snug as a bug in a [quilt]

Against all odds, I didn't catch Todd's flu this week!  Still, he was weak and tired after being so sick, so not much hiking.  Just a couple of days, enough to see our formerly snowy path...

...completely clear out.

A brief warm spell was enough to prompt our daffodil bulbs to stir...

But it's cold again, down to 25 F tonight.  Unusually grey, too...not really conducive to outdoor activities.  I've been playing in the kitchen a bit.  As much as I love Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel crackers, we don't have a Trader Joe's within an hour of our house.  So, I decided to make my own, with Everything Bagel seasoning and this recipe.  They turned out great!

Ditto for my homemade Fig Newtons.  So much better than the thin, chalky, store-bought ones! The figs really shine in these bars.  

The real superstar, though, was my discovery of this Depression-era chocolate cake recipe.  No eggs, no oil, no butter...but somehow soft, with an amazing taste?!?  I cobbled together a few recipes to come up with this one:

I use a monkfruit sugar substitute to make it sugar free.  Even with frosting, a whole quarter of this cake is about 175 calories!  We eat this every...single...day.  I truly can't tell the difference between this and "real" chocolate cake, although Todd claims that he can (although he loves this cake!).  It's so dreamy.

Now that I've trader my junky iPhone for a new model, I can actually take decent interior photos without pixilation!  So many more photos of the pets.  

Calliope, demanding attention...

...and helping me with a puzzle.

Barnabas, laying on my stomach in bed.

Pepita and the usual antics...

Ditto Frances.

It's nice being able to catch those little moments!  

I've been picking up old crafts, too.  An old embroidery project, just a couple of hours from completion...two years ago.  My goal is to be done with it by the weekend!  I also found a sweater, almost completely knitted (minus the arms).  Starting again!  I've also started eyeing some quilting projects.  It's been so long since I've used my sewing machine that I'll have to re-learn how to thread it, the proper thread tension to use for various projects, etc., etc.  This fact alone has kept me from starting something new, because I loathe reading manuals.  But when I get around to it, I have an interesting project to start with...

Moths.

This quilt block is probably about two feet by two feet and is part of a larger insect series:

There is also a full-size quilt pattern featuring moths that I've got my eye on:

Of course, you can make basically any shape/image with paper piecing...but the smaller the pieces, the more fiddly and time-consuming the project.  I'm not usually interested in this, although it's fun to see what others have made!

Some fun things for the future.  Oh, and something really cool this week!  My great aunt Ruth died a few years ago at the ripe old age of 106.  I looked up her address on Google this week to check something out and saw that the Google Maps car had caught her in the yard!

No doubt getting ready to do some yard work...something she did right up 'til the end!  Nice to have this photo of her.  Although this one is still my favorite!

This one is nice too.  :)

It's funny...no one in my family is interested in old family photos.  After Ruth died, her son sent me a huge box of family photos, including old marriage paperwork and other things that I would've thought he'd be interested in keeping.  His children aren't interested, and that's pretty much the end of the family line.  Well, I'll keep them safe!  I love old photos and family history.  

Anyway, we'll see what the next few weeks brings around here...hopefully more sunrises like the one we had a few days ago!  Completely unedited...it was insanely pink.

Have a great week!

that's a wrap!

 Still hot and dry.

The heat, though, means that the garden is still producing.  I'm getting a ton of tomatoes...and the flowers look great!

ageratum

celosia

cosmos

zinnias

Where there are flowers, there are insects.  

leaf-footed bug

katydid

milkweed bugs, adult

milkweed bug, juvenile

planthopper

Still spiders about...

orb weaver

...and butterflies!

silver checkspot butterfly

A lacewing larva, nearly hidden beneath a camouflaging pile of fluff.

A mantis, drawn by our many moths, has been hanging around by our front door.  I am not a fan.

Check out those formidable weapons!

Other creatures are still creeping, too.

fowler's toad

I'd been seeing caterpillars everywhere, but they vanished in the last week.  Just a few tussock caterpillars still hanging around.  

I've been trying to get into the fall spirit despite the high temps.  I'm baking more...

apple fritter bread

...and knitting again.

not quite half of a wrap

I haven't had too much free time, but I try to take 15 minutes at least a few times a week to work on a puzzle.  Here is my setup:

real drafting table covered in felt, so I don't have to hunch over a table that's parallel to the floor!

I've usually got a puzzle going at any given time.  I've got a lot to choose from!  I pick them up at thrift stores pretty regularly, and occasionally buy them new, if I see one that I really like.  

There are two rows of stacks on the floor, and the three stacks in the center are puzzles that I haven't gotten to yet.  These are next in line to be completed.  I finally got this mess organized and pulled out a ton to donate last week!  More will be on the chopping block...I really need to thin this down.

Pepita is doing well!  She's got a new cat-filled territory...

...the kitchen and the living room!  It's gone a lot smoother than expected.  No territory beefs.  If all goes well, she'll get a hallway and another room next week.  I think we'll be more excited, because we've been hassling with baby gates all over and we can finally get rid of them!  

She has just graduated to thirty minute daily walks...

Waiting to be released!

Puppies have developing joints, so you have to slo-o-o-owly extend their walking times, 5 minutes per month of age.  She'll be able to walk for a full hour by April, just in time for our long spring hikes!  We just have to work up to it.

In other news, I was reading about a really beautiful sea slug last week...and this week, I spotted a shirt at the thrift store that looked almost exactly like it!  Of course I had to buy it.

The sea slug (called a nudibranch) is a little more turquoise.  I am 100% knitting a sweater in these colors sometime.  

Cooler temps should be coming soon!  I can't wait.  Have a great week!