Miscellaneous May

I haven't been feeling well lately, but wanted to share some photos. Stephanie and Melissa went with me to Greek Fest today, for some yummy food. I thought it was cute how similar their clothes were!

 

 

My Dutch irises are blooming.

The straw/hay bale garden is coming along.

Gracie continues to nap often, but I found out she is afraid of our ceiling fan when it gets turned on.

And my dad turned 76 and still looks great! I think Melissa gets her photogenic-ness from him, don't you?

These farmer's market eggs made me happy; not only brown and white, but a beautiful pale blue! And the yolks were an amazingly rich golden color. Delicious, too.

Have a happy week!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Graduation and Mother's Day

Stephanie graduated from VCU this weekend, and we were all there to share in her accomplishment. She earned a dual degree and graduated summa cum laude. We are very proud of her. Starting from the left is Lindsay, Stephanie, Meredith, and Melissa. I'm so grateful that they all get along and think of themselves as sisters more than stepsisters.

My,parents also made the trip to Richmond to see Stephanie graduate.

The proud papa:

This was the first time in quite a few years that I was able to have both girls with me to celebrate Mother's Day, so I was elated. We ate brunch at the Leaping Lizard, my new favorite restaurant.

 

 

 

They have the open air porch decorated with the coolest things, like this hanging votive,

fairy lights and a metal fish,

and teapots filled with flowers.

Such a wonderful weekend.

Having chickens roaming around doesn't hurt either.

 

Straw bale garden update: I planted the tomatoes, cucumbers, a pepper plant, and marigolds on Thursday evening, before we left town. Everything is flourishing except for the pepper plant, which I fear is being eaten by slugs.

And Steve's roses are blooming. This one is a climber by our front door. See the ladybug?

Hope your weekend was as lovely as mine.

Random PS. I helped Melissa make coffee bean burlap bag curtains last week and I made oatmeal cookies Sunday night. Trying to do the domestic things I love more often. And my Shades of Truth wrap grew quite a bit this weekend. Sitting around so much made for a lot of knitting time.

Posted with Blogsy

All the Shades of Truth

Love, love, love this pattern and yarn!

That is all.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Appreciation Week

This week is Nurse's Appreciation Week and Teacher Appreciation Week. Anyone know why we share the same week?

Kudos to all the nurses and teachers. I am proud to be included in this sisterhood/brotherhood.

Posted with Blogsy

Saturday, In the Yard

So sorry for those of you in colder climes, but it is gorgeous here in southeast Virginia. My lilac is blooming and so are many of the rose bushes.

 

The rosemary is practically taking over. Isn't my crab cute?

Gracie, yawning, although she looks a bit fierce.

She is really a pussycat though.

I took my first knitting class today; Laura Ayler taught it, and she was just lovely. She showed us how to design our own Shades of Truth, which I may try at a later date, but for now I'm just going to follow her very beautiful pattern. Two of my friends went, so I can show you three very different color combos.

 

This one is Lori's:

 

 

This one is Melissa's:

And this one is mine:

This pattern is a very easy way to play with color and as Laura showed us today, can have endless modifications. It's so fun to see how different the yarns look depending upon the color it is knit beside. I can see this pattern becoming an addiction. It uses fingering weight yarn and was designed with Madelinetosh Merino Light, but I am also thinking about making a modified version using worsted weight. Can you imagine this as a baby blanket? I can, probably because I am finishing up a solid color one and have two more to knit. Time to get back to it!

Posted with Blogsy

Gardening After Work

I had two knitting friends over on Sunday, and as you can see, Gracie was enjoying the sunny day.

 

 

She followed the sunshine, like the good cat she is.

I took advantage of a beautiful day today to get some gardening done. First, I planted a tomato plant in a five gallon bucket, using an idea from Pinterest.

Shards of terra cotta, for drainage.

Free burlap sack, from the garden center; wrapped on the outside for looks, and tucked in on the inside for retaining moisture.

 

Finished product. Kind of an interesting look, isn't it? Our two rain barrels are in the background of this photo.

Soaking the straw bales; I'm supposed to do this every day for five or six days, according to my resources.

The remaining plants, just waiting until the bales are ready for them.

 

I thought this looked nice; I wanted some greenery, and like the shells for a beachy touch.

And here's Gracie, keeping a wary eye out on me.

Now I'm off to bed. The weather is turning chilly again tomorrow, at least according to the meteorologists. I'm hoping they are right, as summer and the heat will be here soon enough. Have a happy day!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Gardening

Melissa and I are going to try hay bale gardening this year. She is sharing a house with some other young women and felt the urge to garden, and I have been interested in trying this method for the past couple of years, so we decided to give it a try. It should be fun, each of us doing this at the same time. I went to a local nursery after work on Thursday and bought two bales for her and two for me. I also picked up two pots of day-lilies for the flower bed on the corner of our yard. I went plant shopping again today and bought tomato plants, a pepper plant, two cucumber plants, a variety of herbs, and some marigolds. I also picked up quite a few packages of zinnia seeds, because I love them so much.

 

Steve and I ate lunch on Saturday at a little place called Leaping Lizard, and I think that's what motivated me to buy all the plants. They have free range chickens, little teapots filled with zinnias, and lots of cute things all over the open air porch.

 

 

Sunday was a gorgeous, sunny day. I had two friends over and the plan was to sit on the beach and knit. We knew we'd need sweatshirts, but even those weren't enough, as the wind was kicking up whitecaps. So instead, we hung out in my sunroom and spent the day knitting in the comfort, only stopping to grab some food at the local pizza joint down the street. So relaxing!

Today is even colder, with gale force winds blowing in from the bay, so all the plants I bought are still in the car. I'm on the couch, with Gracie snuggled beside me, listening to the wind, and dreaming of hay bales covered in green plants and flowers. Gracie is probably dreaming of catnip. And fish. What are you dreaming of these days?

 

 

Posted with Blogsy