Tea Breaks, Balls, Books, and Boys

The last couple of nights it's been cool enough for hot tea and I've decided to pamper myself a bit and make more than just a cuppa. Half eaten there on the right, my first attempt at vegan pumpkin spice muffins. Turned out yummy. Last night was a creme brulee flavored black tea, tonight is a chocolate flavored black tea. More yum.


Football season started. Last week's game was fun but we didn't win so much. William played well for what it was worth. That's him in the photo, the second purple helmet from the left, hugging the guy in red and gold from Chico High School. I've always thought that the Chico uniforms look like what a football uniform for a Ken doll would look like. So bright! They won, so I guess they won't mind me teasing a bit.

I went to the thrift store today and had fun. Bought a bunch of stuff that I'm showing photos of over on Laume's Studio. Except for this one book - so cute.

Since we have a Rosie (who is a chihuahua, not a cat, but still) and numerous black cats, I couldn't resist this adorable children's book. Now I only need a visiting grandchild to cuddle up and read it with me.




After a lunch date with Hubby, I stopped to browse at the local bookstore and scored in the used book section. I found almost all the Dresden File books, a series I love but started out reading from the library because they had the first half of the series. I bought the last few books. Now, except for the newest still in hardcover and the next one that will come out next spring, I have all but one of the books on my shelf! Yay! And I found all those other fun titles on the left. That one on the bottom is the first of a series I've been collecting but couldn't read until I found the first book. Of course this is balanced out by finding that top book on the left, which is the third in a series that looked interesting and which I don't own the first or second book yet. That's the thing about sci fi and fantasy, it's almost always a commitment to a series. Whodunits too. I love me a good series, but it makes it more of a challenge since I'm pretty picky about going in order of publication.


Walking the other day, I stopped halfway across the bridge to admire and take some photos of this particular bend in the river which always has the most magical dance of light and shadow, no matter what time of day. I heard voices and looked straight down.


These two boys were very busy trying to find or scoop something out of the river. I loved the Huck and Finn summer adventure moment playing out and snapped a few photos, at which point the boys hopped from rock to rock and disappeared underneath the bridge. I took a few more photos of the river and was about to put my camera away when I heard the boys underneath me once more. One of them was saying to the other one "Okay, you get that one and I'll get this one." I thought they'd finally found what they were trying to capture and I snuck my camera over the side of the bridge to snap another photo. I swung quietly forward, ready to click, and then slid quickly back out of sight, giggling.

The boys weren't capturing anything. They were both, "equipment" in hand, aiming at rocks. I thought it was even more Huck and Finn adorable, my boys loved the "aiming game", but decided it best to walk on and leave them to their private boys-will-be-boys fun.

If you wanna see what I found at the thrift shop today, don't forget to pop on over to the studio.