Cozy

Um, yeah; that's supposed to be gravel in the foreground

We had August temperatures at the beginning of the month; now we're having March temperatures! Last night we contemplated building a fire in the wood-burning insert, but just pulled on an extra polarfleece  and shivered instead. Today's high is supposed to be a record low, although if we break 50 degrees it will still be warmer than yesterday. Crazy! But the rain is a welcome blessing, and I plan to take advantage of its soil-softening action to pull as many weeds in our driveway and iris bed as possible. I'll give Brian the benefit of free vocational training, too (he's been doing yard work for a couple of our neighbors); I'm such a generous mom. ;-)

At least my buns will be cozy – and beautifully presented! Adrienne knit this lovely piece for me to Pay It Forward, and it coordinates perfectly with my grandma's Franciscan Rose dishes.

I recently finished a cozy little gift project myself by knitting a row here and there when I could. Who knew they'd look so tempting in late May? (And I guess they coordinate with my dishes, too.)

The sheep are still confined for Bart's sake, which has given me more opportunities to cozy up to them. My herding assistant (a certain adolescent) has been less than calm when helping with them, so my flock had all gotten decidedly more skittish. I'm working on rectifying that!

That's it for today from . . .

A pair of portraits

Lap vs. laptop? Dozer says "no contest." (Love those pudgy paws!)

Best 'hair' in the hen house; Buffy rocks the upswept 'do.

That's it for today from a busy . . .

Swamped

This week is packed as tightly as any I have lived, so my time on the computer will be limited. Still, my dogs think any time on my laptop is too much time....

That's it for today from . . .

Sunday smorgasbord

Smorgasbord . . . now that's a word I rarely hear these days. Maybe it's just not a West Coast thing. It brings back childhood memories, though; only natural, I suppose, with a Swedish grandmother and a dietitian mother. Anyway, I have a smorgasbord of snapshots for you today; I hope you find them tasty!

Mother's Day bouquet; flowers fresh from the farms they grew on!

For Mother's Day I treated myself to fresh starts for my hanging basket

My herb barrel is still waiting to be properly filled...

...but the hostas (and astilbe) are finally starting to fill in their island bed

At last, an accurate color capture of my purple iris!

Simple beauty – and the promise of boysenberries to come

In revisiting my marvelous white maple leaves...

...I happened upon this slimy fellow, no doubt enjoying his own smorgasbord.
At least it's not a scary snake, like Mary Ann or Audrey have to deal with!

Big-Fleece Bart (5lb4oz skirted!) has been babying his right front leg. :-(
We checked him over and think it's just a strain, but ALL the sheep are
dining at the hay smorgasbord in the fold for now so he can rest and heal.

That's it for today from . . .