What I Have Been Up to Lately

Enjoying many cups of tea in my new mug. 

Enjoying the beautiful weather while anxiously awaiting Mama Robin's second batch of eggs to hatch. 

Other than that, it's just been the usual routine: reading good books, eating good food, (my Mom has just learned to make Macarons!) and learning how to knit cables. 

We're All Mad Around Here!

What better way to once again attempt to re-immerse myself into my writing than with a little bit of nonsense?

To combat the dreary, grey rain today, we celebrated our Un-Birthdays with Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and all sorts of other mad people in Disney's Alice in Wonderland. With all the tea, wit, tea, cards, (did I remember to mention tea!) I felt right at home.

And now that I have finally taken the plunge and joined Facebook, I can find other silly and entertaining nonsense like this:

 

As my Mom would say: "Yes, let's be silly!"

It's May!

Obviously I did not succeed in my Lenten challenge of blogging for forty+ days, but after a few weeks of respite I'm feeling inspired again.

First of all it's May, one of my favorite months. It's at last warm enough to dance about in sun dresses and leave the windows open all night long. And the gardens look glorious.

I took so many pictures of these purple beauties, trying to get the perfect shot. 

Everyday I step out the door and am greeted by a waft of sweet perfume from the collection of roses. 

With the turning of the calender comes my Mom's birthday, the first of May. We celebrated with a proper Jane Austin tea, complete with cupcakes slathered in a pale pink frosting and a good black tea served in floral teacups. 

The Birthday Girl! (And Daddy.) 

(Who's Un-Birthday we celebrated.)

And last but not least, I'M A COLLEGE STUDENT! 

I'm not going away to school yet, just taking English 1A at the junior college over the summer. I'll probably take several classes at the j.c. over the next year or two, and then it's on to the big leagues! 

Day 14

Can it be that the first rose of the year is already starting to bloom? And the first day of spring still two days away! 

Day 13: The Seamstress is In!

This afternoon I finally got my sewing station in my room all set up, on my very own sewing table! My room looks so complete with it there. I feel ready to sew all kinds of things! After getting the sewing machine set up I finally finished the shirt Becki and I were working on. (I plan on posting pictures of it tomorrow.) It definitely took longer than I had originally thought it would (the pattern did say "easy") but it turned out really cute, and my Mom said it looks professionally sewn. It feels good to hear that. I guess that's my reward for patience, and working with a difficult albeit lovely fabric. I must say though, I'm glad the shirt is finished and now I can move on to something new.

Next project: a dress! 

Day 12: Just in Time

I was worried I wouldn't get a post up today, but I made it. I haven't failed yet!

Quite honestly today has been a rather lousy day. Why? I don't quite know. The situation in Ukraine has us all worried. (If you're reading this, please pray for Ukraine.) Maybe there are some positive ions flying around. (With ions, negative is good, positive is bad. I can't remember why.)

Anyway, right now I'm pretty chipper. This evening we gathered in the tiki room theater and watched Winnie the Pooh, and Pooh Bear is always a good tonic for Grumpy.

How can you not smile with him?

Day 11: Soaking Up Spring

This afternoon the weather was too lovely to stay indoors. So after a walk through the garden, as I was ready to settle down with a quiet book on this peaceful Saturday, I took my novel of choice out with me onto the back deck. I settled down on a comfortable wicker couch and turned page after page, taking in each word, as a relaxed breeze played ethereal music on the wind chimes overhead.

I heard earlier today that it is supposed to grow cold again, before the spring months end, so I'm taking as much opportunity as I can to be outside soaking up all the deliciousness of a warm spring. This evening, after an early dinner, it was still warm enough for me to go outside again! I went straight to my vegetable garden. The raised beds were bare except for a dusting of weeds in one. One raised bed I had already weeded and tended some months before. The other stood sadly neglected. But the time for gardening is again upon us. Then and there I went to the garden shed, selected a few tools (a rake, a pitchfork, some gloves, etc.), and went to work. With the pitchfork I turned over the crusty upper dirt to reveal dark and rich soil underneath. Soon I will need to start buying seeds. I don't want to make the same mistake as last year which was to spontaneously want to start planting in July! This year I will be more careful with my planning. I'm going to devote a whole raised bed to squash. I love growing squash, and it did so poorly last year. I hope this year's crop is better, which means we'll need a good, hot summer. Spring has barely begun and already I'm thinking of summer!