Delay in springtime

Just a few days ago the temperature was in the 60's. Not today. Although it is just above freezing, last night was quite a treat. Marc & I decided to drive to Janesville and then Madison (lots of stamp shops there, you know) and I guess we stayed a bit too late. We stopped at our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner on the way back and then it started snowing/raining/freezing raining... what a mixed bag of yuck! I took this picture of the front of my car when we got back and you can see the ice covering the headlights. Thank goodness it's a Subaru! Regardless, we had a good time getting out and about and we took our Papillon, Jac, with us. I can't wait until the earth warms up and we can start our garden. I signed up for our CSA program again. This is the 4th year we will have participated. If you've not heard of a CSA program, I would suggest you check it out in your area. It is Community Sponsored Agriculture, where the middle man is cut out and you get your produce directly from the farmer. In our case, the CSA produce is also organically grown. Yummy!


Peace,
-Roberta

funny thing

today was a busy day. dog day afternoon happens every eight weeks. i take the dogs to the groomer and run errands between the time i drop them off and pick them up two hours later. the upside is that i get to pick up really clean handsome dogs! the downside is i spend all afternoon in my car. i had to go pick up our csa delivery today. we get a huge box of fresh organic veggies every two weeks direct from the farmer. i just love it. you just can't believe how fresh they are unless you get your food this way OR you grow it yourself. speaking of growing your own, if you remember a few weeks back when i was on my VICTORY GARDEN soapbox, my garden is growing quite well, thank you. i've got baby pumpkins right now, some baby cucumbers, and the tomatoes are finally going gang busters. they are ripe yet, but when they are i will have a bumper crop! plus i have one pepper just about ready to harvest.

you are probably wondering why i have two photos of cows here today. these photos were actually taken two weekends ago in musoda (pronounced "musk-oh-day"), wisconsin. we were driving back to the b&b from my art workshop at valley ridge art studio and just down the road from there the sky was so beautiful, i asked marc to pull over so i could take a photo. i hadn't noticed the cows outright, until i was outside the car along side the road taking photos of the beautiful sky when marc exclaimed, "all the cows are watching you!" sure enough, the whole herd had stopped grazing and were all looking up at me. the expression on these cows summed it up so well, i couldn't resist sharing them with you. even the one cow, who's mooning me has turned her head all of the way around to look at me. another reason not to eat meat!

this weekend we are going to research solatubes. this is a kind of skylight thing that brings light into an area where you normally wouldn't place a skylight. we want to put it in my bathroom. there are no windows there and it's dark all of the time. you always need a light on if you go in there. this would make it so much more brighter. maybe i could even put a plant in there? i love plants every where...

we are getting closer to picking a color for our roof shingles. "weathered wood" or "cedar shingle" is the top two candidates. weathered wood is more grey and cedar shingle is more brown. i will have to live with this color choice for the rest of my life here as we don't want to move. we love our house. especially when we eventually get done fixing it all up. so far, we've updated the electrical system, the hvac (furnace & central air conditioning), and the kitchen appliances. painting will be next year. it's a joy and a pain to own a home. i am just not apartment dweller material. i need the privacy a home and yard of one's own provides. also i love to garden, so it's hard to get that with an apartment.

just don't get it

ok. i really should just go to bed now instead i'm blogging again. tgif. the economy is going to hell in a hand basket. at least that's what the news has to say. very depressing news on the economy today. difficult to be upbeat on that. especially when filling up the gas tank, like i had to do today. i'm always on the look out for a bargain, especially when it comes to art supplies. sales are the way to go now-a-days. we are heading down to illinois on sunday. there's an antique radio show there. it's supposed to rain, but hopefully it will not be a wash out. we already have the tickets to go. 

good news: the peonies are starting to open as of today. that means summer is here. the irises are starting to bloom today too. even the siberian irises. i just love them. daffodils and siberian irises are my favorites. don't get me wrong - i love just about all flowers. especially my orchids (which are still blooming), but daffodils and siberian irises are the top on my list.  yesterday and today were HOT & HUMID. yesterday was worse of the two days. tonight its actually mild enough to have the windows open. there was more of a breeze, but it has subsided it seems. tonight i made for dinner, chicken breasts on the grill (my favorite) along with asparagus and salad - more of our CSA veggies. we've eaten most of them. we get the next delivery in a week. can't wait. i did give the rhubarb to a woman that i work with - i'm not all that fond of it and it's on my list of foods to avoid. besides, i don't need any more sweets than i already eat. 

tomorrow marc will be busy for the majority of the day so i will have plenty of time to get some things done around the house and some art project time too. finally. i did do some creative work this week, including making a tiny scrapbook (keychain sized). it was very fun to do. i'm not really into the whole "scrap" thing, but i did love this. i have another one to make. maybe i can work (its not really "work") on that and/or the pet projects i've got going on. i'll try to post some photos this weekend.

having fun (not?)

why is it that time flies when you're on the computer? i should be fixing dinner, but i got side tracked checking e-mail, reading websites and blogs and etsy listings. good grief. here's a photo i took a couple days past of an ant on one of the peonies. if you've visited my website, you know how much we love peonies. actually, we now have some more to plant. it seems that we rescue them from people who know longer want them. the woman we got the most recent ones from hates ants and believes the peonies attract the ants. i don't believe that's the case. they just happen to like what ever it is the peonies secrete from the buds. interesting. i suppose i could spend more time looking that tidbit of information up in google, but i'll save that for another day. yesterday i got some interesting items from a couple of antique shops along the way. stuff to inspire projects. i got my first csa delivery of the season on friday: asparagus, cilantro, lettuce, rubbarb, bok choy, and radishes. all yummy. now i've got to fix new and exciting recipes. i love cooking though, that's no problem. :)

well, i should really change my blog title today to not having fun. i found out tonight that my uncle clinton passed away friday. you might guess that i'm not all that close to my family. i am but i'm not. you see, i've always lived hundreds of miles from my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. i know them. i talk to them. i send them cards for birthdays, holidays and the like. but i don't really know them all that well. its kind of awkward but i am so used to it now. that's the family life that i've grown up with. my uncle clinton was a very nice guy. a wwii vet (marines) and darn proud of it. my aunt is going to be very sad for some time as they were very close. sometimes, life can be very cruel.