A Child's Gift

Today I had the pleasure of visiting with a young mother from our church.  Although our church is not overly large, it does seem difficult at times to 'catch the latest news' from everyone.  I am lucky if I get in ONE good conversation after the morning service.

Desperate times required desperate actions ... 

so I invited myself over.

I believe that it was much easier for herself and her three little ones to stay in their familiar stomping grounds rather than let them be bored to tears at my place where the youngest occupant is 19 years old.

Her kids are very well behaved and it was a joy to see them playing together.  Laughing and giggling like happy children should.  It brought back happy memories of when ours were that age.

Upon arrival, the two oldest presented me with gifts.  JoRo, almost 3, shyly gave me a Tigger, Eeyore, and Roo colouring page.  His sister informed that he doesn't colour very well and that he wanted me to colour it at home.  I assured her that I would.

She then proudly gave me a book that she had created herself filled with pictures and lettering. ReRo, not even 5 years old, proved to be an accomplished author as you can see by these pictures.  I should mention, as well, that ReRo is not only a author/artist, but is also quite the orator.  She wowed me with millionaire words like 'deliberately' used CORRECTLY in a sentence.

Very impressive.

Palm Springs - Part 16

Today I share with you more of the beautiful trees and flowers and plants and sights that we saw in Palm Springs.  I won't comment much, but simply let you enjoy.

 

Along our travels we came upon hundreds, maybe thousands, of wind turbines.  Apparently Palm Desert is one of the best places for such energy resourcefulness.  We didn't stop to snap a perfect picture, but you get the jist of what the 'forest' looked like.

Palm Springs - Part 15

One of the highlights of The Living Desert is the observance of the feeding of the giraffes ... Alas we missed their feeding time.  Oh well, to see these graceful animals lopping along on their stilt-like legs was wonder enough.

Here is Hubby on the feeding platform.

I am presuming it is high enough to see a giraffe eyeball to eyeball.

Did I mention that we missed feeding time :o(

But aren't they beautiful?

Their buddies the ostriches caught our eye too.

 

I love that the large animals have such an

expansive area to roam.  Their 'home' seemed to go on and on.

Johnnie-Girl tested out this 'over the fence giraffe viewer' to catch another look. 

And although we missed the giraffe's feeding time, we did not neglect ourselves.  For lunch we took the shuttle back to the cafeteria and ordered up some delicious grub.  Mine was a turkey sandwich on pretzel bread.  Yum-O.

They are very eco friendly at the zoo and this even showed up in the cafeteria.  Dreamer did not receive a straw with her date milk shake as straws are made of plastic and therefore with us for a long, long time.

Notice the toothpick skewers holding my sandwich together?

Some sort of sliver of wood tied in a knot.  Totally impressed me in great presentation.

"Frosty" Milk Shakes

We need a little change from the Palm Springs trip posts.  I don't have much more to share, but still ...

During this past weekend, when Hubby and Genius were away on a Father / Son camp out with our church men, and Dreamer was away at work, Johnnie-Girl and I went a Yard Sale-ing.  I didn't score too much ... it seems that because of the nice weather many would rather go away for the weekend than put out their wares for me to buy.  But I did find one sale where the woman was willing to sell every item she had for $1 or less.  That's my kind of sale.  Johnnie-Girl purchased a few items of clothes for 50 cents each and I bought 6 perfect shaped and hardly used milk shake glasses ... for a buck!

Now everyone knows that milk shake glasses require milk shakes and today, you lucky people,  I share with you a great recipe.

They are akin to the Frostys you purchase at Wendy's ... if you know what I mean.

This recipe works perfectly in a Vita Mix Blender which pulverizes ice in seconds, but you can use any blender you like and just keep buzzing and buzzing until the right consistency.

 Frosty Milk Shakes

2 cups ice water

1 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder

2/3 cups sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups ice cubes

2 tbsp corn oil

Makes four 12 oz servings

Place all of the ingredients into the blender.

Process until smooth.

 

Easy peazy and delish!

Palm Springs - Part 14

The Living Desert is a unique zoo in that it has a diverse set of exhibits for viewing animals, birds, and reptiles in their natural habitat.

Look how close Hubby gets to a lounging cheetah ... world's fastest land animal.

 

Dreamer even got to touch his paw ... Not

 

Unusual birds galore

 

Doing what birds do

 This lizard was sunning on a rock by the side of the road.

He was about 10 inches long, and didn't really freak me out at all :o)

This badger was behind glass walls and was VERY active.

 

I tried to get a good picture of him, but to no avail.  The one to the left is taken by Dreamer.  She was quick on the camera.

The pictures below are by amateur me.

Entitled ...

'Nose Chop'

 'View from Behind '

And this ... my personal favourite ...  that rare breed

'The Half Badger'

And onward ... zebras are SOOOO beautiful.  

 Proof that God must love beauty in His creations.

Palm Springs - Part 13

Onward at The Living Desert ...

At one stop along the zoo trail was a hut with drums.  Irresistible to some.

Along came other band members and they were really 'jamming'.

 One particular participant was a real cutie and quite the showman.

One of the favourite sections of The Living Desert was the petting zoo.  

Very laid back animals just waiting to be petted and pose for a picture or two.

All animals in the zoo appear to be quite happy, healthy and again I say happy.

I love animals but don't appreciate the sub-standard or cruel care they receive at other tourist areas I have seen in the past.  Not the case here.  All are happy, happy, happy.

Love these umbrellas made of palm tree leaves.

Aren't they intricate?

What workmanship!

 Alongside the petting zoo were these beasts.  I forget the name of them, but get a load of those horns!  They swing their heads around not to ward off flies ... but to move the blood in the capillaries INSIDE their horns.  God's way of supplying these animals with a form of cooling system.  Amazing!

Apparently they rarely hit each other as they swing their horns about.  I would hate to be struck by one of those prods.