Monday, February 4, 2019

no doubt about it


I'm over this poison ivy. It can go away now.

We had a good time at the gathering Saturday night sitting around Edith's farm table eating tacos, sipping blackberry flavored whisky with two or three conversations going on the whole time. Five houses, two singles, three couples.

It's barely February and it is definitely spring out there. The birds are convinced, the cedar tree is blooming, 


the spirea is putting on buds, one of the azaleas is blooming, the ground orchids are starting to send up their blooms, 


the woodlands painted petal have opened their first blooms and the rest are sending up bloom stalks right before my eyes 


and the yard is solid with 10 petal anemone blooms 

a fairly typical section of yard

and henbit too. I need to get out there and prune back the roses and fertilize them because they'll be putting on new growth any day now.

Since our last dip in the low 30s every day has been a bit warmer and this week the highs are going to be in the 70s with another dip into the 30s Thursday night. Warm it may be but it's also been overcast, foggy, drizzly, rainy, WET. We got 1 1/4” rain Saturday night added to the 1 1/4” we got earlier last week. This week, warm days aside, is predicted to be the same. Sigh. It is so wet out there. I spent an hour or so out in the big backyard Sunday digging up sow thistle which thanks to the flood have once again colonized the yard. Made a dent but didn't get all of them. I got tired of having to scrape the wet sticky clayey mud off the shovel and trowel after every plunge into the ground. When I went in my shoes and the bottom 6” of my pants were soaked and I had mud all over my shirt.

I'm putting aside the glass work for a few days. I finally got my sewing machine repaired and the lady told me to be sure and use it because there was only a 30 day guarantee so I'm going to make a couple of long skirts. I bought some lightweight cotton plaid fabric years ago at a garage sale and never used it and since the two skirts I have are at least 30 years old and fragile with all kinds of holes and tears in them I figured it was time. 


No pattern, I'm just going to wing it. How hard can it be to make a gathered skirt with an elastic waistband? I'll let you know.





12 comments:

  1. Oh Ellen! Today I was just thinking that it's time to send you those phlox, the pinecone lily roots, the damnable glory bower. And I think it truly must be. I need your mailing address again.
    mmerluna@aol.com

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  2. Nice to see what my yard may look like in 6 weeks.

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  3. I really want to get some long lightweight skirts to wear for this summer - so much more comfy than pants. I guess I should go ahead & start looking now before they put the fall stuff out. Ha!

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  4. How wonderful to be out in the garden in February with lots of flowers growing around you. Last week at this time our temps were zero and below. Today it will be in the high 60s. It won’t last long but I am going to enjoy it while it is here.

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  5. It seems like it should be fairly easy, but what do I know?!

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  6. I like the colors in the fabric. Trick with a gathered skirt is to allow enough fullness to have a nice gather all the way around. You got this!

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  7. My grandma made patterns from clothing out of newspaper, and replicated favorite shirts.Spring has sprung, it is 14 today so will be a while

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  8. Blackberry flavoured whiskey. Excellent.

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  9. I'm glad it nice out somewhere. I love those fabrics - and, yes, those skirts should be a snap. Wow, blackberry whiskey? You Texans know how to live!

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  10. You win hands down on spring. And on whiskey.

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  11. Seems as though our winter is just getting started , for REAL. I am jealous of your buds! Making a skirt is a SNAP, you will be glad!

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