Small Bundles and Large near-Finishes...

Hi, welcome to March !~! While still trying to figure out where January went, February scampers off into the Pacific, chuckling as she goes.

Good things have found their way into my life this month:

Thumb

Physical Therapy for my cranky-thumb helps a bit but the drive to get to it is onerous. Chris, my therapist, has great hands and does lovely massage but the bottom line seems to be that if I don't do the exercises regularly then the inflammation will just return for another stay. Dang it all !~! I wanna be lazy and still have a perfectly functioning body--who has the secret to that wish ?~!

insert pic of thumb here... Right !~! there is no picture of the thumb cuz no one but me can see the owie-ness of it. Trust me--it hurts and it makes my forearm hurt too. Oh well, what next !~!

Wyatt

Ah yes, Wyatt arrived in all his three-month old splendor. I have waited a long time for this little gem to come to me and here he is. In my lap most of the day, we chat back and forth, neither understanding much but Hey, isn't that just like real life too ?~! He eats and coos and poos and burps (we call him Wyatt Burp for fun and entertainment) then grins and promptly falls asleep again. What a hoot, his head control has stabilized (thankfully-bobble heads are cute in the back window of the car-not so much in your arms) and he wants to be looking into my eyes all the time. So rewarding this vocation. It truly is a calling and I cannot ignore it. Time after time thruout my life I have tried other professions and I always come back to babies. The younger, the better.

Is there anything anywhere more beautiful than a peacefully content sleeping baby with a full belly and a heart bursting with love ? ... I thought not.

Oh my, surrounded by homemade goodness, the young lad naps. Belly full and burped, diaper clean, body swaddled and tucked between my two favorite quilts.
It's all good, isn't it !~!

Quilting

In the picture above, two of my creations appear. To the left is Denim and Batik which I finished a month or so back with a gorgeous gray linen back. The batting I forewent-my home is usually pretty warm and so I need lap throws that aren't too thick. This weight turned out to be Perfect. Washable, it will soften as time passes. I love it; the green batik is African and elephants are the main motif as well as my favorite animals; the denim recycled from a thrifted denim skirt that I cut up and reused here. To the right of Wyatt is Diamonds in the Corners which I am tying instead of quilting. Almost done, I spend a lot of time figuring out how to do the edges. The batting-two of my velour blankets sewn together-are barely big enough to fill out the flimsy. I suspect that the border will have to interact with the flannel backing in a way as yet undetermined and still undiscovered. Ah well, the joys of being my own designer show themselves.

I am also working on Squares and Stripes and getting it quilted by machine. Not going very quickly but that's ok. Time and I have a deal; whether she will hold up her end of it I have no guarantees but I promise from where I sit.

Gardening

Ormond bought tomato plants today and we have tilled the soil in the garden plot behind our home. I love it; our most industrious neighbors are planting fava, corn, tomatoes, squash, peas and lemon cukes. One has even dropped in a few parsley starts-we'll see if they get watered; our rainy season appears to have ended early again this winter. Let's see if I can find some pics from last year's gardens...

Toms, lemon cukes, bells, zook
in one of the raised beds.

Same bed to far left, then just to left of front and center
are the blooming Field Irises we planted after Teri died in her memory.
Planted in the right side box is the plastic car the Littles pedal around our courtyard.

Innate Emotions

Love demonstrates its instinctual drives:

Sans coaching, Ginger loves Chester.
Dropping her pink beads in the moment,
she slides next to him 'neath the dappled sun
 wrapping the little guy with love's warm embrace.