As Good As It Gets

So the snow has melted and given way to these:

I love crocuses -- in their Sunday Best they trumpet the arrival of spring like a happy surprise. Just seeing the little shoots pushing up through the cold earth shakes off the weariness of winter and fills our collective heads with a new beginning, a fresh start. That's as good as it gets.

I've been so wickedly busy these past many weeks that frankly I could use a fresh start. I was in Pennsylvania all last week helping my boyfriend and his brother spruce up their parents house for sale. It's been sitting empty for some three years now -- suffice it to say that "sprucing up" doesn't really begin to cover it. If ever anything was in need of a fresh start that house tops the list. And now what I could use is a nice nap... in the sunshine... in a hammock. But I am getting ahead of myself.

My living room and dining room projects are nearly complete -- a few drapes to hem and a china cabinet to build. I tend to loose steam when I'm so close to being finished... Does that happen to you? The week before going to Pennsylvania I was in a big push to get the dining room drapes finished and up and got as far as the hem. Now that I'm back I don't yet have the itch in me to wrap it up. But by Saturday, ready or not, I'll get them done. Maybe I need to gaze at those crocuses a little longer, to breath in more of that "fresh start" air out there.

What does spring evoke for you?

Snowed In!!!!

The snow came and came and came some more. It fell on fences and trees and roofs. It covered sidewalks, driveways and roads... And when I thought there was not another flake left to fall, there fell more.


The snow started shortly after 8 a.m. Friday. I stood at the kitchen window and watched it begin... by 10 the yard was covered, by noon the roads were treacherous. It fell and it fell and it fell.

There is a street between my house and that gray one. But you'd never know it.


Hmmmmmm, guess there's nothing for a snowbound girl to do except... play.


Stay busy and keep outta trouble.


Every now and then this is just what we need -- a Snow Day.

Are you Snow Bound? What did you do?

It's About Time

Lest you suspect I've fallen off the planet, fact is I've been sewing and painting and building, never mind that work thing too. But my house is coming along -- two steps forward, three back, right on schedule. The living room is feeling more and more warm and inviting. Remeber this piece of art my boyfriend had framed for me for Christmas. Ahhhhh. It takes my breath away. And it's finally been hung...


But what to do with that empty space... leave it alone... add more art... shelves... Hmmm? Finally it occured to me that what it wants is a clock...

But this one, hanging in my garage, is too big, too tattered...

And this one, thanks to T.J. Maxx, is too new...

I went to a middle of the road antique store hoping to find just the right clock, just the right age... at just the right price. (A girl can dream.) The Antique Owner was on the funny side, "I haven't sold one of thjose in quite a while -- do you know what they run?" Odd question, I thought. And, "No, I haven't a clue... I'm thinking $60 to $80." The Antiques Owner's eyes grew wide: shock, horror, offense registered on his face. "You won't find it!" he said. "You just won't find it -- not for under $180." (A minute before he hadn't sold one in a long long while and had no idea what a nice old clock might cost -- but now he was sure my price couldn't be had. And that I should be smacked for even thinking it.)

But this one... I rather like this one. And I sure didn't pay $180 for it. I didn't pay even $80 for it.

How it came about was after dinner. At our favorite neighborhood Italian place I'd been telling my boyfriend the tale of the obnoxious Antiques Owner. "You won't find it," I repeated. My boyfriend laughed. We finished dinner. We jumped in the truck and upon leaving the parking lot the truck headlights swept a trash pile of the apartment across the street from the Italian place. I caught the headlight reflection on the clock face first. "STOP!" I think I very nearly gave my boyfriend a stroke. I lept from the truck, darted across the street, snatched up the clock and Looky there -- it looks nice on my wall next to my print, don't you think? A few more pieces of ... something are needed there... maybe a lantern... maybe a piccolo (why not?)

And now, back to sewing and painting and building... There's more to come... lest I fall off the planet.