Hurrah for Fridays!

It's Friday!  Yeah, the weekend is almost here!   Today has started out to be a beautiful day.  The sun is shining after 2 days of rain and I had a lovely breakfast out with my Mum.  And, I'm so excited that in less than a week, I've managed to get our little Chippy eating out of my hand.  If I could figure out how to upload a video to my blog, I'd show you the cute little guy running up my leg to get a peanut.  But I'll have to make do with this still shot instead:

And once again, it's Follow Friday 40 and Over, at Java's Never Growing Old blog.  I participated for the first time last week and had so much fun meeting new people.  Looking forward to another go at it today.





And one of the bloggers I met last week is having a Blog Hop over at Things and Stuff and I've decided to participate in that too.

1. If you could go back to college would you change your major? Or, if you were to go to college right now...what major would you choose?
Hard question because I loved the majors I chose:  History and English.  I think maybe I'd choose the same again even though they haven't proven to be the most practical choices.
2. What do you love most about your home?  The style. It's an old home built in 1876 and I love the high ceilings and woodwork and the lovely old-fashioned wrap-around porch.
3. What types of books do you like to read (if you like to read at all)?
Mainly fiction.  I love mystery stories but tend towards the "cozy" ones where the village cat solves the crime.
4. What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten?
Turnip.  I despise turnip.  Well, I don't mind it stir-fried or raw, but when it's cooked into a gelatinous mass of goo it is most disgusting.
5. If you HAD to be a character on a TV show, whom would you be?
Oh dear, I don't watch a lot of TV.  I'm not sure I can answer that question.    But if I absolutely had to choose, I guess I'd choose Mary Tyler Moore.  I grew up on reruns of her show and everything about her just epitomized what I wanted to be when I grew up.  She had such a different life than my rural childhood and it seemed so glamourous.  Remember her fold-down Murphy bed?  Seemed so exotic and sophisticated.  In reality, it was probably a poky little apartment and wouldn't have been too great in real life.  But her character and that show have the whole nostalgia thing going for them for me, a piece of my childhood dreams. 

Roses & Rodents & Humans, Oh my!

What a glorious Sunday!  We've been enjoying our ROSES which are just coming into bloom.

I'm particularly happy with this rose that is finally big enough to start climbing over our pool fence and trellis.  I planted it 2 years ago and it is coming along beautifully.

I just love this shade of pink especially against the "aged grey" look of the fence boards and trellis.

I planted this Betty Boop rose two years ago as well.  I love that at different stages of the bloom, some of them have yellow and others are more white.  Really makes a stunning display.

Can't remember the name of this one but I LOVE it!

And now for the RODENT portion of today's post ....

I have to confess that I don't like many rodents, but I am extremely fond of CHIPMUNKS!   When we lost our outdoor cat two years ago, I was heartbroken, but I have been happy to see that our chipmunk population is gradually being restored since the cat's demise.  I have been attempting to tame the cute little creatures so I've been putting peanuts out every so often and I do see one chipmunk quite regularly collecting them.

This morning was a lazy Sunday morning when we got to sleep in and then have breakfast out on the deck.  While we were sitting there with our coffee, we heard a rustling and suddenly not one, not two, not three, but SIX chipmunks appeared!  Actually there were two adults and four babies.  So adorable!    

Here the four little ones are playing around with each other. 

They played very much like kittens, hiding and then pouncing on each other.  Very cute!

Looks like the mother is trying to keep the youngsters in line.  :)

In this picture it looks like she's giving one of them a scolding, or maybe washing his ears!  

I got out the bag of peanuts and convinced one of the adults to come quite close.  I wasn't expecting that he was going to touch my toe though and I was a wee bit nervous he might mistake it for a peanut. 

And finally here's a shot of our home where roses, rodents, and humans all coexist with great happiness.

I hope everyone in blogland is having a wonderful, restful Sunday like we are!