Birds

 Cardinal male

 and female

 checking out the exits

 or entrances

 Blue Jay with seed

 aiming in

 2 woodpeckers

a group of Starlings (?)

Happy Holidays

fall lure coursing

Our last lure coursing practice for 2013 was at the beginning of November. Geisha did a very good job with her start and Kenzo was as enthusiastic as always :)

 Love it, when they look like they are flying!

 The Scottish Deerhound went BIF that day.

 Waiting for the training runs, we were watching little Roxie - a cute puppy out of Ashley a Timbreblue Whippet.

Thanksgiving

It's been a while and the next holiday is already knocking on our doors already. Thanksgiving was a lovely get together with an old friend I grew up with. Andrea's here for an internship at the Austrian embassy in DC, and was able to come visit us with a friend for the holidays.
Andrea and Carla arrived Thursday just in time for a traditional Turkey dinner - yummm!

Once we settled on the couch, there was a 2nd welcome - in their faces! Thanks Geisha for leaving such a great impression :)

 Friday we decided to get moving up the mountain.

 Although getting there wasn't too easy, as the roads were closed due to some snow...

 we made the best of it and hiked as far as we could.

 Overall, we were blessed with fabulous sunny weather, just a little chilly in the shade.

 Afterwards, we hit old town Charlottesville and stayed till the Christmas tree was lit.

 Andrea managed to get a great shot of Geisha in disguise as statue.

 It was so nice sharing the holidays with the 2 of you! Thanks so much for coming!

hm...

I guess I should dust there... just a little...

although, the paw print is just too cute to wipe up :)

what is going on?

Playing

Looking

Then slowly checking what's happening

always alert :)

outdoor life

 We had 2 ginormous sunflowers in the front beds bloom up. It took quite a while, but was worth it!

 A long legged spider in the back... pretty netting and interesting color pattern

 Most interesting were the caterpillars on my parsley.

They started small and black with a white stripe and dots.

One was greenish though.

Not different, just ahead of the others as I found out later.

With the change in color and size, their appetite came along too...

 Only a couple are left. I hope we'll get to see, what they end up becoming. Supposedly a Swallowtail.
 A rare visitor spotted by Geisha yesterday.

 Fall has aproached fast and winter is coming too!