One Thing to do in Jackson Hole

If you find yourself in Jackson Hole to visit or even to live there is one place I think everyone should go. I highly and I mean very highly, recommend the National Museum of Wildlife Art. This wonderful place is just outside of town on the road to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. When you are driving out of town look to the left to see metal sculptures of a group of buffalo and then elk and you will see the entrance to the steep drive to the museum. 

If the weather is nice or you are prepared for whatever it is, starting with a walk outside to see all the outdoor displays is a good idea. Don't forget to look up the hill above from the parking lot to spot wildlife. Deer and other animals are often seen on that hill. Once inside there are spotting scopes for you to use to look out at the National Elk Refuge.

I was fortunate to be able to visit the museum in December last year. One of the collections to view at that time was National Geographic's 50 Greatest Wildlife Photographs. I am not sure any description of mine could do this amazing collection of images could do it justice. This exhibit will be available until April 24, 2022, so you still have time to see this one.

Other exhibits include paintings and sculptures in metal or stone. Native basket skills are represented here too. For those of you that have young children in your group, there is a place just for them to explore that includes puppets and a stage as well as paper and crayons for their own creations and play. You can find your favorite wildlife represented in the art here. Below are some of my favorites from my December visit.

Owls in paint and stone.

 A group of elephants coming at you to get away from a fire.

Bears, Bears, Bears!

In paint with fur so real looking you want to pet him but please don't!

In a photo by Thomas Mangelson who is the champion of the famous bear mom 399 with her 4 cubs!

And as a sculpture.

The bears are part of or found close to another exhibit that will be at the museum until May 15, 2022. Be sure and check out While They're Sleeping: A Story of Bears.

Also on the site are a gift shop for souvenirs and gifts, and a cafe for a bite to eat before you go on your way to more adventures.

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!

Spotting Animals in Jackson Wyoming

On a weekend in Feb. we had visitors. The weekend was filled with food, fun and a usual activity. 

Our usual thing to do when my daughter and her family come to see us is to go for a drive to see what we can see. Antelope, deer, elk, bison, bears, moose and once a porcupine in a tree have been seen on past drives. This time we saw elk, coyotes, big horn sheep and a mama moose with her calf. 

I didn't get any really great pictures since most of the animals were far away and the light in the snow storm was bad. Mostly we  watched nature's outdoor show through binoculars.

The big horn sheep were hanging out on a hill on the National Elk Refuge.

Way off in the distance is part of the elk herd on the refuge this year.

This is mama moose. Her calf was in some bushes close by. This was near the Gros Ventre River near the town of Kelly.

Being able to see scenes like these if just one of the reasons living in or visiting the Jackson Wyoming area so special. It also makes me sometimes wish that I had a better camera and was good at using it. 

Back with more again soon. Take care, stay safe and stay cozy!

Twitter Manners, Etsy Shop News and a Photo of the Day

What's on My Mind?

Today once again I ran up against one of my very few pet peeves on Twitter. Mind you I don't have many complaints. Most days I enjoy my time spent tweeting, retweeting and seeing some amusing or amazing or thought provoking things. I share sellers on Etsy, Artfire, Ebay, Amazon, Bonanza, and the occasional Ecrater seller. I post things from my Feedly sources about news, science, tech, art and more. I sometimes share tweets from National Parks and the area I live in. I share a lot!

Back to that pet peeve and I hope I can explain this well. If not ask in the comments and I will try and clarify if anyone cares. Here goes. When I retweet someone's item most times I will get a mention thank you or a retweet. I don't care if they retweet one of my own items or one of the other amusing, amazing or thought provoking things they can find on my timeline. What I don't like is if they retweet their own item from my timeline. Why? Well to me it is selfish. Retweeting is about spreading the love. By retweeting their own item they have missed a chance to make a new connection, share something new, enjoy the good karma that doing something nice brings. There you have it.

Etsy Shop News

I did get the rest of my potholders listed. The first round of them were a generously sized 8 by 6. I have started working on more of them. The next sets will be a bit smaller and about 6 by 6.

My current coupon code expires in a few days on the 31st. No one has taken advantage of it yet. That saddens me a bit. If this is the way it goes, I may not bother doing a coupon code again. Most of my sales just seem to come out of the blue. I don't really have any idea how I get found but am extremely thankful every time it happens.

Photo of the Day

Jim actually took this one so I want to give him credit. The first spring we lived in the Jackson Hole area a group of these guys strolled through the neighborhood. It seemed to happen each year in May. The day of this picture there were about a dozen in the group. What I remember being surprised about was that they strolled around making no noise. I was expecting the ground to shake or something. 

Til next time.

Blue Lion to Bubbas

My hometown has lots of restaurants and for a town of about 10,000 I mean a lot! Through the summer this little place is bustling with visitors from all over the world. Winter is busy too but not at the same level as in the summer season. All those folks need to be fed, so lots of restaurants. Over the weekend we went and had great dinners at two of them.

Friday night with a group of 8 including us we went to the Blue Lion. This was new for me but Jim had been to some business lunches there. Most diners, I hear come to this place for the lamb and 5 of our group had that dish and loved it. I had scallops in a spicy sauce and it was a great combination. All the dishes came with a side of rice or potato but no other vegetable. That is a major gripe I have with a lot of restaurants, not just Blue Lion. Service was efficient and the conversation flowed. A great time!

Sunday evening we had dinner at a place a bit more humble but still very good at what they offer, Bubbas Bar-B-Que. I was craving a nice big salad and with the biggest salad bar in town that I know of I got exactly what I wanted. Service was quick and friendly. We had a great time talking to tourists from Texas who seemed to be enjoying their time in Jackson.

Tonight I will be cooking as usual, don't know what yet but I will figure something out later.

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I sell - Zibbet
I blog - A Cozy Life and Group2020
I tumble - CozyAtoZ
I pin - cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus and on Twitter .


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Dinner Last Night

I love it when I get to go to Nani's for dinner. It is a great place for Italian food in Jackson just off the busy sidewalks filled with summer visitors around Town Square. If you have a group to feed with a lot of different styles of eating this place can serve you well. Vegetarian, gluten free, children's menu, and traditional and new favorites fill the menu.

I like to try something different every time I go to a restaurant. My husband on the other hand finds one thing he likes and orders that over and over. His favorite is made with house made sausage and includes tomatoes, bell peppers, mozzarella cheese and penne pasta.

Last night I had a vegetarian dish from the menu called Checca. You can see a picture of it on the left. For the first time I ordered a dish with the house made pasta. It costs a bit extra for that but it was so worth it. I could taste the difference and loved the chewiness of the fresh pasta. No matter what I decide to eat at Nani's from now on I will be taking advantage of that option.

You can see the menu by clicking here.



I sell - Zibbet
I blog - A Cozy Life and Group2020
I tumble - CozyAtoZ
I pin - cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus and on Twitter .

Over the Weekend

It was quiet around here this weekend. We did not go out of town but rather just puttered around home. Jim got his garage all cleaned up and organized the way he likes it. Since we don't have Direct TV yet (it is coming Friday) we spent some time watching shows on Netflix. I did some more knitting on my donation blanket. I also took part in #ssps on Twitter. That is Shameless Self Promotion Sunday. I enjoyed tweeting, retweeting and seeing lots of new folks to follow.


Our big excitement for the weekend was dinner at Trio in Jackson. This is a nice time of year to be local. Most restaurants offer specials such as two for on entres in this time before the tourist season starts. It can be rather expensive here so it is nice to take advantage of the deals. We had salads and pizza from the wood fired oven. The food was great and the service was excellent.

Just an observation. About a week ago we went to the Brew Pub and it was filled with men having a beer, food and talking. This weekend at Trio most of the customers were groups of women doing the same things but with wine.

I sell - Zibbet
I blog - A Cozy Life and Group2020
I tumble - CozyAtoZ
I pin - cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus and on Twitter .

With family

We got to spend a long weekend with daughter, son in law and grandkids.

I live in an area where it can be a great adventure just to drive around because you never know what you might find. Around Jackson it is always worth it to stop if you see several cars pulled over and lots of cameras with big expensive lenses attached.

We came across just such a situation while driving down the road inside the National Elk Refuge. Of course we had binoculars and started using them to find out what the professional photographers were camped out to get pictures of. It was a small group of wolves! They were too far away for me to even try taking pictures with my camera and no tripod but it was wonderful to sit and watch them for awhile. During the same drive we of course saw elk and big horn sheep.

We also went to the Historical Society Museum in Jackson. It is a favorite stop for the grandkids. I found a cute piece if antler art that made me smile just to look at it. We all enjoyed the displays and my granddaughter always likes the dress up area with prairie style clothes.

After having some lunch we did one more of our favorite drives. This one is on Antelope Flats outside of Jackson, going through the town of Kelly, Wyoming. Crossing the road right in front of us was a moose and her calf.

The rest of the weekend was spent just being together with card games, watching olympics, food and fun.

I sell - Zibbet
I blog - A Cozy Life and Group2020
I tumble - CozyAtoZ
I pin - cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus, on Twitter, and on Facebook

Moose and a Surprise

I said yesterday I had some things to share about my weekend. Well here goes...

Jim and I attended the 52nd annual Spring Fling put on by the St. John's Hospital Auxiliary. The event was held in a lodge on Jackson Lake in Teton National Park. My outside pictures did not turn out so great because the days were rather cloudy and even snowy at times.

As we left home we had someone to wish us a good time.

All the way to the lodge you could see animals, mostly buffalo and elk. Where ever there were cars stopped to take pictures, and there were a lot since the visitors have started to arrive, I wanted to say,

"Take your pictures on the road folks but I have actually had those guys in my own backyard and how cool is that, huh?".

I can understand why they do it though. There is no place on earth like Jackson Hole. I am lucky to be here and I know that.

The Spring Fling was a fundraiser that included dinner, a dance and a silent auction. My surprise was that Jim bid on a necklace I liked and had the winning bid. I don't usually wear pieces this big but I love the colors and the wire work. The necklace was made by Bev Hoffman who works at St. John's Hospital.