This morning

Raised beds- still alive

Charlotte begonias

Blue sky!
Here's the progress on my sweater, the Big Blue Beast.
I am into the cable/twisted stitch and open lacy part....and it's more of a challenge than I expected. Which is good, after all of those long boring rows of stockinette. I had hoped to have it done by the weekend (mostly so I can move on to the next thing), but I don't see it happening. The rounds take for.ever. Still, I am having fun. AND I love love love the color and the fabric the yarn worked up into.

Happy Wednesday!

Ah, weekend

The pace around here has become more frenetic Monday through Friday....this weekend we had not much planned and decided that we really needed it.

Yesterday was a day for yardwork and errands. All the rain over the past week or so was great for growing flowers and grass.....and for growing weeds. So Lou and I weeded and watered our beds. Some of the transplants from the circular bed did not do well, and were pulled as they were D-E-D dead. We also discovered the presence of what I think are Roses of Sharon in the side yard, which we hardly ever use. Hmm. With a good privacy fence to block the view of the crazy traffic, and a little bit of thinning/TLC for the plants, maybe we can start using that side too, as kind of an oasis. It does get nice and sunny.....

Pete did ridiculous amounts of mowing, mow mow mow. And then:
My two loveys.

Pete took Lou to the hardware store while I visited a few favorite haunts in Dover. I had picked up some yarn for one of my next projects only to realize I had about half what I need, so I headed back to Spinning Yarns for the rest. I brought my sweater to show Margot and she not only gave me a useful tip but also the little kick in the pants to keep it going. It's my first sweater for myself, and despite the wool/mohair/angora blend she insists I'll be wearing it in August "just because". We'll see.

Here's the picture from the book (for Mom, cause you asked and I was able to get a decent shot):

I am loving this pattern. Norah Gaughan is a genius. All those maths! This is a fantastic book, and you would think I wouldn't need any other patterns ever. Here's the big blue heap:

I hope to finish soon, not least because my next two projects are more summer-appropriate.

I also made it to the consignment store in downtown Dover, as well as Just the Thing! which I love. At the consignment place I found two skirts for summer on the cheap- for less than $20 I figure I can always repurpose the fabric if I decide it's just not me. One of them I plan to dye. We'll see how that goes. And then I found:


Pete was psyched. His Manville is more of a workshop than a bar, but a man still needs his Irish whiskey shot glasses.

Today we had waffles out on the picnic table, hit the grocery store and just had a quiet day at home. We had talked about going to see the Serfs in Rochester, but the passing thunderstorms sort of put an end to that. So we've been playing inside, I've done some knitting, Lou's worn some costumes, Pete's worked on the jeep. And tomorrow is Monday. Shhh. Maybe Monday will take care of itself.

Also...

Maintaining our tradition of spending holiday weekends (in part, at least) with the Warrs, we saw Mo, G and Ryan on Monday. We headed out to Rye just before lunch and spent the day catching up and having a few cocktails. Happy happy fun times.

The view

Pete and Mo!
G-Money/Gardner-Hey
Let ME take your picture, Mama!
That Lou

Peter-Man
Mo and Ryan

It's funny how you get to the point where there isn't enough time to spend with the people who matter the most to you....and you find that you have little to no interest in hanging out with the friends you see once in a blue moon, the ones where you know it will be tough to come up with things to talk about. With Mo and Gardner it's never awkward or weird, never a struggle to fill the hours spent with good times. We're truly lucky to have them in our lives.

Today

Since I am on vacation this week, the Lou and I were home today. Here are some things we did:

Watered the flowers in our pajamas

Drove out to Nottingham to pick up some herbal bug repellent from Jenness Farm. Came home and had pedis and lunch.

We tried to go to Tuttle's to look at plants but someone fell asleep in the car five minutes after leaving the driveway. Someone ended up snoozing in the car for a very long time.

Then we set to work making monsters.

Volume 6 of the very clever Craft magazine featured some fun little monsters, and once Lou got her hands on it she decided we must have monsters. So.....

This is Zaza. Zaza is shaped like a seashell. She lives under the sea and eats nothing.
This, however, is Babba. Babba lives under a bush and eats plants. She especially likes hops, although I've been assured that she won't eat "Daddy's jumping plant". She's quite fierce; she has a wooden spoon and will use it if provoked.


All your overripe bananas are belong to ME!

And you might ask yourself......

...what is she doing?


More to come.....

Make way for Nasons

Yesterday we also got together with the Nason clan....good food and beer and great company proved a wonderful way to spend a gorgeous day.

Sri (and baby)
Steve and Grumpa
Those Nason boys
Look closely. Pete is smiling.
Our girls
Beth and Paul
The Lou and the Moo are fierce! and they are buds. I have to post lots of these because they are so darn cute!



Miss Ella, growing up so fast

The world's dirtiest child, eating chicken and being goofy
What's better than cupcakes? Cupcakes with pinwheels in them!

More spring-y pictures

More things I love around our home:

The little purple flowery plants that we moved to the new bed. The stone ring is destined to become a fire pit this summer.
Our front door, with the baskets of pansies that Lou and I picked out
My lilacs

Our maple tree, which we sit under...the perfect canopy