Saturday, April 23, 2011

Bad signs, happy ending

The problem with living close to nature is that sometimes you have to face teh reality of it--nature ain't always kind.  Monday morning when Bob went out to feed the birds he found a clutch of feathers;  that usually indicates that one of the birds has become dinner for something (we now have coyotes)

We followed the trail of feathers, finding a clutch of body feathers, a pile of soft down .  .






A pile of tail and wing feathers . . .





And finally . . .


A rather bedraggled and slightly bald peahen.


She's all right--in the vernacular, she's a bit "stove up."  We'll be keeping her in a pen for a few weeks until she feels better and grows some feathers back.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Random Catching Up

Oops!  A couple of weeks have slipped by--and I'd been being so good about posting.  So . . . to catch up.

April 6--Happy Birthday, Mom!!  No--no pictures of the birthday girl (she wouldn't let me) and I'm sure as hell not going to say which birthday this was.  I did take champagne and make my now-famous shrimp and grits.  And a double fudge cake courtesy of Mrs. Publix.

The "woodland elf" fabric became a bathrobe for my father (although I don't think of him as a woodland elf at all, the fabric was both elegant and colorful, and that describes him as well.

I participated and survived a zumba marathon (fundraiser for the American Heart Association).  Two hours of hard working out--I have to admit that the last 20 minutes was a little rough.  No pictures--too busy dancing.

I spent the weekend at a weaving workshop (don't look for me in the picture--I was the one behind the camera).  The theme was "extreme warp makeover."  Normally you thread a loom and weave one pattern of fabric with that threading.  We did about a dozen different fabrics.  I was even able to make some corduroy by weaving some floats (long strands of yarn) and cutting them open (I only cut half so it would show.)





And more springtime (sorry that text and pictures are being in wonky places--blogger is not cooperating and it's past my bedtime so I won't find it).  Our butterfly garden is beginning to bloom--and we got our first sweet pea blossom.











Sunday, April 3, 2011

Happy cats and Swings

Cats love cardboard boxes.  Cats love paper bags.  Pookha found a box inside of a paper bag--kitty heaven!

The seat of our old garden swing was finally falling 
apart.  When we created the butterfly garden last year, we talked about getting a new wooden swing for it.  Problem is--the old swing was a padded sling and *very* comfortable.  Couldn't find another one like it.  It finally split open completely and something had to be done.  So I bought some outdoor fabric and padded, took the old one apart, and figured out how to make it.  It was really a simple pattern, but slightly awkward because of using large stiff pieces of fabric.  When it came to the last seam (which enclosed the padded seat) I realized that there was no way to get it under the pressure foot of my sewing machine.  Hand sewing to the rescue.  We have our new swing!  Sitting in the butterfly garden is my favorite place to read (at least for now.  When the temps get in the 90's . . . . .