SPARK on Monday

Time for a SPARK.  “SPARKS” was started by Annie McGuffy of McGuffy’s Reader but ended when she stopped blogging some time ago. It was meant to be a way to start out each week with with a meaningful thought – something that spoke to each of us and hopefully everyone else who read it. Although Annie isn’t currently blogging, a lot of us who enjoyed her SPARKS decided to keep posting SPARKS of our own.

I am fairly certain I’ve seen this SPARK before but when I found it – it didn’t matter if I had or hadn’t.  I just like it a lot and wanted to make it my “inspiration” for the coming week.

I have a lot of small cracks……………but I still feel far from broken – I am more resilient and have stood the test of time for almost 75 years – I have yet to fall apart!    I might have come close but maybe that’s what life is all about.    I’m not going anywhere until whatever my purpose was in being brought into this world has been fulfilled.    Period.

Besides – there is always hope!

Hugs, Pam

 

Sunday Selfie Blog Hop

Sunday’s here!   That means it’s SELFIE day at The Cat On My Head.    If you’d like to join the hop you can click their badge above and link up.    Our chance to show ourselves off to the world by posting a selfie.

My selfie this week is rather boring – just me sitting on the front sidewalk looking around for some action.    Whether it’s a skink poking its’ head out from under the sidewalk or a chipmunk dashing between holes under the holly trees OR the cat next door who mooches breakfast from us most mornings.   Even though she’s in her own yard I see her and want to flex my considerable muscle (some say its’ fat – I say it’s muscle) to make sure she knows this is MY house.    She can visit (she spends the night on MY front porch when her humans leave her out for the night) and get a meal from here but that’s the extent of how far I put the welcome mat out !

SO – here’s the gem Mom has of the BACK of me on the lookout:

THEN she put it in Lunapic so she could make it somewhat more interesting than a picture of a big cat from the back sitting on a sidewalk minding his own business.

 

Whoa!  Put on your sunglasses to look at this one!   This is me with Lunapic’s “FLOWERS” art effect at 100%.

Yes of course we did a jigsaw puzzle………………this is quite an effect isn’t it – you can see lots of flowers around – I think if Mom had reduced the intensity to something like 50% it would have looked better but then SHE was the artist – I was the subject matter.    So here’s your puzzle:

  Just click this little photo for the puzzle and good luck!

 

Happy Sunday to everyone especially our Blog Hop hosts at The Cat On My Head!   

Hugs, Teddy

Bakin’ With Bacon and The King

Greetings bacon fans!     Well the HEAT is unending here in Castle Baconia which is what led me to think I’d share one of the Castle’s favorite nice, cool, crunchy and extremely delicious salads with you.    This is one that can be a whole meal.   At least the Royal Mom thinks so!    It’s refreshing and extra tasty especially with the mustard, apple cider vinegar, olive oil dressing.    You can add other ingredients if you like – some people like walnuts in it too but I’m a “purist”…………hahaha      Seriously, you may want to add other things and this is one of those recipes that is open to many additions per your taste so GO FOR IT!

 

Spinach, Apple, Bacon Salad

Ingredients

1 Granny Smith apple, halved, cored and thinly sliced

6 cups spinach leaves, washed and dried with paper towels

6 slices bacon – cut into 1/4″ strips

1 small shallot, chopped (optional but yummy)

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Directions

1. Place spinach and apple slices into a large mixing bowl. Render bacon strips over low heat until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towels to drain. Add shallots to bacon fat and saute’ until soft and fragrant. Whisk in mustard, vinegar and then olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour dressing over spinach, add bacon and toss to wilt salad slightly.

 

Now doesn’t that just sound fabulous?    Well, it is.    The Royal Mom (and Royal Dad) both think so – and who are we to question royalty?

 

THIS RECIPE WAS BLESSED BY THE BACON FAIRY!

Keep cool…..and enjoy some bacon!   

Your King

Friendly Fill-Ins

Happy Friday……………ready to fill-in the blanks?   I am!     If you want to join in the fun that our cohosts give us every week just click the badge and link up.   The sentences (we get four of them with blanks for us to fill) are there.

Here are this week’s sentences and Mom and I shared fill-in responsibilities this week as we often do.  If Mom is answering – the words are in BLUE and if I’m filling in the blank my words are in GREEN.

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1. The highlight of my summer so far has been – well – we haven’t had a highlight yet – but we live in hope!.

2. August is a good time to sweat a lot and be uncomfortable (just kidding – I hate it when it’s this hot – it’s MISERABLE).

3. Whining at the front door too often gets me into trouble.

4. I think I lose about a pound of hair every time I ask Mom to brush me

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And that my friends is filling in for THIS week!     We always have fun doing this Hop and thank our co-hosts for putting the sentences together for us every week.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Hey Mom – wake me when it’s Fall will you? 

  Love, Teddy

Thankful and Poetic Thursday

YAY for Thursday – a Thankful one especially.   These days we all need to think about how many things we are truly thankful for – things we maybe even take for granted but which we should be happy are in our lives.    For me, one of those things is my yard since I like to go outside.   I’m thankful there are lots of shady spots – especially on a hot day like today.   I love lying in the cool dirt UNDER a shrub for instance.   Always cool right on the ground under a shrub.    I like walking in the woods too for the same reason.   It’s about ten degrees cooler in the woods than in the yard.   Go figure.   I’m also thankful that Mom and Dad (and me) continue to be healthy.    We’re LUCKY.

I got the Poetic Thursday Rainbow Bridge e-mail from my brother Angel Sammy so I’m sharing it below.

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It’s time for poetry!

Thursday is my day to share with you – and for us all to share poems.    We get a photo every week and use it to inspire a poem then share it the following week.   Easy right?   Well sometimes it’s not easy coming up with inspiration for a poem but that’s why I try to help by providing a photo – maybe it will TICKLE your fancy.   If you wrote a poem for last week’s photo – let us know you wrote a poem by telling us in my comments OR give us a link OR poet the poem there.

Here’s last week’s inspirational photo and my poem to go with it:

“Road Trip!”

Poem by Angel Sammy Kimmell    ©August 3, 2022

 

Hitting the open road in this old car

Don’t even care if we can’t go far

We’re having an adventure and we’re rollin’ along

The wind in our hair – this is where we belong

We packed our bags, loaded them up and left “THE HOME”

To spend our last days free – we’re ready to roam!

When your time is short the only place you wanna be

Is with someone you care about who also wants to be free!

 

Yeah well these two are having a blast but no doubt their families will take exception to them hopping in a car and taking to the road.    Still I think every single one of us would rather do that than sit in a room watching TV or dozing in a chair just waiting for the dinner bell to ring or the nurse to bring us a pill.    On the other hand there are always circumstances to be considered:  health conditions, safety, certainly.   But the look on these gals’ faces is one of pure JOY.    Hard to think that might be WRONG.   Like Frank Sinatra’s song “I’ll Do It My Way”.    

SO – that’s that for this week but how about  next week?   Don’t worry – I have a great photo for us all to work with this week and share our poems NEXT Thursday again.  Here’s our inspiration for that:

Hmm…….wonder what this guy had in mind when he curled up on the library shelf??????    Let’s see what we all think – write a poem for this photo and share it next Thursday!

It’s been fun as always spending a little time with you – until next week please stay safe, happy and healthy…………and enjoy writing poems – they are good for your soul.

I am the Angel Poet in the green beret…..and I hope you join me for POETIC FUN each week!

Love and Rainbow Hugs, Angel Sammy

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Another fun one Angel Sammy!  Next week’s is going to be a doozy……………….love you!

Hugs, Teddy