View allAll Photos Tagged itsthelittlethings
In the back yard looking for clouds to photograph and this came along! Made me smile..... Seems to me that many of the youth of today take for granted a plane flying over head, but me, I still look up in wonder when I hear a plane or helicopter flying over. 19/52
31/52 We have several of these mini libraries popping up around town. I love books and the idea of people sharing theirs with others is so appealing to me. I just donated a bunch of books to our library but wish I had thought to put them in a couple of these Little Free Libraries.
I've been trying to buy freesias for a while. These purple ones were all they had. Their delicate scent is delightful.
32/52 Every August my kitten turns a year older. I'm not exaggerating or in denial. Ella still plays, chases her tail, pounces on fingers and toes under the covers, jumps up and down from high places, ambushes inanimate objects and has a tiny kitten meow. Except for her irises getting a little bit lacy looking, she acts and looks like she did at five. I guess all three of my cats are aging pretty well but none so well as Ella. She's the best foster-failure ever!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ella!
As a kid, I loved catching fireflies in a mason jar, and later letting them go. I fell in love with this little mechanical firefly in a jar. I tap the lid every night and he flits around the jar, glows green, then goes to sleep. It's the little things....
.........like picking blackberries straight from a bush and eating them there and then. We found lots on our walk a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't resist tasting a few. Also, as I always carry a foldup pocket bag with me, we were able to pick some sloes which were prolific around Portland Bill. Phill likes to make sloe gin in time for Christmas which is always better than shop bought - though I am not a fan of any kind of gin
36/52
Explore#72
like cute puppies. We saw this Chihuahua/Jack Russell cross whilst we were in Cornwall.
Just as a side note, my employer recently got a Hungarian Viszla after his previous dog passed away. A few weeks ago they discovered she had serious problems with her shoulder. Their vet said they were limited to what they could do. As she has her whole life ahead of her, they investigated the Supervet, Noel Fitzpatrick, and joy of joys he has accepted her as a patient. Hopefully, she will be operated in mid September (for those not in the UK, please google him - he does such terrific work with pets.
34/52
like watching the people you love enjoying life.
Georgia and Paige loved Moors Valley Country Park as they could run and jump wherever they wanted - they just loved the freedom. She was running alongside Phill shouting "I'm a winner!" as if she was racing. It was very funny to watch.
35/52
#116 Explore
12/52 Just to be clear, I have not bought my cats collars in many years but I've been craving color lately so I bought them each a new one this spring. You'll see them all (in fact you got a glimpse of Jimmy's yesterday) but Mack's pineapple collar is my favorite.
Explored March 21, 2017
.............like not feeling the cold when you are a child. Do you remember when you were a child and you went out and played in snow and you never felt the cold? We would stay out for hours and return home with soggy wet gloves from making snowmen and wet hair from snowball fights and never think anything of it. This young boy was running along the shingle ridge at Hurst with the freezing cold wind from the sea whistling about him whereas Phill and I had turned tail and headed back to the car.
4/52
#267 Explore
..................like cat rubs from cats you meet on your travels. You remember Murphy who we met at Mottisfont gardens a week or so ago? Phill was crouched down trying to get a photo of him but Murphy decided he just wanted to do some head rubbing.
13/52
Explore #402
like the leprechauns on Lea's socks. Lea wore these when she came to stay with us back in June. As you can see Pixie made friends with her immediately. I won't be around for the next few days - lots going on. See you next week
40/52
Doing this I realise by the numbers that it is only 12 more weeks to the end of the year - yikes!!
Explore #138
3/52 This is a Little Thing that makes me happy. Hot soup, full of vegetables, is one of the reasons I love winter. It's ready anytime you want - easy eating and no cooking for 2 days!
34/52 Ever since I was young enough to express my opinion (which I think was pretty young) I've gotten homemade doughnuts for my birthday instead of cake. This little doughnut cutter is over half a century old and represents my mom spoiling me with doughnuts... even when it's not my birthday!
A picture of my doughnuts follows in the comments.
3/52 For all the things I can't remember, my 14 digit library card number is not one of them. I belong to a wonderful library system and use it to its full extent. On Saturday mornings I sit at my computer with three tabs open - one for the New York Times Book Review, a second for Amazon and a third for my library account. If a book sounds interesting from the critic's review, I go to Amazon to read customer reviews and if the book still sounds like something I'd like then I go to my library account and reserve it. If the library doesn't have have the book, I can request it for purchase - which they've always done. All because of this little card.
15/52 Pete's pictures of Chickpea and googly-eyed fruit are delightful and make me smile every time I see one. They are whimsical, creative and very well done. If you haven't seen them yet, here's a link www.flickr.com/photos/chickpeasrule/
On a completely different note, I don't eat meat and now I'm wondering if veggies have feelings too.
16/52 Each year, as soon as I think we're past the last of the frost, I go out and buy a bunch of flowers. I have a teeny, tiny cement backyard which actually works very well for me. I don't have to mow the lawn, rake leaves or pull weeds. I don't even have the pressure of trying to keep things alive for very long. In the spring I buy a bunch of pretty annuals, enjoy them daily until the fall and then they die and I buy more the next spring. A pretty, pressure-free container garden that requires a minimal amount of effort is definitely one of those little things.
Explored April 20, 2017
33/52 When Princess first started boarding with us she was scared to death and often expressed her fear by trying to attack us. After time she came to trust us and now she is confident enough to want to get out of her cage and play - right in the middle of the boarding room. Watching a cat go from scared and aggressive to calm and relaxed is one of rewards of working at a cat clinic.
BTW. I've become incredibly flexible with the definition of a "week" when it comes to posting a weekly photo. lol
7/52 Once or twice each winter I buy myself some flowers and carry them room to room with me for about a week. Bright colors in the winter are some of those little things that make a huge difference.
For this picture I just plopped my flowers in some of the snow we got last week. It was cold and windy so I didn't even ask the cats to join me. When I finished taking pictures of the flowers, I stood up and nearly tripped over Jimmy (see the photo in the comments). He had meowed at the front door so George let him out. Jimmy sat right next to me with the snow blowing in his face in the whole time I was kneeling in the snow taking pictures. He's another one of those little things that makes me happy.
It's the little things.... like only noticing the 'instructions' on a label when you look at the photo. 14/52
37/52 I just got 3 packs of Lightbox Photography cards. There are 52 cards in each box and each card has an assignment, a picture of that assignment taken by the photographer Paul Michael Kane and some tips to keep in mind while taking your own picture. I'm having fun reading all the cards. Next step is to actually go take some pictures.
Perky, who is also enjoying the photography cards, is the last of our rescue kittens. I think we took in almost 20 kittens this year and all have been adopted. Perky was brought in after we thought kitten season was over. He's a darling, entertaining kitten who hasn't had other kittens or a mother around to help socialize him and I'm afraid he may grow up to be a bit of a monster. Luckily, the people interested in adopting him are friends of one of our employees and don't live close by. That means we can have fun with Perky while he's little and cute and then some other vet will be the one to treat him when he's all grown up. Hehe!
I was totally thrilled when I found this millefiori mosaic pin at an antique store. Ever since visiting Venice, I appreciate the time it takes to construct something like this. It is smaller than a quarter.
13/52 Every time I get in my car I enjoy the "retro diner" feel to the dashboard. I'll skip the apologies and excuses for the quality of the photo and just let you get an idea of why it is one of the little things...
I'm going to straddle the truth a bit and call today the very tip of the end of the 13th week of the year so I don't miss a week of my weekly challenge.
5/52 Once I have around 50 Cheerios left - too many to count - I start eating them in even numbers and always get a little sense of satisfaction when I end up with two.
This is starting to sound a bit weird. Is it?
4.5' up - on the perch where the bird feeders are. Who knew there was grass seed in the bird seed mix? Shot for week 19 in the Compositionallly Challenged group - "It's the little things"
.............like these cherries which I find every morning on the floor by our garage. We rent a garage nearby which has cherry trees growing behind it. The cherry trees are old and tall and hang over the garage roofs. At this time of year we have an abundance of birds tucking in to the fruit laden trees. You will quite often find a cat or two on the garage roof hoping for a bird to make a mistake. The owner of the land has always said we could help ourselves to any of the cherries but to be quite honest after trying them one year, we decided they should be left for the birds.
23/52 - Yikes! We are half way through the year
Explore#99
this is definitely a little something that puts a smile on my face.
A little Christmas gift from my best buddy Nancy, who truly knows my heart!
When I pack my Christmas decorations away, I'm keeping this out. I'll find a place to put it where I can look at it every day.
Too much to do....not enough hours in the day, all of the sudden!
Catch up with you all when I can!
Have a great day Peeps!
Someone's wife bought nifty new spice holders. That someone's wife pretty much rocks. Someone's husband is a dork.
I've not been to a beach in years - well, with the time to go wandering and see what could be found that is. A picnic at Bonnie Vale with my daughter and family and a walk along the beach sure topped off my week.
30/52 I know it seems like a lot of my Little Things involve cats but when your life is surrounded by cats 24/7 they'd better bring you small pleasures... which they do. Just wait until Mack's expressive ears are one of my Little Things!
Jimmy (hospital cat) update:
As you may remember, 9 days ago a cat named Jimmy was left/abandoned at our clinic and after a week of appetite stimulants and painkillers he is finally starting to act like a normal cat. He weighed 5.80 pounds and promptly lost almost 1/2 pound. Although he was skin and bones we couldn't get him to eat and he was in so much discomfort (arthritis? muscle loss? something else?) he never relaxed. He never groomed or slept curled up on his side - he was constantly, even when sleeping, hunched up. After a week of weighing, medicating, snuggling, offering every food option known to man and lots of worrying, Jimmy is now eating, jumping up onto and down from a couch, sleeping on his side, grooming!, and trotting up to everyone or playfully trotting away. He jumps into his cage when he wants to eat or use the litter box and is ignoring the other two cats who roam freely in the same area.
www.flickr.com/photos/77654185@N07/35663845060/in/photost...
So far, all good news and so one of those Little Things left over from last week.
26/52 I made several important discoveries as a study-abroad student in Austria many, many years ago. I discovered the cold. After having grown up in southern California, gone on vacations to Mexico and to school in Hawaii, I discovered you could be so cold that you couldn't talk because your jaw wouldn't move. I discovered that precipitation could be silent. I remember waking up one morning and being shocked that everything was covered in white and I hadn't heard a thing overnight. I was used to rain and maybe the occasional hail. How could so much stuff come down from the sky and make no noise? I discovered art - first listening to lectures and reading textbooks and then going to museums and seeing paintings and sculptures in real life. And I discovered Lindor truffles. Mere words do not describe my wonderment the first time I ate one and discovered the smooth, liquidy chocolate at the center of the ball. Pure heaven. Lindor balls continue to be one of those little things.
I believe the pink balls in this picture are Irish cream which I've never tasted. My favorites are the classic milk chocolate, mint, extra dark and stracciatella. I'm not a fan of mixing fruit with chocolate.
This is a Little Thing that makes me happy in lots of ways. I love the owl family looking all wet and rain means that our 6 year drought is downgraded from Extreme to Severe. We've had record rainfall in some parts of Southern CA. and the local mountains have more snow than they can handle. Lots of our water comes from the snow pack.
4/52
36/52 Last week a cat sitter brought in two cats because one of them, Odin (left), was panting after playing and the owner wanted us to take chest x-rays. He also thought both Odin and his brother Caelus (right) would be calmer being together then being separated. The cat sitter put the cats in the wrong carriers and because they look so much alike the techs took x-rays of the wrong cat... and look what they found! The healthy cat, Caelus, had swallowed a Euro and needed surgery to have it removed. What are the chances?!
Sorry my little things are cat-centric but so is my life and there are some truly fascinating things that happen in Cat Land.
Arriving in France after an overnight crossing we stopped to have a walk by a beach in St Malo. There were hundreds of these little snails attached to the plants there.
42/52
Explore #24
29/52 Jimmy was found yesterday morning in his carrier left at the front door of our practice with a note that reads:
"All shelters full.
I'm sorry I tried everything
(?)
Named Jimmy
-loves under the chin
-gets under foot
-needs a quiet place, only cat"
Jimmy looked absolutely huge but it turned out that he was nothing but skin and bones underneath a solid mat that covered his entire torso. The plan was to have the animal control officer pick him up and take Jimmy away to a most-likely grim future. We decided to sedate him and shave off his mats before calling the ACO so he would at least not be in pain while awaiting his fate. By this morning the plan had changed considerably. Forget animal control - if we couldn't find him a home, Jimmy would become our new hospital cat. He is an absolute love bug who would rather purr and be petted than eat or sleep. We'll try to fatten him up and run blood work so we can manage any underlying diseases he may have. He may be ill and at the end of his 9th life, but he will pampered and loved for as long as he lives.
The past 9 days have been an emotional rollercoaster in Cat Land so being able to help help give Jimmy a second chance is just the little thing we all needed.
About Jimmy's owner. I am conflicted. The obvious reaction is to be outraged - the owner let his cat get emaciated and covered in a huge, painful mat and then abandoned him. However, I can easily imagine that this person may have had a mental, medical, logistical or financial life-changing crisis that made it impossible for them to keep Jimmy and desperate to find him a new home. He does not act like an abused cat and the owner did leave him at on a vet's doorstep rather than at the side of the road.
The thing that makes me pity the owner is that he wants us to know his cat's name is Jimmy and that he likes to be rubbed under the chin.
like making sure that the new cat sitter has everything covered. My neighbour of 25 years, who always looked after our cats, moved last year and so we now have a professional sitter coming in. If you remember Pixie made friends straight away (see comment below). She went through all the paperwork when she visited and made exact notes about each one, but I thought I would go a little extra as our four can be quite complicated when feeding. For one thing they all tend to like different combinations of cat food and they are fed at different spots around the house. So I came up with this little scheme. Four boxes with a laminated photo of each cat on top of their own special box, already filled with their food. I have then provided feeding 'station' directions, so hopefully the new sitter will find it easier.
We are off to my sister's tonight (poor Paige has chickenpox) and then on to Wales to visit Phill's family over the Easter weekend. See you in a few days time
PS Ricky Gervais was brilliant last night. I laughed so much I was crying
15/52
Explore#446
It's the little things like sunshine and blue sky looking out my kitchen window on a cold winters day. 4/52
The beauty of the Parsley going to seed in these heads with an umbel of little stars that are only tiny. For the Through the Lens week 22 Theme of "It's The Little Things". The seeds spread far and wide in the garden and grow almost all year round, except when dried out by the sun, or flooded by too much rain. But I almost always have some parsley when needed.
On a completely different aspect of little things here is Jacinda Adhern's speech to Yale Class Day recently. As an ex-Prime Minister of New Zealand who led the country through multiple disasters and now lives in Boston, US, it was interesting to hear her speak about what matters. Empathy, kindness, diversity, inclusion and values. All things, we the little people can express in little ways. youtu.be/qpfM1mVkIk4?si=3hIRWlx1p2I7HGcU
.........like being picked out of the crowd as the special one.
We were told that when Shadow meets people, who visit the farm, he usually singles someone out for a kiss. And of course who else would he choose but Phill.
I will be away for a while as Phill and I are off to sunny Budapest. The temperatures there are normally around 24 to 26 degrees at this time of year which is fine for sightseeing. They have a little bit of a heatwave at the moment and next Tuesday it will hit 36 degrees! I think we will be finding ourselves in lots of church interiors and air conditioned museums next week:-)
31/52
Explore #71