More tastes of home?

Today we did some grocery shopping at Harris Teeter supermarket in Reston town centre.

Once again in the 'international' section there were a number of British products to choose from.

Many very familiar items, some of them a little dear though!  Digestive biscuit anyone??

Hummingbird Visitors

This week I bought a second hummingbird feeder as we didn't seem to be having much luck attracting them this year.

Within half an hour of putting it up, it was visited by a hummingbird but he then moved on to the other feeder.  Of course I didn't manage to take a photo.

Today one of the tiny little birds did come along - but again chose the old feeder!

David managed to get a few shots before he was gone again.

Feed the .... chipmunks

The chipmunks are very partial to bird seed.  The squirrels too, but they are too heavy to eat from the (squirrel proof) feeders.

The chipmunks are very light and can feed to their heart's content. 

And, of course, they can fill their pouches, empty them and return for more.

Which they do until there is none left (less than a day usually!)

Tiny Treasures

On the days when I volunteer at the Bargain Loft - and quite often in the evenings too - I am often squinting through a glass looking for hallmarks and signatures on tiny pieces of jewelery such as this garnet and seed pearl necklace.  Only 14 or so inches long it would not fit many modern necks!

These rather large and somewhat garish clip-on earrings turned out not to be made by Moschino as the design might have suggested and so they went into the $2 basket!

From the 1950's or early 1960's, this Trifari set was missing a few tiny faux pearls, otherwise it would be quite a collectible set.

These very tiny earrings have hand painted flowers on glass surrounded by paste stones.  Still working on these as no marks at all.

Finally this Miriam Haskell signed necklace from the 1960's sold within hours of being put into the case - so was probably too modestly priced.. It is hard to get it right sometimes!

Sunbathing Squirrels

When the weather is very hot the squirrels stop running around in the middle of the day and can be seen sunbathing or sleeping in the garden.

The choice of places to rest can be rather unusual and not all look particularly  comfortable.

Cakes and more cakes

I am organizing several events for the Women's Group this year and for one of them we have the option to buy in a dessert - for 70 or so people if all goes well. (We are not allowed to make the dessert ourselves for legal liability reasons!)

I am currently putting the budget together for this event and so was looking at some large desserts in the supermarket to see what we might be able to afford!  

While looking at the dessert cakes I couldn't help noticing some of the cup cakes..

These last ones I don't quite understand..

I'll keep looking ...,

Feeder Visitors

Having put out a new suet block (flavoured with hot pepper to try to deter the squirrels) I thought that I would keep an eye on it to see which birds came along.  

A young blue jay (above) was one of the first, followed by a young red-bellied woodpecker..

A young downy woodpecker..

A catbird..

And a baby bluebird.

Other birds did visit but the combination of watching the Wimbledon Men's Final (between adverts) and doing the ironing meant that I missed quite a few!

Two notable birds also visited different feeders in the garden today ..

Apologies for very poor photo but this is only the second humming bird that we have seen at our feeder this year.

Finally the cardinal - state bird of Virginia and several other states - is particularly vibrant during the breeding season..