Two weeks ago today I made a road trip to my sister, Martha’s house a couple hours away. I go down to see her ever once in a while, but I especially wanted to go that day because it was her birthday. And it is a drive that I really don’t mind. Much of it is on good roads, sometimes even four lanes, through farmland or wooded, rolling hills. And, of course, what makes the trip most enjoyable is that I get to spend time with my sister when I get there!
Martha’s house is itself in a rural area surrounded with lots of farms and wildlife.
These horses were in a field just a half mile or so from my destination. Whenever you slow down or stop to look at horses and they come running over to the fence, as these two did, I assume they get treats from people who drive by sometimes. But I think these may have been some pretty smart horses, because when Martha and I went back past that field on our way to lunch, I told her how interested in me they seemed when I had gone by earlier. I then slowed down and rolled down my window in hopes of demonstrating their interest. But, as I said, they must be pretty smart, because they obviously recognized me and/or my car from earlier, and had figured out that this was not a “treat” car, so they totally ignored me that time.
When we returned from lunch, we had some of the cake I had brought to celebrate the day. Unfortunately, it was my favorite, easy angel food cake that you make in a 9×13 pan, which is definitely not meant to be frosted. The recipe for disaster was that I baked it just two hours before I was leaving that morning and then, because our mother always glazed angel food cake (but, of course, the traditional shaped kind — tall with a hole in the middle and completely cooled) I decided right before I left to “glaze” this cake too. Hmmm. I may have gone too heavy on the glaze, because by the time I got to Martha’s the cake had fallen badly. But we each had a piece anyway, and actually it was delicious. It was about an inch high and, because I cut our pieces out of the middle where the frosting had all run, our pieces were half and half — frosting and mooshed cake. It tasted pretty good and was definitely good for a laugh.
Then we sat down at the kitchen table to play our traditional three games of Triple Yahtzee. But this time of year, playing at her kitchen table is distracting. Her husband spreads corn under several trees in the yard every morning before he goes to work. So the local wildlife knows exactly where to come to get a free meal. And apparently the word is out that they have nothing to fear at this house, because they are very calm when they see humans, even if we step outside on the deck.
So, here are a few pictures of the animals who strolled up for a little light lunch.
The raccoon started out at the corn by a tree on the other side of the deck from the window where we sat…
but he soon joined the “lunch crowd” at the tree right outside the window.
This blue jay sat on the deck railing for a little bit, apparently just checking things out.
Then he went down and sampled the “buffet” for himself.
He seems to be saying, “Are you looking at ME?”
Then a friend joined him.
At one point there were six out there, but they were all in constant motion so it was hard to get their picture.
Even without the wildlife, I envy Martha and Will this million dollar view.
I took the pictures of the wildlife while sitting at their kitchen table playing Triple Yahtzee with the birthday girl. And far be it from me to accuse her of “stacking the deck” against me, but I’ll just tell you that she handily won all three games, while I constantly interrupted the game to take another picture.
Happy Birthday again, Martha. I love you even more than I love the view from your kitchen window!
Posted by Sandra 
