Stripey made up aghan

And this is the crochet afghan I've been working on, I had added a picture earlier that I used for inspiration. It is half done, I will repeat these rows on the other side then it's finished and I can move on to a yellow and white one or a pink and cream one or shades of brown and cream...oh so many colors! I've also begun daydreaming about a yellow and white quilt and have been looking at my books, magazines and on the internet for inspiration. I know I want all yellow and white....years ago I saw a magazine layout that had a yellow quilt as the feature of an entire bedroom and it was so gorgeous and crisp and clean looking....I've always wanted to do the same. I need to keep weeding down my "stuff" or put half of it away and change it out with the seasons. I'm afraid I like way too many things.
For the life of me I cannot figure out how to correctly separate my posts and pictures so for now I guess I will just have to add things one at a time until I learn more.
Now I have to decide if I want to snuggle up in my nest with a book or get back to work...hmmmm...on such a fine day...wonder which I will decide to do. I'm reading The Last Song but I tend to tall asleep when I read...oh ho hummy hummy as my grandfather would say.
I just had this thought...I wish I were 10 and skinny as a rail like I was then...I could sure eat a fudgecicle about now! How do you spell that? Well today I haven't a clue, I just want to eat one! I think it's a creamy cold chocolate daydream I'm having.

Lilac Time

Oh be still my heart....I could not resist plucking the first promise of a full lilac bush to bring that delightful smell into the house. I think I've been in love with lilacs all my life or at least since I was a little girl and both my grandmother and my mother had bushes and I buried my nose in those blooms! Lilacs have the ability to literally fragrance an entire room as well as give it a ray of sunshine. I worked in a nursery once and I remember that there was a huge old fashioned white tin pitcher and one spring it was just so full of gorgeous lilacs, they smelled so wonderful. I can't hardly wait to see my bush in it's full blooming glory. I just hope it's not next week when I'm down in Georgia visiting my daughter. I hope I can pluck some blooms to take to her so I can smell them in her house and still come home to many more blooms on my bush.

Every day something new in the garden and Lilacs too!

Well....look what a day or two of spring and warm weather and lots of watering brings....lots of azaleas and phlox and camelias. I so love them all. I even have blooms on my tomato plants. Spring is so exciting!

Odyssey of the Mind

This year my eleven year old grandson, Mathew, and six of his best buddies tied for Third Place at the State level of competition for their Odyssey of the Mind presentation about Nature Trails. These seven youngsters and two dedicated coaches (one is my daughter, Krista....Mathew's mother) tirelessly worked all year perfecting their seven minute performance. The kids made their own vehicle from scraps, wrote their own script and performed to perfection! This vehicle was ingenious....they operated it by turning the top wheel, there were certain points had to be made in the performance and I'm so proud of them all.
Mathew made his own costume from newspaper and duct tape. His "goatee" was duct tape and his own hair saved from his last hair cut. Brilliant ideas...loved the owl costume, though in these pictures the kids may not be in their entire outfits...they were very cute...did such a great job. They have performed in Odyssey of the Mind together since Kindergarden and my daughter has steadfastly been one of their coaches. Krista did all this work and travel just 10 days post op from major surgery...she's a heroine for sure!

Happy Birthday Afghan for Mathew

Mathew is now eleven years old, how the time has flown. He's a huge Duke fan and loves the Duke colors so his afghan has eleven white stripes on a Duke Blue background...he loved it and apparently is sleeping with it along with his baby quilt and twin size quilt I made him...I'd be hot! Big secret is I also made Morgan one for his birthday and it has eight black stripes on red...his favorite color is red....but that's all a secret still.

Ode to my Gardens and Homes

After nearly 21 years of living in our wonderful mountain home, finally we have had our hillside landscaped. This dogwood now lives by the front door where an unruly mountain laurel once lived. Underneath the dogwood will be hydrangeas and ferns. We've had a stone wall added by our driveway and on our unruly hillside. The landscapers added quite a few plants and of course I had to add my own. I've planted some Japanese irises by the water feature and some herbs and tomatoes. I'll be anxious for Mother's Day as I can add more perennials and more tomatoes. I was taking a huge risk with the first ones, but thus far, the weather has been good.

I've slipped down to our beach place while my son in law paints my living room/dining room/kitchen and main floor bathroom; and am enjoying the garden here too, the roses are blooming, the hydrangeas are full of promise and all my herbs are happy and spreading especially the mint, good thing I like it a lot. I have one raspberry bush and three blueberry bushes. I'm hoping we can be here when they fruit. I'm hoping to add the same to my mountain home too. I've been in the mood to cook so have made dinner for several nights for my widower neighbor. Each time I take him a plate of hot food he has forgotten who I am, but his Bulldog Bitsy remembers me quite well and is ever so glad to see me. She's so short and fat and so full of bubbling energy. I continue to patiently explain who I am...Becky from next door. Tonight I am making us a bacon and potato frittata. I look forward to tasting that.

I love both our homes so much I'm not quite sure where I'd rather be. Just now my hubby is back in Dubai and we talk via Skype, nothing is quite the same without him with me. He too has a problem about where to be...at the beach or in the mountains. Thankfully we'll soon be retired and we can do both at random.

For now I'm washing all my tea towels and dish cloths as I've had a little "visitor" in my absence. I don't mind the company, it's that they're not potty trained and they tend to be a bit destructive. So I must set out my farewell meal for them and hope they leave for good. So for today it's cleaning out all the kitchen while I talk with my sweetie via Skype. I guess I could just call this spring cleaning and learn to love the process of it. Actually I do as I love our little beach place so much. It's a bit chilly today, had to put on a sweatshirt for my porch sitting earlier.

I have a few errands to run, minor things...mouse bait, I need envelopes and stamps and then I plan to spend my afternoon with my crochet and perhaps a good movie. For the morning I'll get my work done, that's the way my Mother used to do it. I should follow her footsteps a bit more.

Speaking of gardens...I am wondering how my lime tree in Dubai is doing.