First things first

Jordan Matter’s Dancers Among Us photography project takes professional dancers from several companies and puts in NYC locations, in everyday settings. The results are amazing.

The deluge is just around the corner!

Look at all that pollen!

Two and two are fourFour and four are eightEight and eight are sixteenSixteen and sixteen are thirty-twoInchworm, inchwormMeasuring the marigoldsYou and your arithmeticYou’ll probably go farInchworm, inchwormMeasuring the marigoldsSeems to me you’d stop and seeHow beautiful they are

During our get-together in Pigeon Forge, my friends and I focused mostly on hanging out together. We did some shopping, did a lot of eating, threw a surprise baby shower for one person (at which I gave her the recently completed baby cardigan), watched some movies, and talked a lot.It was all great fun, but I couldn’t be so close to mountains and forests without going for a hike. So I spent a morning with one of the friends (the other three weren’t interested in getting up at 6 a.m. to catch the good light and beat the crowds) hiking in nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park.By arriving early, we managed to see some of the rising mist that gave the mountains their name.We spent a few hours on the AT and met several volunteers who were working on the trails that day. One of them, Pete, looked to be in his sixties, and when he stopped to chat I realized that, in addition to the loaded pack on his back, he was wearing a full tool belt and carrying in his hands a pickaxe, a sledgehammer, and an axe–and he was cruising along at a good clip and barely out of breath. Wow.On the trail, I always see lots of interesting things that I try to photograph……but the pictures never seem to do them justice. I think you need to smell the air and hear the sounds around you, too, to get a good sense of the place.In the visitor’s center, I kinneared this girl who was taking her Junior Ranger oath. I was struck by her seriousness about the whole thing. I wonder if, once she gets home, she’ll forget the interest in nature that motivated her to complete this program, or if she’ll grow up to be a tree hugger.

We spent the Friday before Easter at one of our favorite places, Winterthur. In early spring, it is even more amazing than usual.

Signs of spring are everywhere! I know I’ve posted lots of flower photos lately, but I just can’t help it: the arrival of spring is just so awesome!

We walked (or ran) the labyrinth…

…built a fairy house…

…looked at magnolia buds (and this is right about the time Sylvia decided to remove her shoes for the rest of the day)…

…marveled at the flowering trees and shrubs (that magnolia in the distance is at least 60 feet tall, by the way)…

…delighted in daffodils…

…and peeked at some fiddleheads.

Actually, I think we may have skipped spring and headed straight for summer: today’s high was 92 degrees. In the first week of April.

It’s been so warm and sunny the past two weeks that the trees and flowers are all freaking out. Instead of a springtime blossom show that rolls out over six weeks or so, everything is in flower right now. I’m happy to see spring flowers again, but a little bummed that we’re getting everything all at once. The dogwoods are just about ready to pop–about three weeks ahead of schedule.

Here’s the first crocus that appeared in my yard, on 10 March (not even one full month ago):

Ten days later, it had been joined by about 200 more:

Five days later, the first daffodil had opened up:

That was a week and a half ago. Today the hyacinths and daffodils are in full bloom, the forsythias are nearly spent, and the tulips are just about ready to step into the limelight. Usually the dogwoods and azaleas flower in early May. This year, we might start seeing their blooms next week.

…of the 200+ crocuses currently blooming in my yard.

(Photo 365 | 2010: 20 March)

While my friend Beth was secretly knitting a pincushion for me, my friend Katie was secretly knitting this tea cozy for me. Or not so secretly, as the case may be: she actually worked on it while she was sitting in my house, but lied her head off and told me it was for herself. She even lied when she blogged about it, too!

So imagine my surprise when Katie came over a few days ago and handed me this:

Of course I had to test it immediately (on a pot of Darjeeling). It fits perfectly–and actually did keep the tea warm a lot longer!

I am so lucky!

(Project 363 | 2010: 22 February)

Guess what happened again yesterday?

(I love how rhododendron leaves curl up when it’s really cold outside.) Fortunately, only about an inch fell this time.

We’ve been busy with crafty stuff around here, partly because of being snowbound. We do go out to play in the snow, but after a while it’s time to come inside to get warm and enjoy some hot chocolate and do some inside stuff for a while. The other day, Sylvia and I build a nest: I hot-glued together some pieces of craft felt into a bowl-ish shape, and she filled it with lengths of yarn. Then she asked me to make a bird for her, so I made up this one:

I’m in the home stretch of the Wonderful Wallaby I’m knitting for myself–working on the neck placket now (woot!). I’ve decided not to knit the hood. The result won’t be an exact match to the hooded Wallabies I’ve knit for Sylvia and Jan, but I know I will never wear the hood, so there’s no point in wasting yarn and time on it. I expect to finish up this sweater in the next few days. In the meantime, I’ve been wearing a sweater that I finished during the summer…and just now realize that I never wrote about here.

It’s a simple bottom-up in-the-round raglan knit in Wool of the Woods. It’s very toasty and has a buttoned opening on the front-left raglan seam. (Because the neckline is so wide, I don’t ever need to unbutton the sweater to get it on or off.) My favorite part? The buttons:

I bought these buttons when Sylvia was maybe a year old. They are pewter, and I bought two of each of the five designs, thinking they would be so adorable on a sweater for her. Unfortunately, they are rather heavy–too heavy for a fine knit. They work well on this raglan seam, though; because it’s on an angle, I think that helps prevent the buttons from sagging.