Cameleon Cat!

I just had to share.  There hasn't been much change in the garden besides having carrots coming out of my ears....so this morning when my meow decided to play hide and seek at nap time, I had to share her cuteness.  Enjoy!

"Pin"spirational!

Thrift store treasure? Not quite!

Well, maybe you aren't a thrift store shopper, but many of you are.  My favorite way to add to my wardrobe is by poppin' tags from thrift store finds.  I normally don't like rap music, but a rap song about shopping at thrift stores instead of buying $50.00 t-shirts.  I like the song...especially the little boy in the middle of the song singing, "goodwill, poppin' tags, ha ha!" It's just so cute and exactly what I do.  Why pay so much money for designer when you can find similar things for pennies on the dollar in comparison?  Also, I can then be my own designer, like so....

My original topic, before the rap song tangent, is this shirt that I found a few weeks back at my favorite local Salvation Army.  I brought it home to alter it's size a bit to be a nice long sleeve dress shirt.  However, when I pulled it out of the bag upon returning home with my prizes, it was grease stained on the left shoulder at the collar and on the collar itself.  Bummer!  Well that just meant a little more time, thought and creativity would be needed to alter it to a nice shirt for the wardrobe.  The refashioned shirt is now comfortable and cool, ready for my summer wardrobe. 

The "pin" that helped me make the final alteration decisions was this lovely Anthropology shirt that was pinned and is now pinned to my Fashion board here:  http://pinterest.com/k10g/fashion




  

"Pin"spirational!

 The Hooded Cowl

 For a couple weeks now I've been knitting decently for the first time since I first learned as a little girl.  I didn't hold on to the art back then and had to re-learn.  I've been crocheting for the past four years and love the speed and ease of it.  But I've been wanting to make things with a bit more of delicate detail.  So I took a short hour long beginner class at the last SCA event I was able to attend.  I then started doing easy stitches over and over, row after row, not making anything really.  Then I tried a pattern from the back of a scane of yarn to make a lacey dishtowl.  It came out well and I learned 3 more stitches.  Finding out that the internet has videos for different stitches, I was able to see it being done which was a huge help.  Now I'm looking for simple patterns for nice things to wear that are quickly made.  I wanted some practice at my new found stitches before doing the project I really want to make.  In the meantime I've been searching for the perfect pattern to make what I have in mind.  That is how we come to these lovely photos for inspiration.  Also the two below are ones I found along the way that made me smile and laugh.  I hope to share with you what I've come up with for my hooded cowl when it is complete.  As always, happy pinning, crafting & making!

Garden Monday

A Garden Tour

 

Yesterday I took a series of photos to see if I could create a long panorama image of our backyard.  This is the garden segment from the panorama.  I'm so proud of my 1st winter crop!  Our first size worthy carrots were harvested yesterday and added to our dinner for the evening along with more peas from the plants here and down in the "country" garden space below.  

The cucumbers, planted with the addition of the new deck that was showcased a few weeks ago, are growing well and are close to being double in size.  While double their sprout size is not much to be excited about, any small growth is very satisfying.  I'll be cataloging their growth and will hopefully showcase them in a month or so when we get our first harvest.


I'm about to need to decide on a recipe to start cooking our rainbow chard.  It is getting to be of generous size, begging to be harvested and sampled.  The 2nd crop of arugula is just now getting to a size worthy of harvesting could be added along with the eggs we have from the hens. 

Sadly our strawberry plantings have taken a beating with the recent heat, though mild, was just enough shock along with water loss from the masonry bricks, to render them lost.  We have some strawberries in pots and as hanging plants that are doing well and growing quickly. 

The 1st crop zucchini summer squash is growing well, sprouted with a first leaf growing speedily.  They are rather early season which is why I planted only 2 seeds.  Let one set grow and add a 2nd and possibly a 3 later in the spring, beginning of summer.

Lastly, our friendly local wildlife, the robin nests (2) that we are aware of were made, eggs laid and now chicks hatched.  Fluffy ball of feathers. I so hope these babes are able to make it and grow to join our local bird life. 

Happy gardening and I hope to see you again next week.  Thanks for stopping by!

The babies have arrived and are a ball of fluff all huddling for warmth while Mom is away.

 

 

Bonus Post

A long hike out and back....

Wildflowers come in all shapes, sizes, and forms.  The form here is a wind carried seed for reproduction.  A lot of plants just drop their seeds below them, but others are carried on the wind to spread them farther.  This type of flower is so much fun.  You can help the seeds along and blow to your hearts content. 

And away they go....

One of two robin nests that we have the pleasure of keeping an eye on.  There are four eggs in this one and three in the nest hear our house.  I have more hope for these ones because the one near the house is too close and mom has to fly off whenever we go out our back door, which is often for the pup to go outside.  We'll see babies soon I'm sure.  Here's hoping.

TTFN - Ta ta for now.  Bye!

Garden Monday

 Short Post

Back side of the yard, overlooking Lindo Lake.  This side has a cottage feel to it and I love sitting out here watching the plants grow.  They grow like grass, slow, so slow.

Almost a worthy size for a meal....wait for it.

The squash plants starting to come up.  A little too close together, but I always plant more seeds in one space than I'll need, because sometimes they don't all sprout.  I'll transplant one of these once it has gained some size.

Garden Monday

Peas! & Thank yous!

Peas from the garden.  These were so so yummy. Crunchy and sweet!  Thank you Lord for these snap & snow peas.  We harvested enough for a side dish for our dinner.

It was a beautiful Monday in the garden, trimming back trees, harvesting peas, tending to weeds and overall, just enjoying the yard.  Being together in the yard is so wonderful.

Carrots, I want to eat you, but you grow too slowly for me.  Can you please grow faster?  Big and crunchy, with that wonderful earthy flavor I love to add to stews, eat fresh for snacks, please, pretty please.  Faster my friends!

This is the first iris of the season. I'm always so amazed by the colors, with a yellow tongue of pollen on three side.  I really like the water droplets on the petals.