shady ladies

 The last of the snow...

...has melted.  Before it did, though, we saw a lot of really interesting frozen "waterfalls" on the limestone structures around here.  Limestone is really porous and water frequently seeps through and freezes.

Now that we've had a few warm days, though, all signs of snow are gone and we've got some green peeking though...at last!

Unbelievably, these warm days have caused our daffodil bulbs to stir.  It seems early, but...

The warm weather, too, brings out a dreaded enemy...the Asian lady beetle.  They look pretty similar to ladybugs, but they're an invasive species.  Color-wise, they run the gamut from deep red to light orange.  Sometimes they're covered in spots and sometimes they don't have any.  

Unlike the "ladybugs" that we know, they slip inside structures in the fall, seeking a cool, sheltered place to overwinter.  They bite, and when they feel threatened they release an orange liquid (their blood), which stinks.  They stain walls and fabrics.  When they die, they stink.  They can make your pets sick if they eat them.  

They congregate by the THOUSANDS when they find a way in...and this year, they did.  My upstairs office window faces south and is the warmest place in the house.  The Asian lady beetles that found their way into our attic in the fall trickle out and crawl on the window glass.  Every.  single.  day.  On the coldest, darkest day, I still kill around 20.  On warm, sunny days, I've killed up to 150 (I stopped counting after that).  We're going to have to figure out how to seal the house better in the fall!  These things are definitely a big, stinky nuisance.  

I finished a couple of quick knitting projects.  I was making gloves to match my Beeswax hat...

...but I didn't love the fit.  I decided to frog them and just knit a quick, simple pair of gloves.  It didn't take any time at all and I'm really pleased with them!

I also knitted a quick hat for Todd.  It has earflaps that help keep you warmer than an average hat.

An interesting construction...the brim is knitted flat, like a scarf, and then the ends are seamed together.  You pick up stitches from the top and knit the body of the hat with your new color...and finally, you pick up stitches from the bottom of the brim to knit a contrasting strip (Honegart Hat on Ravelry).  

I'm pretty pleased with it!  Now I'm working on another sweater.  It's slow going, since there's usually a cat trying to squirm into my lap at night, which is my primary knitting time.  I'm not in any hurry, though!

The usual culprit:

I'm looking forward to the weather warming up a bit.  We've managed one walk in the past few weeks...between my early-morning physical therapy appointments and the cold temperatures, it's just been too hard...but on our one day out, I loved seeing our old stomping grounds.

It won't be long now.

Have a great week!

plastic fantastic

 Major warm-up!  The clean lines on our frozen pond have melted...

...into a beautiful milky, pearlescent color.

It's been cold enough, though, for the nails on our porch ceiling to develop a thick coat of frost.  It always brings to mind Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter:  "The frosted nails in the roof above her were like white teeth."

Today, though, it will be nearly 70 (!!!) and all traces of our big snow will be gone!  

I've spent a lot of my spare time working on a puzzle this week.  Todd surprised me with a 2000 piece puzzle a month or so ago, and it was unusual in several ways...first, it was plastic.  Second, the puzzle was broken down into six sections.  I didn't even need my puzzle board.  I assembled it a section at a time...

...and finished the entire puzzle in a little over a week...a new record for me!

It's pretty big...29" x 24"...and the pieces are so sturdily locked together that not only is it easy to carry around, I think it might be difficult and time-consuming to disassemble.  To make it more challenging when I put it together again, I'm going to break it down into four sections, not six.

We have ventured out a little...to a Motown concert last night...

...but have mostly been at home. I've done a little knitting over the past few weeks.  I ordered some beautiful Malabrigo yarn...

...and have just finished a hat.  It's a pattern that I've knitted in the past for a gift, so I already knew that I'd like it!

I love the hexagons.

I'm working on matching mittens now.  I started a sweater at the end of 2024...

...but I quickly discovered that not only was I not fond of the color combination I'd chosen, the various differences in yarn thickness/hairiness was annoying as well.  I ended up frogging it back to the beginning of the blue pattern.  I'm going to start over when I feel more inspired.

I did buy some other beautiful Malabrigo yarn recently that might be a nice contrast to the gold...

Speaking of gold, Todd bought me a sweater-quantity of Malabrigo Rios for Christmas in the Frank Ochre colorway.  It is gorgeous!!!

I have THREE unfinished sweaters on hold right now...a white sweater that I decided to change the arm length on and got confused, so put it aside...a green sweater with a messed-up front panel...and now the sweater above, recently frogged nearly to the collar.  However, that isn't stopping me from starting a FOURTH sweater with the beautiful Frank Ochre.  ;)

We're continuing to have the most beautiful sunrises...

...and I'm really loving the slower pace of life right now.  For the first time in a long time, I'm reading after supper...always with a cat in my lap.  It seems to be the only time he's interested!

As nice as it is to be at home, I just got the okay from my podiatrist to resume walking again (as long as I complete a painful-sounding round of physical therapy to break up scar tissue), so I'm excited to actually get outside again! 

Have a great week!  

merry berries

 Before our recent below-freezing cold snap...

new calendula bloom opening up

...my flowers continued to behave irrationally.

mint and euphorbia

Everything, up until a few days ago, was so green and even showing new growth!

butterfly bush

The morning glory vines were covered with new flowers.

Crazy!

We may have lost the green this week...but we still have plenty of red.

Berries, berries everywhere!

Even a few red leaves, too.

It's much too cold for Claudia outside.  We've moved her into the temperature-controlled barn for the week.

In past years, she was always eager to get back outside, no matter how cold it was.  But in her old age, she prefers to snuggle in a warm bed indoors.

Meanwhile, I finally completed a little project that's been a procrastination point this past six weeks.  I bought a skiing fox Christmas ornament.  Cute fox, ugly brown coat.  What a missed opportunity for something cheerful!

I cut off the coat...

...and just freehanded a little knitted project that took less than an hour, start to finish.  I knitted a piece of fabric to roughly match the size of his previous coat.  I decided that I'd rather have a fun blue bathrobe!  A frilly collar peeking out completed the look.

That's more like it!  Now he's ready for Christmas!  :)  

Have a great week!