Stirrings–Chubby Robin

Jen,

I’m sorry I’ve been out of the loop on our spring collaboration.

I hurt my back (it didn’t actually impair my ability to look for spring OR lift a camera);

I got a vicious head-cold (almost went to the doctor after coughing up brown goo–I feel better now);

My baby got a lighter version of the cold (a slight fever and a lot of clinginess);

My dog and I went to stay with friends while Zach painted the great room, living room, entryway, upstairs landing, and stairs (the dog went on two walks a day–something he hasn’t gotten to do since the baby came);

then my battery died in my camera.

But finally the stars aligned and I happened to have the camera with me, fully charged, when I spotted the chubbiest robin I’ve ever seen. I wish I had a telephoto lens but, even blurry, I’m sure you can tell that this robin is well fed this year. Despite prolonged storms and bluster, spring is HERE.

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Stirrings-First Post from Jen

From Jen at Painted Fish Studio:

dear sara,

as i write this, it is snowing, and the wind is whipping through the streets of saint paul, rattling my windows, and the temperature dropped 10 degrees in under an hour. major interstates north of the twin cities are closed, due to blizzard conditions. so we, sadly, are very far from spring. but that doesn¹t stop me from hoping! last weekend, i went to payless and picked up some yellow, strappy, heeled sandals. for 23 bucks! and if dancing around inside my house, wrapped in blankets, but wearing my new sandals is the only way i¹ll feel springy, well, then i’ll just keep dancing around!

xo, me

****

Jen’s letter makes me happy to live in Sunny, Warm, Salt Lake City!

(31 degrees with skiffy pink clouds as I write this morning)

Stirrings-Violet bouquet

No. 5 in my collaboration with Jen at Painted Fish Studio, looking for signs of spring.

When I was about 10, my mom, dad, and I lived with an elderly lady named Marilla. My mother was her caretaker and my dad kept up her property. She had such a tranquil home. I still remember the way the light filtered in through the sheer curtains and lingered on the velvety drapes. In my memory, everything is a shade of gray mossy green or slatey light blue. When we moved in, I was thrilled that my bedroom came with a little alcove and a built in vanity mirror and dresser, just like in old movies! And two pianos, which inspired me to beg and beg for lessons.

Marilla had had a daughter who had died young, I think perhaps she was a hemophiliac and had died in her teens. It was very sad, and she never had other children. Her dear nephew cared for her property and hired my family to live in and care for her.

She adored our dog Missy, a black cocker spaniel, and the feeling was mutual. Missy would rest her soft head on Marilla’s knee, and the gentle lady would stroke those long ears and croon “Poor Mitzy, she has lost her bone. Has Mitzy lost her bone? Yes she has. I shall find your bone you pretty girl.” Marilla was always kind to me, even though I was so impatient and half the time couldn’t restrain myself and had to correct how she said the dog’s name, as if Missy cared!

Along a long, narrow cement pathway that ran between our house and the one next door, where my sister lived with her little children, grew patches of several different varieties of violets in the cool shade. Marilla produced tiny embossed green glass bottles for me to fill with violet bouquets. Violets are one of my favorite flowers and will always remind me of a very happy time of my childhood.

Those houses are no longer standing: they were long since torn down to make way for a strip mall, but the smell is in my nose, and the height of the trees, and the biggest icicle in the world that grew from the second story roof to the ground and was bigger around than my arm.

Stirrings-Lavender blossoms

No. 2 in my collaboration with Jen at Painted Fish Studio.

I was walking home on Wednesday and was thrilled to see a small patch of lavender flowers blooming in the shade of some green grass amidst a lawn of dead-looking groundcover.

I got in close to take a macro shot and realized they were actually melted nerds or something. Woe!

I’ll be looking back at this lawn in the next few months, because I could swear this plant produces little lavender flowers!

Stirrings and Shrooms

I’m am beginning my first blog-collaboration! I will be working with the talented Jen at Painted Fish Studio on a photo project for Spring we’ve titled “Stirrings”. We’ll each be looking for evidence of spring in our neighborhoods. Since she lives in the midwest, her photos may have to be REALLY abstract for a while longer. In the meantime, things are warming up just a tad here and I am offering this photo as evidence of my feelings of spring:

That’s me, waiting at the bus stop. Knitting. OUTDOORS. Glorious day! After a few weeks of sludgy air. And yes, you’ll see the finished project after February 21, when a little somebody gets it for his birthday!

****

Also new for me, I have signed up to participate in a Handmade Mushroom Swap with the marvelous KnitSonya (nope, you can’t join…entries are closed!)

I’m making my mushrooms by needle-felting, the first thing I’ve really done using this technique. Here is where I sheepishly admit that Sonya gave me a great xmas present (in 2007) consisting of felting needles, a foam pad, and lots of different colored roving for me to take up this hobby. I’ve done mostly nothing with her present but fondle the wool for more than a year. Thinking positively…What better time for me to take the leap than for a project she is hostessing?