on ice

We are having a couple of days of thunderstorms so are staying in and snuggling on the sofa. This dog is super high strung but every so often she lets herself chill.  

Digging a hole

We tried to garden today, just Olive and I. I haven’t gardened in a few years and need to re-assert dominance over the invasive plants currently having a party in the back yard.  Gardening as someone with SLE has a couple of challenges. First, we are all basically allergic to sun exposure.  That means wearing 100 SPF, long sleeves and big floppy hats. It also helps to work in the early morning or late afternoon, to avoid the strongest rays.  The other challenge is stamina so projects need to broken into 1hour pieces. 

This short work window means cutting the project list to the most essential, so here are my top 3:

• Build stone or brick pathways and a patio area large enough to set out the Brown Jordan furniture inherited when my parents moved.
•  Plant lots of native plants and flowers to create a wild meadow look—and minimize the need to mow.
• Put out containers to grow some veggies. I’m hoping I can move them with the sun and maybe have tomatoes by late summer.

We started to dig a deep hole in order to bury the huge pile of dandelion carcasses pulled up this week.  The plan was to bury them too deep to germinate and then to transplant day lilies on top of that mess, because daylilies seem be able to grow anywhere. But around here, plans have a way of morphing into never ending projects. I picked a spot where the leaves have piled up and nothing seems to grow there but bumblebees and nightshade.  Digging is Olive’s favorite sport. If you could see her face you would see she is grinning gleefully.

Just a few shovelfuls and we hit brick.  This is the second house I’ve lived where a previous owner has buried bricks in the yard. I suspect our missing chimneys are buried out here somewhere and thought I had found part of one but these aren’t chimney bricks, plus they’re stacked five high, and form a circle.

Aren't they lovely? I wonder how many other people have a patio buried in their yard?

Olive the Wonder Dog

It's 81° today. 81° in Maine. In March. We are usually  under two feet of snow and waiting for the next blast, but the past few weeks have been warm. It was so warm I decided to take Olive down to some fields behind the house to help her get the spring wiggles out. The sun was bright, the peepers were noisy and it was just about perfect. Except, I forgot about the "crick".

Project #1 is an attempt to create a chew resistant soft dog toy. Using scraps of recycled wool, I laminated two colors with free hand machine quilting. These I cut into the toy shape, using a large "pocket yeti" pattern from an old project. I layered this to a piece of the denim (dyed red) and added a felt face appliqué. Then added another layer of denim over the top, leaving a space in the stitching to turn it right side out. Trim, turn, stuff and close.

He looks a bit like a hollow, or soul eater (from the Japanese Manga, Bleach). Not a great photo, I admit. Quite blurry-- I think he's trying to run away.

footnote: poor little guy lasted all of 5 minutes.

A milestone

Today is our rescue puppy's first birthday. I've never celebrated a dog birthday before, because I've never known when our previous dogs were born, but today we will start a new tradition. I've put together a brief history of her year with us, which looks quite like an homage to the "cone". Here's hoping next year will be a bit calmer--- and with fewer visits to the vet. 

We're just rehabbing for now

It's been busy here and we're going to need a little time to recover.