Perigee Moon

Here's my perigee moon shot. I never have quite got the knack of taking the moon's picture and it doesn't matter how coyly she smiles or how close she is or how luminous. Just going to mention here that most of the light in this shot is from the streetlight at the end of my driveway, which was where I was standing. The shot above is not zoomed; the one below is. ***I know that there are going to be some amazing offerings from the photographers among us. Let's hope so anyway!

Have you taken your best shot yet?

*** Edited to Add: Sure enough! Have you seen the amazing photographs taken by Lavender Dreamer's Beloved? No? Go look, you won't be disappointed.

And another: Lynda Naranjo's Amazing Photo of the Super Moon. 

A Gathering of Spring Wreath Ideas

Okay, so how long was that before I caved in and had to return? I'll tell you — long enough for me to clean the house, get a few fires under control, and to settle down and realize, yet again, that blogging is what it is and I should not fret the small stuff. As they say, "it's all small stuff."

My mission over the past few weeks has been to find some sweet spring wreaths around Blogdom. This from the gal who still has a snowflake on her front door.

I offer my own spring wreath from Christmastime. I've dressed it up for spring (probably more like summer) with a few cabbage roses and a ratty old homemade ribbon ripped from painter's cloth.

Here is a wonderful list of spring wreaths. The good news is that there are many more. A simple search will yield one that's just right for your home.

New Grass and Daisies Spring Wreath This one is so cool and easy. I've got mine well begun. It's going on the front door.

Whimsical Spring Wreath It may be described as whimsical, but I find it elegant. I want one of those moss flowers!

Coffee Filters and Dye Wreath Very Easter! Your dye choices are going to make or break this one.

Curtsy to Spring Sweet little bird and leaf pattern on a grapevine wreath make this one of my favorites. Love it!

Eclectic Flower Bouquet Wreath Now this one! Ahhhh, this is the one that I want for my china cupboard. So darling ... I am oohing and ahhing all over the place. Do check it out!

Square Wreath This is way cool. I love a square wreath. I think it's beyond my abilities, but I do love the look.

Spring Wreath Using Paper Flowers Sooo cute, I had to add it.

The Eclectic Flower Bouquet Wreath truly sparked my imagination. I looked at it, analyzed it, and walked away from it to do my own thing.

I knew that I didn't want to purchase anything for this wreath so I had to go on a treasure hunt in my own home. 

This was what I found in the garage. A Christmasy wreath that had seen better days. The ribbon was faded to rust so I just took it all apart saving what I could. The cornhusk (?) wreath itself was what I wanted. It seemed in pretty good shape. I did spray it with Lysol. You know me... ☺

Although my tutor suggested cutting linen on a bias for wrapping, I didn't bother. I simply ripped strips of painter's cloth, wrapped the wreath foundation, and pinned with simple sewing pins. It worked like a charm.

The next idea came from Lorrie at Fabric, Paper, Thread. She has a picture of her tutorials on her sidebar. I'm sure you can tell the one that influenced me.

Again, the doilies were simply pinned on with straight pins. I called it good enough and it was easy, easy, easy.

Then a few silk flowers were added to the side using pins...

And a ratty painter's cloth strip as a tie on top.

That's it!

The End.

No, it's never "the end" with me. I just keep on going and going. The most difficult part of this was adding a cup hook to the inside top of my cupboard to hang the wreath from. Last night, my daughter was visiting and I showed her my project. She was typically quiet. I should have left well enough alone; instead, I asked her what she thought. Her response was, "I don't know what to think about that."

So, please, if you don't know what to think about that, just check the links for the other wonderful wreaths. There is always so much to choose from in Blogdom.

Have a very pleasant day...

A Test

The maple sap was collected this afternoon...

Picture will enlarge

In addition to the old-fashioned maple syrup buckets, there's a new collection system with a big tank on the back of the pick-up. Trees are tapped all over town as this producer has asked permission to tap the trees of many homeowners. It's labor intensive on his part because most large operations have systems that don't even require collecting. The sap comes to the sugar house via tubing. Nevertheless, I'm glad to see someone doing it the old-fashioned way.

~*~

In other news, John and I went to Mickey D's tonight for a shamrock shake. We went to our usual haunt and found it closed. C L O S E D for good for renovations. We then went to a second one and it was also closed. I find this shocking. These establishments have been there since I began dating right after the Civil War.  Finally, we found one new Mc*Donalds and John had his shake and is good to go for another year. (He really is a strawberry shake kinda guy.) I decided against one at the last minute sticking with diet coke.

~*~

My cactus isn't confused anymore now that I've decided that it's an Easter cactus; it's blooming sort of on schedule if Easter weren't going to be so late this year.

~*~

Blogdom seems to have slowed significantly since a few weeks ago. I think our minds are all on Japan or Libya or Egypt or Israel or our own pocketbooks or all of the above. I'm going to take a wee break...a few days or more perhaps. The annoyance of this blog not updating has taken its toll and when one is stewing about a blog, there's simply not enough to stew about. You can find me in the sewing room shredding paperwork. Piles and piles and piles of paperwork. Ugh.

Until next time...

Comments are closed. This is really a test to see how long it will take this time.

Edited to Add: And just to make a liar out of me, it updates instantly for the first time in a week. Terrific! No, really, that's terrific.



Of Spring and Sap Flowing

Spring inside if not out

*new cups with pretty blue insides

seeds and a letter

spring vase

swan candy dish holding pastel M&Ms

I can't help it, I am thinking about spring, which will arrive Sunday. This is strictly a calendar event right now though it will most certainly come in a way that we recognize, first with melting snow creating lots of mud and ending in flowers and birdsong.

Still, the good news is that the sap is running and the trees on my neighbors' lawn were tapped Monday afternoon. This means that I get to watch and I do find it interesting. Wonder if I'll get my cup of sap water to drink this year while it's running good and cold. It's like maple flavored water, mild and delicious.

Best of all, they're the old-fashioned sap buckets! So quaint, so charming, just the way I like them! There's a great maple scone recipe right *here* and just as soon as I get some maple syrup, I'll be whipping up a batch...love those things.

(I am trying something new with posting today...writing this up in the evening and postdating it for sometime in the wee hours of the morning hoping to find it updated by the time I wake. This writing a post and not having it show up for hours and hours is for the birds. Perhaps it's just my blog's turn, but I don't like it one little bit. Anyone else having trouble with your blog updating as it should?)

{Posted at 12:10 am and it is now 7:13 am, but not updated. Yikes! This is getting worse every day. 8:13 am: not updated./ 9:17 am; shows up and says it was posted 9 hours ago. Finally!)

*Edited to add: Having just learned the name and brand of my cups, I'm dropping in the information: Taylor, Smith, and Taylor "Forever Young" or perhaps it's really "Boutonniere Ever Yours," which seems more likely. Either way, it's definitely Taylor, Smith &Taylor.

Snacking

My grands really enjoy selecting their own snacks and it's all good as long as a wide variety of choices is provided. I offered carrots, celery, M&Ms, apple slices, orange segments, mini Kit Kat bars, mini Vanilla Wafers, and cheese sticks. Muffin trays were provided and the boys had as much fun choosing cupcake liners as they did snacks.

You can see this little guy has a sweet tooth

The younger seems to prefer carrots 

(Say, how'd that child climb up on the table without my noticing?)

Neither child ate everything, but there was a lot of carrot munching, celery munching, and M&M munching. Next time, I'll include just one sweet treat. I'm learning!

This grand prefers doing

Have a great Monday...

(posted at 9:55 am; now 4:04 pm and still not updated.; 5:31 pm nothing; 6:17 pm up and at'em and saying it posted 8 hours ago. Right.)

The Christian life is Christ

We must do what God wants and stop thinking and worrying about what God has not told us to do. Nothing is safer for us or more pleasing to God than when we trust in God's Word instead of our own ideas...our wisdom is not what makes things happen, only the will of God does that. ~Martin Luther

I think we have strayed far from God's real priorities for us. With all our 'how-to' resources, I believe we have forgotten how to live. We have forgotten that the Christian life is Christ, not just a change of lifestyle...The Christian life is starting with Christ, then spending the rest of eternity discovering more and more of what we already have in Him, more and more of the wonders of this Person "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 3:23) ~Bob George Classic Christianity (quoted by permission)

The weather has been so frightful below (mud, ice, dirty snow) that I must look up to see a beautiful picture. Now isn't that just like life sometimes?  :D

Blessings to you today...