Grapefruit Obsession

The tulips I got three days ago didn't live all that long, but they are pretty in their decline, too.

They look especially nice with my ruby red grapefruit. I am obsessed with them.  

Sometimes I eat one for breakfast and one for lunch.

Rapid Fire Spring

Spring has suddenly erupted in the eastern half of the country. Everything is blooming about six weeks early, and according to Mr. Crafty, who is a botanist, plants are blooming in combinations that haven't been seen in years. Magnolias and honeysuckle, for instance, blooming at the same time.

My test knitter is about done with one of the last objects for the collection, and it's looking like we'll be having to do the photography of all these knits in hot weather unless I decide to hold off until Fall.

The trees outside our windows have erupted in flowers, something that generally happens in May. The windows in our bedroom serve as an ever changing seasonal headboard, which right now looks like this (ignore the mess):

Chimayo now spends her days on her blanket by the living room windows listening to the birds that have suddenly started singing their spring songs. She's totally down with this strange weather.



I'm just glad it's not eighty anymore. I know it sounds curmudgeonly, but I'm not a big fan of summer. The worst part of it, frankly, is that when it's over eighty you can't properly enjoy a cup of hot tea or coffee, and the iced stuff just doesn't have the same effect. There's nothing cozy about curling up with a book and a glass of iced coffee.

So now that it has dropped back down to the sixties I've been rocking a lot of this combo:

The book is A Covert Affair, about Paul and Julia Child's time as spies and their subsequent persecution in the McCarthy era.

Gotta enjoy it while I can!

Birthday Banner

I finished Mr. Crafty's grammatically correct birthday banner. See that comma up there? His name followed, of course, but I've omitted that for the sake of his privacy.

Do forgive the over exposed, less than stellar photographs. And please also ignore the wee piece of cat hair on the close-up of the red glitter.



The banner was composed of watercolor paper, gouache paint, glitter, brads, and baker's twine. It was hung with painter's tape, as it is strong and won't damage walls. Additionally, in this case, it was green and it seemed fitting since Mr. Crafty shares his birthday with St. Patrick's Day.

The project revealed, if nothing else, that I'm not much of a painter/illustrator. Still, it was fun and it did, I think, turn out better than a generic store bought banner.

The most important comma.

Tutorial to come, though I've made the unfortunate discovery that Blogger doesn't support the attachment of PDF files to blog posts. Anyone got suggestions? I can just make a tutorial post, but that would limit my ability to make stencils actual size, etc.