19 April, 2022

Spring Things

We've had some glorious spring days; those days when one longs to be outside potting up pretty plants and flowers. We made our annual pilgrimage down east to our favorite nursery last week and brought home a carload of lush loveliness for that very purpose.
The weather cooperated and I accomplished much but, alas, I'll be covering everything up tonight as the temps are dipping dangerously close to freezing one more time! I'm always a bit over-eager. 😉
A few weeks back Lynnleigh helped me to gather up a big bag full of sticky balls from the Sweetgum trees. I had heard that they're a great chipmunk deterrent.
I've been told that a layer of these, just below the surface of the potting soil, in flower pots will cause the chipmunks to leave to potted flowers alone as their little paws are repelled by the spiky thorns. I was ready to try anything as they made such a mess last summer digging into everything that they could!
We'll see! 
Time will tell; the flower pots are all sufficiently "armed" with a layer of sticky balls now. Take that!
I had a sewing room visitor for a week or so. Buddy is our daughter's dog, he loves to hang out with me in the studio. It reminds me so much of how Hannes used to do this years ago when he could jump up. Hannes is doing fine, but at seventeen and 3/4 yrs. he spends his days sleeping in his cozy little bed on the floor in the family room; he's pretty much oblivious to what's going on in the rest of the house now.
Buddy enjoying the view on the way back to meet his family after his stay with us. 
What sounded like someone hammering in the back yard 
the other day turned out to be a Pileated Woodpecker. 
I have been keeping up with my block-of-the-month assignments. There's been plenty of activity in the sewing room but none that I can report on as a good deal of it has been customer quilts and secret sewing. The secret sewing is super-exciting;  you'll simply have to take my word for that right now!
We had a glorious Easter Sunday in every way. Our church service was beautiful, the lilies were lovely, the music was joyful and the pews were full! These three, plus our son, (who was doing dishes when this was taken!) joined us for Easter dinner on the porch in the afternoon. We had ham, potatoes romanoff, scalloped corn, broccoli salad, strawberry pretzel salad and deviled eggs for dinner with cupcakes for dessert; something for everyone! Mary from Country Threads had mentioned what she was having for Easter dinner and her readers all chimed in with their menus, I just loved that! How about you, what was on your Easter table this year?
The cupcakes in all their Easter finery. No, I didn't make them, Maddie did! 
Is it looking like spring yet where you are?

Life is Good!

7 comments:

Paula, the quilter said...

My family gathered here at my house. It was loud and boisterous with 3 children 6, 4, and 17 months. The kids had an egg hunt in the yard and this year found them all! For dinner we had ham, mashed potatoes, green salad, rolls and deviled eggs. There was apple and cherry pie for desert. I’m so glad they moved closer to us!

Janet O. said...

In my neck of the woods it is way too early to be planting. We are always told to wait until at least Mother's Day around here.
That is a fascinating deterrent to the squirrels. I'll be curious to know how it works for you.
Sounds like you had a lovely Easter.
Family gathered at our house for dinner. We had a very non-traditional meal. So many different food allergies and preferences in our family. There was a dairy-free bacon/egg/potato casserole, and we had waffles--regular and gluten free/vegan varieties. We had several toppings to choose from: butter, whipped cream, whipped coconut cream, strawberries, maple syrup, raspberry jam. And we served a couple of juice options. People could pick and choose what worked for them, and no one went hungry. :)

Dotti in CT said...

We had a very cool temp for Easter. Menu, Salmon, grilled sirloin tips, crunchies potato, strawberry salad, asparagus, roasted carrots and eggplant. Dessert seemed to takeover. Carrot cake, chocholate cream pie, almond tart, three berry pie with gluten free crust, I forgot the lemon meringue pie. Needless to say calories were not counted.

We had a beautiful church service. Lovely sermon of Expectations. I am willing to try the gumtree detergent. The chippies and their tunneling are a danger to my ankles.

We bought some African daisies today. Cannot plant till after full moon in May, but had to purchase them before they disappear. Pansies are only thing plantable at this time. Their cheery faces are bright spot on these gray rainy days. Dotti in zcT

Dee W said...

Son and his girlfriend made dinner at her mom's house, since her mom is in a wheelchair. They invited me and their kids, we were 9 of us. After dinner, the others headed to the kitchen to do dishes, her mom and I visited. The wheelchair is new, we talked about some of the tricks my girlfriend found to help her husband in his chair. She at first felt bad about not helping with dishes, but I told her we needed to visit as we don't see each other often. The kids made lamb and dressing, cheesy potatoes, green beans, salad and gluten-free cheesecake. Nice day.

cityquilter grace said...

yes it is spring here also...altho temps a bit cold for outside enjoyment....easter sunday was home by myself so cooked up a small batch of spaghetti sauce and that was my dinner...but on palm sunday was visiting my family in maine and we had a roast lamb dinner all together...

Tracy said...

Spring shows up and then goes away it was in the 70's last week and then we had some snowflakes on Monday! No planting here yet - after Mother's day it's usually safe. For Easter dinner we had ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, corn, and daughter in law's stuffing (it is so good it shows up at all holiday meals!) and for dessert we had lemon squares and coconut cream pie. The big kids(adult kids son/dil and daughter/sil) had their egg hunt - my husband loves hiding 3 large eggs for each of the kids! Then for the only grandchild - 18 months - we had some eggs in the yard for him to pick up. Our day did start at church - it was so glorious to be back at church, inside for the Easter service. Slowly getting back to normal.

Tanya said...

Hi Buddy! You look very fine on the pretty quilt though your grandmom is going to have to figure out how to make the doxie quilt into a beagle quilt for you someday. I'm glad to hear that Hannes is hanging in there!