Happy Birthday

Biscuit is 2 today. In human years. Ken's not speaking to him because B. was up barking at 3:45 this morning, but Dean and I both believe there were coyotes in the yard. Seems like a good reason to bark, even if the timing was inconvenient.

He can be a pain, but he loves when Dean wraps him up in a blankie....

In other news, we managed yesterday to get a handful of Christmas lights up on 2 of the bushes in front of our house -- no blood was shed, and our marriage appears to have remained intact. No small feat. We're headed out to get the tree this afternoon. I've never done so much Christmas stuff in November, but we've got a crazy-busy month ahead of us and we'll have family coming for a visit in a few weeks. In the way-behind department, I'm just getting around today to switching out the summer clothes for the winter ones....

But that's in the moments I'm stealing from this year's polar bear production. Photos soon!

Oh nine oh nine oh nine!

Couldn't let the date slide by, inasmuch as I've let so many others do just that.

No mix of lame/legitimate excuses, just forging ahead.

With about eleventy million things to catch up on, I begin with some of the most important:


Can you believe I get to say the words, "this is the quilt I won from Gina!"? I still can't believe I get to say those words, and I always refer to it as 'Gina's quilt' because I haven't gotten my head around the fact that I could call it my quilt that Gina made. Dean took the photo and I realize that while he did a fine job, I'll owe you some detail shots because this is truly a thing of beauty. Gina, I can never thank you enough!


Next, I get to say that this was Dean's "best first day of school EVER," because that's what he says. Nothing better than having him so totally love his school, his teacher, his friends. And what a luxury to have Ken home with us after school to enjoy the perfect afternoon.

Even Biscuit is just happy to be alive. More soon -- I promise.

Gift of a day

For those of you living in places that are hot and dry right now, I share with you a shivery, sparkling rush of cold, cold snow. We're at the beginning of a storm this morning that's caused school to be canceled; even Ken is home from work which is so rare that it tells you just how bad the forecasters are expecting this one to be. Not so much because of inches of snowfall, although there is a possibility of 5 to 10, but because it could eventually turn to slush, then sleet, then freezing rain, then rain and that causes treacherous roadways and often a flooded garage for us.

I'm afflicted with the tendency to think I'll achieve more on a snow day (or a weekend, or a vacation) than history suggests I will. I'm trying to keep that in mind as I think about our plans. I'd like to do some sewing, some crafting, some cleaning, some baking -- already I feel myself getting too far out ahead of what's likely. Hmm. OK -- what I'd like is to feel at the end of the day is that I took advantage of the gift.

One!

Have you been watching Venus and Jupiter in the night sky? The show will become even more spectacular tonight, when the moon moves into the picture. Last night was stormy, but we had a glorious view of the two planets Saturday night, and it is supposed to clear up here by tonight -- we're hoping for another chance to see everything. I thought this might just be visible in the northern hemisphere, but apparently everyone can see it as some point in the night. Go look!


Biscuit celebrated his first birthday on Saturday with lots of jumping; what's amazing to me is that he can jump that high from a standing-still position (and he can get higher than what he's demonstrating for you here). We did not throw him a party, but we did give him some new toys and a few extra treats. He seemed pretty pleased:

Any ideas on how to slow down time? How can this new month proceed at a dignified pace? I tried to explain to Ken last night -- at this point, it is not about figuring out how to do it all between now and Christmas; it is about figuring out what to drop off the list and what to keep so that we get done what we absolutely need to get done on time. It snowed a little yesterday -- a message from the skies to get moving.

Turtle talk

Had you guessed? Sharyn guessed, and perhaps I built it up too much so that maybe Lesley thought it would be more than this, [edited to say just me being foolish, yet again!] but the turtle eggs laid in the front of the house in June have finally, finally hatched out as baby turtles in September. In our case, it hasn't been like one of those National Geographic specials where there are hundreds of baby turtles emerging all at once (although maybe that part did happen and we missed it). For us, it is now a daily process of discovery -- is that a rock up ahead or is it a turtle? Thankfully we've found more alive than dead, though it is still heartbreaking to come across them once it's too late to rescue them off the street and into the woods. (The black stuff on Dean's hands, by the way, is paint from a school project and is not turtle-related.) They are perfect little ancient-looking things, fragile yet resilient, ready to make the long walk down to the river. I hope all this rain has helped them.
I was marveling the other day at how rich a wildlife summer it has been, and I was wondering why all of a sudden we've got so many creatures active in our yard so far this year. Coyote, turkeys, snakes, rabbits, toads, turtles, chipmunks, deer, bats, and more different birds than we've seen before, including gorgeous flocks of Canadian geese just recently. Then I started laughing at myself as I realized that in all likelihood this is no different than any other year; what's different is that we are outside in our yard and on our street for about 2 hours every day now since we have a dog to walk. These wonders have been out there all along, but we've missed most of them because we used to spend time outdoors in nature by getting into the car and driving away from our house and our street and going someplace else to walk and observe and admire. Makes me feel better about all that time that's "wasted" in dog walking....

Countdown to clean up

Not the best photo, but I did accomplish a few things last year and one was finishing and hanging this quilt that I had, ah, begun as a baby quilt for friends who were expecting. The child is something like 16 years old now (we gave an alternate gift at the time) so it hangs in our bedroom instead. It is a true square, and the colors are richer/deeper, but there you go.

Are you joining me and Helen for clean-up day this Saturday, Feb. 9? I'll be here, posting from time to time between 7 a.m. and 12 noon EST; Helen will clock in on her blog from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on -- gosh, is it Greenwich Mean? Well, the time by the clocks in England, in any case. Let us know if you're catching up on some of your own projects -- cleaning, completing WIPs, whatever's your fancy. Helen sent me some inspiration in the form of chocolate-covered "mint cake" which is not really cake but more candy -- wonderful stuff.

I've shown you all my messes, and I have been making progress every day. Ironing the pile of linens that's been waiting (napkins, tablecloths, table runners, place mats), picking up, sorting out, throwing out, giving away as I go. Facing all the issues of how I get myself into this situation in the first place has been tough, but worthwhile. And I WILL still come clean on the fabric front -- just need a brighter day to take some better photos. For your information, the rest of my home is not a disaster; my issue is that I put my effort elsewhere, almost always, and rarely into taking care of things for myself. No more, I say. Well, I also say, given that we've got a puppy coming I'm yet again taking on something that will take me away from my own pursuits.... So it goes. Tell me what you're working on and what your goals are.

Progress and a puppy

We have a winner!

Beverly, whose birthday mojo is already clearly working, is the winner of the rubber stamps. The next item I am giving away is the book Seasons of the Heart and Home; Quilts for a Winter's Day which you may check out at Amazon and then come back and leave me a comment on this post by 5 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 7 if you'd like to be included in the drawing.

Fabric. Oh, fabric. Fabric will be coming -- both in terms of pictures of the bins of it all over my house, and in terms of some that I will give away in the spirit of cleaning up. I am proud to be able to report that I AM making interim progress and will have narrowed down at least somewhat my to-do list for next Saturday's transatlantic clean-a-thon.

Meanwhile, well, we got a puppy. We won't be bringing him home until the 15th; that's the start of 10 days at home for us. (New England schools typically get the third week in February off as "winter break" and then a week again in April for "spring break." Crazy, but we'll take it.) We've got about a million Legos to get up off the floor before the puppy comes home. We've been talking for the last few years about getting a dog, and Dean's upcoming 10th birthday (in April) was the incentive to go ahead. We all put a lot of effort into researching breeds and options, and settled on an Irish Jack Russell, which is the smaller, less hyperactive, less yappy and non-hunting relative of the Parsons or standard Jack Russell. It's one of those decisions that I know I will spend some time regretting, but the regret will be outweighed by loving the new member of the family. A dog changes everything, including the boy who grows up with one.