birds, brownies and a bug

Here's my framed Their Song, by Blackbird Designs:



And here are the Mocha Brownies:



These are kinda "cheater" brownies because you start with a mix, but they were very tasty anyway, so who cares. Here we go:

Start with a box of Betty Crocker Triple Chunk Brownie Mix. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1 stick of butter and use a little of it to butter up the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish, or if you want thicker brownies, use an 8 or 9 in. pan. In small bowl, dissolve 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules or instant espresso in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, set aside. In medium bowl, combine with brownie mix, 2 large eggs, 1/4 cup buttermilk and the melted butter. Add in the dissolved coffee. Spread into buttered pan. Bake for about 20 minutes if using 13 x 9" pan or 40 minutes if using 8 or 9 inch pan. Test for doneness by inserting toothpick 2 inches from side of pan and if it comes out almost clean, it's done.
Do not over bake.
Cool completely.
Use a plastic knife for easy cutting.
Take the pan with you into nearest unoccupied room and lock the door.

I'm just sayin'.

OK, and how cool is this? I LOVE dragonflies. I mean, really love them. Whenever they cross my path I feel like it's God's little way of saying, "Hello, I love you". They are amazing creatures and so beautiful. I was walking Astro last night before a storm came in and this HUGE "something" buzzed me a couple of times. At first it freaked me out because I thought maybe it was a cicada and OMG, those truly freak me out and I didn't want it landing in my hair.
Swoop, fly-by......goosebumps!

Finally I see "it" land in a bush outside of our house. It was a BIG beautiful dragonfly! I ran in to get DH to show him, hoping it would still be there when we got back out, and it was! We figure it was taking shelter from the coming rain. Well later that night, DH is walking the pup again and he was still out there. So we grabbed the camera and got a couple of shots.




These shots truly don't do this baby justice. I am not a photographer at all, so these hardly capture his beauty.



And using the flash totally sucks, but it's the only way we could see him.

I've never seen one that looks like this. But I like it!