Home Scenes

Here's a glimpse into the last few months, minus all of the used tissues and cough drop wrappers. The weather is pretending it is summer and the plants have been reacting accordingly, although the temperature is supposed to drop about 30 degrees overnight tonight, with a high of 90 and sun today and 61 and rain tomorrow. Back to Portland spring tomorrow. My garden will love the water and milder temps, as will I. We've been enjoying the weather, though, with grilled dinners outside, kids running through the sprinkler, local strawberries (atop shortcake of course!), a yard full of flowers and lots and lots of seed sowing and transplanting in the garden.

I started that sweet mitten and bonnet set for Gianna's school auction and learned some lessons. First, maybe don't pick something with a new type of stitch that can't be found on youtube and is easily forgotten. Second, don't get a cold with only a few weeks left to finish it. Yeah, so the auction is tomorrow night and it is still only half knit. When I did feel good enough to work on it, I couldn't remember how to make that cute bubble stitch work! Fortunately I have a back up finished project and now I have a whole year to finish this for next year.

I have two rolls of Swedish wallpaper that I am hoping to get on the wall this weekend, plus maybe some strawberry picking, and the school auction tomorrow evening. It will be the kids first time doing bedtime with a babysitter. Fingers crossed for success!

morning in our new backyard

The kids and I stopped by the new house this morning so I could take some measurements for new curtains. I'm thinking of making roman shades for the bedrooms, and I'll need to make them soon before I pack up all of my sewing supplies. They enjoyed running around while screaming and listening to the deafening echo in the empty space. As soon as the last measurement was taken they burst out the back door into the yard. The house is on .26 acres which means there's a lot of yard to explore.

While they gathered hazelnuts and sorted rocks I started taking inventory of the flora there. There are at least four ornamental cherry trees and three magnolias. It is going to be so gorgeous in the spring! The honeysuckle is so sweet smelling and the wild blackberries are delicious. There are too many oak trees to count and at least two hazelnut trees. I foresee many nut-based craft projects in the future. There are also rhododendrons, camellias, lilacs, roses, ivy, nightshade, morning glory, mint, and lots and lots of dandelions.

We are pretty sure that the previous owners were hippies. They had a large teepee in the backyard. No, they didn't leave it, just a huge patch of gravel where it stood with a fire pit in the center. There was also a cow skull up in a tree and some mandala-based art. They also left the woven dome structure that is getting covered with morning glory. I like it, despite it feeling a bit Blair Witch Project to me.

The playhouse is such a wonderful bonus to our new home. In a couple of months I won't need to worry about them falling off the ladder and it will provide lots and lots of fun. It will be great for sleepovers when they're older, a guest house if we have an adventurous guest, or even an art studio. So many possibilities!