Boreal Witch

I asked Arthur if he wanted to go outside this morning. The highs are supposed to be in the 50s today, so I was working off the assumption that this morning wouldn't be too cold.

I got out Arthur's clothes and put them on the bed. I asked him again if he wanted to go outside and he said he did, but as soon as I tried to get him dressed, he threw all of his clothes on the floor and declared that he didn't actually want to go out.

Guess he's decided he doesn't want to go outside until he can be naked!

Keep dreaming of warm summers!

Blessed be.

Today Arthur and I went to the Home Grown Market. It's a new, local market off of Geraghty. They sell mostly meats (great selection) and local produce (which isn't much now, but I anticipate that there will be more variety throughout the summer).

When I first walked in, the place smelled so amazing. It reminded me of when I was a kid, visiting Widmer's cheese factory in Wisconsin. They made their own cheese, all different kinds - including my favorite, brick. The odor of that place will forever be part of me. Home Grown Market smells the same way: so clean. I'd go back again and again just to smell the place.

The prices were a little more than I'd like to pay, but I think the quality of the meat made up for it. Their beef is grain fed and all of their animals have been slaughtered locally (except for some of their chickens - from Seattle, but no added hormones, etc.).

While I was there I thought that maybe buying less (but more expensive) meat is a good change. Maybe it's time to make more vegetarian meals.

Eat well, be well.

I've been slowly working my way through my sewing/quilting projects (as I mention to Robinson almost daily), but I feel as though as soon as start to work on one quite diligently, I start another one.

Perhaps the problem is that I find all sorts of free patterns online and get so excited to make yet another quilt (who would have thought the iMac would be my enabler!).

I cut out all of the pieces I needed for this particular scrap lap quilt...last year. Then they sat for a while before I finally decided that I should finish this quilt to make room in my large tub of "current projects". These are things that need to get done sooner rather than later.

This scrap quilt is going pretty slow (and I've been doing 10 small blocks - translates to 2 1/2 big blocks - a day), so I thought I could motivate myself if I saw all the progress I was making.

This is the result. Not bad - I'm about half done. Though can I really say for sure? I honestly can't remember how many squares I was making. I'll go back and rearrange the squares later, but I've been sufficiently motivated. For now.

Spring Equinox is this weekend! What a great time to get motivated to do some spring cleaning! Can you tell what I'll be doing for most of the weekend?

Blessed be.

This morning Arthur and I were watching the birdfeeder (a morning ritual) when I saw something out of the corner of my eye that wasn't a bird.

It was a vole.

A hungry, hungry vole who started fighting with the birds over the fallen birdseed. They didn't seem to want him around, but Arthur, on the other hand, loved him. The vole would run and hide in one tunnel and then pop out of another tunnel. Repeat about twenty times.

Arthur stood watching until the vole did not return.

To prove that voles are the greatest thing since sliced bread, he's even started saying the word "vole".

I hope you and your family are enjoying the first signs of (dare I say it?) spring!

Blessed be.

I found out some very unexpected, sad news this weekend. I found out that the lady who quilts my quilts died in late January.

It came as quite a shock, especially since I had grown so attached to her. She was like a grandmother figure and was always so helpful in picking out thread colors and patterns. She lived near my house and almost always took only a week and a half to finish my projects. She was also very reasonably priced, which was nice because my projects are almost always lap quilt sized.

I was horribly stressed about it all weekend. Even Robinson commented I was acting as though I broke up with someone.

I found someone to quilt the baby blanket I made for Becky's new baby, but I'm going to need to find a more permanent solution...there are other quilters around town, but...well...it's like any sort of professional relationship you have with a hairdresser, doctor, or nanny. You get to know them and they get to know you.

I'm hoping that this shock won't stagnate my quilt-making. I still love to do it, but a little, tiny part of me is grieving. And that sounds so silly and ridiculous, but it's true.

Blessed be.

Saturday we headed off to the ice park with Alek (a friend of Arthur's) and his family. It's sort of a family tradition to walk through the park and look at the beautiful ice carvings (truly, some are amazing!). This year didn't disappoint. We, unfortunately, did not get any pictures, but there must have been some kind of aquatic theme...many of them were of fish or other sea creatures.

But I digress.

With an almost two year old, things have to be done differently. Arthur just doesn't have the stamina it takes to wander through each row, commenting about what he likes about this block of ice or that one.

It's just not going to happen.

So, this year, Robinson and I decided that it was probably better for all involved to just check out the ice slides. We went to the small slides first - just to get Arthur familiar with what we were going to do. He loved them! He wanted to go again and again and again. He even tried going down the hill on his stomach.

Then, we saw the even bigger slides just down the hill. We went down the smaller slides a few more time, then showed Arthur the big slides and he decided he wanted to go over there to check them out.

We didn't bring a sled with us, but Alek was nice enough to let us to borrow his. Arthur was a little hesitant at first, after going down with Robinson once, he absolutely loved them. At the bottom, Arthur signed "more, more!" and he and Robinson went down again. And again and again.

I even went down one of the sides with him. For a split second, I thought I was going to have a heart attack because I hadn't expected the slide to be so damn fast. I think I absolutely would have loved this as a kid. I can't wait until Arthur's old enough to actually enjoy these slides and want to stay half a day to play.

Afterward, we went to lunch with Uncle Johnny and Uncle Paul. Arthur had a ham sandwich with extra pickles, a hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

It was a perfect, fun-filled winter day.

Blessed be.