Wow, it turns out I'm not only posting last week's photos late  I didn't post the week before at all! So today you get a double entry - weeks eighteen and nineteen of 2010.

2010: Week 18


The first flowers of the year. I know this looks like a flower head sitting on the ground but I checked and it really was attached. After I took pictures of this one I saw them all along the causeway by the museum.


The window in our door.


These are some of my favourite pens at the moment. I especially like the teal.


A sure sign of summer - our power was out for about twenty minutes.


Abby and I found another sign of spring while out for a walk.


The marinade for a great shrimp dish from the current Martha Stewart Living: garlic, jalapeno and olive oil.


Rob spent the weekend working with his dad to bridge our side and back decks together. We can now get to the back of the house without having to walk down some stairs, across four feet of gravel and up more stairs. Barbequing is much easier (and doesn't necessarily involve shoes).

2010: Week 19


You saw this picture already but I liked it so much I decided to include it here too. These are my carrot barrels from last summer. Just before it snowed I was thinking about how long it would be until I'd be able to plant this year's carrots and hoping that it wouldn't be too much longer. Mother Nature has quite the sense of humour.


Tuesday was a much more springy day. The sight of sunshine on water - even when it is only around the edges of the lake - is very uplifting.


One of my pincushions. I love these flower head pins.


This is a muskrat in the lake near our house. It's only the second time I've seen one while walking Abby around the trail. I almost missed him but we'd stopped to look at the ducks near the ice.


My view - way too often.


Our squirrel feeder has been a busy place the last couple of weeks with several regular visitors.


My sister dropped by on Sunday afternoon to drop off the cookie tin* full of her special mint-chocolate chip cookies. They are so good - and especially cute with the coloured sprinkles.

*This tin has been passed back and forth between our households for the past few years. There is always something yummy inside when you drop it off.

I've had this entry from Sew Liberated sitting on my desktop all weekend because it makes me laugh. I know I've read that quote before but at the moment I can't remember where. I've felt a general lack of crafty energy this weekend. I don't know why; it just wasn't there. I'd think of something I  thought I should work on and walk over to where it was and look at it and walk away again. My biggest crafty accomplishment of the weekend was sewing down about ten inches of placket on my blouse.

Rob spent the weekend working with his dad to rearrange our decks and I think I just wanted to be more involved with the house. I got groceries, ran errands, cooked dinner and raked the lawn so it's not as though I didn't do stuff - it's just that it wasn't crafty stuff.

Now it's the end of the weekend and I feel the need to be more crafty but can't decide what to do with the limited amount of time I've got left: The rest of my blouse hem? Scrapbook the pictures that have been on my desk since Tuesday? Swatch my sock yarn? Sit down with my spinning wheel?

What crafty things are you guys up to? Or what do you wish you could be doing?

Abby and I just got back from our walk. I wish I'd taken my camera with me. We were kind of late heading out and the path around the lake had that nice quiet feel to it - except it wasn't quiet ... I could hear all sorts of springtime birds chatting back and forth between the trees. A sure sign that summer is on the way. I even saw a pair of mallards on the edge of the lake ice near the weeds.

In lieu of pictures of our walk here are my pictures from last week.



An old building in our downtown was pulled down on the weekend. The huge machines always remind me of dinosaurs. This one seemed to be looking for a bit of lunch.


It was so warm on Tuesday I changed into my summer jacket at lunch time. By the end of the day I was carrying it instead. We reached 18 or 20 degrees Celsius! Very warm weather for April here.


I love this little teapot. It's the everyday pot for the two of us and is used just about everyday for breakfast or afternoon or evening tea. I've had it since I moved out; it was one of those items a relative was willing to part with to help me set up (in this case I think it was my Aunt Marg). It says Nabob on the other side which always makes me laugh because I only ever associate Nabob with coffee.


My sunflowers have their first set of true leaves and it was time to thin them. I'm amazed these things grew from those little seeds I planted only a few weeks ago. I'd never really imagined they'd have so much root.


Happiness is having your chin scratched.


A new batch of granola was made on Saturday night, all ready for Sunday morning. I know that I could add anything I wanted to this granola but I love the mini chocolate chips. They make my breakfast fun and whimsical (and not too sweet).


It felt like it should have rained on Sunday. It didn't but we were chilly and had hot cocoa anyway. Mine came our of the microwave with a perfect swirl on top. I had to fit my mug in among the scrapbooking supplies taking over my desk. I've finally got the first page of 2003 stuff into my book ... only three to go.