Spring -- ish...

I'm choosing to ignore the dumping of snow we got overnight in favor of focusing on the signs of spring we were enjoying earlier this week.

It's Colorado, so of course we have to be grateful for every drop of moisture we get -- even when it is unwelcome snow that makes everything slick and nasty again for a while, but I am so ready for spring. Moisture? Bring me some rain, nice spring showers, and let's get on with putting winter behind us!

Quick Update

A busy weekend in the middle of a very busy month, but I had to share a couple photos today and hopefully I'll carve out a few minutes to get some photos off the camera later, and a few more even later so I can share a little of what I've been up to.

I think this was called 'Subway' but I didn't get the creator's info

I did make it to the quilt show this weekend, though I didn't stay very long. This year's quilts on display were much more to my taste than last year, so we did have a good time looking at the various quilts and shops. I didn't find any fabric I just had to have, though I did come home with a few other purchases.

Again, didn't get the artist's info

My husband even found one quilt he liked -- something he is considering trying his hand at. I never thought the day would come - as he's quite anti sewing machines thanks to a bad experience in high school home ec class - but he was quite taken by the quilting.

I had hoped to find fabric, but there was only one yard of anything I was interested in, so I collected coupons and will pick up my next order from my local shop, or online, whichever coupon is still good when I have the time to sit down and make the order!

Oh, here's one of the two things I brought home -- an utter splurge and nothing to do with fabric really.

But it was pretty, and I think it will go well with our bedroom quilts -- which I really want to spend this coming weekend working on. I might have to lock myself in the office to do it though! Too many distractions in other projects around here. This is one of the reasons I like smaller projects, they're easier to start and stop, while our bedroom quilts seem to take so much time and space they're hard to get moving on.

If I make it to quilt group this week I think I might baste mine - simply because I have the pieces, and because I'll have to take everything with me to work that day and I'm not sure I want to haul around the machine for 12 hours prior to the meeting!

Summer Scenery

This year the large scale mowing has been a little late to happen - and while the extra mice, voles, and mosquitoes hiding in grass as high as my waist hasn't been fun, I have loved being surrounded by a sea of green. 

It won't last. In fact, I think that's the chugging of the large mower I hear headed my way right now. If so, I bet the sky over us will be filled with hawks by noon - and hopefully we'll be short a few mice by night fall.

A Little Update

The view out my window today was a bit of a surprise!

These four elk were just hanging out in the neighbor's field - but I suspect they are here to eye the trees and garden again. These ones look younger than the ones who have visited us in the past - and it is earlier in the season than usual too. We started seeing elk around here only a few years ago, so it still seems like a novelty -- but they do tend to eat our onions, break down one of our baby pear trees, and tromp through the rest of the garden generally making a mess.

Between these new 'neighbors' and the threatening weather, I'm a little more hesitant to take off for my daily walk. I've been trying to get 4-5 miles a day total, with at least two miles coming from specific exercise walking instead of just daily walking. It's not bad, but it does require walking right past these guys - something that doesn't sound like a good idea.

Sounds like thunder. That made my choice for me. I'll either pace the house a while, or perhaps pull out my next quilting project... Hmm...

Still Spring

I still think it's spring - and I still am not the only one around here! The crab apple tree is leading the way - but all the fruit trees are beginning to break out in blooms and bees. It's kind of fun to walk under the trees and hear the bees buzzing above everything else.

I'm also glad we trimmed the trees up before they bloomed - so the blossoms and bees are all well above head level this year! It makes me feel a little less nervous about standing under 'their' tree for a few minutes.

Hopeful

I am not a winter person. I understand why it happens, and I know that there are days that are lovely, but give me spring any time! I'm sure we're not out of the wintery-woods quite yet -- after all, I've known it to snow in May and June -- but looks like I'm not the only one thinking that this might finally be spring.

Snow Day

It's not exactly news that it's snowing here. Still. Again. Whatever.

It might be a surprise that it sometimes is pretty. Today everything was just sparkling with little tiny rainbows all over from the icy flakes. Unfortunately, my camera didn't pick up a single one. I'm so disappointed.

At least it isn't too deep here. And even though it keeps snowing, the snow is compressing so the total depth isn't getting too much more around here. Still, as of last night it was more than my car could handle -- low clearance car + deep snowy dirt driveway = not going anywhere. That's okay. We've got food, and heat, and water, and most days we're still working too - so isn't like we're snowed in exactly. I'm just not getting out to the library or shopping - at least one of which is probably better for me anyway!

Doing Some Homework Over the Weekend

"Fresh Quilting"
"Modern Holiday"
"Shape Workshop for Quilters"
"Patchwork Please!"

Also, taking a walk -a very short one.

October Around Here

I know I've been kind of quiet this month.

In all honesty, that's both because I'm not accomplishing much and because I'm rarely home at a time to take photos (or try to type anything out). 

We're all fine, just keeping busy with work instead of cooking, crafting, art, quilting, or any of the other things I want to talk about here. Just picking away at work and other things that feel more or less like work.

Hopefully I'll get to some fun things before the month is out - but right now about the most I'm getting done is to constantly carry a book or two with me and read as I wait in lines or when someone else is driving for work. If things stay this busy, I may have to consider taking up hand quilting or a cross stitch project that can travel around with me during the day - otherwise nothing is going to get done!

Actually... with the holidays coming up, that might be a good idea anyway... Hmm...

Autumn Evening

No words here tonight - wise or otherwise. Just a few pictures I managed to snag before the sun went down.

The pumpkin fairy must have visited my house while I was at work this week. Six of these little guys just popped into place while I was away from home. They're looking very festive now - but if I get the time, some of them are probably headed for my oven and eventually becoming pumpkin puree.

August Around Here

While some parts of the yard are looking like it's still spring:

And others are looking like summer:

Other parts of the yard are beginning to think about autumn:

While I'm happy to see more of our garden ready to be used - I am not ready for yellow leaves on any of our trees!

I'm also on the look out for a good watermelon. Leaves are already turning yellow and watermelons haven't even peaked around here - this is just not right. Hoping I can find some yet this week - but all I'm seeing are little bitty seedless ones. That's not what I want. I've yet to find a seedless melon that satisfies. I'm searching for the big, ripe, seeded kinds I grew up on. If all else fails, I may just have to go over and raid my grandfather's garden - he's bound to have a few!

Ahhh....

My house and I may not be the best of friends right now, but I have to say, I really love where I live.

I have lived other places, and I just never got views like this anywhere else.

And yes, within three minutes of taking these photos it was raining. Not a lot, but enough to make me glad I had taken the camera inside!

Roses and Hay

Trying to keep up with all the work things this month is really wearing me down. Fortunately I have a few happy things waiting at home for me:

The rose bush above is more than a little confused. The same bush is growing a few of the roses we thought we were getting when we bought it (the light colored ones near the top, they start as a soft yellow then turn almost white), but also growing a lot of the dark pink ones you can see behind the leaves nearer the center of the picture - which, as far as we can tell, are some kind of climbing rose. It has a tendency to take over the yard for a few months, but none of us really have the heart to cut it out and replace it with a non-climber. 

And it's not all roses around here either - there's even some grass hay drying in the sun. 

Sure, I like the fields of grass waving in the wind before a cutting, but I also like the smell of cut grass - and the decrease in pests (from coyotes to moths) we see after a cutting.

Here's hoping the raccoons get the memo and stop showing up. Our baby garden isn't ready for their raids yet - and we'd love it if the coons forget to visit for the rest of the summer.

Even More Spring

Usually my parents' lilac bushes are quite riotous by this time of year and I can spend hours standing near them, savoring the scent. This year, the blooms are all smaller than usual, and less scented too. I'm still happy to see them, but it's disappointing to see so many bare branches in there. I guess we need to do some pruning to make them happier for next spring.

Things are blooming in the back yard too.

These little guys could also benefit from some more work in their area - these are still the remains of what we planted three years ago for our wedding - but for happy, happy little plants that come up with no work, I'm thrilled to see them. I can't really choose a favorite (though I am partial to the purple and orange ones), but they just make me so happy. I would love a yard full of them all the time!

Spring!

Pear tree, I think

It's hard to say it's really here, but I think it's officially spring!

Fuzzy new leaves on the apple tree

It seems like we went almost directly from winter to summer - especially with that last storm taking off most of the blossoms from the trees and plants that were brave enough to be out already.

Peony bud 

But the plants that weren't damaged - or were able to bounce back - seem to be determined to make up for the loss of the blooms around them. (And in the case of the flowering crab apple tree, while I'm missing the hundreds of beautiful blossoms it usually puts out, I'm kind of looking forward to a dramatically smaller crop of crab apples to deal with in a few months!) The peony bushes seem to have grown from sticks to budding in less than a week. And the fields of dandelions I've loved driving by all week are already turning white!

Spring is absolutely my favorite time of year, watching everything turn to green and start to grow. And while I didn't enjoy the late snows, I will admit, the extra moisture really helped things turn green around here. I can't tell you the last time our grass was this green - or the local lakes were this full. It probably won't last, so I'm going to enjoy every second of it.

My Day of 12

I've been wanting to try my hand at one of those photo-throughout-my-day things since before I started blogging. So with today being 12/12/12, I thought I'd join in the fun and try to take a photo throughout my day as near to 12 after the hour as possible.

Turns out:

1) My life is pretty boring
2) I do a lot of things in poor lighting
3) I am not good at remembering to do this.

But, what fun is a challenge if I never reveal the results, right?

Ready? Okay!

3:12 a.m. - editing photos for our 2012 photo book

10:12 a.m. - wake up! 

11:12 a.m. - pop over to see my parents

12:12 p.m. - Mom and Dad's tree

1:12 p.m. - working on the photo book again 

2:12 p.m. - attempting to find a backdrop 

3:12 p.m. - bird watching

5:12 p.m. - I didn't want another photo of the computer. This is my husband, watching over my shoulder.

6:12 p.m.  - pie rush double date at VI 

7:12 p.m. - I should figure out what to do with these...

...

9:12 pm - beginning the attempt

10:12 p.m. - almost done with the attempt

11:12 p.m. - writing this post actually... 

Life is pretty dull around here when I have the day off from work and am too worried about breaking down to take the car out on errands (I realized I am not quite finished with my shopping for Christmas gifts).

Actually, it'd look dull anyway - even if it wasn't. Most of my fun is either impossible to share (inside jokes, card games, or music) or relates to something at work (which I try to either not talk about or be very vague over for client privacy reasons). So... yeah, minus all the working bits that would probably only have been cardboard boxes, this is probably a fairly realistic representation of my day.

Well... I'm usually not up until 3:30, nor do I usually get to sleep in until 10 and wake up because I want to (despite all appearances, today Momo actually waited for me to stir before he came poking to see if I would feed him yet). Usually it's more like 1:30 or 2:30 on the staying up part, and 7 or 8 on the getting up part.

As interesting as that was, I think I'll hold off on any more photo challenges like that until I've got a bit more interesting parts to my day... but now you know I guess.

Oh, and the experiment? I'm utterly in love with this little jam jar quilt block I saw Pinterest (where else?), so I thought I'd give a shot at trying to figure it out with out directions. I'd say I need to think it through a bit more (or keep looking for the directions), but it wasn't a total failure:

I actually think I'll hang it next to my computer - where the sticky notes usually hang out. At least for the winter when it can brighten my day a little.