crafty recap

The tea party of crafty goodness was a lot of fun. Vikki worked on embroidery, while helping her apprentice with the construction of a new Norse apron-dress, in a lovely spring green wool. Rafny brought her needle-felting tools and multicolor wool bits, and while working on some of her charming little creatures, also had the patience to help Ivan (son of Vikki) to create a mouse as his first needle-felted project. Aelflaed worked on a beautiful and challenging bead weaving project, while her husband put in some time working on a new sword. Elfreda came to visit for most of the afternoon, and a pleasant time was had by all…

After spending my entire adult life living in other peoples houses, (and while some of those houses were plenty of fun, others were not conducive to having friends over at all) I'm really enjoying being able to indulge in the Noble Virtue of hospitality. Smokey loves having guests over as well, if it was up to her, we'd probably have a party every day; once a month is about what I am up for…

springtime, and adventures in homeownership

As I was walking around the yard this morning before work I decided to take some pictures… Spring is definitely on the way, the bulbs that were planted somewhat randomly, in the walkway bed and in pots on the front deck, and a whole box not till the middle of the winter, 'cos they were lost in the workroom, have all begun to show leafage aboveground.

The snowdrops have been blooming for several weeks, and just two days ago, these little spiky bits unfolded to become tiny indigo iris. Woo hoo! The chives that I thought were dead have sprouted again, and the tarragon pot has new little leaves as well. And the rhubarb root, which traveled down from Olympia in the back of the truck a few weeks ago, and was planted in the side yard next to the rosemary bush, is already showing pink nubbins.

At some point I must plant strawberries, on account of the wonderful goodness of strawberry rhubarb pie.

Yesterday, after acquiring the worlds tiniest pry bar, I pried away the trim around the bathtub enclosure, which had started turning brown and soft! Not a good thing for what was supposed to be white-painted wood, and on close inspection seemed to be some kind of soggy cardboard (grumble) It looked perfectly okay when we had the house inspected… When I spoke with the really cute man at the hardware store, who had asked why I needed the worlds tiniest pry bar, he said that the trim was probably something called MDF, which is basically made from sawdust and glue, and never intended for use in damp areas… (yet another example of the incredible ineptitude of the previous owners of Acorn Cottage) The trim crumbled away in pieces when I pried it away from the wall, as did a very modest amount of the adjacent wallboard. Fortunately there does not appear to be a mold farm in there, so I will spray some bleach and let things dry out well before attempting repairs, which will probably include re-caulking the bathtub, which I am guessing is where the excess water came from in the first place. Ahh…adventures in homeownership…

Eggs!

Well, the hens have been showing signs of impending changes...eating more, digging large "nesty" divots in their pen, crouching down when I come over to feed them...today there were two nice brown eggs in the henhouse. I would think that it is still too dark, but nature says otherwise.