Take A Moment

October 1st marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Take a moment and be well informed about the facts. What do you need to know? Click here for more information about detection, treatment, and donation. To read an interesting and informative article on diet, lifestyle, and breast cancer from FoodConsumer, click here and here.

Detecting symptoms early saves lives. I encourage all of you to see a health care professional immediately if you notice something new or different. {What is the expression? Bad news is like fish, it doesn't get better with time.}

With Fall weather starting to bring in the cooler temperatures, Pickle Cookie is feeling frisky and happy. Pickle Cookie loves to throw on her sweatshirt, round up the dogs, and go for walk, walk, walkies! Pretty leaves! Big, giant acorns! Decorating with pumpkins! Do I smell smoke? Fall is fun!

Pickle Cookie worries about the backyard birds that might be planning to stick around through the winter. Will they find enough to eat? Will their nests stay warm and dry enough inside their bird houses? Does the littlest house need a new roof? The rear fence is dotted with colorful and unusual bird houses made by Mr. PC (artistic direction by Pickle Cookie).

One house has a front wall shaped like a heart and painted bright red. Another has a super sized front porch to keep the bald little babies from falling out into the yard. All of the houses are a little quirky, much like Pickle Cookie herself, and each bird house has a history of occupation that Pickle Cookie will be glad to bore you with given the opportunity. Pickle Cookie celebrates her diverse bird families and their hodge-podge bird village.

The bird house that started it all was a gift from Pickle Cookie's Auntie. The house itself is unremarkable. But the paint job? This bird house is painted with a sunny splash of yellow flower on the front wall, indicating that only happy birds live inside. Auntie decorated several of these bird houses and gave them one year as Christmas gifts.

This house for happy birds reminds Pickle Cookie so much of her Auntie that she displays it indoors in the guest room, where it has pride of place on top of the bookcase, sending out a warm yellow welcome to all who may enter.

The guest room serves as a catch-all for gift wrap, overflow reading materials - the mystery novels that Pickle Cookie loves - out of print garden magazines, and several craft projects that were started and then abandoned for now. In short, it can look a mess in there but opening the door onto that little yellow bird house is as warm and as welcoming as a hug from Pickle Cookie's Auntie.