Sleeplessness and Other Stuff

Dogs barking in the night, well 4:10 am, woke me. True to form for me, that was the end of sleep. I realize I should develop a different attitude to the not sleeping thing. Perhaps just get up and do something instead of tossing and turning, growing frustrated that I can't nod off. But I keep thinking I can overcome it somehow because the goal is to get more sleep, not more work done.
Here is one of the culprits looking tired because I think he is tired. Poor old boy.
Hubby researched and is now making the trek to a specialty store to buy him special food. He is loved!

Yes I'm guilty of this, but I don't know how to be otherwise.  If you are a thinking person with some empathy, the ridiculous antics going on in this world have just got to get you down sometimes. The challenge is to not get weighed down by it.

                               
While I ponder all that, here are the best things so far this week.
I was finally rewarded after two summers of trying to photograph the turtles in the pond. The algae makes for great cover for them. Here is the big one who just happened to be lounging near the edge one morning. No time to set up a photo as it is moving away as I caught this shot. There is a middle sized one and a baby there as well. Yes our own three bears.

It was my birthday recently and I had a round of continuous small treats, the secret to happiness according to Iris Murdoch. Here are two of them. This beautiful bouquet of different kinds of sunflowers from SIL was so special. And also special was the cake, a Reine de Saba, Queen of Sheba, made by my younger daughter who is a queen of cake making herself.

She gave me this paper with it. I've never heard of it so was intrigued and couldn't wait to try a piece. Very dense, very rich and delicious. One of those cakes you only need a small piece of.

I am now an even number of years and why that should even cross my brain, I have no idea.

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color  was inspired by the flower photos I posted and drew a lovely interpretation of them.  You can see it in this post at her blog.  She is a talented soul and I particularly enjoy her Thursday writings from her poodle, Milo.

Carol at Beads and Birds mentioned she had bought about three dozen Japanese snails and put in her pond to help keep the algae in check. That's a great natural solution. I wonder where we could get some of them.

Libby in this post at Life on the Hill explained her success with growing vegetables in a VegTrug wooden raised garden box this summer.  This may be just the ticket to satisfy my itch to have a vegetable garden. Available from Wayfair.
                                 

We are rewatching two old favourites, Keeping Up Appearances


 and


So I'm heading off to bed with pleasant thoughts. And while watching I've been removing the freezer papers from my basket blocks.  Two nights and about half way through. More time consuming than one would think!

Enough of my meandering on a Thursday. Hubby has a day of medical appointments so we will be on the go all day.
Sincerely hope you are well rested and coping well with whatever life is handing you today.
Linking with Thursday Likes at Not Afraid of Color, It's A Small Town Life, Viewing Nature With Eileen, Alycia Quilts and Brian's Home Blog.