This and That

Spring has roared in, (can you believe those winds?) and I have been busy finishing projects and starting new ones and I worked with Sue for two days in her studio and garage. The garage is so organized, that Sue can now bring more things from inside the house to store out there, freeing up space in closets and drawers and making everything much more accessible, and very convenient. I had a blast, but then I always do when I am reorganizing. Have P-Touch will travel! Tomorrow is Sue's Birthday so a special Happy Birthday wish to her! She already has her first wish. Chipotle opens down the street from her tomorrow. She has been anxiously waiting for months, taunted by the Coming Soon sign in the window.

There is a birdhouse trellis under there somewhere

Spring continues to make the yard look lovely. My trumpet vine has taken over my north wall and I had my first rose of the season last week. Ben gave me this rose bush "just because". No holiday or special occasion, just because. It is always the first to bloom, perhaps because he was my first born.

I have never kept an aloe vera alive long enough before to see it bloom!

I am planning some major yard work this summer. I want more patio space and less grass. It never grows well under my pink silk tree anyway. I'm thinking a used brick patio to match my walkways and borders. I have a yardman Brit, who recently started helping me, and we talked yesterday about how to proceed. I'm going to do some research and then maybe in May, get started on it. BTW Brit is amazing in yard work if any of you need a little help like I do. I have never seen anyone work so hard and he is very affordable.

While pruning bushes yesterday, I had Brit remove a birds nest from my bottle brush tree. It had been used last year by a very busy mocking bird Mother to brood her three chicks. It was quite large and falling apart some and then I looked and Oh No! a wee blue speckled egg... Was it leftover from last year or a new one? I was so distressed and did now know what to do next and then suddenly there was a Mama mocking bird screeching at me from the pink silk tree and hopping all over from branch to branch. I tucked the nest back up into the tree approximately where it had been and apologized profusely to the Mama. I can only hope that she will nest there again this year, and that I was not responsible for the demise of the pretty blue egg. sigh.

the nest

My studio has seen some activity lately. I was playing around with felting i-chords and made these three bracelets for Hannah. She loves them and I have a set almost done for me in shades of tan and green. I also finally finished this primitive stitchery started 2 years ago and framed it up today. It did not take that long to do, I just kept getting sidetracked. I am also nearly done with 70 log cabin squares that I started over 5 years ago. I almost have all my "finish it" projects done. I have NEVER done that before. I'm going to try to stay current from now on. Now, if only I could finish the ironing! I try to do at least 3-5 pieces a day but then I'll skip a few days and I've done more wash and &^%$# there is more ironing to do!




The house has been bustling with girls enjoying spring break and even though the mess that results drives me crazy, I am sure that I will miss it something fierce this fall when they are all away at college. May 1st is the deadline for acceptance for all these schools and all of Hannah's friends are weighing all the opportunities. These students are all in the top 5% in their high schools, so they have a lot of wonderful choices. Hannah is still undecided, but she has eliminated a few. The next two months will be a whirlwind. Proms, Hannah has another art show in about a week, all the IB exams, finals and then graduations. We have almosat all her dorm supplies for college. We've been shopping sales all year. We will just have the last minute clothes shopping to do. Will it be sundresses for CA, snow parkas and mittens for New York, or rain gear for Seattle? We'll know by May 1. Stay tuned.

A special thank you to all of you who read the blog regularly and ask what and when is next? I treasure such good friends. The paper class is almost ready to be scheduled. I have to do some final brainstorming and I will email everyone when it posts.