As big as my head...

Although Joe disputes this. He thinks that because my head is taller, my head is bigger, but the ball is wider by far than my head, and I think that in matters round, width is the more salient characteristic.

This is an unknown, unlabeled wool that came to me through my mom. It was a huge skein, and I spent about an hour and a half yesterday winding it into this ball. It's going to be some sort of cabled cardigan for me. I was thinking traditional Aran, but now I'm thinking some kind of all-over cable design. Suggestions for patterns are welcome.

And in house news, Joe finished scraping the old
shellac off the landing last weekend, and I put the new shellac on. Very exciting stuff. We have had a piece of cardboard protecting the naked wood there as he meticulously scraped and scraped and scraped, every weekend, for months, and then I got to do the fun part and put the finish on. It looks good, if perhaps a little too bright and orangey, so maybe we'll put a little color on it eventually. It also seems possible that it will fade and darken with time.

Still lots to do in this area: paint on the walls, stringers, and risers. Significant prep and sanding still required, mostly on the stringers. We removed the old paint with a heat gun, and it took off paint in layers in all kinds of places where we would have rather kept the paint. Thick old paint, so I really need to spend some quality time with a sanding block to get it smoothed out enough to paint.

Other house projects: We have a couch in our living room that is extremely comfortable, but extremely ugly, so it has been begging me for a slipcover. I've gotten as far as choosing the fabric from my stash and bringing my sewing machine downstairs, but I've been stalled at that stage for about three weeks.

An exciting house project: moving bedrooms around. Little One has been in a tiny bedroom without a closet for about two years, ever since he stopped sleeping in our bed. We want him to have the bedroom we've been using, and we plan to move into the largest bedroom, which we've been using as an office and for book storage. Little one's current bedroom will become my office and sewing room. We are incrementally working our way toward this goal. Most of the books are in their new storage place (eventually to be housed in bookshelves downstairs that are waiting to be built) and most of the sewing machines have moved onto a shelf in their new home.

And then there are the usual house projects: front porch, back porch, bathroom tile, touch up exterior paint, repaint and putty windows, repoint chimney. Does everyone experience their houses this way? As a continuing string of never-ending projects? It's a lot like teaching school, and I'm wondering about that. Could it be that I seek out situations that are huge projects with many details that never end? Or is this what life is like for everyone? Maybe our next house will have vinyl siding, replacement windows, a fiberglass shower insert, and a tin roof. Would we still have lots of house projects? Probably.... maybe our next house will be a condominium. Sigh. That seems unlikely.

I'll leave you with a photo of Little One and me doing yard work in January. A few weeks ago, we had a fabulous thaw, with temperatures in the 60s for several days. It was glorious. We were outside every day and really enjoyed ourselves. It was good to get a respite. We're now back to our usual January weather.

Little One loves all kinds of gardening projects, and will follow me around outside for hours. Big One couldn't care less. I guess it just seems likes work to him.

okay, we're back

We have had some very eventful months at the Deluxe house, and we both want to get back to blogging. My small private independent school closed at the end of September, and the boys and I have become homeschoolers. Joe got a new job which he loves, but which requires him to show up every day, can you imagine? So among my many other projects, I now have to make dinner, not an easy thing for me after so many years of dinners made for me.

Knitting is happening, mostly socks.

House projects are happening too, slowly.

Photos to come....

The last gardening day for a while

We're leaving for a two-week trip to Hawaii in five days. I've been working outside quite a bit. We got lots of gardening done today, a little knitting as well. The gardens are growing right along.
This is the vegetable garden. Corn, beans, and squash in the foreground, various salad greens in the background.
Here's the herb garden, to the left of the vegetable garden.
Rhubarb, parsley, strawberries, and a glimpse of the dahlia and black-eyed susan.

A better view of the dahlias and black-eyed Susans.
The petunias, now in full bloom.
Here's how the front looks. Think of it as a work in progress. The yarrow will stand up in time, the butterfly bush will multiply, the monarda and the liatrus will bloom.
Here's the front on the other side of the stairs. The monarda is really blooming over here, and the California poppies are just starting.
The hostas, newly mulched.
The shade garden. We have this lovely bed, next to the garage. It is very shady, very very shady, because of a giant Norway maple at the very back of the backyard. We used to try to grow flowers and vegetables here, before we took a look around and figured out what the real deal is back here. This looks magical to me.
Here's a closer view.
And here are close-ups of some plants that are flowering, mostly in the full-sun front.


If anyone knows what this last little flower is, I'd love to hear. It was a volunteer in our garden this year, and I'd like to encourage it.