New Look 6035 -- A Good Top for Swinging into Spring

Finally spring is just around the corner!  In eager anticipation of this happy event my daughter began making warm weather clothes in February.  She finished this little sleeveless shell from New Look 6035 view C.  I say 'finished" because she started this top over a year ago and stalled out because she didn't know how to do the binding.  The top languished waited patiently in a little bundle until her skills and confidence caught up, and she felt ready to tackle it.  Plus, sometimes you just want to get that project that's been hanging over your head out of the way.

The top is made of a cotton fabric covered all over in tiny white flowers that I've had in my stash for well over ten years.  I don't remember what I originally thought I would make but I'm glad the fabric is finally getting to be worn:)  The cotton does wrinkle -- these photos were taken after it had been worn all day -- but wrinkles are a second consideration to comfort and coolness when you live in a hot climate.

Here you can see the tone-on-tone flowers, which add visual texture to the fabric. The neckline and armholes are bound with self-fabric bias, and the neckline also has small pleats.

Here's a view of the back:

And here is a view of the side.  The side seams are finished off with a slit, which gives the top a little more movement.  She made a straight size 10.  The underarms are a little snug, so next time we will deepen the underarm seams half an inch or so.

It's a great top for summer, but also for cooler weather because it's perfect underneath a jacket.

An all-around do-it-yourself-er, my daughter also made the swing in the photos:)  She used these plans from Lowe's, spent an afternoon or so on construction, and then hung the swing in the huge live oak tree that is in my front yard.  It's very sturdy (supposedly up to 500 lbs.!) so any of us can enjoy it, not just small kids, something that all my tall people appreciate:)

Robins

Yesterday began and ended with drizzle and heavy fog.  However, around lunch time I returned home from an errand, and while the skies were still gray, the fog and mist had temporarily lifted.  I got out of the car and decided to walk down to the end of the driveway and pick up my soggy, plastic-wrapped newspaper.  As I walked, I began to notice bird song in the air -- something I hadn't heard in a long time.  I looked up and saw birds all round my little neighborhood.  There were tiny birds swarming in the bare branches of a mulberry tree, but they were so tiny and so fast I could not get a photo nor could I clearly identify them.   Doves were pecking beneath the bird feeder in my backyard, but I could not get a photo of them either because they attracted the notice of my little dog Luna, who raced out and barked at them in a very offended manner.

My neighbors' yard was filled with robins.  By leaving Luna in the house, I was able to get photos of a few of them using the zoom on my camera.

We live too far south for robins to be the first heralds of spring -- it's spring when they go back north.  I'm not sure where they spent the month of December, though.  We had a very icy, cold December -- the polar vortex reached all the way down to Texas -- and yesterday 40 degrees felt downright warm. 

I thought so anyway and so, apparently, did the birds.  This little fella is enjoying a puddle.

Winter is actually a pretty good time for us to see birds.  The usual winter birds of cardinals, chickadees, titmice, bluebirds and dark-eyed juncos are around, as well as lots of blue jays, crows, mockingbirds, starlings/grackles, doves, ducks and geese.  We also live on some kind of migratory highway.  Birds pass through on their way south to Mexico for the winter and then again when they go back north in the summer.  Every year for a few days we enjoy flocks of cedar waxwings, Mississippi kites, killdeer, and goldfinches.  More ominously, our entire town gets covered up in starlings/grackles (I'm never sure of their official name) at certain times of year, to the point you begin to feel you are personally inhabiting an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

 

Anyway, it was nice to see so many birds out cavorting around because this past month has been a month to hunker down in the house.  The Christmas season seemed very short, partly because  Thanksgiving was so late and then an ice storm hit my county and lasted through the first week of December.  School didn't finish until December 20th and then my mother arrived for an extended visit on the 19th.  Blogging had to fall by the wayside to make room for parental and filial duties.

This was the first time my mother had visited me in five years.  She got to spend Christmas with us and we had a great time making candy, thrift shopping, and generally just lounging about.  I took almost no photos of the holidays -- when I'm with other people I seldom think to stop and take photographs -- but sometimes that's okay.  While it's fun to have documentation, it's not always necessary.  It's okay just to live:)

I feel like I should have something more profound to say about the changing of the year from 2013 to 2014, but I'm past the point of thinking I know everything and I'm not yet to the point of feeling like I have a lot of wisdom to impart.  I will say this about 2013 -- I lived through it, with its good parts and its hard parts.  I hope to say the same about 2014.  Of course I cannot read the future, but from this vantage point it doesn't look to me that it will be an easier year.  In fact, it looks like a year of hard  work.

I have a friend who chooses -- or feels that God chooses -- a word for each new year.  I don't usually do that, but this year the word "diligent" keeps calling my name.  The Lord has helped and will continue to help me persevere, but at the same time He is calling me to be diligent:  that is, to keep doing faithfully those things that I know to do.  I will leave the results to Him.  I guess it's like the old song:  "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey."

I'm not trying to be gloomy and pessimistic.  Although many sad and hard things happened in 2013, many good things happened, too.  I'm sure the same will be true of 2014:)

In any case, I wish you all a belated Happy New Year!

A Deer Blessing

Before I go east to visit my and my husband's families, I have in my mind some things I would like to do if I get a chance.  One of them is just to drive around in the country and visit places that were important to me when I was growing up, and maybe even take some pictures.  Well, that has yet to happen.  When we visit, I am juggling so many people's schedules and trying to keep everybody (my teenagers plus all my relatives that live there) 'relatively' happy;).  And I am usually too busy talking and visiting to remember to take pictures.  Also, I don't have a car of my own or free time of my own to cavort around on any solo adventures.  That's okay, life has its different seasons, that time alone is for the future (and I'm afraid I may not like it when it comes;)

So after my week with my sister-in-laws, my husband and three youngest kids met me.  The three kids went to camp in North Carolina, and my husband and I spent a few days in South Carolina at some meetings he had to attend for work. We all eventually ended up back in Tennessee for some quick family visits before heading west again.  It was very busy, but we had a good time (although, no pictures).

The whole time we were in Tennessee our eyes feasted on the green and on the hills.  I get hungry for both out here in Texas.  We spotted this little white-tail deer family on the side of the road near my father-in-law's new assisted living home.  This is the only time we did remember to take some pictures.

They were mildly interested in us, but not too afraid.

It was a pleasure to see these twin fawns that still had their spots.

We pulled off to the side of the road and just watched them until they finally bounded off through the tall grass and we couldn't see them anymore.

It's easy for me to get caught up in the hecticness and the perceived pressure of everything that needs to get done.  Sometimes I'm like a mole, tunneling forward steadily but feeling suffocated.  God makes room for us to breathe and to remember what (and who) is important through  gifts like these deer.  Just the stopping and taking pleasure in these little fawns helped put life back in perspective.

"Be still, and know that I am God:  I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah." -- Psalm 46:10-11 KJV  

Trip to California

Back in April my husband treated the both of us to a little vacation in honor of my birthday and our upcoming anniversary (this summer we will have been married a quarter of a century:).  We went to California, a state neither one of us had ever been to before.

We flew into San Francisco, then rented a car and drove about an hour north to where we were staying.

Driving across the famous Golden Gate Bridge while the fog is creeping in:

We didn't take time to visit Alcatraz, but we saw it several times as we drove across the bridge:

Walking around Chinatown:

Our forays into San Francisco were brief.  It was enjoyable just to see it (and its vertical streets!), but to really get the most out of it you need to stay in the city.  And it would be a big help to have a local person show you the ropes about getting around.  We had no problems in the Chinatown area, but on our last day before we went back to the airport we -- in our ignorance -- drove into a section of the city that was like trying to drive in downtown NYC  -- very chaotic and very stressful!!  We got out of there as quickly as possible, but that meant we didn't get to ride the cable car:( However, we did eat lunch at Tartine Bakery.  We couldn't buy their famous sourdough because that only gets out of the oven in the late afternoon and we had to catch our plane, but the lunch was still delicious.

Most of our trip was spent outside.  We went to Muir Woods and walked the trails amid the redwoods.

We drove from there to Stinson Beach.  Here we are stopped at some roadside trails along the coastline.

We stayed in Napa.  Our hotel had a lovely courtyard with lots of flowers and a small pond that was home to two nesting swan couples, as well as quite a few ducks.  Here are the two white swans:

The flowers in this part of California were quite spectacular and probably my favorite part.  Don't you just love this gate?

Mostly we just enjoyed meandering around, having no agenda.  We drove around and saw vineyards and cows and cute little houses, and we went on small hikes.  On our next to last day we went on a five-mile hike in a state park near Napa.  Thankfully we saw no mountain lions (although there was a warning at the entrance to the trail), but we did see some turkeys:

And some deer.  This deer was bedded down near the trail, and she never moved despite our proximity,  making us wonder if a baby was coming, or maybe she was just used to people.

Here is a picture of us after going out to eat one night, tired but happy:

Spring Has Sprung

Sage in my side yard

"For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;" -- Song of Solomon 2:11-12 (KJV)


Despite having a fairly mild winter, our spring this year has been rather cool (for Texas).  Today I have my windows open and it's very pleasant, but another cold snap is predicted for later this week. So it seems that spring is lingering a bit longer than usual.

These photos were taken a week or so ago, all in my yard.  I really enjoy peeking in at your worlds through your blogs, but if that is all I do, then it can make me feel dissatisfied with my life and inadequate. It's very easy for me to overlook the beauty around me as I do the daily rounds of cooking, laundry, picking up messes, etc.  Part of the reason I started my own blog (and maybe why some of you did as well) was to remind myself that there is beauty and wonder and fun and even finished projects in my world, too:)

I know the dandelion is supposed to be a weed, but it is a marvelous combination of engineering, beauty and whimsy.

Irises do very well here (in North Texas).  These white ones -- I think of them as 'ghost irises' -- have naturalized in the tiny finger of woods in my backyard.  I also have some tall purple ones, which are just now coming into bloom.  I can't take credit for any of them; they are gifts left behind by former homeowners.

This is a blossom on one of my trees, the live oak if I recall correctly.  We have oak trees aplenty here -- live oaks, post oaks, and other miscellaneous ones.

Some more sage.  Sage is one of the few plants that has done well for me with almost no effort -- a plus in my book.

We have two lovely crepe myrtle trees in our front yard.  Their leaves are just beginning to come in, but the bark is beautiful year round.

And here are my two sheep, Mocha and Latte, enjoying some fresh grass in the backyard.  Originally purchased to eat our sand spurs and awful stickers, they have basically become ornamental pets.  Not the most practical of decisions, in case you are similarly tempted:)

Christmas Wrap-Up

The month of December slipped by in a blur of sickness, so that I felt like there was little more than a week to prepare for Christmas festivities.  The only goodies that got made were chocolate covered pretzels and sausage balls.  The peanut butter balls and coconut balls will have to wait for another special occasion.  No outside lights got put up, either.  But we did have our tree, and as I've said before, for myself I prefer the grinchy look, so the tree was well-adorned in round, colored lights.

Our stockings also were hung with care.

After months of parched conditions, a deluge, accompanied by thunder and lightning, erupted the night of Christmas Eve.  An empty five-gallon bucket on our back patio was filled to overflowing with rainwater by Christmas morning!  Despite Christmas morning beginning with a rainy 50 degrees, by early afternoon we had this:

My three youngest in the front yard

A White Christmas is truly a magical gift.

View from the front door

Here are my sheep, Mocha and Latte, who enjoyed the snow a lot more than they enjoyed the rain.

This is the most picturesque my backyard has ever looked:)

The stockings were pushed to the side to make room for a cozy fire.

The next day we had to make a two-day road trip east to see family.  My older two stayed behind to work. The rest of us drove through an entire day of this:

Along the roadside in Arkansas

It truly looked like Narnia, so beautiful and surreal, and the roads were perfectly clear ---- until we got near Little Rock, Arkansas.  There they were so treacherous--cars were in the ditch everywhere -- that an 8 hour drive turned into 12 hours.  We found out later that parts of Arkansas got 10-15 inches of snow.

Anyway, we made it to see our families.  I hated to leave my older boys behind, but I think they were glad to miss the four days cooped up in the car.  It ended up being good visits with everyone, though sleeping was another issue;)

Now I am home and trying to catch up on everyday life, which has included absolute mountains of laundry and a general cleaning out of closets and drawers.  January does push us to make a fresh start each year, doesn't it?

Moving Forward into Fall

Happy Fall!

Well, I have spent the past month being stymied in my attempts to figure out the resizing and uploading from iphoto thing.  Something that should be straightforward is definitely not (at least it is not explained anywhere that I can find).  I did manage (finally!) to resize the above picture.  I did a batch of pictures, resized them and put them in a folder under the picture icon.  So far, so good.  But when I went to "choose" them, their little icons were about as big as the capital I that began the previous sentence.  Not very helpful.  I just accidentally happened to choose the right photo this time.  No way to actually browse a photo because I can barely even see it.  Sigh..........back to the drawing board.

Anyway, I have missed my online community and will be catching up with you all over the next little bit.

I made the above wreath from a thrifted grapevine wreath, some berries and grassy stuff from Hobby Lobby, and some "gifted" feathers that my visitors from earlier in the year left in my yard:)  This is my small attempt towards seasonal decorating that Cheryl recommended last October in her series "31 Days to Make a House a Home."  Very helpful stuff, and you can find the series here.

It is actually a little difficult to even conceive of fall right now.  Our temperatures are still in the nineties (yes, I said "nineties"), and it's been so long since it has rained I've almost forgotten what that is, too.  August and this year September as well are what I think are called the "dog days of summer."  In Texas it gets so hot and dry, every plant shrivels up and hunkers down, waiting for relief.  Thoughts of flowers are long gone.  My garden is all dried up, and I should be thinking of a fall garden, but it's too hot to even have the energy to plan it out right now.  On top of that, we have been in the midst of a West Nile virus outbreak this summer, so you can't even go outside in the evening without being slathered down in bug spray.

I did want to do a little recap of my garden.  Successes (meaning we got some produce to eat): lettuces, onions, zucchini, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes (I'd give them a "C").  Failures:  sweet potatoes, peanuts, green beans, lima beans, peppers, melons, garlic.   We have now eaten all the potatoes, but I still have some onions left, and I have corn and zucchini in the freezer.

I really enjoyed working in the garden and putting up food these past few months.  I'm pretty confident I made enough jam to last us until next year:)  In fact, I am probably going to ask for a proper canner for Christmas.  My husband won't understand it, but maybe you will.

Hawk Review

For this month's Note Card Party hosted by Vee I had to choose some pictures from our hawk family (featured here, here, here and here).  We still see (and hear) the young hawks around the neighborhood.

Mama watching over her babies.

Oops -- one fell out!

Almost grown up -- "Who, me?"

Ready to fly!

The Note Card Party is hosted every month by Vee at A Haven for Vee.  Go here to see lots more entries, or to enter yourself :)

Hawks Again

(A continuation of the hawk story, which was first blogged about here, here and here)

The three remaining hawk babies have made it successfully to young adulthood.  It took longer than I expected for them to learn to fly, but eventually they began getting brave and venturing out of the nest.

 

We would see them on various limbs of the pine trees testing their wings --

and making little tiny flights from branch to branch.

There was a little mishap where one fledgling got a little too brave and ended up on the ground -- much to his surprise:

My neighbor had to get him out of the street, and he also put a ladder up against the tree to help the little fellow get back up.  The little hawk hopped around the yard for awhile and we went to bed not knowing what had happened, but the next morning all three hawks were back in the nest so somehow he figured it out.











They were screeching all the time -- I could hear them first thing in the morning, and I thought the momma had quit feeding them (maybe her way of motivating them to learn to fly and get their own breakfast), but my son saw her do a drive-by feed where she flew over and dropped a snake into the nest and kept going.  So she was still keeping an eye on them.

They have since learned to fly, but they haven't ventured too far from home base yet.  We see (and hear) them all around the neighborhood.

Sometimes they are flying low and haphazardly, like teenagers learning to drive.  My husband saw them practice their hunting skills today, playing with a worm.

I will miss seeing them in the trees --

sometimes lurking --

sometimes pondering --

sometimes looking quizzical.

Hope to see you around, little hawks!