from spring to winter

The day began beautifully - the morning walk with Rigby was so warm and pleasant that I was tempted to take my coat off. But the dog treats were in there, so that wouldn’t be a good idea. I did remember to take my camera (finally) and can share these tantalizing spring-weather photos with you. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

I quickly decided that we were going to the zoo, despite the continuing forecast for truly awful weather. Scrambled some eggs for the kids while eating leftover ravioli myself, fed Arden, fed and cleaned all the animals, and packed bag lunches for all of us. I tucked Arden back into bed with Niek (who is improving, but isn’t better yet) and we were underway! Rowen and Nicky were insisting they’d never been to the zoo before, but I think they were just confused because I was using the English word zoo and they are more accustomed to the Dutch word dierentuin. We arrived - to find approximately half the inhabitants of of South Holland! What a line! But it was well worth it, even though the weather had already changed from spring back to winter … brrr!! The wind found every gap in my clothing, I swear. Luckily, the zoo is designed with a lot of indoor attractions, too, although they were the most crowded. As long as it isn’t raining, I try not to complain about the weather. That’s my deal with Mother Nature since moving here.

Rather than continuing to ramble on, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. We really did have a great time.

Tomorrow is a family gathering for Niek’s father’s birthday. The kids are pretty excited and they’ve all made drawings for him. I have to admit that I’m clueless each and every year as to what to get him for a gift, and Niek’s no help. I picked him up a box of special Belgian chocolates. When in doubt, get something you yourself would like. LOL!

And to close on a high note, look at our wee man now! Is that just the cutest baby you ever did see?

PS: I cannot say how relieved I am to read your comments and see that not only am I not the only person who dislikes ironing, but also not the only person who simply does not do it! That was a guilty secret I’ve been hiding for ages!

forest fun

Please pop over to my new page ‘help me with my holiday’ and cast a vote to send me on my way next month. We have a long weekend and want to take off with the kids, but … to where?? Thanks!! 

 Took a family afternoon outing today in the Reeuwijkse Bos - a little forested area with walking paths where dogs are allowed to go loose. Rigby was very good and had a lot of fun and really, we can’t blame him for testing the water. He only went in a tiny bit. But afterward, when Nicky threw his stick into the water, Rigby dived all the way in. He has an interesting organic odor now. The kids had as much fun as the dog, which is really saying something. After, we tried to go in the pancake restaurant nearby, but they wouldn’t allow dogs. To fellow Americans, that might not sound strange, but over here in Holland, dogs are usually allowed in family-style restaurants. So we headed back to the car and got our refreshments at a nearby McDonalds. To both the kids and Rigby, that spells p-a-r-t-y!

We continued our lazy Sunday afternoon by taking a drive past a future development site, where Niek and I wrote in on one of the four houses being built. What a disappointment! But it’s good that we know now, rather than later. We finished up our fun by dropping by Niek’s parents’ house. While we were there, we noticed that Rowen was looking a little peaky, but it had been a long day and we didn’t think too much about it.

After a delicious dinner by my chef-husband, we dumped all the two-legged critters in the tub for a cleanup … and discovered lots of little red dots popping up all over Rowen’s cute little body. For good measure, there were a few on Nicky’s sturdy little frame, too. Yep, chicken pox! Guess who is not going to work tomorrow. Guess whose manager is going to have 32 kinds of conniption fits and turn blue. We have a release going out the door this Friday and, as usual, the planning was … ahem, rather lacking … and about 90% of the work was left till the last week.  Ah, well, life will go on. If I can stay home with two kids who have chicken pox, the Pointy-Haired Boss can deal with some missing documentation. (Oh boy, I sure hope no one at work has this URL!)

In between internships, studying, and having family fun, I managed to finish-finish my SBEBB exchange and make a very decent start on another one. Good thing, since I sort of signed up for a bit more than I should’ve. I’ll mail it tomorrow and post pictures here as soon as I can.

Here’s the last pre-chicken pox picture of Nicky and Rowen, taken this afternoon during our walk.

redwork received

Natty received the redwork pillow that I made for her, so I can show a picture in my blog. Yay! I was ridiculously pleased with how this came out. I knew how I wanted it to look, but not how to achieve that effect … can you tell that I know nothing about sewing? LOL! Anyway, my persistence eventually paid off and I am happy with the result. I stitched this freebie on 40 count Northern linen using one of Vikki Clayton’s premium silks (part of a grab bag from her, so I don’t know the name of the color). The fabric is a piece I picked up awhile ago because I couldn’t resist those rich, deep colors. (Who’s a packrat? Or would it be a magpie?) (Clickable picture.)

I also sent Natty’s pay-it-forward gift in the same envelope. This is the hermit card, here represented by the staff and lantern the hermit carries. Among other meanings, this card “is ready to provide us instant direction and truth. We have but to go within… to ask for healing, guidance or forgiveness. For all who seek, loving support and enrichment…” Knowing a bit of what Natty’s been going through lately, I thought it suited her situation remarkably well. And conveys my hope that she will emerge stronger, wiser, and feeling loved. This pattern, and those for the other Tarot cards, can be found here. (Also clickable.) Another pay-it-forward giftie started its long trip today.

In other stitching news, I have nothing to show. Last night, my sinuses decided to flare up again and I just sat there with a headache, trying to motivate myself to at least go to bed. Today I started something, but when I picked the boys up for lunch it turned out that Max was too ill to go back to school and I’ve been a nurse-mommy this afternoon. Seems like everyone is sick! On a brighter note, have you seen Tanya’s latest in her Jane Austen series? It’s in this month’s edition of The Gift of Stitching and it is gorgeous!!

How is it possible that today is March first?? Can someone please explain where all the days have gone since January, because I really can’t believe it’s later than January. Today was Jenna’s grand opening. Go, Jenna! Of course I had to order something! I was happy to see the LHN-Crescent Colours ‘Blueberries’ threadpack. It will go very well with my Maine wall - the part of Maine I’m from is famous for blueberries. Or infamous, if you had to earn money toward your school clothes by raking the darn things every summer! LOL! I also chose some nice fibers to supplement upcoming exchanges.

Did March come in like a lion or a lamb in your corner of the world? Here, it was sunny in fits, but incredibly windy and surprsingly cold. Not really a day to linger outside for long, though the walks with Rigby were fun and invigorating. He gets all excited when it’s windy and acts quite silly. He’s such a cutie. (Beautiful graphic from here.)

Tomorrow morning, my Mom and Aunt Hattie are heading off - regardless of the weather warnings - to see another surgeon who will hopefully be able to help her. Mom reports that Aunt Hattie’s depression has worsened steadily over the past weeks. I hope they’ll hear good news tomorrow - and that the weather won’t prevent them from travelling the nearly 3 hours in each direction.

trying to stitch and stay warm

… but not having too much success with either!

Rowen’s decided to take up permanent residence on my lap now that her lifelong playmate has abandoned her for the halls of higher learning. LOL. Nah, really, Rowen is doing quite well at adjusting to Nicky’s absence, but she is much more possessive of me. Which means I get very little time without her on my lap or hanging off my leg. Both are difficult stitching positions, as you can see.

And I’m so glad that the acupuncture treatments have helped with the painfully cold fingers and toes I’ve suffered from for the past year or so, because the weather outside truly is frightful. It’s not terribly cold, but the wind and rain make me feel cold through & through. I’m also thankful that my father bought me a daylight lamp, because as you can see, our surroundings are anything but gay & bright. The town is redoing all the roads, paths, and common areas in our  neighborhood and it currently looks like someone blew up a dump truck or something. Yuck.

 Despite the cold and my ‘Rowen extension’ I have managed to get something done on Su’s NRR (mine’s the upper left corner). I had hoped to post it today, but it will go out tomorrow. I have a bit more to finish up where it approaches Carol’s block, but  not too much. This is a house from The Village of Hawk Run Hollow by my heroine, Kathy Barrick-Dieter,  with only a bit of modification to the right side to prevent it from seeming far too large beside Carol’s sweet little PS block. I’ve jokingly told Niek that it’s the perfect house for our large family to move into.

Rigby doesn’t like our weather either, and has adopted a decidedly hangdog look. He misses his long, frequent walks. But neither of us really likes getting wet and muddy, so we’ll just have to keep making do the best we can.

To cheer myself up, I just had to indulge in the Examplars From The Heart Needle Charmer chart and silks being offered by Vikki at Hand Dyed Fibers. I’ve been drooling over this since I first saw it and it is a limited edition and … well, my finger just hit that Confirm button without even listening to my brain.

 Dianne, to answer your question, yes all my old Blogger photos seem to have very suddenly disappeared. Grrr.

sometimes life is just dogwalks and flowers

I’ve enjoyed the rare pleasure of feeling simply good today. Just wanted to share that with everyone. It feels good to feel good!  

Today I could finally return to dog-walking at the local shelter - I’m amazed at how much I missed it while my foot was healing up! We have a new cast of canines with the exception of dear old Lobbes, a mongrel with some German shepherd in there somewhere. Normally I don’t like GS dogs - I go out of my way to avoid them - but Lobbes is sweet old fellow who deserves better than life behind bars so we took an extra long walk to enjoy the wind blowing wildly and all the smells it carries from places far away. To my shock, I saw crocuses pushing their way up along the wooded pathways. “Get back down!” I wanted to tell them. “It’s only January!” The weather is just so weird. I sound like a granny, I know, talking about the weather … for all the times I rolled my eyes when my elders launched into a discussion of the weather, I must apologize. It really is an interesting topic! Our neighborhood has rosebushes with roses in full bloom, for heaven’s sake. Anyway, I’ve wandered off the subject. Lobbes and I enjoyed a wonderful, meandering walk through the woods. Because we didn’t have many dogs today, they all got some much-needed special attention. It was great to be back.

Today was wildly busy - I’ll spare you those boring details and just say that this is really my first moment of the day that I’ve been able to just relax - so no stitching has been done. But I have made progress on Su’s NRR and I’m hopeful about getting it out on time. Niek likes it, and his commentary has been greatly appreciated.

 Max has a volleyball game tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed that they all have fun!