Spring Is Here!!!

The crocuses are blooming, the daffodils are up, and my favorite sign appeared at the garden center: 

Pansies 

Are 

Here.

Indeed, I planted my pansies two weeks ago, but since we have had a few days with some pretty cold weather, the display is not very impressive at this point. Soon enough their cherry faces will be swaying  in the breeze.

I don’t have much work to show, but I have been in the middle of a few different projects. Later this week I will be picking up a piece of cross stitch that I had professionally framed. Here’s a child’s quilt that I finished yesterday to be donated to DCF.

I’ve been doing my spring cleaning and dropping items off at local charity/thrift shops. I have learned it is best to just drop off the items and not look around the shops for fear of bringing items home which defeats the purpose. 

Okay, well,  I did come home with one item,  this $4.00 watermelon pitcher which caught my eye. :-)

Back in January, I resolved to not buy any fabric unless it was absolutely necessary to complete a project.  I have done great in terms of fabric. I also resolved to not buy any cross stitch patterns, kits, fabric, or thread, but I am totally hopeless when it comes to cross stitch. So, once again, I’m resolving to not buy anything cross stitch for the rest of the year. So, what’s with this lovely collection of perle cotton you ask? Well, I may have seen a spring themed piece of wool applique on the Shabby Fabrics site, and, yes, I bought the pattern and wool kit. :-) I’m working on it now, and when you see it, you will understand why I couldn’t possibly resist purchasing it. ;-) Wool applique is fun to stitch, and I already had these luscious balls of perle cotton in my stash.

Wild Kingdom:

As I always do, I took Emma out one last time before bed. She was on a leash as she is nearly impossible to keep track of in the dark. Things were fine until she started barking. I couldn’t see anything in the woods, but fearing it might be a black “kitty” with a wide white stripe down its back, I hustled her inside. This morning when I took her out, she again began barking wildly and racing back and forth along the fence. (There is a drop off beyond the fence.) This time to my horror I saw in the woods what she was barking at . . . a coyote!!! It was curled up sleeping (probably in the same spot as last night.) I was able to get hold of Emma, and her barking prompted the coyote to get up and move along. 

If you have followed this blog, you know that there have been an abundance of bunnies and squirrels, deer, and turkeys, but hopefully the coyote was a one time thing. I never let Emma out by herself as you just never know what might be out there.

[Update: I mentioned the coyote to neighbors who live further down the street, and they showed me footage from their trail cam showing two or three coyotes in their yard at night. There have also been nightly visits from a small group of deer. Good Heavens!!! I hope they all stay way down the street.] Suddenly a flock of turkeys doesn’t seem all that bad.

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One last thing . . . 

This a blog which focuses on happy, positive, upbeat  things, so I will make no comment on what happened in Manhattan Criminal Court this afternoon. I will simply observe that for the first time in our country’s history, a former President was arrested and arraigned on thirty-four charges.