Good morning! It's a fine sunny Monday morning. My hu-mom is getting ready to go to work, so I thought I'd show you what's happening on my balcony.
Well, OUR balcony ... cuz I share it with my hu-mom. When she's good.
This is my view when I look out from my living room. It's sure nice to see green things growing! My hu-mom tells me those big bushy things up high are radishes and that I won't like them. She gets all bothered and excited when I jump up on the balcony railing to check them out, so I guess I'll let her think I don't like them.
I REALLY like lettuce though! Fortunately, it's growing down where I can help myself whenever I feel like it. For a long time this spring, my hu-mom got excited about me eating the lettuce faster than it could grow, but now it's growing faster than either of us can eat it. I'm not too wild about Rhonda and Rhoda the flamingo twins ... they whir their wings in the most annoying manner when I least expect it!
Here are two more things I REALLY like ... peas and spinach! My hu-mom stuck those plastic pole things in there to keep me from nibbling on the peas and spinach. Ha! They don't really stop me ... but don't tell her, ok?
My hu-mom is all happy because her tomato plants have flowers. I have no idea why she's happy about that ... I tasted one, and it was YUCK!
She's also happy because her hot pepper plants have miniature peppers starting. They are up high so I can't taste them. Hmmm ... I wonder what hot peppers taste like?
Earlier this morning, my hu-mom was sitting in her chair on my our balcony and doing her knitting. She is knitting a fuschia sock. I don't think it's for me.
She told me that she is thinking about adding a fold-down cuff to hide the ribbing, but can't decide what kind of pattern to put on the cuff. The pattern for this sock is her own design. It didn't come out of a book. (My hu-mom thinks she's rather clever when she invents her own design ... silly hu-mom!)
Maybe you bloggy readers have a pattern suggestion for her? She really hates to have unfinished socks around cuz they tempt me. What!?!? Why wouldn't I play with unattended knitting? Doesn't she realize I'm a CAT?
Enjoy your Monday!
Double hmm. Can't thank of a catchy post title! Feeling a bit scattered ... must be TGIF! ... so this post is probably a bit scattered. We've been INUNDATED with these creepy crawlies:
Sorry, a bit fuzzy ... it was taken with my cell phone which, of course, is a Le Cheapo model. There are two caterpillars in the above photo, one crawling upward on the branch from the bottom left, and one crawling downward on the same branch from the top right. They are gradually working their way through our city in the uber-quadrillions and eating every leaf off every tree and bush in their path. Can you say bare skeleton trees?
To my surprise yesterday, I noticed new growth on some of the barest most ravaged trees! It's a second spring!
This has been keeping us entertained today ... it's a BIG BIKE ... a fundraiser/awareness campaign by the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Teams of 30 volunteers are peddling it around the city all day today. Naturally, each team tries to out-do the previous team in boisterous enthusiasm. My office is on the "main street" now, so we get to see this kind of stuff. It's such fun!
Speaking of my office, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is tomorrow ... wear something purple! ... so today I've bounced between office and the information display we have at a local mall. We will have our display there until 9 pm tonight and again all day tomorrow. Always interesting to talk to strangers about a touchy subject (but important) like this!
While at the mall earlier today, I noticed the above sign. It's so true!
Have you ever read this book? Or one of it's 4 siblings?
It's a British "who-dunnit" set in the 1950s and told from the perspective of a very precocious motherless 11-year old with an obsession for chemistry. If you want a light-hearted entertaining read, this is it! A member of our book club says there is a new book out in this series, but I haven't seen it yet.
This isn't a "who-dunnit" ... it's a "what is it". Sorry, fuzzy photo due to cheap cell phone again. It's kind of creepy with beautiful little lavender coloured bell-shaped flowers. Weed? Flower?
Well, TGIF ... hoping to do more of this over the weekend ... and you???
I went to a party on Friday. It was a sad party ... a good-bye to two special friends who are moving away. Consequently, I've been thinking about friends I've lost track of over the years, and feeling a bit blue.
It's going to be a blue day ...
Here are some pix of the colourful things I've been playing with lately ...
Mo the Moose got a makeover ... unfortunately, the sun was shining really bright so you can't see the "PEACE" sign on his left antler and the "FLOWER POWER" sign on his right antler! He also has bright pink lipstick under that sexy little mustache! I add a little more "colour" to him every evening ... when I've had enough, I'll give him a clear coat of something to protect him from the weather.
My balcony garden is looking very GREEN. Yes, that's KALE overflowing it's pot. And it's very delicious!
For some odd reason, my green onions are leaning north ... or maybe trying to lean toward the ground ...
And my pot of potatoes almost need hilling up!
Here's the "nutty" colourful sweater I've got going ... it's worked from the neck down. I started with white, changed to black and added white "streamers" and "popcorns". Then yellow and black hound's-tooth pattern. Then a row of reddish-brown squirrels holding brown "nuts" (popcorns). Not sure how to transition to ribbing at the bottom ... I'm thinking some red popcorns against the yellow, then back to black and white ribbing? Suggestions?
I'm contemplating making each sleeve of the above sweater different ... or do you think that would be just too "nutty"?
Here's Miss Boots helping me look at the beginnings of another pair of socks ... very BLUE "Arabesque" by Regia. It's my "stay sane on the city bus" project for this week. I can finish a sock in a week just in the time I spend going to and from work on the bus.
I've also been painting Tetley Tea tins ...
Here's a finished one. Sorry, the pix is a bit over-exposed. It's flowers and dragonflies on a white background. Cute for keeping little odds and bobs.
I've also been experimenting with these ...
... cuz they make mighty fine silk scarves! Seriously! You just DOODLE on a white silk scarf (but put some protective plastic on your table first) ...
You can doodle on two thicknesses at the same time if you doodle slowly cuz the ink bleeds right through. (10 mm china silk scarf with hand-rolled hems ... check out www.dharmatrading.com/ )
Once doodled to your satisfaction, spritz gently with rubbing alcohol. Seriously! Rubbing alcohol form the drug store in a cheap spray bottle!
If y'all know me at all, y'all know that as soon as I get the hang of some new creative project, I'm out there teaching other people to create it too. Here's part of a group of senior ladies learning how to doodle on silk ...
And here's the group modelling their finished scarves! (It's a great group project cuz folks LEAVE WITH A FINISHED SOMETHING!) Yes, that's yours truly on the right (the lady with the love handles ...).
I think my motto for June is MORE COLOUR! Here's a scarf that I doodled on with the Sharpies ... but I didn't iron it before washing, so my doodles faded out. Yes, this was on purpose! (Of course it was! Uh huh!) Who needs a washed out pastel silk scarf ... so I doodled some more ... with Shiva PaintStix (check out www.dharmatrading.com/ ... I bought a sampler set of 3 stix) gold and bronze leaf rubbings in the palest / whitest areas.
Shiva PaintStix are like oil pastel crayons ... let set for 24 hours then iron to make permanent. This turned out so cool that I'm thinking about adding some glitzy beading to the two ends. What do you think?
