As you all know, “SPARKS” was started by Annie McGuffy of McGuffy’s Reader but ended when she stopped blogging some time ago. It was meant to be a way to start out each week with a meaningful thought – something that spoke to each of us and hopefully everyone else who reads it. Although Annie isn’t currently blogging,  a lot of us who enjoyed her SPARKS decided to keep posting SPARKS of our own.    Feel free to join us even if this isn’t a Blog Hop – SPARKS are fun to find and share and think about and the more the merrier.  Just post a thought on Mondays – call it your SPARK – and perhaps your “followers will follow” !

Today I’m doing something I’ve not done before – I have TWO SPARKS!!    Yes – one of them (and I’m sure you know which one) I picked not just for the cozy message but the fact it mentions one of my favorite things – a cat curling around my legs (which is a cat hug).    The other also has a wonderful message so I decided to post TWO Sparks this Monday.

Ms. Woodward’s quote is SO TRUE……when we get a snow EVERYTHING changes – our routines, all our plans – everything!   And the other quote makes my heart happy because comparing snow flurries falling to cats winding through legs is a “cat classic”.  See why I just HAD to have two today?

Stay cozy……….hugs, Pam

P.S.  A Snow Update:   We did not get as much snow as predicted – got a lot of sleet though – we will be HOME until Spring (just kidding!)

First:  A Message From Our Sponsor*

*Who are we kidding…..Mom is our Sponsor (haha)

The storm hasn’t hit us yet but it’s due later tonight so we hope you all will forgive us if we lose power and can’t comment on your comments (huh?!).   If we’re here, you’ll hear from us – thanks for visiting even if we’re absent!

Hello everyone.   Hopefully we are here this morning but if not it doesn’t mean we don’t love you – it means we’re snowed in and lost power.   BUT we made sure we had a new Selfie to share with you!    If you want to join the Hop – just click on the badge above and it will take you there!

Here’s the photo Mom took of me yesterday – in the morning after Mom gets to the computer and I’m still “Mr. Sleepyhead”, I come into her office and always ALWAYS put my paws around her foot.   Why?   Who the heck knows…..just my way of saying “Morning Mom!”.    She pets me and sometimes I put my fat  little head on her slipper and go to sleep.    Did I hear you say “Awwwwwwwww!” – well Mom thinks its sweet of me to do that so she likes it.

Mom decided to jazz things up a bit and added a special artsy filter from Lunapic called “ADVENTURE” and here’s how THAT turned out:

We made a puzzle for you if you’re up to it – might be a little tricky with this effect but we know you like a challenge!    Speaking of challenge – we imagine by now we have enough snow outside that we’ll have a challenge shoveling it!     Stay warm and safe where you are……

Just click this mini-me and good luck!

Hugs, Pam and Teddy

She’s BAACK!  Chef Penny from 15andmeowing is back with another yummy dip recipe!

Yes indeed – this little lady has tons of wonderful recipes involving bacon – many of them very simple/easy to make and this is one of those.   Dips are fun – have a bowl of dip handy while you’re watching a movie on TV, as an option for your guests if you have a party, if you just like to have a snack on a cold night in front of the fireplace!     This one is incredibly easy too.

Crack Pub Cheese Dip

First of all – what does the word “CRACK” mean as used in quite a few recipes??    If a recipe has “crack” in the title it means that the recipe has cheddar, bacon, and ranch in the ingredients.    According to the dictionary, the definition of crack is “of superior excellence or ability”. We think the flavor combination of cheddar, bacon, and ranch fits this definition! This recipe is most definitely of superior excellence!

Ingredients 

1.   one 12.9 oz. container of SHARP Cheddar Spreadable Cheese
2.   Eight ounces of Cream Cheese – room temperature
3.   one cup cooked shopped bacon (or more…..!)   YES of course we used more!
4.  one 8-oz. package of Ranch Dressing Mix

Easy?   Totally.   Delicious?    Also Totally.

Chef Penny I know I’ve told you this every time you visit and bring us a recipe that you are welcome any time to join me in the Castle kitchen.   You always bring a fabulous recipe to share and this one is particularly easy.  I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to have a bowl of this YUMMY dip with some nice crackers or toasted bread.     Thanks a bunch!     A tiny token of my appreciation:

I, Penny, received this badge from King Teddy at Castle Baconia in thanks for being his Kitchen Assistant Chef AND his Royal Guest on January 24, 2026!

You’re going to have a mighty big collection of these badges young lady!

Your Baconian Chef, Teddy

It’s that time again!    FILL-IN FRIDAY!    Our two hosts come up with the sentences – leave some blanks in them for us to fill in – and voila – we have a fun time.    Before we fill in the blanks, here’s how you can tell which of us has provided the answers:

BLUE/TEDDY

RED/Mom

BROWN/DAD

Hugs, 

Mom, Dad and Teddy

Happy Thankful Thursday.     Always a great day for remembering all the things we’re thankful for – ANY day is good for that but it’s special on Thursdays because we can join Angel Brian’s Blog Hop!     We are thankful that up til this weekend we’ve been lucky enough not to have much in the way of snow.  Well it’s going to change this weekend and we’re going to have LOTS OF IT.    That means cozy fires in the fireplace – lots of nice heat in the heating vents that I can enjoy and Mom and Dad will be HOME with me!    All we have to do is hope power doesn’t go out but we ARE expecting a whole lot of snow!

I’m also thankful that we HAVE a nice warm home.    Mom worries about all the people who don’t have heat or a safe place to be when the weather gets bad.  Let’s hope everyone finds shelter if they need it.

Another thankful we have is that Angel Brian’s family continues the Hop – it’s our favorite hop and we think its an important one – where we concentrate on what we’re thankful for and express our thanks.

Angel Sammy got his poem to me in time for today’s post – I’m THANKFUL for that!

Hugs, Teddy

♥♥♥♥

Hello Poetry Fans!  It’s “Our” Day!

Yes – Thursday is the day we get together and share the poems we wrote during the week to go with the photo I gave you LAST Thursday.    You had a whole week to think about what you wanted to say in poetic form – now’s the time to share it with us!

Remember – poetry doesn’t even always rhyme…..poetry has TONS of poetic forms – you CAN do it if you try………….

Here’s the photo I gave you last week and what follows is MY “vision” of poetry for the photo:

“Rockin’ It!”

Poem by Angel Sammy  ©January 21, 2026

In the fifties back when swing was king

Boys and girls would went out on Friday night and did their thing

Rockin’ round the clock, dancin’ to the beat

Dancing until you could barely even feel your feet!

In school auditoriums, basement clubs, and teen clubs galore

Jitterbug and rock n’ roll who could ask for more!

My Mom came along a bit after this era but not by much.    Her big sister taught her how to jitterbug but she was too young to realize there was so much more to dance and music than we knew as a little girl – but she found out soon enough!      Looks like the couple in the photo this week was definitely “in the zone” dancing to the music too.      If you wrote a poem this week, please let us know you did and give us your link OR poet the poem in our comments – we’d love to see what you did with this photo!!

Here’s what I found for us to use for next week’s poetic inspiration.   Hope you have fun coming up with a poem to go with this photo too!

Lots of things come to mind with this photo – what will come to YOUR mind?   Let us know in a poem and we’ll share next Thursday!

In the meantime…….

STAY HOPEFUL, BE HAPPY

I am the Angel Poet in the green beret…..and I hope you join me for POETIC FUN each week!

Love Always, Angel Sammy