Spring is here

 My sister gave me some Irises this winter.  I planted them alongside my white fence in hopes that they would like it there.
The setting reminds me of my Mother's flowerbeds, which were almost all lined in Irises.

A white one bloomed a couple of weeks ago.  Now there are three purple ones blooming up a storm.  A very pretty color combination, pale lavendar standards, deep purple falls, and great orange-yellow beards.

It's going to be interesting to see if there are any other colors out there.

Cardinal in the yard

This is the first cardinal that I've seen at my (new) house.  I've been putting out lots of seeds for them and apparently it worked!

Before, I had only seen English sparrows and finches.  And an occasional mourning dove.

Blue Bottles

I added a few blue bottles and a clear flower frog to my collection on my recent trip to Santa Fe.  The small green one is Courvoisier.  Such a teeny bottle.
Another is Phillips Milk of Magnesia.  If I ever get a real bottle tree, these will land on the upper branches.

The ivy has rooted nicely; I've potted it up.  Anyone want a houseplant?  Let me know....

T Shirt Necklace

I saw a fun tutorial online about making t-shirt necklaces.  There was one in my closet that was a great color but that had a bleach spot on it.  Perfect for this project.

Very simple to make - use your rotary cutter to cut 3/4 inch strips from the body of the t-shirt.  Line the loops up, twist once, then cover the seams with another strip.  There are several tutorials online.

The one pictured doesn't have enough loops; more is better.

Jack in the Science Lab

Dr. Murray, at Texas A&M Health Science Centers, was given a grant by the Art for Alzheimers Quilt Initiative. When his staff looked for contributors from Bryan/College Station, they found only one - my grandson Jack  They invited him for a tour of the lab. Dr. Murray set up an experiment for him to run. 

 

The local TV station and newspaper people were there but I haven't seen any writeup yet.  I'm sure they have better pictures.


 Jack was pretty composed in his interviews, especially since he's only 12.  He made two little quilts for the Art for Alzheimers project, which were sold and the money earmarked for research.  Dr. Murray's project was given one of the grants.  He is looking into the correlation of Alzheimers and diabetes and obesity.

Ski Trip

My friend Carmen and I went to Santa Fe last week. She doesn't ski, but she loves Santa Fe. So one day, she drove me up to the ski slopes. I stayed on the green ones, but had a great time. I was glad to know that skiing is still a viable option for me. I definitely plan to do it again. Although I wasn't even that sore, we had scheduled a massage at the Santa Fe School of Massage and it was a good experience. Brenda is a last year student and for such a small woman, has amazingly strong hands!

Carmen and I both like thrift shops, family-owned restaurants, and just walking around looking at the sights, so we had a great time.  We went to the O'Keefe museum and the museum of International Folk Art.  A trip to Sidoni was great - we saw a glass blower doing a vase, lots of sculpture, and some interesting fabric silent wind chiimes.

  The orange and yellow object is plexiglass.The spaceship is about eight inches high and bronze.

  This silent wind chime was probably my favorite.  I loved the motion of the fabric rectangles swaying in the breezes. And of course, the menorah of dancing rabbiis just made me smile.

Carmen has a collection of burro statues at home, so we took her picture with some larger statues. We stayed at El Dorado, just a few blocks off the Plaza. This worked out very well in terms of walking to dinner and being able to go back to the room as needed. They had valet parking and very friendly staff. Too bad my camera was set to the wrong date and time. Oh well.

Great Aunt Martha's Mug

This ceramic mug used to set in my Mother's china cabinet.
When we were disbursing her possessions, I noted the signature on the bottom - M. Buenz.




Apparently my great-aunt Martha was an artist, too.  She was probably in her late teens when she painted this.  I located her Grandson who lives near Austin and took it to him so that it could be added to their small collection of her work.  He and his wife seemed to be quite delighted to have it.