Mirado Black Warrior!

Find a pencil, pick it up. All that day you'll have good luck!







Good luck, plus a free pencil!

Let's go fly a kite!

Yep, we took Greg's stunt kite to the park.

It went up:



Wheeeee!



Then it came down:



Bonk. In the mud.

We kept trying for a while, but there just wasn't quite enough wind.

One day...

...I will get a real tam o'shanter.

Until then I will make do with this jobbie:



Sometimes H&M gets it right!

Plunger friend

How do you like this dude?



He lives on the wall in the kitchen. Greg's friend Seth made him.

I love his little teeth. Seth also made this, from an old foam buoy:





Nice.

Saturday birds in the sun!

Caught in mid-air!



Chowing down:



Then this fellow came along:



Party's over!

Saturday snack

Yum. Yummy yum.

Saturday birds

Lineup for the bird feeder:






















It reminds me of airplanes stacked up, waiting to land.

House finch gettin' a sunflower seed:



I like those little guys and gals.

Hmmmm.

Sorry, this is the worst photograph ever (I need a scanner!), but check out this advertisement:






















Ummm, if this were a real museum you would need a magnifying glass to read that label even if you were standing right in front of it.





















Just saying.

Oh no!

At one time we had eight pounds (8 x 454 g) of Quebec butter in our freezer. Now we have only one.



We visited Montreal in November, and on the way to the airport to come back to New York Greg popped into a dépanneur and filled a bag with butter.

It really is delicious butter. Good call, Greg! (I was skeptical.)

Now we need to get some more.

Booties

Aren't these the greatest?



I bought them at Value Village in Toronto.

I can't wait to see them on baby feet. Right now one of them adorns the window and the other one chills in the living room.

Another little cub

This little cub has some problems.



Ain't got no ears, arms, or tail. And one of his legs is kinda wizened. Nice pink bow tho!

Done!

My blanket is finished! My first crochet project!!



We slept under it last night.

Big Ben

Check this out! Charles's grandfather had the same clock as my grandfather, and now it belongs to Charles.



The same except Charles's clock is a Big Ben; mine is a Baby Ben.

Cool.

Ebay dot com

I received a little package in the mail yesterday. And in it, these little items:



Hee hee!



Very similar!



And yes, there is a mini bread bun in the desk!



Oh lord. Where will it end?

Secretary chair

This "classic office chair of the 1950s" is very similar to the one I found.



















I need to go to this store.

"It's a rose, made out of paper"

So this is the dining-room window again:























We have a new paper garland!






















Isn't it pretty? I love the printed paper. I am going to get another one for the other side of the window: $2.99 at Pearl River Mart.

Oh, this is new too:



I have had the bootie for a long time (there is another one somewhere), but that piece of wood was inside the wine box I found the other day.

UPDATE: OMG the bootie reminds me that last night I dreamed I was pregnant - I was getting an ultrasound and I saw the baby's face smiling at me! And then Batman showed up and there were helicopters...and it got confusing.

Scallops

I renewed my resolution to take my coffee jar to Starbucks every day, and I made this jar cozy to keep my coffee warm on the trip back to the office:



Scalloped edges!

Bottom:




I am finishing up my blanket. Yep, scalloped edges!



So excited.

The days are getting longer

But keep in mind what was common knowledge during Almanzo Wilder's childhood: As the days begin to lengthen, the cold begins to strengthen.

BREAD

So I found this tin on top of a trashcan a while ago and brought it home:



Yes, it was kind of filthy, but I hosed it down in the sink. I knew I needed to repot some plants, and I thought it could come in handy. For a while I used it for my small bits of yarn, then yesterday I finally bought some potting soil.

Check this out:



Perfect!

And on the way home yesterday with the potting soil I found a wood wine box...



...which is perfect for my yarn!



That worked out nicely.

Scripts redux

These are the new Scripts sneakers Greg purchased. See, they have a big 3:16 on the side and "Scripts" on the tongue—not so great.





He got busy in his little shoe-repair shop:



Now check em out. Like it sorta never existed!







Amen.

Mary Heilmann, Mary Heilmann,

can I please have one of your chairs?







I wheeled around in one here and here.

Me want.

Neologism by Greg

"Faux-bo."

Baby Ben

This was my grandfather's alarm clock.





His last name on the bottom: