Disco Don's Duds.

My friend Don is having a disco party over the 4th. After a discussion of appropriate clothing, we began surfing, trying to find him a pair of multi-colored, vertically striped pants. After eyeing the price tag on a few pairs, Don asked me if I would make him a pair of pants. I jumped at the chance. I knew the striped twill would be hard to find and with time growing short, I decided to make whatever the heck I wanted to. Inspired by a motif Don had requested on some T-shirts for the party, I asked Eric to flock some panels for me and I incorporated them into this design. I dragged out an ancient Singer I'd picked up at a yard sale and set to work. As it turns out, Don and I wear the same size, so I got to model them. As of right now: they're in the mail and aside from them being jeans, he has no idea of what he is getting. Will he actually wear them? I hope so!


Garden expansion has been in high gear. Early in June, I had a planting frenzy. Determined to get the insane number of plants I had started / traded / purchased into the ground; I ended up digging into the evening. As it got dark, I pushed ahead to get a pair of hostas into the ground and unearthed this glow worm. I have no idea who it is. S/he is in quarantine in a bug zoo with a sod plug, we are hoping to find out what it turns into.


All of the new stuff I have planted is doing well. Most of the last year's residents are back and going gang busters. This Balloon Flower is now three years old. I started it from seed and although they are supposedly large, robust and carefree; this little guy has been anything but. Busting out at nearly nine inches tall this year, it is the largest and most bud-laden it has been to date. I am not aware of there being a dwarf variety, but that is my only explanation.

I don't mess around with too many annuals. These calla lilies are one exception. They were a gift from someone I worked with and being in our house for less than a year, they were one of the few flowers that were blooming at our wedding. Every year I do them in large pots along the walkway to the back porch. They have been absolutely wonderful and I have been able to really enjoy them, as the Japanese beetles have emerged later than usual this year. But, the respite is about to end. I killed the first two I saw just this morning.


A few weeks ago, we visited my friend Roy and picked out a few Tonka dump trucks, graders, bulldozers and a shovel from Roy's vast collection. We were careful not to take anyone who was vintage and more valuable, because they are to be outside and are slated for modification. Eric is in the process of lining the walk to the back porch with solar lights. Being Eric, he is not satisfied with conventional lighting. Earlier this spring, he converted a truck I was already using as a plant holder to have solar powered headlights. Then, in the classic more is better line of thinking; he decided we need a line-up. So, there have been acid baths, paint jobs and wiring jobs. He published an Instructable on the subject. Soon, I will have a lovely line-up of gleaming Caterpillar Yellow lovelies lighting the way when I come home at night...

More photos are here.

What a Girl Wants.

Everyone who knows me knows that I have always been a collector of stuff. When Eric and I executed a cross-country move about ten years ago, I did a massive cleanout, had the king of yard sales and have avoided collecting ever since. Well, you can deny your true nature for only so long.

Cruising home from work Wednesday morning, I saw a sign for a HUGE PLANT AND RUMMAGE SALE at a Victorian whose Halloween and Christmas decorations I have always admired. How was I to say no to that? Pulling up, the very first item I spotted was a size A dressmaker dummy in very good condition. next to that was a peony ring and against the fence was a poacher's spade.


All girls need a poacher's spade. If you are reading this and are asking yourself 'What the heck is that?', do yourself a favor and Google it. If you are the sort of girl who thinks FEH! at this point, do the world a favor and learn how to grow your own flowers instead of waiting for some poor sap to buy you a beheaded bunch.

So, the spade needs to be sandblasted and repainted. I want Eric to clean this spade up for me so I can go poach wild asparagus and create a giant asparagus panacea in the yard.


So, I am only $6.00 into this sale and I am hooked. If the CIA was trying to bait me to gain some surveillance footage, I'm going down hook, line and sinker.

Next: on to the garage! I spot this pair of wooden shoes. I've eyed wooden shoes before. Eric has talked me out of them. He'd ask me what I'd really need a pair of wooden shoes for. Obviously, to dress up as the Little Dutch Girl! Even Eric asks stupid questions, once in awhile. Besides, he wasn't there, they fit me and they only cost two dollars. How could a girl go wrong?


Next up were these incredibly gay cake topping man dolls. I can totally see some Mom getting these for her teenaged daughter's cake. These guys are about as safe for a young lady as it gets. Were they to come to life, they'd admire your dress and hair, take you dancing, make you feel like a million bucks and never even think about laying a hand on you. It's true; all Moms secretly want their young daughters to date a hunky Richard Simmons.


Also in the garage, I found various bags of odds and ends of beads. Of course I dug through those and picked out a couple of assortments. Awhile back, I was working on a hopscotch inspired bracelet. I Googled various images of hopscotch boards and fiddled with beading samples. I decided I needed a tiny rock for a clasp. They actually had beads that looked like little rocks! So, that project will have to be revived.

I did eventually make it into the back yard to check out the plant sale. They had impressive numbers of beautiful plants. Eric just finished laying part of a stone walkway that I want to line with hostas, so I picked out this beautiful pair.

All in all, I spent $24.00 and went home feeling like I am going to be having more fun in the near future.

Poppies will make them sleep!

Everything in the yard is 'splodin' and the poppies are no exception. The size, color and texture are fantastic and I especially love the deep purple inner florettes. They are that classic royal purple, the color that is traditionally produced by a dye made from the secretions of a snail.

We got a great surprise when our yard didn't get cut. Three huge rings of wild daisies popped up.

Eric let something he thought were weeds come in and it turned out to be this wacky Sweet William.

The iris are also looking fantastic. I am glad to have the great-grandmother's iris back on the road to recovery.

Everything is green!

Eric planted a poppy bed last year and we found a surprise poppy bed underneath the walnut tree. They are both doing very well and have gigantic buds that really look like space pods. Someone was eating them until I sprinkled dried blood all around them. So, now I get to admire their other worldliness, waiting for them to pop open. We have no idea what color they will be, but I am hoping for the classic red poppy, just like the paper ones the Veterans of Foreign Wars sell this time of year.


I put in two new flower beds last year. I lost a few things over winter, but most everything came back very well. One bed is being expanded with prairie perennials and I have been moving violets into the other. I am trying to get as many different kinds of violets as I can. Right now, I have six different varieties, including the birdsfoot violet, which is the sole host plant for the larvae of the Mourning Cloak butterfly. I am hoping to one day have the yard carpeted with them. So far they are reseeding like gangbusters! The iris in this same bed are doing very well; I may be successful in reviving my Great-Grandmother's iris, yet.


Eric built me three new orange feeders this spring. He had made a multi-armed one last year and I found that it was impossible for more than one bird to use it at a time, anyway. So, the three new ones are spaced out in the yard so that it is impossible for one bird to dominate at the feeders. This plan has worked out well. The Orchard Oriole is having less stress at the feeder from the larger Baltimore. We are also seeing a good variety of other birds as well. The Cat Birds are regulars and don't even bother to scold us any more. Purple Finches are there often and the biggest surprise is a jelly eating Robin. We fill an empty orange with an All-Fruit style jelly everyday and the Robin is a daily visitor.


We saw our first Monarch in the lilacs this morning and Eric discovered a baby Robin in the grass while mowing. The parents were having a fit while we tried to return it to the nest, but it just jumped right back out. Since there weren't any others in the nest, I am assuming there are several of them in the yard that can not fly, yet. So, Eric stopped mowing so that they would have some long grass to hide in. There is another nest of Robins in another tree, I could still hear them in there this morning. They'll probably be out and about in the yard in the next couple of days, too.

More photos are Here.

Gems from my Sewing Room.

This very famous image from the famous 60s Maidenform ad campaign is one of a number of postcards that are framed and displayed in my sewing room. I have picked up a few other gems that are on their way to being displayed, as well.

Sandra sent me this wonderful Rocket needle case.


A couple of weeks ago, I bought this Sewing Circle needle case at an antique shop. I was amazed by how evil these women looked. Okay, I am sure a lot of Japanese thought we were pretty evil post-war and maybe this was someone's sly payback. But, check out those expressions! I think the woman in yellow is about to be the victim of a conspiracy between the three other women in the group. Yellow sweater has probably labored for months to receive an invitation from this group and doesn't realize that these deranged women have plotted an assault. Obviously, the one looming over her is about to "accidentally" stab her in the neck with that needle threader and the other two are waiting in anticipation. In the dining room, there is probably a plate of canapes and some libation for these three to consume in celebration once the woman in yellow has gone home to wash her sweater set before the stain can set in.

It's a Soggy Day.

But, despite the rain, we had an exciting morning, bird wise. We had two competing male Grosbeaks at the feeder this morning; our first spring sighting.

We also had our first official Baltimore Oriole sighting this morning. He amazed us by splitting his time between the orange feeder and one of the seed feeders. I've never seen one at a seed feeder, so I was fascinated. He made his displeasure with my seed selection known, by digging through the safflower for the black oil sunflower seeds. As soon as he left, I put out blackberry jam.

We also had a return visit from the male Flicker. He searched around a bit for bugs in the grass before hitting the suet feeder.

BTW, there are nine feeders in that photo, although you can't really see them through the gloom.

Snake Ball Orgy.

Yep, spring is definitely here. Flowers are popping out of the ground. I have been hearing peepers. The mocking birds are back. And, the snakes have had an orgy out in the front yard. Eric was lucky enough to witness it. Funny thing is: judging from the photo, you'd think there were about four snakes in the pile. But, Eric says when he straightened up from taking the photo, four snakes shot out and there was still a pile. Free love, baby!


We haven't had success yet with the starling trap. Eric thinks that it hasn't been discovered. But, I think the mechanism needs some fine tuning.

No takers yet on the blue bird boxes. Although, no sparrows have tried to move in. Apparently the slot design does deter them. If any blue birds do show up, they will have lovely uncontested homes waiting for them.

We are still hoping for purple martins to discover the new martin house.


We have the orange feeder out, thinking that orioles will be here any day. Of course, other birds enjoy it, too.

Yesterday, we saw flickers the first time this spring. There was a pair checking out our tallest trees, then the male came to the suet feeder. I've never seen one at the feeders, so that made me pretty happy. He was content to eat from the far side of the tree while we sat on the patio. I am hoping this means that they will be less shy and easier to observe this year.