Up, Up and Away.......

my beautiful, my beautiful balloon!!! Today we went to The Quick Check Festival of Ballooning in Readington, New Jersey. This is a great day trip for us, only about an hour from home. It was a beautiful morning, we went to watch the 6:45 a.m. mass (125) balloon ascension. It was like heaven on earth!! There are a lot of pictures, so sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!!

This balloon went first, it is the "balloonmeister"

he throws out a landing target for all the other balloons!!!

Then they blow up all the rest of the balloons.........

The hubs, you can see the balloons being blown up in the background!!

They release them one at a time, every couple of seconds......

This one was my favorite!!!!!

Who knows why?!?!?

Chuck took all the pictures, every single one. With the exception of the one's of himself!!!

The Red Bull Air Force Skydive and Wingsuit Demonstration

Breakfast of Champions

Funnel Cake and a Strawberry Smoothie!!!!

Me coming out of a "Mr. John"

This has never happened before & it will never happen again!!!!

Me..........

Chuck and his "finger"

He forgot to put his hand in his pocket for this one photo!!!!

The festival is held at The Solberg Airport in Readington, New Jersey,

so there are lots of planes around the grounds.

The End!!!!! 

Butterflies Are Beautiful!!!!

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Captured in the gardens

on my beautiful cone flowers!!!!

Hummingbird Happiness!!!!

I am completely in love with these beautiful little birds. You can click on the photo's and see a little more detail

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Hummingbirds are the tiniest birds in the world!!!!

Hummingbirds can flash their bright colors, as well as hide them when needed.

The bright radiant color on hummingbirds comes from iridescent coloring like on a soap bubble or prism.

Hummingbirds can hear better and see farther then humans, they have no sense of smell.

A hummingbirds tongue is grooved like the shape of a "W".

A hummingbirds beak is generally shaped like any other bird beak,

just longer in proportion to it's body.

Hummingbirds do not drink through their beaks like a straw.

They lap up nectar with their tongues which have tiny hairs on the end of them.

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird, in flight!!!!!!

A Gorget is the bright flashing colored feathers of the hummingbirds neck.

Better seen here, in this very blurry shot!!!!

and here also!!!!

I would really appreciate it if you could tell me in your opinion, which picture is best.

I can't really tell. These photo's are straight out of the camera, most have been cropped once......

the blurry pictures of the male were cropped twice.

On an unrelated note, the hubs crushed his finger today, we spent the best part of today in the emergency room.

The finger is not broken, it required 5 stitches.

When we walked in the ER door, the woman greeted us by name & asked us how we were doing  ;)

That's a joke, but really.....we spend way too much time there!!!!!!

He is napping!!!!!

A Room With A View......

I took all of these pictures on July 25, 2011........from my room with a view!!!!!

Male House Finch.....I think it's a youngin'

Meet Poppa

Tufted Titmouse

Tween Blue Jay

Learning that "2" peanut's are better then "1"!!!!

I think momma is in the background giving lessons!!!! 

Gorgeous Male Goldfinch

Checking in!!!!

Male Hairy or Downy Woodpecker....looking slightly frazzled!!!

I thought it might be the less common Hairy because of the yellow "fluff" at the bill

and the longer body!!!!

Gray Catbird

I love his fanned tail and the little curl of his beak!!!!

This one's for someone special!!!!

Male House Sparrow, had a lot to say!!!!

Another Male House Finch

Checking the decor in the house....... 

A beautiful Robin, drenched after a visit to the bird bath!!!!!!

Black-Capped Chickadee

No idea here.....anybody know?!?!

Tween Grackle

I get lot's of Cardinal's but could not get a good picture on this day!!!!

I am posting pictures of my hummingbirds tomorrow.....

I think I have a couple of good ones!!!!!

It's Time To Dish The Dirt!!!!!

If you follow my blog, you know that I Don't Love To Cook BUT I Love To Bake. I think I am a baking diva.......really. I post some pretty impressive pictures and boast about my skills. I actually have one whole tab devoted just to baking. I have been known to pat myself on the back and volunteer for every single baking project possible. This dates back to 1989 when Scott started pre-k, I am withholding the remaining details because they are too painful for me to share. I recently posted about a baking marathon here, for Chuck's brother who is leaving for Kuwait. It was fairly impressive.

Well now it's time to dish the dirt, spill the beans, tell the truth. I made this first........

Cappuccino Mousse Trifle

This went very well....all ingredients were included,

added in the right order. Good!!

I quickly move on to cupcakes. I plan on making 4 dozen, 2 dozen yellow cake, 2 dozen chocolate cake. I use a box mix, tweaked ever so slightly, this will go quickly!!!!

I started with yellow cake cupcakes. All ingredients are added, the cupcake batter is perfectly placed in the cute little wrappers, in to the oven they go......wow, I am doing fabulous!!!! The timer is set and I take a much deserved break to check on some blogger friends.

The timer dings, a rotation of the cupcakes is needed. I open the oven door and the oven is consumed with cob webs. Now when I say consumed, I mean it looks like someone took cotton and stretched it in the oven, from one side to the other. Crap....how did that happen and more importantly how did I not see it before now. It's o.k., I have a plan. I will finish baking them and feed them to the birds. Good plan!!! The cupcakes finish, I turn the oven off so I can clean it when it cools off. I take one additional break to check my facebook page, no action there so I move on to bloggerville.

Now is the perfect time to realize I do not have another yellow cake mix. That's o.k. I will just bring 12, no one will notice. The oven is cleaned and it's time to move on!!!!

I over bake the second patch....crap, I hope no one notices!!!

Ooooohhhhh no, Chuck eats one of these, now there's only 11.....that's o.k., no one will notice!!!

Don't they look great!!!!!

These are next........

2 Dozen Chocolate Cupcakes

At this point I am exhausted & complaining.

I started way too late to accomplish all the things I need to do!!!!

Now Chuck is helping!!!!

Next, I make cake balls, they turn out like s___, so I decide to abandon those!!

On to this........

Gooey Butter Cake

At this point I have so many timers set that I am clueless as to why things are dinging!! I turned the oven off, (whoops) instead of the timer, so un-be-knownst to me, the Gooey Butter Cake is cooking in the oven which has been turned off!! So actually, it's not cooking at all!!!!

There is sooooo much more but I think you get the idea. It was a bit of a disaster. I will add one more funny little tid-bit. I went to the party with one leg and one armpit shaved, I am not certain if washed my hair. Don't ask, I'm not telling!!!!!

Leaf of Love!!!!

It's a heart, arteries and all!!!!!

Linking to Clytie's Random Hearts

Please stop by and check out all the love!!!!

There are some really wonderful hearts there!!!!!!