Still Snapping

So remember that Project 365 photography journey I had started on? Well, I've managed two whole months plus now. Here are a few of the shots I've taken recently.

These three are from January. See how bare the ground was on January 22? Then the snow started, and just kept falling. That picture of the gate to the veggie garden? That day, January 28, may well have been the last day we saw it. The side rails have started to re-emerge only during the last few days.

 

Of course, winter was a double whammy this year. Besides record snow fall, we had record cold. Some days I only went out just as long as it took Knight to do what he had to do. On those days, the basement with The Husband's tools and assorted junk came in very handy.

 

When Knight and I had finally had enough, and really wanted to go for a good walk, we jumped in the car and headed to N.C., to hang out with the Southern Daughter. Her city has a wonderful downtown, and I got some pictures there. Her cat Socks had some photo sessions, too. We did bring a bit of the snow down with us. Not much, just enough to get her a snow day from work, so she could walk the dog.

 

Some days it is harder than others to figure out what to photograph. During my hotel stay on the way back north, the only thing that looked halfway exciting was a light on the wall.

 

Sometimes the photographs  don't turn out very interesting. Maybe because he was missing Buttercup, who was in the hospital, these Jensen pictures were just lackluster. So, I posterized him in Photoshop. Buttercup is now home, and doing much better.

 

On the display of my camera, I can't see well enough with my bad eyes to tell what the pictures really look like. One day, all I had were some blurry photos of collard leaves. Generally, I like to keep alterations of my pictures to a minimum, but since all I had was a mess, I decided to go wild. The vein on the leaf was slightly altered, the picture solarized, colors enhanced, and then a fabric weave pattern was added into the veins. What do you think?

Getting bored with snow pictures? Me, too. With any luck spring will arrive soon, and the budding flowers and trees will re-energize my photography. Read my lips, Mother Nature. No new snow! Please?

Enough Already!

Well, this is turning out to be quite a winter, isn't it? For a while, it seemed like winter wouldn't happen, and then, BAM! We were buried, and the temperature dropped like a rock. I took a few pictures outside this morning so you could see what our house is looking like Not too many, though, as the temperature was still below 0°F.

There should be an entire row of shrubs visible at the front of this picture. Instead, all you can see is one juniper reaching an arm up, hoping to be pulled to safety.

 

The young maple and our crazy whomping willow both have their entire trunks buried.

 

The snow is almost up to the bottom of the bay window,

 

and would be halfway up the front door, if not for the Husband's diligent shoveling.

 

There are two things that I am very grateful for, and they are the snow blower we got last year, and our very steep roof. Now if only the snow would stop before it reaches that roof....

This Is What Everyone Has Been Waiting For???

Mom made us have a brushing today. We're not sure why. Apparently, she has some problem with breathing fur.

 

She said since it's the first day of spring, and warm outside, we might as well go out to be brushed.

 

We hate getting brushed.

 

And, if this is Mom's idea of warm, she's really gone around the bend.

 

This "spring" everyone has been waiting for?  You can keep it. We are going back inside, where bunnies belong. Where it really is warm.

 

Maybe we will even help Mom with the quilting. We'll do anything, as long as she doesn't bring us back outside! Just don't tell her we said that, OK?

 

Happy Spring, if for some reason that is your thing,

Grumpily,

 Buttercup and Jensen

Yeah, Still Here, Still Shoveling....

Hi, everyone. That is if there is anyone still out there. Having a tough time getting through this winter. Might not have made it if not for my Big Boy.

No, not my husband. This Big Boy.

 

Don't you like how he framed himself? Right now he's off somewhere, probably getting into trouble with Mickey and Speedy.

 

And I'm trying to get myself back in the mood for sewing, with this stack of fabrics. All these bright colors are getting transformed into a whole bunch of tulips.

 

Wish it would stop snowing, so we could see a few things sprouting around here. But for now, fabric tulips will have to do.

 

P.S. Thank you to everbun for their comments on my recent posts. You know who you are. Even though I have been bad about answering, I do appreciate knowing you are out there. I'm going to try to do better. Promise. If I don't, you can stuff a snowball down the back of my collar.

Simple Pleasures

It's been a long week around here. Today I decided to just kick back a little, and enjoy what was around me. I sewed some blue scraps together. These are destined to become a sky.

There wasn't any blue sky outside, but I did enjoy the view. There was a snow day yesterday, but it's hard to appreciate it properly with no kids at home. Normally snow would not be a fun event by the time March rolls around. But, since we have had very little of it since that big October storm, it still looks beautiful.

 

And most beautiful of all? A Bunny who has decided to start eating again. I'm actually enjoying the fact that he is under my feet begging for treats every time I enter the room. 

We decided yesterday to wait on any more tests, as they would be more invasive. Today he is showing his appreciation, I guess. Let's hope it last! Have a great weekend, everybun!

Before And After

We spent a good share of the weekend involved in storm-related clean-up. This was the stuff that I couldn't do on my own earlier in the week. Here's a little bit of what happened.

This is the hedgerow to the north of my house. The neighbor's Bradford pear is on the left, on top of my lilac. The Maple-leafed Viburnums in the middle are flattened. On the right is a Washington Hawthorne that is snapped in half.

Looking down the row today, you can see the stump of the pear tree. The neighbors took the branches off, but left the larger parts for us to deal with. We will keep the wood. By the shadow of my head is the stump of another pear that went down earlier this year, onto the Viburnums.

I expected the Viburnums to stand back up, but they did not. When I tried to encourage them, they started snapping off. They must have been weakened when the tree fell on them earlier in the year. Now they are just the sticks that you see on the left in this picture. I think they will survive the winter, but we won't get to enjoy the sight of their red berries.

On the right, is the remains of the Hawthorne. Getting that down was a two person job, and we both sustained injuries. The husband had it worse, though, as he seems to be having a bad reaction to the puncture wounds.  This tree may survive the winter, but it will probably grow into a very odd shape.

In the center of this picture is Weasley's precious crabapple tree. It was not pretty. Behind it on the right are the old pear and apple. To the center is a large birch that just bent this time. We've lost parts of it before. On the left, a smaller birch, snapped in half.

As you can see, two thirds of the crabapple's branches were broken off. Another large piece may have to come off the back for balance, but I'm going to wait on that. What really has me worried is a large portion on the right that was split, but not to the extent of being removed. It may heal, but if we get another heavy, wet, or icy mess, it may split and take the tree with it.

The old pear and apple tree behind the crabapple didn't do too badly. The old apple did get slightly tipped, so we took a large limb off the back, in hopes that it wouldn't go any farther over. 

This is the birch that snapped. It will survive, but will probably grow strangely from the break. When I first planted this, it was a twig, 12 inches tall.

The front garden, completely buried. The lump in the center is a very flat Rose-of-Sharon.

The Rose-of-Sharon stood back up, sort of. It had already been tipping downhill after the hard rains of the early fall. Its tipping more now. I'll probably take some branches off the back, so that another storm won't bring it over for good.

This is out back, where the trees from the neighbor's woodlot have bent over, or broken off, into our yard. We chopped up the broken ones. The cherry leaning all the way to the left actually stood back up. Unfortunately, it broke as it stood up, and is dangling like a guillotine over the path here. We'll be doing something about this, soon.

And just for fun, the willow out front. Its a weird little tree, but it looks terrific in the snow. Like some fairytale hideout. And as a bonus, nothing really seems to bother it. It always pops back up!

Now that most of the chopping down and chopping up is done, things should be getting back to normal here. I did have some e-mail issues during the snow adventure, so if I have missed responding to some of you, I apologize. And, as if in repayment for last week, its warm and sunny here this week. Perfect New England fall weather. I hope it is fine where you are, too. Don't you just love Mother Nature?

Technical Difficulties...

This is Daughter Number Two... Mom has been out of power since Saturday. She is currently sitting in the dark throwing logs on the fire to keep Weasley warm. Today was supposed to be the post of who won the give-away, and she will do that as soon as she gets power back. If you want to enter and you haven't yet, check out the post on October 20th with the details.
Weasley REALLY hopes he will be seeing you tomorrow for his Weasley on Wednesday post.

P.S.  Jade and Mickey Mom hopes that you have power, and that you are staying warm.

Hey Mom! Guess what? The downside of having me do this was now I know your password!!! :D

And So It Begins....

It's

Not

Halloween



Yet!!??

Friday In The Garden

Its been a while since you've seen a post here with that title, hasn't it? Things have changed a bit. We had our first snow of the season yesterday. This is what it looks like out back this morning.

And around in front of the house, I'll have to pour some warm water into that birdbath to melt the ice. Or maybe just let the birds practice their hockey, like that bird in the Charlie Brown comic strip, whose name is escaping me right now.

On the deck, where the winter sun doesn't reach, you can sort of see the half inch of ice that came down first. The poor pumpkins haven't even had a chance to develop their personalities yet.

The ice is causing the Rose of Sharon to tilt downhill. I think the plant may be splitting near its base. Not sure what to do about that. If you have any ideas, let me know.

And the ornamental grasses that usually look great for at least the first half of winter? They were so wet from the rain, that the ice and snow that followed completely flattened them. Some of them may stand (partly) back up, but they won't be putting on their best show this winter. 

I hear we have a big storm heading our way tomorrow. Yeah! I wonder where the snow shovels ended up last spring....

Have a great weekend, everybun. Weasley says curl up in the litterbox and stay warm and safe. And don't forget to enter our giveaway. Time's running out!

A Work In Progress

Its been so gray around here, what with the rain, and now the sleet and snow. I was feeling the need for a little color, so I've been working on this.

There are still a few small colorful details to add. I want to add a thread sketch to the "mirror" (the light yellow space), but I'm not sure how to make the image I want to use fit in the space. I'll probably draw out a few  versions on tracing paper, and audition them in that spot. While drinking hot tea, and eating freshly baked pear cake, and staying out of the snow. The cake smells divine. If I could, I'd send some your way....

Friday In The Garden

Not what you would expect, maybe?

Any signs of spring are hidden under about five inches of snow.

The only sun to be found in the garden today. At least it adds a bright spark of color. Not real warm, though.

Definitely not my favorite April Fool's Day surprise. (That would be my oldest brother.  He's probably not reading this, but just in case, Happy Birthday, Brother!) Here's hoping next Friday will bring us a little more color.

Dyeing For Fun

It's going to be another warm day here, temperatures possibly climbing into the 50's. Thought I'd take advantage of that and do some snow dyeing. It took a little while to find the sifter that I set things on, as it was buried under a snow drift. I guess I need to plan ahead better.

Anyway, it's all set up now, and the waiting starts. That's the hard part!

Want To See My Vegetable Garden?

Yeah, I'd like to see it, too.

It's under there, inside that fence. The top of the fence is about 3 feet high.

It's going to be a long time till I can get at the greens I started last fall.

The snow is still coming down, and now it's mixed with the sleet that was supposed to stay south of here. I'm so glad I don't have to be out on the road, and I hope that anyone who does go out is very careful. This is no time to be in a hurry. Stay safe, everyone! 

It's Doing It Again!

There's a road out there somewhere.

I'm trying to pretend this isn't happening, so I'm playing inside today. I decided to try the  flour-paste resist technique on this not very interesting piece of snow-dyed fabric. The funny part is, the fabric looks much better in the photo than in real life.

I added the flour paste, using a thinner layer than last time,  so that it would dry faster. I'm wondering if when the paint gets applied, it might seep through this thinner layer . I also scratched some arch shapes into it with a skewer.

  

While I wait for that to dry, the first thing that I will do (before going out to shovel) is sew a label onto this scrap quilt I have been making.

The white fabric is leftover strip piecing from a Christmas project, and the blue is an orphan piece of Year 2000 fabric picked up at a guild meeting. It was fussy cut to omit the "2000". The next picture shows the quilt set up on my table, ready  for pin basting.

I pinned on some tissue paper with the design for the center. Since I wanted a thread-sketched look, I sewed this once, then took the paper off, and went over it two more times.

An outer section of flames was free-handed, and the other areas were filled in with various spirals, echo quilting, and stippling.

I finished the binding, using the rest of the Year 2000 fabric a couple of days ago, and I will attach the label now. Not a bad use of leftovers. I'm going to call it "Winter Sun", in hopes that we might see some!