of course, i hear that in montypythonese in my head.

we made it back from san diego, i think half the plane was our luggage. conversely, without the kid we could have traveled with a toothbrush and one change of clothes for the week... oh well. monkeybaby is superfantastic and while not great on planes, worth the bother in general :)

so. something which is not baby or knitting related: yesterday i was at the store and they had a cute little selection of hens and chicks plants for sale outside. of course, growing up in california succulents were nearly as common as dirt and i never much thought about them. but at my dear friend grace's place on the beach, she has many little containers of pretty plants (and some big containers of pretty plants) that i have a bit of an ache for since the cats decided years ago that i wasn't allowed house plants. so, probably holding off on the orchids and such for now, but i figured i could try for a pretty little plant for the kitchen window and hope that luna the maine coon won't notice it.

i had to look up hens and chicks. apparently there are many varieties, and they are so pretty. if you go here you can see the beautiful people planting some. as a side note, it does make me happy that the nice young hipsters are doing the green thing. i only say that in that way because in my head i am that girl. in reality, well, i'm not in my 20s and my back hurts.

i really love having plants, and now that it's spring, i'm itchy to surround myself in greenery. there is still so much to be done in the garden, but one step at a time. oh, and the climbing moonbeam hydrangea has put out it's spring leaves. everything is starting.

i think if you live where it's sunny all the time you don't appreciate these moments of new growth. you may take that as a larger philosophical statement as well.

Posted by talkingcrow at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

eating a cool car in a cool sweater. on birthday uno. in san diego.

travel is harder on baby j this time around, and he's taken several days to adjust. but he's finally sleeping ok in a strange bed, although truly unhappy in a car seat for any length of time.

he is my joy, the center of my world, and a very entertaining boy. unfortunately with my temper and not his dad's but an incredible tiny human. winning hearts wherever he goes.

once again, it was a great day, happy birthday (hope you enjoyed that cupcake, you won't be seeing sugar like that again any time soon), i love you like a wildfire little boy.

Posted by talkingcrow at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

it's been the greatest year ever. i'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Posted by talkingcrow at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Crazy is everywhere.

While we were at the thrift store, someone pooped in one of the changing rooms.

There are blooms on the climbing hydrangea.

Today while sitting quietly while himself was napping there was a sudden burst of weird noise, nearly making me jump out of my skin. I had forgotten that about a week ago I heard our crazy harbinger of spring on someone elses roof. A few days ago we got new chimney caps, which are metal, which apparently was just a big welcome back sign. Today the crazy flicker (not Flickr) (which is a bird, which is like a woodpecker) (or the woodpecker) found our chimney caps. Usually every spring he finds the bathroom vent and the noise isn't too bad. On the chimney caps it was more like a burst of a jackhammer. Apparently spring means do your pecking thing on metal so your head rings.

I have completed a baby sweater in less than a week. A regular sweater. And I found that I actually like sewing up knitting if the stitches are clear - 'cause I learned how to do it properly. I still hate weaving in ends. I suspect that when I learn to weave in ends properly I'll like that ok too.

Posted by talkingcrow at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

ok, just a couple of things in my head right now. and i want to knit for 5 minutes, so here they are:

a) my niece wants to learn to knit. i can't tell you how excited i am about that. she is partly named after me, and while that does mean that she has some definite temper tantrums, she's the crafty kid. it rocks. so, of course, my sister in law mentiions this and before we're off the phone, i'm off to the store to buy goodies for junior knitter. there's a knitting bag for her now, with her name on it, and a princess crown, and inside are all levels of yarny goodness. we'll make it work. i couldn't be more excited.

b) i love fabric, i love the finished product of fabric, but i can't say i'm enthralled with the process of sewing. i love quilts mostly, but most amy butler stuff, bags, you know. i just don't care about the actual making of them. which is silly because i've got a bit of a fabric stash. and bought a cheap (but very functional) sewing machine awhile back. i just keep looking at the fabric and the sewing machine and wanting to say "could you all just get together without me and let me know when my cute little linen totebag is done"?

yep, gotta run. only allowing the kid a power nap. mr man is on the way home from work, and i'm gonna get this tiny sweater done asap if i have to stay up all night! (ok, that might be a lie)

Posted by talkingcrow at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)