Beauty in the garden

I am so blessed to live in a neighborhood of master gardeners. These are the gardens across the street.

My yard has some pretty little flowers too:






We have a variety of sad things to report from our home. Though I am often frustrated with Flash and joke that I'm ready to be dog free - I'm not. We just found out that he has a mass on his spleen which is most likely cancer and he has about 6 months to live. He had a really bad day today. My Granny fell today and is in the hospital, our good friends are moving across the country and some other people I know are waiting for their baby to come out of serious heart surgery. Today was not the best day to sit down and watch Heidi with Anna. Pass the tissues please.

imagination

I want my kids to use their imagination. I really try not to have too many toys out at once, but these photos show the background noise of garish plastic that is our lives. There has been a long-standing love affair with the laundry basket.

What's she got there?


Oh, just Lucy, trapped under the basket, wearing a princess dress.

I managed to get a play by play on how to accomplish this.

Step one: assume the position:Step two: Carefully place basket over (or not so carefully...)


Step three: Cram those little feet under.

This is the "baby bed"

The "baby" is probably losing circulation in her feet but it's fun while it lasts.

Updates on kids, flowers and such

David, the milkweed is doing great. It's about 3 feet tall now. Can you believe these foxglove came up from seeds that I planted 2 years ago? Foxglove may be my favorite flower but it is so finicky.

My favorite time of day. Everyone is fed, tubbed and scrubbed and ready for some book reading. I'm partial to Richard Scarry (who doesn't like something where watermelon and octopi mingle?) but Dad likes Dr. Seuss.

So, this morning I'm sitting here, minding my own business when little lu walks through with my psudo-pod on and jamming to some music. LOUD. Heck, I can hardly figure out how to turn the thing on.
This is a true love/hate relationship. They never feel just so-so about each other. Either everything is fantastic (!) or terrible. After I shot this photo Anna started crying because e. said the hedge wasn't pretty anymore.
As you can see, it's not so pretty anymore, but it needed some serious pruning to save it.

See Anna's twirly skirt. She loves it, she wore it 2 days in a row. Lucy's is cute too - I decided against the embellishment - it is quite fluffy and brings to mind clogging, or as the guy at Home depot said, square dancing. More photos soon. Amy, tell me how much easier these would be with a serger?

L

Some stuff to look at

Fueled by this home made pizza I was able to knock out some things in the sewing pile.



Love these fabric boxes. Easy and small enough to use up some leftover fabric. They are great for catching small clutter.
Or they make a snazzy hat.

This is a skirt I made from one of the many tutorials to be found. I don't know if I like it better with or without the embellishment.


Another box make from left over curtain fabric.

For the first time in a long time I'm feeling inspired. I have a few little sewing projects to wrap up and then I'll work on some paintings that I've promised.

The rain made me do it

Finally, the sun is out and things are drying off. To keep from going cuckoo for cocoa puffs we have been playing in the laundry and making homemade bathtub paint. The paint is just kid's bath soap + cornstarch + water + food coloring. It was a good half hour of fun and they were all clean at the end. I was proud of my thought to put the step stool in the tub to keep the paint out of the water, and to keep from having to hold the muffin tin up for half and hour.



Everything is just kinda gross. The "fronds" from the oak trees make a satisfying... or sickening depending on my mood, squish when I step on them.

Don't cha just want to pick up that cold, dirty sponge and give it a good hard squeeze? you do? will you come and do it for me? I'm thinking of leaving it right where it is until July.

Due to all the rain, yes I am blaming it all on the rain... and Betsy, but that's another story, my computer fast hasn't gone so well. I'm going to really crack down this week.

On Friday I had the pleasure of learning that I need four new tires on my car. I selected the tire store based on what they were listening to on the radio:
Car talk: yes
Country: no

I also found out ... from the sandwich shop owner down the street that most of the employees at the tire store are ... vegetarians. Crazy.

To add to things I learned: only 17 year old boys write reviews of tires online.

I did finish a little painting for the babysitter's graduation gift. Did I get a photo? Nope.

Lisa

The park

We are having a discussion over who is the big sister, Tate or Charlie. I think Anna will be an attorney, she can sure argue a case.

I am fasting for the month of May. From the computer, not food! I spend so much time looking at things I would like to make, getting ideas for paintings and then... nothing. I need to spend more time doing and less time trolling for ideas. I am going to check my e-mail once a day and I'm going to try to blog every other day because I'm going to have so much to show. right?

See you soon.

Lisa

Loss

Sorry for the crickets you have been hearing from my blog. As many of you know, we lost Jonathan's grandmother last week. Her memorial was yesterday. She was a sweet soul.


She was 96 years old. Had her eyes not been failing, I feel certain that she would have loved my blog and no doubt probably had a blog of her own. She e-mailed me faithfully right up until her stroke near Christmas. How many other 95 year olds do you know that e-mail?

In this photo she was 94. Look at her beautiful skin and those perfect nails. They were always perfectly manicured.

This is her wedding engagement photo.



I think I see lots of Lucy in this photo. Do you? I think it is the full lips and the high forehead.

I hope Lucy is that beautiful.

As you can tell I lost my momentum on the photo-a-day of the neighborhood. Here are some of the last spring shots I took.



After being away from home for a few days we returned to a very green, very wet yard. The azalea blooms are dull and the dogwoods have lost their flowers.

xo,

Lisa