Buzz

Yesterday we headed down to a park to go wading the the creek and see what we could see. By far the most exciting part of the day was the dragonfly. The husband spotted him floating down the creek – I don’t know how he got knocked into the water, but he was going to meet his doom. When their wings get stuck in the water, they pretty much can’t escape. I dashed over and scooped him up to let him dry off. He hung out with us until his wings and body dried off, and was very happy to rest in our hands. He crawled around a bit in Little Owl’s hand while she gazed wide-eyed at him. When he was finally rested and recovered, he happily buzzed away.

So Little Owl got to hold a huge dragonfly – it tickles me to no end that she was wildly enthusiastic and not even a tiny bit nervous. Makes me feel like I’m doing something right.

Munch

Why is it that when things get chaotic, knitting and crafting in general – my most relaxing activities aside from actual sleep – go right out the window? Ah well. At least I can take pictures of the garden.

I planted some fennel to attract swallowtail butterflies, and now it’s covered in caterpillars. At least a dozen – such fun! Things like this, simple little things like growing plants for the butterflies and then watching those little lives unfold, always seems like a small miracle to me. It’s not a surprise, really, that it happens, but it is so wonderful every time it does.

Also the tomatoes are beginning to ripen. Joy.

Adventures

Little Owl and I took a trip up to my folks’ house again this past week. We were celebrating my niece’s first birthday – such fun to get together with family. The husband also came up for the weekend; it was great to have him there with us for a couple of days.

This was our week….   Blackberries to savor, ponds to swim in, dandelions to munch.  Ladybugs, a coyote running through the field, a bluebird nest.  Baby chicks from the feed store where Grandma’s been going since she was a tot.  Mud puddles to splash, tire swing in the rain, rocks thrown in the creek, mud on the feet.  Frogs, spiders, bugs, birds, turtles.  Puppies to play with, kitties to pat, beloved old Esmerelda the chicken to hold and her new pet chick Carrot to snuggle, Grandma and Pa hugs and a little cousin to love.  And peafowl. Oh happy days.

Little Owl the Fiber Snob

I made these from some acrylic yarn (Patons Melody in Tutti Frutti) that I had sitting around for some reason.  They were supposed to be for Little Owl’s dolls.  They are always wanting more clothes, those babies.  They are, however, extremely unpopular.  “Mama, Baby doesn’t like these.  They’re not very soft.  Welllll, they’re not soft at all.”

Sorry sweetie, the dolls are not getting alpaca.

 

(I modified the Easy Baby Bootie pattern to which I’ve linked previously for the super chunky yarn.)

Sunny

The rosemary in my sunny garden have really taken off this year.  I love the scent that lingers when I walk through them, I love to feel the warmth of the sun that has soaked into the leaves.  I love to harvest little snips for meals or just to stick behind my ear while I go about my day.  I love that rosemary is for remembrance.

This is the first time I’ve made massage oil, not that it’s exactly rocket surgery.  Glass jars (recycled from Gundermann Farms jam I bought at the farmers’ market, yum), snips of rosemary, grapeseed oil (from Aura Cacia).  It lasts longer when stored in a cool, dark place.  And I guess you are supposed to strain out the herbs after a month or two, but these jars are small so they may just be used up before then.

It just looks so beautiful to me; I am disproportionally pleased with myself about this project.  These will be presents for Mother’s Day.

Arachne

Meet our new friend, Arachne. She was living behind the little chest of drawers I have in the downstairs powder room. But I noticed she wasn’t catching much, and we had a ton of fruit flies that had invaded the kitchen.

So in a highly scientific move, I gathered up her egg sacs in an empty toilet paper roll, and got her in it too, and took her to the kitchen.

She seems to be quite happy with the new arrangement, and the fruit fly population has dropped significantly. Also Little Owl loves her.

Did you know that cobweb spiders are a natural predator of brown recluse spiders? Just a bit of trivia for you.

Toads!

I have been working a lot on the front yard, trying to get a bunch of plants in and get it all fixed up cute and, you know, not awful. I am always kind of scared when I’m doing any planting because I hate to chop a worm in two and I’m always afraid I’ll accidentally murder a toad or something. So you can imagine my horror when I turned over a shovel full of mulch and this little fellow came flopping out all chilly and confused.

Poor thing, just trying to hibernate. We hung out for a while and then I made him a pile of mulch and leaves to hide in.

So to make up for it, I finally got around to painting some toad houses with Little Owl. I’d been meaning to do it for months. There’s a ton of information about different ways to do it. In the end I opted for easy – just flip a terra cotta pot upside down and kind of bury it so it’s crooked and the toad can crawl in on one side.

The tot loved painting them and setting them out – now it’s just a question of convincing her not to look under all of them every time we walk past.

I just hope I’ve appeased the toads.

Another Little One

Another Little Undershirt for another little one with an upcoming first birthday.  (Look at the previous post for the links.)  So much cuteness.

Flower

Just finished a sweet little dishcloth – Prairie Flower (Ravelry link) by Kat Mcab.  I used Patons Pure Organic Cotton in Fern and Lilac and it turned out right cute.

I had to snap this pic quick because Little Owl was about to commandeer it for another doll blanket.

Fry it!

I like to think that the meals I cook for my family are pretty healthy. But there are some things you just gotta fry.

My mama makes fried okra that I cannot describe any better than to say that it is ambrosia. She’s always worried that it’s too salty, or too done, or not done enough. But a serving for me is however much she harvests. It is so good.

So for a long time, I never made fried okra. But then my Little Owl arrived. And now I am Mama, and Mama makes fried okra. That’s just how it is. So out came the cast iron, and the okra was fried.

One night, I asked her if she wanted it fried or curried (a yummy African recipe we’ve enjoyed at Whole Foods). My heart swelled with pride when she yelled, “Fry it!!”

Last year I got all our okra from the farmers’ market. Which is good. But really it has to be perfectly fresh. ‘Cause that’s how my mama does it. So this year I planted okra. The seedlings just came up. Little Owl and I did a little happy dance in the back yard. I am so excited.

Now Mama is really gonna fry some okra.

This is my Best Shot.