BACK TO REAL LIFE

Back home from Daytona and recovering from the MILES & MILES of walking required to get from the parking lot to the bus, from the bus to the racetrack, and then from the front gate to your seat. WOW! And then, once you have done all that, you get to do it again AFTER the race, with the added bonus of waiting in line for over an hour for the bus to pick you up and take you to the parking lot. OR, you could walk the five miles to the parking lot - no kidding, that is how far they told us the parking lot was from where we were waiting. However, everyone was very courteous and our bus drivers were so funny. The race was a lot of fun, even through the rain.

Now, after spending time making up to my dogs for deserting them for a week, it is time to get back to real life. I have been trying to get all of the laundry done from the trip and should get that finished up tomorrow. I've spent too much time out in the back yard the past couple of days or the laundry would already be done!!! However, the dogs absolutely LOVE for me to sit out in the back yard with them and I am only TOO happy to oblige and watch the birds.

Birdwatching in Florida was so much fun and I saw some great birds. We had a lot of fun watching the pelicans and River Breeze Park. Then, I went out to watch the ducks in front of our hotel and spotted a limpkin. They are relatively uncommon, which made it a real treat and surprise! Of course, there are some great photos to scrapbook of all of these birds. I was treated to a new woodpecker in our backyard today as well as another bird that I haven't identified yet. This has really become such a great hobby and is so relaxing. It is really fun to find out how many people share this passion. I was talking at the scrapbook store with some friends and found out that a couple of them birdwatch as well. Of course, they have seen many more birds that me since they have been at it a lot longer. One shared that her grandparent started her birdwatching. She said she had an album with the birdcalls on it that help you identify the bird by its call as well as by sight. This is something that I will definitely need to look into since I am always hearing a new bird, but have no idea what to look for.

There are so many scrapbooking lines that include birds in their designs. Makes it really fun when you are scrapbooking bird photos. I think it will be a lot of fun to do a book just with photos of my birds. Unfortunately, you don't always get a photo of EVERY bird, but it would be fun to make a book with photos of the ones I do have.

Have you seen the precious photos of Ali Edwards' precious new little girl? Such a doll! I wish that I was as laid back as Ali seems.

How many of you are doing the Basic Grey Page of the Month? I am doing it (or maybe I shoud say that I have the kits, but haven't been able to attend a class yet). I plan to devote some serious time SOON to play catchup on a bunch of unfinished projects.