Whose memory....

Another calendar page in the works. This one doesn't feel finished yet, but I'm happy with the way it's coming along. It's helping me to end the day by doing something productive that comes out the way I'd like it to -- it's been a very weird weekend of fits and starts. (For the record, I scan in and print out copies of my old photos to play with -- I never use the originals. I feel I should be careful to keep all these 'purchased ancestors' aside and clearly marked, lest Dean or anyone else someday be confused about exactly how we're related to these people....)

Anyway, I also basted the Broken Dishes quilt (which I just may title "Too much going on") with the idea of starting it now and finishing it by the time we're back from our Maine vacation later this month (it's small -- a wall hanging or if Dean has his way, a blanket for a stuffed animal). I've never been good at getting projects done while I'm on vacation, but I'm inspired by Helen who seems to accomplish more on the road than I do at home. Oh, and I finally finished my pocket apron for the current tie one on challenge; just have to get photos taken of me wearing it and then get the filmed developed and then get a flickr account so I can post it. Before the end of the month. With the end of school and a vacation thrown in for good measure. I also scrubbed the upstairs bathroom today; that should count for something, right? and did dishes and helped Dean with a craft project he's giving as a gift this week and read him the last few chapters of Order of the Phoenix. [Apparently there is some magic protecting it; no matter what I do, I cannot get a link to connect to the book title. Harry Potter, in any case, you know.]

Yes, ma'am

What went right today was my trip with a friend to an antiques mall, and a stack of old photos from one estate that had been carefully taken care of and were reasonably priced. I cannot walk past a collection of old photos and the mysterious stories they tell; this one says "To Cousin Lizzie from Minnie Trennam" on the back -- isn't she grand?

What didn't go well was attempting machine quilting for the first time -- just a mess. And the knowledge that my machine really is overdue for a cleaning/service doesn't help. And no where to go to put away the mess in the craft room here -- I don't even know where to begin. Maybe it's the blast of heat and humidity that's making me feel a little hopeless. But the cherry tomato seeds did germinate and Dean had fun (and didn't pass out from the heat) at his last soccer game of the season, and maybe tomorrow I can get my sewing machine back to at least working for regular stuff.

Looking forward to plans I've made with a friend to check out a local antiques mall, where she'll be admiring tables and eyeballing furniture while I scour for buttons and sewing notions and ephemera. It reminds me of going with friends to the Brimfield Antiques Fair and we drove in this HUGE old Toyota Landrover, and bought things like salt and pepper shakers and saw other people trying to cram dining room tables into subcompacts.... I don't need anything as much as I need the chance to get out and do something that the boys aren't into doing.

Perhaps "sproing!" would be a better name than "spring" for what's happening here; I feel quite literally that I look away from my garden for a moment, for a day, and then suddenly see things a foot tall. Our grass is a lush green that only survives until the big heat comes to stay and the rains depart -- we do not water our lawn so this color never lasts.

Only four weeks left of school, with the Memorial Day holiday thrown in and a couple other random days off for good measure -- can fireflies be far behind?