A Strange Bird

A visitor after a thunderstorm. 

Outside and a new shawl

Well, spring has finally sprung. It is still rather nippy in the mornings, but things are blooming now and with all the rain we had the grass is growing like mad. I spotted the first rose buds this morning and the snow balls are looking mighty fine.

I finished another shawl. I have not decided yet whether to keep it or donate it.

Outside

We are back!

I know, technically it is still Summer, but there is already that slight shifting of the seasons in the air. Mornings are darker, damp, cool and foggy and the days are noticeably shorter.

We had some brutally hot days when even the AC was struggling to keep up and we had some bad storms.
Our jungle got removed (the city deemed our grass too high, now it is a brown desert) and Del started a new job in mid July in which he is quite happy. The cats are all happy and healthy and Mr. Moose is now officially an adult. To make things easier he will be celebrating his birthday in September with the rest of the gang.
I got quite a lot of projects finished (and new ones started) and I will share them here over the next few weeks.

I did a bit of soul searching as to if and how to continue with my blog. So many blogs I used to follow have gone silent this year and I sometimes struggle a bit too. But I decided I will go on, sharing bits of my life and the results of my crafting adventures and not to forget, the shenanigans of my kitties. And hopefully next year I will have to share garden stories again.

For now I leave you with a photo of a garden resident that I discovered yesterday and I'll see you soon.

Outside

Signs of early Spring and a curious squirrel.

Winter Solstice

Our celebration included:

Evergreens from the garden.

A 'sunny' lunch.

Followed by a 'sunny' dessert.

And plenty of Wassail.

We even managed to light candles after dark (not easy in a house full of cats).

Some 'people' in this house show no respect for my decorating efforts.

The Last Roses

Monday Morning in the Garden

It has been a while since we had such a beautiful sunny morning. I just had to take advantage of it while hanging laundry.

Blossoms and Blooms

This is what our azaleas looked like before the cold spell and the heavy rains wiped them out.

The first roses that opened also got hit by the weather but the ones that came afterwards are doing well and the snowballs are gone now too.

 

The small red azalea in the back yard was doing fine, the blossoms on the white one turned brown before they even opened, it seems to be very sensitive to colder temperatures.

My herb garden is the only thing growing in the garden this year. We can not afford the total makeover it needs, thanks to some rather expensive dental work that was needed, but we aim for next spring to do it. We will remove the beds because the wood is all rotten and switch to some form of container garden to keep the weeds out.

Happy Imbolc/St. Brigid's Day/Candlemas/Groundhog Day

Whatever you observe or celebrate this weekend eat, drink and be merry.

We will have an Irish themed lunch in honor of St. Brigid on Saturday and if the groundhog predicts 6 more weeks of Winter it will be groundhog stew on Sunday. Nah, just kidding, it will actually be Charleston Shrimp and Grits. I think there are not enough holidays in the US calendar and life is too short to miss an occasion for feasting and merry making therefore we decided to celebrate all kinds of holidays this year. And so this weekend we celebrate than the return of light and the beginning of the agricultural year. And don't forget to do a rain dance for Saturday. ;-)

I made an Imbolc candle and a St. Brigid's Cross.

Weekend

The snow melted off the hard surfaces and the roads were mostly dry by Friday evening. We did our usual grocery shopping and on Saturday morning we drove to the farmer's market. It is rather empty now but our favorite farmer is there all year long and the inside shops are open too. The weather was bright and sunny all weekend long and most of the snow is now gone. My poor garden is once again a muddy swamp.

The weekend was nice and relaxing with knitting, reading and doing some stuff around the house. The kitties had torn off the rather flimsy fabric that covered the bottom of the sofa so Del replaced it with cardboard and a lot of help of course. 

The furry ones enjoyed the sunshine on the porch, bird watching and snuggling on the bed.

I got my seed order finalized and a lot of tea was consumed.

And there was food. Sunday lunch was meatballs with onion gravy and mashed potatoes with peas.

I hope your weekend was a good one, we have one more day to enjoy, Del is off today. Have a great week everyone!