Happy March!!

Happy March!! It is blooming spring all around here today. Lots of pretty flowers. Everywhere I look. One of the things I am happy about is past Kim had the bright idea in the fall to plant bulbs. Now present Kim, is so happy about the happy little flower faces blooming all around.

There is nothing like the smell of these purple and pink hyacinths. I do think for some reason, that purple smells the best. It is more bold.

I have to show you the truth of the matter though. Weeds are winning. I walked down to see just how bad one side of the house was because I need to get this fence row done. Sasha was trying to follow like she was on a jungle trek. This picture cracked me up, but there is also a scary feeling inside of me. Knowing how much work is there is sort of overwhelming.

Can you see Sasha in there? 

I always think the hardest part of any job is the starting of the job. It is for me. Once I start though, I am a pretty happy camper. You can't tell but these weeds are as tall as I am. Since I am five feet one inch, that is some tall weeds. I will have to pull the biggest ones first by hand. They are just too big to chop.
 Then there are the little ones that will come out lots easier.  Sort of like the the things that go on in my life. It is the big things like jealousy,unforgiveness, and bitterness. Those are the big weeds in my life. The little weeds are gossip, rolling of the eyes, and disrespect of authority figures. Lots of things that shouldn't be there but are and I think sometimes this picture is how I really look inside. Just a mess.

I sometimes feel like I only present nice things on my blog. I just wanted you to know how human I really am and how not everything in my life is all flowers and no weeds. For me most days are about getting knocked down and deciding to get back up. When I was learning to ride a horse and I would fall off, my Dad would make me get back on, and even if the horse took two steps and I fell off again, Dad would say, " brush yourself off and get back on that horse or I will sell it." So I would get back on because I wanted that horse so bad. That has been the last eight months of my life. Everyday, I have to brush myself off and get back up.

Choosing to keep going forward is a choice. Trying to keep my eyes forward and not back is also a challenge. One thing I keep learning is that I am held in the everlasting arms and He is who sustains me, comforts me and gives me peace.

One thing I have learned, is before I die, my estate will be divided and it will be in good order. I will not do to my children and grandchildren what has been going on in my life for the last eight years. That is all I will say about this but nothing is worse than what I have learned about people. I want my life to be a bit of Pollyanna, Anne of Green Gables, and Father Tim in Mitford. I work very hard at that, but this last few months I feel like I have lived in the Tales of the Crypt or Nightmare on Elm Street. I really do not know what I would do without the sustaining presence of God in my life.

I am here though, on this first day of March. A beautiful blue sky kind of day. I hope your day is filled with all sorts of great things.

~Kim~

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

Charles Dickens

A Nice Week

 

I was weeding a tiny bit yesterday. Mainly so the bulbs I planted last fall could breathe. I always get a little to zealous, and broke one flower off. I just loved the color and the smell. So a bit further down the flowerbed I broke one on purpose. Hyacinths make weeding fun.

The only problem is I don't get as much done on my hooking and sewing, because I get all twitchy looking out the window at the work I should be doing outside. I did manage to finish one little mat.

From the book Rughooking by Kris Miller

 This was a fun project, I still need to steam it. I binding it last night. If I could finish The Spotted Hare, I might have three rugs finished for February. I just don't know though, Sasha is shedding so much that I have to clean house every day because it looks like a small animal has met its fate in my living room.

Speaking of The Spotted Hare, here is the little bit I have got done on him.

The Spotted Hare by Cammie Bruce

Right now he looks like he has a bad case of the measles. I think he is fun to work on, so I hope today maybe. If the flowerbeds don't keep calling my name. They also know my first and last name as well.

Here is the tiny little bit I have done on His Eye is on the Sparrow. That flower basket is going to be rough. I can't find the pattern yet. Once I can then I can do it. I always have to find patterns in sewing and hooking. I don't really know how to describe it but once I find it then I can get things done.

His Eye is on the Sparrow, by Beth Twist

Then I did get my March pattern drawn out. It will be fun I think. I do need to order wool soon and have a day dyeing wool for him. I wish I could just use what I have and I might do that for the border.

One Crazy Chick by Cottonwood Creek Primitives

This appeals to my nature. I think it will be cute to hook. In lots of bright colors. There is a pattern here, I guess I like polka-dots.

I had some dental work this week, and it really knocked me for a loop. The good thing is I haven't felt like eating much so that is always a plus. Today, I feel more like myself. Which is good. It is a bright and sunshiny day today.  That spring fever is creeping in ever so slowly, but I know one day it is going to hit like a ton of bricks.
Have a lovely day,
~Kim~

Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come. 

Home Again Jiggity-Jig

 

We got back from the beach today.  Just Ron and I. It was such a nice break to get to just be us. When we got home, Elliot said, " Gosh, I am so glad you are home, I am so tired of animals yelling at me. Every where I go I have cats and a dog following me, I never have a minute to myself. Then I go outside to take care of the chickens and they want me to stand there and talk to them. I am exhausted. " I guess that was how I felt, it was nice to be away from the demanding animals.

 Every morning the sea gulls would start crying and circling. I knew someone must be coming to feed them so I waited. Then a woman in a red hoodie would come up the path and start throwing chicken scratch for the gulls, but the crows would come and then the black birds and then the smaller birds.

 

Every single morning. She must do it all of the time as the birds are so tame that they will just come up on the railing and visit. Ron thought I was talking to someone on the phone one day, but it was just a little female black bird with cold feet. She kept asking me questions as she would pull one foot up into her feathers and then switch feet. She hung around until Ron came to see who I was talking to for so long. She really wanted a snack though.

 

It was perfect weather. I have never been to the beach, when the days were so perfect. It was so warm we slept with the sliding glass door open and all night there was the sound of the ocean on the rocks. It was just blue skies and warm days. Lots of sun. The drive was beautiful too, everything is green and the wild flowers on the hill sides are starting to be yellows, golds and blues and pinks. The almond orchards are filled with pink and white blooms. Miles and miles of almond orchards in bloom. It would be pretty to see it from an airplane I think.

 

I took sewing, and I took books and we even took movies. We didn't do any of those things. We talked and just stared at the ocean. We did take a drive to Nipomo, Ca. It was a beautiful drive. We went to visit Ron's friend George who owns a Bonsai nursery.  I have all of those pictures on my phone and I haven't got those off to my computer yet. It is always a great way to spend a day listening to George talk about Bonsai and look around his nursery and look at his trees. It really is something I love doing and I love now that Ron has trees big enough for styling in pots now. It has been five years of waiting for them to grow.

It was a lovely weekend. I am glad we had reservations made from back in January.  The weeds really would have kept me at home. I didn't feel so bad, with the first thing George did was say how sorry he was  for his weeds. It must be something gardeners do. I feel like that is all I do too.

Last night, I made sure I woke up so I could take a picture of the full moon shining on the water. I have wanted to do that my whole life. It was so pretty. This is my attempt.

 

As always is is so nice to be home. I don't think the animals ate or slept while we were gone. Everyone is curled up in a ball quietly snoring as I type this out. Silly animals.

~Kim~

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It’s always our self we find in the sea. e.e. Cummings

It Feels Like Spring.

 

It feels like spring here in California. Weeds are growing...well like weeds. I think it all depends on your perspective, some of the weeds, lambs quarter for one, has tiny little leaves that are in the shapes of little tiny hearts. There are others that all have tiny little flowers.

They are so intricate and so pretty that I even enjoy seeing them, even though, I know that they will be mowed down at some point.

Yesterday, my daughter Emilie came for a visit. She thought I needed a new wreath. That girl just amazes me.

I have wanted one of these forever, I tried making one but I had so much trouble with the hose. She of course, a child raised on playing with Legos figured it out. Her name means artistic. She is just that.
She also brought me an Hyacinthe.

It smells so nice. Last night it made the whole living room smell sweet. It really made my afternoon.

I got my little rug bound the other day. It turned out so cute. I am glad that I finally did this rug.

I told you I had bunnies on the brain. I wanted to show you my next two projects.

First this Mama Bunny Rabbit and her baby doll.

Pattern by Rock River Stitches

I enjoy Tammy's patterns, and I look forward to making this one.

I also ordered another rug by Primitive Junky. This one is called The Spotted Hare.

Primitive Junky---Cammie Bruce.

 

 

I hope to get wool pulled and to start this today. We are supposed to have wind and rain. So it is a good day to hook and sew. The sky was pretty red this morning. This sailor will be pretty happy.

I wish you the best kind of day today.

~Kim~

"When the snow is still blowing against the window-pane in January and February and the wild winds are howling without, what pleasure it is to plan for summer that is to be."
---Celia Thaxter