..."Stop Looking at my lips!!!"

Good news - Mimsy is back! Yes, after an absence of several days, she appeared on the deck this afternoon looking for peanuts. (And special thanks to BeRelaxed for reassuring me several days ago that chipmunks sometimes disappear for a few days.) She ran over to me, took one peanut from my hand, and even let me stroke the top of her head for a second (she's very soft!) I took a little bucket of peanuts down to the garden and sat quietly and watched her fill up her cheek-pantry with chow. This shot cracked me up when I saw it. The other two favorite shots of Mim are (burp) "Oh, excuse me!" and "Nuts? What nuts? I don't see any nuts..."

Had a great 4 hour walk with the Audubon group this morning - saw some cool things including a rat snake climbing a tree and a large spider that appeared to be floating (it wasn't, of course).

Came home and planted my new beautyberry bush at the edge of the woods. It had been in the ground about 10 minutes when a beautiful goldfinch swooped down to sample a few of the berries. This was going to be my blip today until Mimsy showed up and stole the show. Beauty in the Beautyberry Bush. I got a great deal on this shrub at the local farm - only $10! The woman who runs the farm stand knows me and is always giving me deals on plants that need a little TLC. This should grow to about 5 feet tall by 5 feet wide with fragrant flowers int he spring and these beautiful tiny purple berries in the late summer. Now, if I can only keep the deer from eating it...

I am woefully behind on comments, but I have been browsing through journals and leaving stars and enjoying all of the wonderful things to be seen on Blip every day. You all brighten every day for me and I love seeing photos from around the world. Thank you!

Happy Saturday!