4-H Fun Day: At the Zoo

UP Date

It's been demanded of me, in no uncertain terms. An up date. Two words. Not one. Thanks, AliP for that kick in the seat. (Note that she's not Miss Keep-My-Blog-Updated-On-A-Regular-Basis either. HUH)

So...

I've been knitting socks. Lots and lots of socks. Between annihilating dandelions in my lawn and in the garden at NSCC, that's kept me busy and tired, it's provided me with a great sense of accomplishment. Oh, and a ginormous blister on the palm of my right hand which has provided the dandelions with a short reprieve. There have also been 4-H meetings, a whirlwind visit from Mathew (my step-son and provider of most resent grandchild-8 months old in 8 days!) Did I mention the sock knitting? And even some crocheting to de-stress. Nothing like single crochet to blow off steam: and only a single stitch to worry about if things go wrong.

I am proud to say that I have not violated my yarn diet as of this writing. (huge grin) Although when AliP informed me that Tangled Skein is selling off stock and closing its doors, I just about cried. The injustice! She may have mentioned something about my yarn acquisition issues... I tried to ignore her but hundreds of skeins and balls and hanks of yarn don't lie. Shame.

Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal have been visiting several times a day, making my little heart ever-so glad, but for now I've given up stalking them with the camera. Last Friday at the Middleton Farmers Market I purchased some ever bearing strawberry plants and promptly took them home to create a new bed for them. I look forward to months of yummy. Tomorrow is Friday Nite Knit Night at the Middleton Library so you can find me there after 6:30pm. I've started thinking what to do for the World Wide Knit in Public Day (second weekend in June). Considering the success of my little knitting club, I feel obliged to organize something memorable.

Busy Bee

That would be me. I have a hard time believing that I've actually gone a couple days without turning on the computer! Appointments, meetings, harassing the school, exercise.... Bleh...
I miss the good ol' days where I could sleep half the day and spend the second half either reading or knitting. Darn good weather. I haven't even had time to spy on the birds as much.

Happy news: my backyard has acquired three more apple trees. That makes me very happy! I'm still plotting the death of a certain willow tree that causes me more work and grief than I'm willing to deal with. Unfortunately its huge size is problematic in the removal plot. Now if I had unlimited funds....No problem.

There has been some minor knitting going on. The Olympic sweater languishes on, as socks have taken over my knitting. One pair each for me, hubby and first born already finished. Another pair for hubby and son with half foot on each remaining.

Spring clean-up has come and gone and with it our old hide-a-bed from the family room. Good riddance. Not to the dump, though, believe it or not! An older couple was cruising by within a half hour of our wrestling it to the curb and zap! Another half hour and it was gone! So now the gigantic living room couch is in the family room and the living room looks kind of naked, but I'm good with that. It's nice to sit on something that won't cripple you after watching a movie.

Big news: I am working on creating a community garden in my town. Lots of work, lots of interest from the public in terms of it being a great idea, hardly anyone willing to put some muscle where their mouth is and get their hands dirty. Which is one of the reasons I've been so busy.

That's it for now. Must go put my ankle up...sprained it last night playing soccer in the back yard with youngest offspring, and after a long day, it's swelling like a poisoned puppy.

Big Mouth

I should have left well enough alone and not commented on the weather. Remember that Blah post? Where I said "it hasn't snowed"? When will I learn that those are fighting words with Mother Nature? And she always gets her shots in? And that I should never, never complain, not even in a back handed sort of way? To wit:

A bit hard to see in that picture? How about this next one?

It looked like the poor waxwing was barely holding on and certainly didn't stay long. Didn't even make it to the feeder; maybe just stopped long enough to catch his(?) breath.

So yes, we had some nasty wet flurries this morning... Not enough to whiten the lawn but enough to make life miserable for the wild life and chill you right to your bones if you ventured outdoors for any length of time.

But look who showed up again!

You lookin' at ME?

Gotcha!

Actually there were two different males, but the pictures of the one on the lawn didn't turn out well.

Stalking

Taking lessons from my cats, although my intentions aren't for a nice light snack.

Yet the sneaky Cardinal remains elusive.

Blah

April is turning out to be a big let down. Sure, it's been more sunny than not, it hasn't snowed (KNOCK ON WOOD!), grass is green, the birds have been singing their little hearts out, we finally got the approval from town hall to start a Middleton Community Garden (I've set up a blog site but have not blogged a single word about the trials and tribulations of starting something from nothing), I've read some wonderful books (list may follow one of these days), and the pretty quilt that I've been working on has a mostly completed top, yet... I can't put my finger on it, but something is not quite right. I've got a major case of the blahs. It lifted slightly when I finished my spring socks and give them a test drive that very same day--they made me extraordinarily happy. Seeing the colourful birds at my feeders--the American gold finches, and purple finches and chickadees, and blue jays, and cardinals, and sparrows, and even the shiny jet black crows--they bring a smile to my face, for a short time. I've been walking every day of the work week, attempting to get in some sort of shape and force myself outside at least once a day. Even that is a struggle. Blah. If I get one good productive day a week, I'm happy. Which is rather pathetic. Bottoms up on that cup of self-pity.

Anyway....

On a happy note, today is Pam's birthday is why not pop over and leave her some good wishes...
Happy Birthday Pam!! All the best from one cat lady to another...

Twice in One Day!

Almost unheard of. Yet here I am. I sewed today. Want to see?

This is what the patches will look like.Sewing gazillion triangles together.This is how far I got before my back gave out.

Progress! I like it!

Reasons to Be Cheerful

I enjoyed Canary Knits' list so much, I thought I'd like to make one of my own (and because several of her items are also on my list):

• getting coffee in bed (apparently not every husband delivers coffee to his wife in bed...that makes me pretty darned lucky, and definitely cheerful (once I get that caffeine into me!)
• cooking books, mainly Joy of Cooking and Food to Die For (which has the absolute best pizza dough recipe EVER)
• perfectly cooked pasta
• polite, well-behaved children (although those are a rare breed)
• photo albums
• thunderstorms (complete with lightening that brightens up the whole sky!); what a perfect time to curl up with a great book
• art supply stores
• pretty notebooks and journals
• pen pals
• yarn... lots and lots of different yarn
• beautiful fabric... lots and lots of different fabric
• book stores
• libraries
• cats that like to snuggle
• being able to hang laundry out on the line
• bird song in spring
• spring flowers emerging from still partially frozen earth
• cheesecake!
• favourite magazines
• watching movies with my kids
• the colour yellow
• flowering house plants

Oh, and how is this for a tease? We passed this sign this past weekend on the way to Moncton where hubby attended the Fly Fishing Forum. And me on a yarn diet. Damn.

Fickle

Look what I did today:

It's for a quilt called Ribbons from a book by Carol Doak called Your First Quilt Book (or it should be!).

Now you know why the sweaters (plural!) are going so slowly. Ooops!