiding. Fortunately, all my trees are still fully leafed, so there are hiding places for them.

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More, later.