I'm SO excited! School is out for the summer and I already have one project whipped up! I visited a new shop close by and they had ruffles on their window curtains. A lot of ruffles. It inspired me to come home and make a ruffled pillowcase for my niece.
Of course, I had to add a ribbon pocket and a mini picture. Usually I clip the mini's on with a miniature metal clip. I thought it would be nicer to just tie this mini bunny on, as she might end up being laid on.
The littlest munchkin has a penchant for frozen blueberries. We stored all of ours away in the deep freeze in the
cellar, so I never noticed that they were being snitched. That is, until I went to get some ice cream and found it completely melted down the inside of the door. Aargh! Last weekend I got to cook up all of the thawed meat and fish. This week it was all of the berries.
I've seen two baby deer this week. We think that Apple, Plum's baby, had a fawn this spring. The munchkins have taken to calling him/her Cherry. The second baby was one I saw today, on the way to pick up the older munchkins from Challenge Camp. (They did a ropes course camp.) The deer were walking down the road in front of us. It startled me, and I really should have climbed out of the car to focus properly, but I just took shots out the window. Next time I'll think more clearly!
We needed to do some PR work in Seattle, so I hand delivered the gift to Sara last weekend. (She won the birthday blogging surprise a few posts back.) Can you tell that she loved it? She was so sweet, and thrilled about all the little details. It makes me want to keep on creating...
I was driving in the rain, so the munchkins took the rainy Seattle photo for
me. While killing time in the library there, I found an adorable fish purse that was supposedly at www.MoMa.org, but it was not there any more, nor did it list the artist. I think it's 'da bomb.' If any of you happen to know where to lay your hands on one, I want it.
The garden experiment is doing great. That is, the rabbits and deer are staying out. However, I'm afraid that's because they aren't even being tempted because everything is staying rather um, short.
We have heavy clay and rocky soil, so we brought in 3-way to help it. (3 way is 50% topsoil, 25% compost, and 25% sand.) I'm thinking now that all we really needed was 100% manure, and lots of it. The strawberries love it the most and have produced some berries and are sending suckers out all over the place. Although, the best strawberries are still the ones growing in a Lego container on the patio. Hmm.
Dh is getting ready once again to do humanitarian aid work building houses in Mexico. In preparation, a crew came over to build boxes to hold their tools. They wanted to color code the boxes, so the munchkins and the neighbor kids painted them and then cleaned off the rollers on the lawn. I'm enjoying the abstract quality of their work this week.
We also had to go visit a friend in the hospital who is recovering from cancer. He's doing well and we all enjoyed our visit. As we left town, we stopped off for a quick bite at our absolutely favorite pizza shop. Well, okay, we have two favorites, but both have perfect crusts.
One of my friends, Maja Ledgerwood, requested a custom item, so I worked on the pattern this week.
As the family walked through the room I was working in, they all had their own opinons as to what the end product would be.
It was so facinating to hear from each individual, and was so inspiring! I thought I would pose it to you as well, to see what you think I should be making from the pattern in the picture. Just click on the email sign on the left-hand side and send me your opinion. Or email me here.
I'm still working with the support staff in India to find out how the system swallowed my cookbook file. When it posts, I will certainly let you know. I'm counting the days now. I think it's interesting how long it will take for them to sort things out... If I could find my Adobe Writer disk, I could just make it available here as a .pdf, but alas, I can not.
These colors caught my eye in a flower case this week, and this Australian online magazine (Paper Mache) is pure eye candy.
What do you use to keep yourself growing? A friend of my husband sees a life coach to keep him on track. He wishes to clearly see his goals and the reasons for them. I'm not yet ready to commit to having someone hound me, but I've found one little tool that I've been using lately on the simplemom blog. I love the way she has you prioritize your top three goals for the day. I may not get the top three achieved on the day that I write them down, but I have been going back to them and making certain that they are accomplished within the week.
One of the munchkins was reading through my blog the other day and called my attention to unrealized projects. Munchkin made a list of them and smugly suggested that I finish everything I'd written about before starting any new projects. It was then proudly posted in my studio, where it could haunt me.
Of special interest to the little people in my house was the continuation of the story illustrations for Sunshine and Golden. I'm seeing an ulterior motive (later bedtimes due to new stories). Do you have growing little helpers in your house too?
The template I made for you still has not shown up on Publisher's website, but I'm in communication with Microsoft's support staff to find out how to make it work. I'll keep you in the loop.
A friend of mine from art school, John Parish started a blog recently. He posted some sketches he's using as a basis for his oil paintings. He's a teacher, and hopes to complete some of them during the summer break. I'm looking forward to "summer vacation" for the same reason.
Ever since I started cooking at age 13, I've been working on recipes. We were on a tight budget growing up, but if my sister or I made a list, dad would buy the ingredients. I learned young that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. My daddy would indulge any spice request, specific cheese, or Italian noodle, as long as it was to hit his plate that night.
After I married and was cooking every night (yes it works that way in my house), I began amassing my recipes into a notebook.
Dh helped me think of the Dewey decimal system when creating the page numbers, so I can add recipes forever. I've created a Microsoft publisher version of the template I use and have uploaded it to Microsoft Office's website, just for you! (Note: they said it would take 24 - 48 hours to go live. I'll add the template's link as soon as it's up.)
I also looked for some other template options and found this one at HP. I even found some book publishers for your creations. I like being able to add, edit, and reprint at will, so I won't be going the hardback direction any time soon for my cookbook, but in case you're enchanted with that notion, I've included that link as well. Lastly, if you want a template and don't like mine (or don't have Publisher or Office) there is this one.
By the way, this photo is of the largest piece of meat I have ever had in my kitchen. We purchased beef from a friend who had raised it. It took us forever to eat it as we really don't eat that much red meat around here.
We're getting lots of rain, even thundershowers, this spring. I'm still not used to the weather being so different on the hilltop when our old house is only 20 minutes away. The lightning flashed, the deep thunder rumbled, right over our heads on Tuesday. I baked in response.
The ground is still wet every morning as I go out to the garden to adjust the sprinkler. It surprises me, though I don't know why. It's cool on my feet while the sun on my shoulders is warm, with wind whistling steadily around the corner of the house. By the end of the day the black tiles on the porch have absorbed enough rays to keep my feet warm while the sun sinks behind the pines.
Indoors, I've been thinking about the library, and why no one sits there for very long. We have two twin mattresses stacked along the wall, covered with pillows. They are simply impostors, trying hard to look like a comfortable daybed. I've begun sketching a frame to hold them, like a couch. I'd also love to try my hand at creating a custom fabric to cover it from Spoonflower. Of course, there could be so many things to make with my own fabric....
Custom is something dear to my heart, naturally, and so are photos. I've been working on a book at My Publisher, but it takes so long for me to curate photos, it may be years before I actually publish it! I'm sure everyone is much faster than me... However, I do find the oddest vignettes in my home. This was on the floor last week in the kitchen.
My mother was away this Mother's Day, so I had the day with the munchkins and DH. They agreed to begin the deer/garden experiment with me. My current hypothesis, based on the fact that deer do not enjoy confined spaces, is that they will not jump the fence into my mini-garden. However, I do know that the heighth of my fence is no threat. They've cleared 7 foot fences to enjoy my father's orchards.
We dug with a will until we'd pulled up all the thick sod. I proudly sport a blister on my right hand. (It's getting me out of dishes while the machine is broken.)
The munchkins worked so hard! They talked of tomatoes, strawberries, fresh lettuces, bell peppers, and corn. I reminded them that the plot wasn't all that big this year.
They gave me a lovely wallet, all covered in elephants. I had found it on etsy and hinted, but didn't know whether they'd follow through. It shipped from Italy and still arrived on time. It's even lovelier than I thought it would be. The stitching is impecable, the snaps are strong, and it has SOOO many pockets! You can get one too from www.italiacraft.com.
April showers bring May flowers, as the saying goes. The wind has been blustery all week and I've been concerned about the pollination of the apple trees. However, when I walked down to observe during a brief sunny spell, the bees were hard at work. I even managed to get this fuzzy shot of one at work while the wind was whipping around the orchard.
We saw the Ghandi movie a few weeks ago and then I went with some friends to see Desmond Tutu who was in town speaking at the University of Portland on Monday. It made me think, once again, about peace, freedom, love, and what it takes to be at one with those qualities.
I love finding interesting animals to inspire my new art pieces. Here's one I found recently, just up the road, but the other direction from where I usually travel. He was so inquisitive, he turned around and checked me out for a while. I think he was eyeing my camera.
We picked out new piano music for the munchkins to learn at Beacock's Music this week. Some of the munchkins were enjoying the drums (hooked to headsets thankfully) a little too much.
I'm afraid they're looking at raiding their piggy banks for a big noisy set. I'll buy headphones!
The music we picked out for piano was the score from the new version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. We've been searching all over youtube to find an easy fingering to watch before starting the laborous process of transcribing the notes on the score. (We can read music around here, but not as well as we'd like...)
Birthday season will continue around Deer Haven until the end of June, but the "Best Birthday Contest" has a winner! Two of Rosemoor's Readers will get a Deer Haven pillowcase!
Patty enchanted me with the thought of flying to Paris or even staying home and enjoying a good book, chocolate, and berries.
Sara shared a trip she'd already had with her dh on a past dream birthday. It reminded me of one I'd been spoiled with. My dh flew me up to the Space Needle Restaurant in Seattle for one evening. We were back home before the babysitter had to go to bed.
I have two fun sites for you to visit! One is the Furniture Fair in Milan that is taking place this week. I ran across it while trying to decide what to do with a space in my basement. I recalled loving looking through the Fair last year and really finding some unique things. Here's one that I
liked from this year. It's produced by Magis, designed by Javier Mariscal. I have to say that I am always enchanted by good furniture that is made for children. I like things that are miniature and magically playful, so this fits the bill for me.
The second site I have for you is the (Semi) Affordable Art Fair in NYC. (I'm not vouching for all of the "art" represented, but there are certain pieces I do like.) I don't live close enough, but some of the artists are represented by UGallery online. You can choose the "Under $100" catagory if you are needing just a little something and are not in NYC this week.
The sun was shining and warm for three straight days here! It felt dreamily like Florida for a brief moment in the Pacific Northwest. I went a little crazy with spring cleaning and washed every stitch of laundry, opened the windows and cleared the porch.
Munchkins helped me plant four little strawberry plants in a box on the porch. I'm concerned that they wouldn't last half a minute with the deer up here. The garden is still in the planning stage, I'm debating where to put it.
Last year I attempted a garden without fencing to see how much the animals would leave for me. They viewed it as an invitation to the salad bar, so we'll be installing this lovely fencing I got for Mother's Day last year.
It's been a spring symphony with the trees here too. The golden plums have turned from cotton to pale amber and the purple plums have joined with the apples to take their turns being snowy.
The deer painting I started long ago is now completed and I am working on a water background for her now.
Of course, she's just a little thing in comparison to the art of Da Vinci.
A girlfriend of mine took her troupe with ours to see an exhibit at OMSI this week. I absolutely adored his tiny book and wanted to run home and make one exactly like it immediately.
Instead, I wandered through the rest of the exhibit until I came to a little closet with mirrors all the way around the inside. There was a pinhole by which I took this photo. I reminds me of the art by Yayoi Kusama.
You have 24 more hours before I shut the doors on the "best birthday surprise" box and start drawing out the dreams...
Recent Comments
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Rosemoor said:
They were buzzing in all the orchard trees, just a warm hum, but we do have to be carfeul of... read more
on Work and Peace -
Adaline said:
And, unless you truly intentionally upset their work and peace they accept you. I have stood with arms covered in... read more
on Work and Peace
What a lovely word picture! It gives me something to draw... read more
on Plum_cotton