Hack, sneeze, cough, sniff, wheeze, moan, repeat.

On Friday I came down with the most awful cold.  Well all colds are awful aren't they.  The only thing special about this one is that I have it.  Ugh.

So what do you do but stay indoors and sleep sew.  Deadlines are good.  I had two t-shirt quilts to finish.  Kept me out of bed.  :-)  They are both bright and cheerful too.

Charlie and the dogs have been doing their best to keep my spirits up.  Clearly I was at least somewhat amused since I stirred myself to find the camera.  We are playing a serious game of dunk the toy.  The water soluble dye in the green and blue wood beads is coloring the water.

It's a messy job but somebody has to do it.

Oops.  We've dropped the toy and are now trying to bathe in the green water.   Aren't you green enough Charlie?

Oh ho!  You've been watching me!

MOON!

Charlie doesn't have the wild coloring some other parrots have but there is a lot going on in his feathers.  It's always interesting what the camera sees.  If you click on the photos you might see more detail.

Hello handsome.

Yes you.

This afternoon I went out to deliver the t-shirt quilts and to get some fresh air on this lovely warm November day.  I puttered across town doing small errands that didn't require me to think, including a long long overdue trip through the car wash.  I had the same magnets on my car for about three years.  Fair warning....this is what happens if you never take them off!  (or get your car washed)  I've picked off what I can, now I have to figure out what to do about the rest.  It's an old car with plenty of "character marks" on the paint so I can't get too concerned about it.

We had a visitor on the front stoop when I got home.  I set the camera to video and put it down on the railing.  The mantis slowly advanced on the camera and climbed right up on it!  Too bad the video is mostly out of focus.

The dogs never noticed him/her (on the right).  They were too busy barking at the UPS truck.  :-)

But since discretion is the better part of valor, Mr./Ms. Mantis decided to climb out of the way up the side of the house.