reptile style

 Even though it's been bitterly cold, we've still enjoyed a little bit of outside beauty.

Unusual for this time of year, deer have been flocking to our front yard in droves.  

I noticed that several of them had what I thought were bloody spots on their hind legs.

When I started doing some research, though, I discovered that this was the tarsal gland, present on both bucks and does.  They urinate on this gland and then rub it so that the gland absorbs certain components of the urine.  The gland then emits a powerful scent, telling others about the dominance of the males and the mating readiness of the females.  Pretty interesting stuff!

St. Patrick's Day was on the 17th, and I made my usual roll-and-cut rainbow cookies.

They're kind of a pain to make, because you have to separate and color the vanilla dough before combining it in a "rainbow log," then encasing that log in chocolate dough.  The proportions were a little off this year, making them look more like peacock feather eyes...

...but they still felt festive and tasted great!

I've been working on a few other projects.  I planted lots of sweet pea seeds in yogurt containers and left them in the attic to sprout.  We've got liftoff! 

The sprouts are pale when they first emerge, but I expect them to green up after a few days under the lights.  Then they'll go out in the garden...in maybe 2-3 weeks?  Ditto these anemone and ranunculus, which I've been pre-sprouting in the attic for the past few weeks.  I thought they might be goners, but they sent up anemic fingers this weekend.  Bingo!

I finished the front panel on my Shadow sweater.  I'm measuring it against a sweater that fits in the way that I want Shadow to fit, and I think it's a pretty good match so far, especially considering that Shadow will grow a bit when I block it.

Phew, that's a lot of cables!  Now I will make an identical panel for the front.  It's coming along nicely!

I saw a really interesting woodcut of a snake last week.  I'm not a huge snake fan, but I love seeing them depicted in relief printings, like woodcuts and linocuts.  After all, I grew up with a pretty famous one:

I've found some beautiful ones online, although the internet being what it is, it's not always easy to find the original artist:

Tyler Krasowski

artist unknown

artist unknown

artist unknown

I think they're really beautiful, and I decided to try stitching one.  I chose a chain stitch for the scales, to give them a bit more detail, and a simple stem stitch for the outline.  I went with a monochromatic color scheme.

I need more practice with "fill stitches," so I'm especially pleased with how the tail and head turned out.  It's not my favorite, but it was an enjoyable-enough small project.

Another small project...I was so pleased with how my Darth Vader Scrabble bag turned out...

...that I practiced another lined bag this week, too.  Not as scary as I'd expected...practice makes perfect!

Looks like we have a cool, wet week coming up...more time for indoor projects, I guess.

Have a great week!  

put one foot in front of the other...

Beautiful fog this week.

Amazing new life in the garden...I love to see green growth coming up out of the tangle of dead leaves.

Hello, old friends:  columbines and hostas.

Hello, bleeding hearts.

I bought a bunch of .25 bulbs at Walmart a few weeks ago and have planted them successively.  These blue irises, of course...

...but also these pretty little things, reminiscent of muscari, although I can't recall the name in the moment.

It was St. Patrick's Day last week, so besides the rainbow cookies, I baked some soda bread...and also made corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes, and sprouts.

Tabitha approved.

I decorated with green banners and window clings.

We had a nice little party!  It's important to keep doing certain things, I think.  I try to do the things I normally do - celebrate holidays, plant spring bulbs, and enjoy the new growth - but I'm not fully present in the moment.  I suffer from anxiety on a good day - during these uncertain times, I'm really struggling with panic.  I know people who are sick with the virus.  I know people who have lost their jobs.  I go online for news and updates, but get frustrated with the (typical) lack of national leadership and the conflicting messages.  I get on Facebook to see how acquaintances are doing, and see a lot of the usual jumble of misinformation ("We enjoyed movie theatres too much, so God removed movie theatres!!"  "It's just the flu, people.  Calm down." "Stock up on your essential oils!  They help!!").  I'm also seeing a lot of positive things - people bonding with their families, playing games, hugging pets, sharing with neighbors.  It helps.

Personally, we're staying home.  We're working a lot.  We're reading.  We're watching a lot of distracting T.V. - and we are not necessarily practicing social distancing!

I'm just trying to enjoy the little things, keep our traditions going, and take a lot of deep breaths.

I think the British had it right during World War II:  "Keep Calm and [try to] Carry On." So I'm going to knit, sew, read, work, garden, watch trash T.V., and hope that things improve over the coming weeks.

Stay healthy, friends! 

rainbow bright

Bosewichte had a nice treat today. 

I planted some wheatgrass earlier this week.  Cats love it and I love how "SPRING!!!" it looks.  The roots are so shallow that the seeds will grow in anything (I've even seen it grown in eggshells!).  I had a natural wood tray with some tiny ceramic inserts that were perfect.

It grows fast. After just a day...

Check it out!

I have so many things growing inside in pots...one of my favorite March traditions.

I've got bulbs potted up on the front porch, too, and delightful patches of green are poking up all over the front garden!

I checked my little greenhouses, and was rewarded with some exciting growth.

Unfortunately, the soil is too wet.  I must've added too much water when I  prepared the soil mixture.  Certainly most of the seeds will rot, and it's too cool to open the greenhouse tops to evaporate out some of that water.  But now I know for next year, and I still have plenty of seeds to direct-sow in the garden this April.

Still seeing more signs of life out on the hiking trails...

And it's nearly St. Patrick's Day!  I made a batch of my annual St. Patrick's Day cookies a few days ago.  They're easy - a batch of vanilla cookie dough, split and rainbow colored, molded into a long cookie "snake" and encased in chocolate cookie dough.

They're slice and bake.

I may have pre-sampled one. YUM.

If I can get organized in time, I will also make corned beef/cabbage and Irish soda bread, although the corned beef and cabbage combo, at least, is not really an Irish (more of an Irish-American) tradition.  It's still a fun thing to do!

It's nice to have something to focus on, because the coronavirus issue is definitely concerning.  Todd and I are lucky...we don't have kids to find childcare for, we always work from home, and our business does not tend to be affected by downturns of the economy.  We're still taking precautions...practicing a little social distancing (one of my favorite things to do, anyway)...and keeping our loved ones close!

We have families and friends that we're worried about, and are concerned about all of the hourly workers that may be facing financial hardships due to restaurant and business closings...the kids who only get a square meal in school, and now school is cancelled indefinitely...those in the tourism trades that suddenly have nothing to do...and many, many others, especially those in other countries whose lives have been completely changed by the virus.  I hope that this self-imposed semi-quarantine arrests the virus here and that life can go back to normal soon.

Stay safe, everyone!