Random bits

We had a kick-ass bird on our street a few days ago, chillin' on the powerlines.

Here, let me zoom in....The tulips, of course, have bloomed.And so have these lovely things, which look to me a little like a cross between a tulip and a daffodil. Taffodil? Dulip? Taffo-ulip?And V and I are still the same.

There are more posts a'brewing. It's the end of the semester, so forgive my absence. I look forward to being back in the land of languish.

35 mm

My sister has lent me their Olympus 10 OM: a bonafide 35 mm old-school-focus-it-your-own-damn-self-camera.

How quickly I've adapted to digital: take 24 photos before I can see any of them? And then wait at least an hour for developing? What kind of crazy system was that?

But, I must say, the pictures that turned out (and about half were too blurry to keep) are so sharp and clear, so very...I don't know how to explain it. Crisp and real and just...different from digital, that I'm very, very happy to have an opportunity with such technology.

I don't know if it translates to the blog, but I'm liking this old-school thing. Any of you with experience with this kind of camera have suggestions for picture taking? I feel like I need all the tips I can get.

PS: I know the two middle photos are not entirely clear, but I like them anyway. The Christmas cactus up above belongs to Ethel, a family friend, and blooms every Easter. Isn't it lovely?

4 wheelin'

Two days ago, V and $haun went to Toys R Us and picked out this bike. And this helmet.

Then they spent a good l o n g while working through the logistics of pedaling.

But they figured it out, and now my baby girl can practically fly.

I only cried a little bit. Honest.

Emerson Claire

My little neice is not yet two, but she is already a force to be reckoned with. She is adorable, with big brown eyes, wee ringlets of brown hair, and a sweet smile. And she's half Johnson girl, so she knows how to eat. Her favorite food right now seems to be meat. "Meat!"

And when she's happy, the whole world knows it.

The girl knows her own mind, and it's awesome to watch her express it.

Quilts of our Lives, Part 5 (or so)

Long-time readers have seen bits of this quilt before. I made it to replace the first quilt I made Shaun (which I haven't yet photographed) because that one plum wore out. This one is a bit less beloved, for some reason, perhaps because it's simpler, or perhaps because the original is always better.

I made 4 giant log-cabin blocks, using fabrics to represent things important to Shaun or to our lives together. I know that the color and pattern combination is a bit less than...perfect, but that's intentional, too. The fabric includes baseball, football, music, gambling, bumble bees, and ladybugs. Two of those were V's Halloween costumes of years past...you figure out which is which. It's machine stitched, and since the blocks are so large (each strip is 6" wide) I had to go beyond stitching in the ditch, so after stitching straight lines, I zigged and zagged in a kind of abstract sunburst pattern. You can kind of see it here.

I pieced the back, which is not something I've usually done, but all the cool quilters are doing it, and I find I like it quite a bit. Plus, when I went to put the quilt together, it was much larger than I'd expected (I think about 6 feet x 8 1/2 feet), and I didn't have enough backing, so it was a necessity. My first dozen or better quilts were not labeled; I learned a long time ago about the importance of labels to quilt historians, but 1. I don't know that my quilts will hold much historical significance, since most of them get used until they fall apart, and 2. I was lazy. But I'm trying to do better, and for Shaun's second quilt, I embroidered a label, using an extra block from our wedding quilt (lord, that's a whole nother post on its own. Far, far in the future). It says: "You are my Sunshine/For Shaun/ love Jen/9 November 2008".

I like making quilts for people I love, especially if I can sneak under a corner now and then, too.

And I don't mean that as naughty as it sounds. Honest.

Cheater

I've started a second blog. It's just for photos, really, and I like it because my pictures show up bigger. I was telling Shaun about it tonight, and when I told him I was pretty sure I was the only one who's ever seen it, he said "Yeah, that makes sense." So now you can go see it, if'n you want to. It runs ads, which I'm not crazy about, but I'll put up with it for awhile if my pictures are big and pretty.

What's new with all y'all? Languishing is lonesome.

Easter festivities

These are from last week, but today made me remember I hadn't posted these yet. I love how my daughter and my sister speak each other's language.

And I love how my nephew rejoices in getting his hands dirty.

And Grandma eggs them all on. (Oh for punny).

More on this weekend's excitement to come. Hope spring is treating all of you well.