Dogwoods and Ginkos and Maples. Oh, my..

 

Meet #15. This little thing was the last one to be planted this weekend. Those little pines are so darn cute. I wanted to just keep them in the house as pets. 

The bigger trees are just sticks right now. I'll be anxiously watching for signs of life. 

While we were digging I could feel someone or something watching us. It was Louise, nestled in the tree debris. She is our remaining inside/outside cat from the big litter we rescued years ago. She hardly goes out anymore since she lost her hearing but she was apparently interested in what we were doing out in the yard. I don't think she was impressed. 

In sad news, I killed Betty White. I had used part of her to get this last loaf started and somehow when I moved her remains to what I thought was a clean jar, I put her in one that contained some dirty old onion skins. I had been making soup on the counter earlier and somehow some skins must have ended up in the bottom of the jar. Ick. Thank goodness Brown Betty is still going strong. 

I've been using her to make Rosemary/Parmesan crackers. If I never make another loaf of bread I would be fine as long as I can make these. They are addicting. 

Oscar Sunday

 

What I have been doing at night after days of yard work and tree planting is trying to catch up on all the movies that are nominated this year. I hadn't seen a single one. I've seen six of them now.  I'm going to play critic here with a mini review of what I've seen because honestly, I'm a bit flummoxed at what is considered a great movie these days. Feel free to add your thoughts:

Sinners: I was expecting vampires but I wasn't expecting singing vampires in a movie that made valid points about race relations in the Jim Crow era.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't the intended audience but I did like the dance scene that transcended time.

One Battle After Another:  I liked seeing Leonardo DiCaprio as a clueless, middle aged dad. Seeing him try to dive out of a car window was worth the whole rest of the chaos. They could have cut half of the main characters out and no one would have missed them-except Benicio del Toro. It needed more Benicio less Sean Penn. 

Bugonia: The weirdest movie I have EVER seen and I've seen Poor Things. The acting is fabulous but I want to smack the screenwriters and whoever the set and costume designers were for that last bit. 

Train Dreams: The most "normal" of all the movies I've seen so far but it gave me nightmares. Actual nightmares. Too much death by trees for someone who's been terrified of death by trees. That being me. 

Frankenstein: I'm not sure how anyone managed to make Frankenstein such a boring movie but they did. I fell asleep three times trying to get through it. When I thought it was over and then Part 2 showed up on the screen, I wanted to throw one of my Crocs at it but I toughed it out hoping for a redemption arc that never happened. 

Hamnet: No. Just no. I'm never entertained by other people's grief especially when they are trying too hard to get an emotional response. The gentle scene at the bird's grave was the only one that felt genuine. The audiobook was a rare DNF for me so no surprise that I wasn't a fan.

Thank you for letting me indulge in this film babble. The Mister won't watch artsy fartsy movie so I've got no one to bounce my thoughts off of. I sure wish he had watched Bugonia with me though. I would have loved to have seen the expression on his face as the credits rolled.

Can You Dig It?

 

The newest additions to the yard are here. 

Ta da....six baby Eastern White Pines, a Kousa Dogwood, an October Glory Red Maple and a Ginko. It's back to digging holes today. These particular trees are from the Deer Resistant collection so I'm hoping I won't have any surprises come Sunday morning.   

Rink Nannies

 

How it started. 

How it ended. Our day at the rink with the Grands was supposed to be a picnic and a walk on the trails around the rink but the weather didn't cooperate. It poured and then snowed all day. 

It might have ruined our plans but it was awfully pretty and it kept the kids entertained. There was a lot of snowball making. I'm so glad I hadn't packed away my Lopi mittens. They were still in the car. If you need to clean snow off a car in a hurry, you can't beat them. Your hands stay warm and dry no matter what kind of snow you're dealing with. There's magic in that wool. 

We did a 11:30 to 3:30 sitting gig while Daughter met with some special students who travel here to work with her. The big Grand had an hour lesson with his own coach so between the skating and the snow we had plenty to keep us busy.

Baby Grand had no problem spending most of his day in the stroller but I let him roam while his brother was getting his lesson. This guy loves the ice. He would run right out there if I had let him. He was practicing jumping in the lobby after watching some skaters go through their off ice exercises. 

We were about an hour north so I wondered if we had gotten any snow down where we live. We did. It's back to a winter wonderland outside. It won't last but it sure is pretty.

Trial and Error

 

There's been a lot happening on the loom but nothing to brag about. It's been one folly after another. I no sooner think that I've gotten something finished than I find an error, have to rip it all out and start again. I'm getting close though. Maybe.

At the same time, I've been trying to decide what the next project will be so I can start getting it wound up. I really like this towel I made a few years ago for Valentine's Day and would like to recreate it with other colors. I've been dissecting the draft (pattern) because of course, I didn't write anything down. I do know it's Birdseye though. 

I'm going to make this a scrappy project so I pulled out all the leftover bits and bobs from towels past but this is as far as I've gotten. It's been all trees, all week with nine more being delivered today. We're also off on another babysitting adventure today, this time being Daughter's "rink nannies" while she squeezes in some special lessons on her usual day off. More on that tomorrow-if we survive it. 

Wednesday WIPs: Oh, Deer.....

 

Last week I was showing off finished socks and this week it's new cast ons. Both are from the new Arne and Carlos Socks and More collection. I owe the yarn an apology. I was having a terrible time casting them on in the gloom during a run of rainy weather but the knitting is going just fine. The colors are beautiful.

I'm still dragging in the house after a day of yard work so not much else is going on in the evenings. I did manage to finish the first row of the first section of the Hue Shift Afghan. I had to do that last square twice because somehow, instead of a square, I made a weird L shape. 

The 80 degree weather has really accelerated spring. The Narcissus are already in bloom. They are a bit sparse this year but the ones that made it look very happy to be here. 

The new trees have been a headache. The paper did not deter the deer. In fact, I think it caught their attention. They tore it off along with some branches. I was NOT happy. 

They did not tear the paper off the very top so that stayed and I've tried to protect the bottom limbs with cosmetic pads soaked in Lavender oil from my soap making supplies. It's so strong you can smell it across our very big yard and it's believed that deer hate it. Here's hoping. 

To help with the watering chore we're using the water jugs we usually toss in recyling. Being on a well, with a water softener and chlorinator we don't drink or cook with our water so we have plenty of these. We drilled tiny holes in them so they leak out slowly keeping the tree hydrated on these hot, sunny days. We've got nine more trees coming at the end of the week so I need to get this sorted out asap. 

TNT: No Rest for the Weary

 

I spent more time with a shovel in my hand than a needle this week so not much was done on the Garden Sampler. I told myself that I'm going to work on that red border and the sentiment in March so that's what I did. 

I started another block on the Patchwork quilt. It helped that Dateline came out with a new podcast earlier in the week. I can only listen if I have a needle in my hand. Them's the rules.

I also finished another flower on the needlepoint project last week using the Dateline incentive but for the past few days I haven't touched a thing. Yard work is a killer this time of year. I'm all out of whack.