Spring it on its way!
I saw these Mini Crochet Bunny Baskets online last week and decided they'd make a great Flash Craft!
"What's that?" you ask.
A Flash Craft is a project that I make within 5 days of it catching my attention.
One of my goals for 2022 is to restore our garage to an organized space that can hold at least one car. Ever since we moved to Oregon over two years ago, the garage has been more crowded with stuff than we feel comfortable with. Then when my mother-in-law died last year, our garage became more cluttered when some of her precious items became our precious items.
My mother-in-law was an incredible gardener. Hers was the most beautiful yard on the block. She was an artist/painter, as well. She brought that artistic sensibility to her home and yard through her decorations. Outside, she had something like five birdbaths, three or four sets of lawn furniture, and more cupids than a person can count.
Each of her kids and grandkids received some of her ornamentation. We got a birdbath, a garden bench, a bistro set, some plant containers, a side table, and a huge fountain. Today, Dale and I decided to place the furniture and statuary in our yard.
We set the garden bench, side table, and a piece of statuary by the front door. The birdbath now rests along the walkway in our front yard.
But look! We have a gorgeous fountain outside our dining room window!
But these kids! Wow, do they need a bath!
We still need to do some homework to find a suitable water pump and the proper tubing so that the fountain can flow. But that's for another day. For the time being, once everything's cleaned up and fresh water is added, the local birds can enjoy a bath in both the front and back yards.
I'm looking forward to some nicer, warmer Spring days so that we can enjoy our time "playing in the dirt." It won't be long until the daffodils will be blooming all over town. We want our yard to shine when we join in that celebration.
#cornerofmyhome
Papa and Mimi had the distinct pleasure of having a video chat with our granddaughters and their mommy today. First we shared photos of when the girls were newborns. They love to see my pictures.
Then they told me how they spent some time yesterday -- learning to be engineers with NASA!
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| Sharing a hug with Mommy |
They watched a livestream on the NASA Facebook page called Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. Melody truly enjoyed it. So much so, that when she grows up, she wants to be a "Gymnastics Engineer."
Besides learning things about the jobs it takes to be a rocket scientist, the girls learned how to make paper helicopters. They showed me the ones they made, and how they fly them from the top of the stairs down to the basement.
Well! That looks like fun. In all the years I had raising three daughters, I never learned to make a paper helicopter. So our 4-year-old granddaughter taught me how. We folded and cut paper. Then drew a dot. Then drew lines. Then cut and folded some more, just like she learned from the three female NASA engineers.
Papa and I tried it out -- and it worked!
And perhaps add some googly eyes!
It's been colder than usual, so I haven't been able to get out for a walk in a couple days. I'm back to looking out over the back yard fence to enjoy the sunsets.
Dale and I took a ride through the countryside on this stormy day to get some distance vision. I occupied myself with a little passenger seat photography.
#passengerseatphotography
The next couple lessons for the classroom appear to be about weather. In Oregon, we know a lot about rainy days. These are the supplies for the raincloud mobile:
Days with blasts of thunderstorms are common, too. This was a particular stormy day with lots of lightening and cloudbursts:
I do hope I'll get to help this teacher again ... and perhaps some of her colleagues.
One of the main reasons I wanted to learn photography is because I had a college music teacher that played Debussy's Clair de Lune while projecting "belly flowers" on a screen in a darkened room via a slide show. He defined "belly flowers" as those that are so small that you need to lie on your belly to get close enough to take a good picture.
That experience caused such a visceral reaction in me that I wanted to recreate that feeling.
I took his idea and translated it to one of my favorite artforms. Here are five of my very favorite macro embroidery photos that I've taken over the years.
#throwbackthursday
Through a series of circumstances on Facebook, I've begun to (virtually) meet some members of my community. I've been giving useful items away through our local Buy Nothing group. Giving this way is pandemic-safe because we leave the items offered on our front porch after sharing our address through private messages. I've given well over 75 items, and I've received some nice things, too (fabric, beads, pumpkin decorations, etc.)
At one point, I offered a whole bunch of new pencils and a desktop shelf. I wanted the items to go to an educator. In the offer, I mentioned something about how much I appreciate teachers and how I used to enjoy volunteering at elementary schools.
I must have said the magic words! A teacher contacted me to ask if I could help her with the prep work on some classroom art projects. Well! After all those Grandbaby Craft Kits I made last year, this challenge was right up my alley.
She brought by a big bag with all the needed supplies and the instructions. I roped Jodie into helping me. We cut paper plates and cotton balls and yarn and lots of paper shapes, then kitted up the supplies in a bag: one of each of the four crafts for each student.
Next, a lion. Here are the body parts.
When Jodie and I were on our country drive, it was a very foggy day -- at least on this side of the hills. We traveled through the damp, overcast skies, and deep into the woods on winding roads. She and I both find solace in a cathedral of trees.
Down near the road, the trunks were brown and wet and branchy. But look just up the hill, just up into the canopy, and witness the embrace of the cloak of mist.
On the south fork of the Alsea River, moss-covered branches stretch toward the rushing water.
On the way back to civilization, on the fogless side of the hills, spread layers of foliage: scraggly leafless deciduous trees in a carpet of soggy leaves, the stark white of birch bark, backed by sun-kissed pines.
Jodie spotted a sign for an old cemetery and her car went into auto-pilot. We find immense peace within these timeworn fences, among these stones, beneath the umbrella of ancient branches.
By the end of our sojourn, the trees had replenished our souls. We could return to ordinary, pandemic time without it swallowing our creativity and obliterating our sense of whimsy.
(It didn't hurt that we found three geocaches along the way!)
Jodie and I went for a country ride recently. We didn't have a plan when we set out; we simply needed some distance vision. Then we saw a sign to a waterfall, and went in that direction.
We knew we were lost when we ended up on a one-lane rutted uphill dirt road ... with private property signs. Good thing Jodie's an excellent driver! She got us turned around and headed in the right direction. We finally found what we were looking for:
Spring came today! With the temperature up into the 60s, Dale and I were able to have a ride in the convertible with the top down.
The park behind our house has been filled with kids all day. Their laughter is contagious. One of our neighbors was teaching his son how to use roller blades.
Other neighbors were enjoying the sunshine on their backs as they weeded their yards and made space for the tulips to grow. Dogs are happily yipping. Even as the sun goes down, I hear youngsters throwing footballs. I'm pretty sure there's a drag race a few blocks away.
All that loveliness. We could even open the windows to air out the house.
Then topped off with this:
I have a good life.
For well over a decade, Morty the Giraffe has welcomed visitors to our home.
I took a ride out into the country on this brisk, foggy day.
Dale and I experienced our first Eugene snowstorm just after Christmas 2021. We rarely have snow around here, so we enjoyed it while it lasted, albeit mostly through the windows! Take a tour of our neighborhood with me.
#throwbackthursday
