I have done nothing sewing related for the better part of a week. You know how it goes sometimes; life happens.
On Saturday, we moved my daughter from an apartment here in her home town to new digs in Madison, where she's been working for a couple months. Trading three hours of commute time (and gas) per day for a four-minute zip to work is definitely worth it. Sunday, we cleaned her old apartment from top to bottom, and on Monday, we had the annual Memorial Day/Dad's birthday family gathering and cookout.
All in all, things went well. I didn't take a single photo of any of the weekend activities, though. I guess I was preoccupied with logistics, pacing myself energy-wise, and the other thoughts and emotions that crop up during times like these.
I'm bummed her new apartment didn't have the whirlpool tub like in the model she was shown. I was already scheming to visit just to soak in that tub. Oh well, at least there's a pool on the premises and loads of shopping nearby. (Please don't take me seriously here; hanging out with my daughter is all the reason I need to visit. But if I can find a quilt shop on that side of the city, all the better.)
The first iris bloomed yesterday! There are many more to follow, from the looks of all the buds.
The chives are blossoming. Did you know the flowers are good in a salad or stir fry?
The rabbits are bellying up to the garden every day and chowing down on their favorites. They decimated my tulips before they ever had a chance this spring. Now they're noshing on the lamium. I just wish the Bunnies Foo-Foo would move around the salad bar instead of sampling the same spot until it's bare. There's got to be some kind of limits on all-you-can-eat.
I swung by a thrift store today while out running errands and found these two vintage cocktail glasses for 29 cents apiece. Who can say no to that? Not me.
Bear with me, I'll get my sewing mojo back soon. I have a heart block to paper piece and mail off and my H2H quilt to finish, first and second on the to-do list. I had to watch Sarcastic Quilter's paper piecing videos all over again last night to refresh my memory, can you believe it? And I'd just learned that, what, six weeks ago? Sheesh.
Last week, Mrs. Pyjamas at Quilting in My Pyjamas had the brilliant idea to start a linky party called "Favourite Things Friday." I told her I was in! Then, quite honestly, I kind of forgot about it, but thanks to the blundering of Blogger which made her draft show up briefly yesterday in Google Reader, my memory was jogged. See, Mrs. P.? There is a reason for everything!
So I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite poets, Billy Collins. Now, I know poetry isn't everyone's thing, but before you roll your eyes and click on to the next link, I ask you to consider giving these two poems a listen. They're read here by Billy Collins himself, U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, and winner of the Poetry Foundation's Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry.
That's right, this guy is funny. I absolutely adore the dry humor that pervades his work.
My sister introduced me to Billy Collins—not literally, of course, but had I gone along with her to his reading in Milwaukee a few years back, I might have had a great story about knocking a few back with him and a group of others at a pub afterwards, as she does. I had no idea who he was then, but was very happy to soon thereafter become acquainted with his work.
And now it's your chance to hear a couple of his poems, if you haven't already. Enjoy!
If you'd like to read either of these instead of watch the videos, here is the link to Litany, and here is The Lanyard.
