I have six friends who join me for breakfast on a regular basis duringthe summer. In fact, if breakfast is not ready, they will make
themselves comfortable and keep me company until theirs is served.
They are greedy little guests and often fight amongst themselves
over the food. After they stuff themselves silly, they take doggy
bags of leftovers home in their fat little cheeks.
Someone came knocking
At my wee, small door,
Someone came knocking,
I'm sure -- sure -- sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked left and right,
But nothing was stirring
In the still dark night.
Only the busy chipmunk
Tap-tapping in the wall,
At my wee, small door,
Someone came knocking,
I'm sure -- sure -- sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked left and right,
But nothing was stirring
In the still dark night.
Only the busy chipmunk
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The hoot owl's call,
Only the cricket chirping
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all -- at all -- at all!
Someone, by Walter de la Mare
from Collected Poems, 1901-1918
What cute puffy cheeks! Good morning to your BC buddies. They can come knocking at my door anytime...but whoops..only watch out for viscous dogs who won't like them at all--at all--at all!
ReplyDeleteCheeky little buggers..every one!
ReplyDeleteI have their cousins over here scampering all amongst my flowerbeds.
What a lovely new look, Willow.
ReplyDeleteThe colors are a delight.
Of course I love your little chums. Remind me of the little critters like that in India.
You are so good at not letting us get bored of your 'look' --
Happy Weekend.
Oh my goodness...
ReplyDeleteYou make them look for mealworms, sunflower hearts, white proso millet, peanut halves, cracked corn? lol
They must find what works as they do not look skinny.
There are few animals cuter than a chipmunk. We have more than our fair share of squirrels, but seldom get chipmunks here in the city.
ReplyDeletecharming little house guests you have there :)
ReplyDeleteI love it! It makes me think of my daughter. She is content to walk around with the last bite of food stuffed in her cheeks until I can convince her to chew and swallow. She resembles nothing so much as a chipmunk!
ReplyDeleteI could not think of more entertaining guests for the morning breakfast hours than Chip and Dale! As long as they stay out of the attic, they are lovely. You have inspired me to do a post about my own adventures with chipmunks because they are so bold and friendly. I will post Chippies in a week or so. Thank you, Willow.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I call them chippies, too! They're my sweeties.
ReplyDeleteThose cheeks are a riot!
ReplyDeleteLove your breakfast guests which are scarce at my house.
ReplyDeleteFirst Luckie is the champion chippie hunter, but the cute little "ground squirrels" learned she was confined by a fence.
They loved to torment her by running outside her reach.
However our 1000yr ice storm destroyed their habitat in my yard. I have very few this year.
I think that they have you as well trained as my crows do me. And I thought that I was the mistress of the house!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOops, I'll try again! Chippy!! I love them. We have a resident in our backyard every year. He comes when I call him, he has his own ceramic bowl that I fill with sunflower seeds. My cats love watching him through the screen door. All I have to do is say "where's Chippy?" and they run to the back door. Adorable little critters.
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely pictures of them! :) They're adorable guests. I wouldn't mind having them over for tea one day... ;)
ReplyDeleteOh Lord, Edward and Apple would lose their minds if they saw this! Chipmunks are the bane of their existence.
ReplyDeleteSo cute Willow!
ReplyDeleteMy in-laws dog relishes chipmunks as snacks, which gives me nightmares.
Pretty darling! I always enjoy watching our resident chipmunks around the bird feeder.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get a breakfast invite!
ReplyDeleteThey are cute and fun to watch.
ReplyDeletei love, love, love this.
ReplyDeletethey are soooooo cute.
thank you for the cute pics.
xx
beautiful little verse...and those are some huge cheeks!
ReplyDeletehi willow - we have the one little chipmunk - we used to have three but this one little guy has taken over all three jobs!! running around with his impossibly puffed out face, climbing all over us as we sit outside. he's a loved member of the family!!! have a peaceful day at the manor. steven
ReplyDeleteI love these cheeky rodents with their cute faces. Outside my apartment dwell an abundance of black squirrels who will carefully approach me as if they know I'm the person who puts bags of delectable delights outside for them. (I empty the discards from my parrots and lovebirds out back for the squirrels, birds and other seed eaters of the neighbourhood.)
ReplyDeleteAnother place I lived at, the squirrels would become impatient if the delivery was late according to their standards. One very bold, large gray squirrel jumped onto the screen on my living room window and rattled it while chattering for me to hurry up with the goods!
too precious - i remember the first time i saw a little chipmunk in the wild - in the rocky mountains many moons ago when i was a kid and my brother and i were boulder climbing - we had a sack lunch and sat down on a big boulder to eat when a little one came up and sat down close by and watched - i put some bread crumbs in my hand and after a while he/she came up and ate from my hand - a marvelous experience i've never forgotten! hmmmm....wonder if these are his/her grandchildren...
ReplyDeleteOh so cute! The monkeys have discovered my hidden birdseed table and they eat every last little seed, tongue to table. Not a bird has returned since. It's a love hate relationship between me and the monkeys at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI do love your new header, Willow.
Oh yours are so much easier to clean up after. Imagine a lawn with 40 wild turkeys standing looking at you, all getting the you know what scared out of them if you walk towards them. I do so love them though. And I especially love the crazy peacock that runs with them. He will allow me to get within inches of him to feed him his special sunflower seeds. Now it's a whole other ball of wax when I find all of them on the roof of the house. A flock of turkeys on your roof stomping around is a sight, especially when these big bellied suckers take flight. Don't look up!
ReplyDeleteMy girls were sitting next to me when I was looking at your post. They both giggled in delight at exactly the same time. Thanks for sharing the pics. I love to hear my girls giggle.
ReplyDeleteNice photos and verse.
ReplyDeleteCome visit,
Troy and Martha
No chipmunks is the only thing I miss about not living further north.
ReplyDeleteSuch cute visitors! And Walter de la Mare takes me back to my childhood, standing up in front of class reciting poems!
ReplyDeleteThey are residents of the Manor's grounds, to be sure; they are perfect companions, I guess.
ReplyDeletep.s. Love the new look.
Well aren't those just the cutest little chipmunks! What lovely breakfast companions.
ReplyDeleteI don't have chipmunks, but I do have two kinds of squirrels, little red ones and larger gray ones-- I put very fancy nuts in their box outside-- it has a lid and it is so much fun watching them every day fighting over the box and lifting the lid for their nuts.--sometimes a not so bright one comes along and it is so funny watching 'him' trying to figure out how to get the nuts.
ReplyDeleteI must tell you that I love your virtual & image blog!! Amazing mix of pic's & so much inspiration!
ReplyDeleteRegards from Sweden & Agneta
I remembered and I watched! Thank you. They stayed pretty true to the story and watching her paint, even though it was only a depiction, was the best part. She will always be exquisite.
ReplyDeleteWhat cute little things! And they way they puff up their cheeks with food. Do they clean up afterwards? Ahhh... you see, that's the important bit, otherwise they don't make good guests anymore.
ReplyDeleteMy visitor used to be a fox and one day it helped itself to a pair of sandals I had left outside overnight by mistake. If I ever catch it I doubt that I will be giving it the same reception you give to these little cuties.
Greetings from London.
Cute. Like to swap some for a few possums?
ReplyDeleteHello again...
ReplyDeleteI spent one day restoring Patty's computer. She clicked on an email she had sent that could not be delivered and was returned. She was curious as to why it wasn't delivered and clicked on the notice. Well, it was a "worm" that locked her computer and wouldn't let her do anything. When I got up the next day, she came out in her PJs and said, "My computer won't come on."
I had to reformat the hard drive and return it to the factory, new, condition. She lost everything on the computer. I feel sorry for her as it takes a lot of time to put her things back on the computer that she had saved on an external hard drive. Beware folks. If you send an email and it comes back, you should not open it.
I feel ashamed that I didn't even know what they were and had to scroll through your comments to find out. How cute they look.
ReplyDelete(still feel slightly embarassed that I thought that was you with WT. I should have put my brain in that morning)
You have adorable little breakfast guests. A bit greedy, but adorable.
ReplyDeleteFF, I was very flattered that you took me for a 27 year old! :):):)
ReplyDeleteewix, thank you. I bore so easily myself!
ReplyDeleteAbe, I'm so sorry that happened to Patty. Good thing she had her files backed up, but still very annoying. Hope it never happens to me, knock on wood!
ReplyDeleteOh what a surprise to see the breakfast club :) And I do like this poem - brings back childhood memories.
ReplyDeleteI love your new autumnal look - quite exciting! Like being witness to a newly painted room.
Thank you, Shaista. Changing the blog page is very much like painting and redecorating a room...only much easier!
ReplyDeleteHello Willow,
ReplyDeleteLove the new look at the manor and your breakfast chums! Funnily enough, I was looking at a couple of pics of their South African cousins today. Which reminds me, hope you're all set for our photo failure meme tomorrow. (I know you will be!)
I'll be a knockin with them cheeky chipmunks if ye don't have ypur poem ready!
ReplyDeleteI showed Gracie your photos.....now she wants chipmunks to join her for breakfast....what have you started Auntie Willow...grinning.
ReplyDeleteAwww! So cute! Except, I thought you were going to invite "artists, writers, and poets" to your soirees??? ;)
ReplyDeletelove the poem, so charming.
ReplyDeleteHow cute! We rarely see them where we live, surprisingly, but I see them on the road and always have to smile. Love the poem!
ReplyDeleteI remeber this from school! I loved reading it to my pupils too.
ReplyDelete