to Towanda, whose birthday was Friday, and I missed it! (In my defense, I spent the entire afternoon moving books from one room to the other, so that all the children's books—three shelves full of them!—are in one place and easily gotten to when visiting grandchildren are on the premises. And after that I was busy complaining that my back hurt . . . ) At any rate, Happy Birthday!
Jesse and Giselle are happy, too.
Brian, Lara and Emma were here yesterday—I have pictures, as soon as I finish cleaning up. I should have done it last night, but I took a nap instead . . .
Spring is here, and it's a glorious sunny, blustery day—perfect for the Vernal Equinox. There are some spring notes and links here and a post on rabbits and hares here. And if you go here, you'll find one of Franklin's distinctive cartoons.
This is looking down the side yard—aren't those daffodils lovely? When the year gets a bit further along, that bare space on the right will be covered with violets, and I'll be picking the blooms to make violet jelly.
See that birdhouse on the far tree? John just put that one up this year, and it's already inhabited! (or so we think.)
Here's a closeup: that's a nuthatch investigating the accomodations. They're the birds that walk up and down trees upside down, hunting for insects in the bark. I hope they nest here—and that's a cone of wire around the tree below the house, the better to discourage curious cats from investigating the new tenants . . .
In other spring news, our order from Miller's came today (note: if you're ordering fruit or nut trees, berries, grapes—you can't do better. Nice people, too.), and John spent the day planting: six more blueberries, fifty raspberries, three grapevines, and a pair of heartnut trees.
While he was outside, I did the laundry and got it hung (it's windy today; it should dry nicely), made a batch of hamburger buns and hamburgers, made four loaves of banana bread, cleaned (well, as much as I ever do—I belong to the lick-and-a-promise school of housekeeping), changed the bed, made chicken broth from last night's carcass and some elderly vegetables, played with cats, froze enough bananas for 14 batches of bread, fished the hall curtain out from behind the dryer AGAIN (someone wishes to sit in that window, and I wish to keep it covered, at least until it warms up enough to open it. Guess who's winning?) and cut up a bunch of cardboard boxes into burnable pieces.
Thus I shall be justified in goofing off tonight . . .
And a good day to remember the Saint Patrick's Battalion, a unit of several hundred Irish, Germans, Swiss, Scots and other Roman Catholics of European descent, who deserted the US Army and fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. (Another shining chapter in our history of invasions . . . but I digress.) They fought for a number of reasons, but predominantly because the Mexicans were fellow Catholics and out of sympathy for the Mexican cause.
More information here. And have a happy St. Patrick's Day!
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
- e.e. cummings
do take a look at this lovely post: learning about the Korean Lunar New Year at school . . . aren't Sue's New Year's clothes as charming as she herself? And look at those wonderful shoes!
It's the Year of the Rat, the beginning of the twelve-year cycle of Chinese years. Here to help you celebrate is Joseph the Rat, who is obviously NOT Chinese in this life, but might have been several lifetimes ago . . . he likes to think so, when he's sipping a cup of tea and imaging his life in the Empress' palace.
He's made of wool felt and his feet and tail are polysuede. I used Jennifer Carson's Rat Finks pattern.
I nearly forgot—and I have no groundhog photos (thank heaven), but Susan does . . . The Return of Chucky!
And an entirely unrelated piece of news—Annabelle has finally given birth! About one this morning, actually, and there are now two more baby goats: a black nanny and a little brown billy. I haven't seen them yet, for they are hiding out under the turkey house, but John scootched around to be sure Annabelle was fine and got a good look at them. Mother and babies are doing fine . . . and there will be pictures as soon as they come out. (It's way muddy down there; we had an inch and a quarter of rain the other day, along with a little ice.)
We have taken the tree down, and put away the ornaments, and restored some semblance of order to the room.
I miss my tree already. I loved lying in bed and looking at the lights.
But today was warm and I felt like getting outside for a bit, so I went down and watched baby goats for a while. Unfortunately, I forgot about the pan of beans on the stove while I was out . . . so the chickens got beans and charcoal for supper. But I have a camera full of baby goat pictures!
Sam was apparently out celebrating late into the night . . . Not so the rest of us. For New Year's Eve John made a big pot of vegetable soup, and I had a celebratory glass of eggnog . . . after which I went directly to bed (do not pass Go, etc.).
Yesterday, come to think of it, was spent mostly sleeping: I got up, cleaned a bit, went to the grocery store (which was entirely too crowded, for the weather had mentioned the dreaded 'S' word), came home and took a 3-hour nap, got up and inspected the goats, went back to bed for another couple of hours, got up and ate some soup and bread, went back to bed . . . but I do feel a bit better today. (At least I'm still up!) And we shall have a baby goat update later today, when I get the pictures off the camera.
I've decided that I am making no resolutions this year—primarily because I never keep them (if I did, I would be a much more sterling individual than I am, believe me)—other than to try to make a doll or two this year, and to sew up some more of the stash instead of buying so much. (And, yes, I say this even as I am preparing to send my co-op payment for the 15 yards of Michael Miller prints I ordered last month . . . )
ADDENDUM: Diabetic cough medicine is undoubtedly the most vile-tasting liquid I have ever ingested. It MUST be good for me.
|
|
