No Flower Photos From the Nursery

I went to the Nursery yesterday to get flowers.
I'm quite late this year, for a variety of reasons, but I won't go into the details.

I think that flowers in the summer are a necessity. We have such a short season here.
Attracting butterflies and hummingbirds are a good reason to have lots of color.

But mostly I like them to add color to my every day activities.
And maybe sit on the deck and be surrounded by them.

There's lots of stuff you can buy for the garden.

Fake fauna to go with the flora, gazebos, fountains, you name it.

And angels kissing turtles.

Since when do angels kiss turtles?

Storms and Catch-up Time

So, Minneapolis got hit hard by a tornado yesterday. Didn't harm any of us in St Paul, but it turns out that the school I was at Friday night for some volunteer work was badly damaged. School's out for them until next fall. I'm sure glad the tornado didn't barrel through when that school was full of kids.

Speaking of kids, I believe I mentioned that I took a part-time, temporary job with Minneapolis Public Schools as a bilingual teachers' aide. It has been a lot of work, and a lot of fun. My favorite exchange so far was the following, with a first grade girl:

SA: So, Kizzy, are you going to be in the talent show?
Kizzy: Yes! I'm going to hula hoop!
SA: Awesome! I used to love to hula hoop. I don't think I could do it now (that was a lie, I know I can't)
Kizzy: You have to believe in yourself, Mrs. R!

Don't you love first graders? (no, that's not her real name)

I've been knitting sleeves for International Yarn Bombing Day. Gonna spruce up that fence over I94.

I'm also making a sweater for a branch on Girl-child's tree in the front yard. It's Girl-child's tree because we planted it when she was born. The fact that the trunk is 37" around makes it impractical to give it a sweater for the main trunk, so the tag will be one of the other branches. This means it will be subtle (read: barely visible from the sidewalk).

Other than that, I've got two pair of gift socks on the needles. That's it.

My mother is reaching the end of her journey with Alzheimer's. The doctor has recommended hospice care. The minister, the music therapist, the social worker and the nurse from hospice have all descended upon me. They're offering to help me, which is really nice of them, but I don't really feel like I need help so much right now. Where were they three years ago?

Speaking of my mother, Boy-child and I took her a Dilly bar from DQ yesterday. We probably won't be repeating that. Auntie takes Mom lunch all the time. I don't know how she does it.

I just finished Mennonite in a Little Black Dress. Great book.

Oh, oh, oh! I almost forgot! I got tickets to The Antiques Road Show in July. WOOT! Girl-child will accompany me. We're still deciding about what two things to take.

Art in Bloom

Did I mention that Rose the Gypsy and I went to Art in Bloom at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts? It was a great show. This floral arrangement was at the entrance of the museum. The effect of the frame in front of it made it quite striking:
We went on the last day so a few things were beginning to droop, but there were lots of spectacular flowers.
We didn't catch on right away, but the more obvious arrangements made us realize that (all of the) flowers were imitating art:
They didn't have to imitate anything to be stunning though:
Unfortunately my camera ran out of juice (or maybe fortunately for you, my friends and family, since you don't have to suffer through as many flower photos).
Rosemary:
She's the one who made the fantastic felted bag (pictured below) and also brought the Pagewood Farms. Quite the hostess gift. We had lots of fun at The Institute and at Yarnover. Hopefully we can do it again next year.

Gifts

Kitty is back until September. I won't go into the details. It's complicated.
Now that the weather is nice he's started bringing us gifts.
Besides the chipmunk, I've recently received gifts for various occasions. They are all lovely. This yarn and felted bag were a hostess gift from Rose the Gypsy, who came to visit and attended Yarnover with me.

The colors are all delicious; way more beautiful than the pictures would imply.

I also got a Make One bumper sticker, which has replaced the Fibertarian Party 2008 sticker.


This little guy has been named Mr. Dimple. He was made by Girl-child out of a pair of worn out socks (that I knit and she wore out). Isn't he adorable?
And I got a new charm for my bracelet - the first ever with color. It's gold and red. Very posh.

More catch up pictures to follow.

Theater Success

I'm so far behind posting pictures I decided I'll just post things as I find them, even if the order is a bit random.

Girl-child helped produce and direct a smash hit at the experimental theater last April. The Aunties were good sports and showed up for the production, even tho it was a bit too hipster for us Oldies to understand. (It was based on Dr Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog by Joss Wedon).
Girl-child and Boy-child were found in their usual pose of, "You can't be serious!?


I got to see them both in one place at the same time; not so easy to manage these days. In fact, it didn't happen for Mothers' Day yesterday, so I guess this is my Mothers' Day photo:

I'm Not The Only One Who's Been Busy

I've been so busy lately I just haven't had time to talk to myself over the Internet (a.k.a. blog). As it turns out, I'm not the only one who's been busy:

Here's a little bit of what has been going on:

*I was at Yarnover last Saturday

*Rose The Gypsy was here from Denver for Yarnover

*We had a great time

*I'm tired

*Today was a rude awakening

*There was snow this morning

*It was only flurries, but snow in May is depressing

*I went on a field trip with the fourth graders today

*It didn't go very well

*Plus it was cold

*I've just finished my moebius cowl

*I learned how to make the cowl in my Yarnover class with Cat Bordhi

*Now I think I'll go to bed and try to put something coherent together for posting this week