Pop quiz for Friday

Update: Answer to this weekend's pop quiz.

For those who guessed it was something in a blender - you're right! It's a thick smoothie made from frozen banana, plain yogurt, soy milk, and a mixed berry blend - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. The reason it has this cool shape is probably that it's really thick. I used as little soy milk as I could get away with.

I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's answers, right or wrong. Thanks for playing!


Who knows what this is?



Have a great weekend!

The Gardens

The Frederick Meijer Gardens, that is. It's a lovely place and getting better all the time. It's in Grand Rapids off of M37. I went there a number of years ago when it was still quite new. They're really getting it pulled together now.

But my favorite time of the year to go is when the butterfly exhibit is happening. I can't get many good butterfly pictures, but the orchids are at their peak then. So let's take a peek at some of the flowers and stuff I saw there. :-)

You can check out my whole set on Flickr. But I will try to be merciful here and only post some of the pictures.















This one is my favorite. It looks even better if you click on it and choose All Sizes.








I like this one because the flower is cool and I got a butterfly in motion.






This isn't quite in focus, but he's so pretty and usually closes up when he lands. Then he's all brown.


This one looks better larger, too.


It was warm enough to be outside without jackets that day.


And I'll end it with the waterfall.

Another anniversary

Wow, I don't believe it. I almost forgot my own blogoversary. Two years and counting...

Happy St Paddy's Day or Erin Go Braugh-less

It's been a while since I've posted and I thought I should do something. Since it's St Paddy's day I thought I'd go with this quiz.

Your Irish Name Is...

Clodagh Maguire

What's your Irish Name?

House guest

First, thank you everyone, for all the sympathy on my klutzism from the previous post. Everything is healing nicely.

Now, for pictures of our house guest. I think most of you know Annie. She belongs to Ichabod's parents. His parents are out of town and we're keeping her for part of the time. She is such a sweetie. And here are the pictures to prove it.

She loved it outside! It was snowing and windy, but she loved it anyway.


The rest of these pictures weren't so easy to get. She doesn't always sit still very long, especially when there's a camera around.















There are a few more on my Flickr site. You can just click on any of the pictures above to get there.

Klutz

I've written before about being a klutz. It's a natural talent, just lucky enough to be born that way, I guess. It usually is something that happens, I get embarrassed or not, and move on. After my Thursday morning klutz I haven't moved quite as much.

I had my boots on. I promised JDR a picture of these but I haven't gotten to that point yet. Anyway, I had my boots on and with my purse and computer bag over my shoulder I got to the top of the four steps leading to the back door. This was inside, mind you.

For some reason, my foot on the top step decided it didn't need to let me travel down the stairs. Unfortunately, the rest of my body hadn't gotten that message. So what ended up happening was that both of my feet folded up under me, forcing my knees to really bend and go ahead of me down the steps.

All I could think of, besides pain, when I stopped moving was that my ankles were at very unnatural angles to my legs. I had to pull them out from under me, all the while yelling things like ow and shit. Ichabod was still home and he came running over to see what had happened.

I checked them out and the bones were all still where they were supposed to be, but it hurt like hell. He would've carried me back in, if need be. But while he got my purse and computer for me, I butt-scooted back up the steps. Then I took some tentative steps. It hurt, but I could still walk.

Most of the rest of the day was spent in my comfy chair with ice packs on my legs and ankles. As it turned out, my left ankle and right knee took the biggest hits. Can't bend my right knee past a 90 degree angle, and the left ankle just decides to remind me, when it feels like it, that I put it through unnecessary hell.

I didn't think to take pictures until today, so things have probably gone down a bit. There wasn't much swelling in my knee, so I've spared your eyes that picture. But here's a picture from the top, showing the difference in the two ankles.


Here's the right ankle with just a little bit of swelling behind the ankle bone.


Now, here's the left one.


So I've been working from home, reading, and watching movies. I hope it's a long, long time before I pull a stunt like this one again.