John Baldessari

I love Baldessari and I love Tom Waits's voice. . . it's like a little gem of a documentary made just for me.

TMB

So, I've decided to fall deeply in love with The Morning Benders.

Here's just one reason:


But isn't the one reason plenty when it's this lovely?

Embroidery Warm Up

I have a plan inside of me for a larger embroidery project that I would like to work on. I don't totally know what that means yet, but something illustrative on a larger scale than usual. Still cute, but maybe a little dark, too.

But I haven't been embroidering much of late, so I've been knocking out a bunch of small pieces to get my hands back in shape--available on etsy soon.

OK Go

So, I love OK Go.  I don't have any of their albums. . . though I think I'm looking to rectify that.  But in a day and age when it feels like there's a lot of bad news pouring in, these guys are the joy bringers.

Plus, everyone loves a marching band.

Three Straight Days of Gardening

Columbia shut down for a 4-day NATO holiday--worried, I think, that the commute for all of us would be terrible and that violent protests might break out putting all of us in harm's way.  So, it's almost like we got a big blizzard that shut down school for fours days. . . 

Except it's May, and the weather has been gorgeous all weekend long.  Sunny.  80's.  Windy.

So, I've spent the whole weekend gardening.  Literally every day.

Neighbor's Yard

(okay.  I had to get this out of the way first.  I had no part in this, but they have the prettiest roses in bloom right now.)

 Friday--Front Yard

I didn't do loads of work in the front yard.  Planted a big load of perennials and annuals that I bought on Friday and then watered and watered and watered--this early hot weather is pretty brutal on new plants that haven't had a proper spring to root themselves in.  

But there's some pretty stuff in there--new bleeding hearts, irises that I stole from the foreclosure across the street.  

And the northern part of the front yard--thanks to lots of patience and dividing of hostas in the last two years--is starting to actually fill in really nicely.

 

 Saturday & Sunday--Back Yard

 The big work this weekend was in the back yard.  Dan helped out a lot on this project--turning over the soil and then using a hoe to break up big chunks into smaller, planting friendly dirt.

Since the back surgery, I am less good at the heavy lifting part of gardening 

(though, I'm hoping in another year, that might turn around.  Hope springs eternal).

Backyard veggie plot before work:

Total mess.  Weedy.  Hard packed.  Ugly.

 

Backyard veggie plot after work:

Gorgeous! 

Okay, so I know it doesn't look like much yet.  But it's so cleared out and dark brown.  Plus, the secret ingredient. . . there's horse manure from the Ohio family farm in there. 

I planted loads and loads:

7 Tomato plants

3 Hot pepper plants

2 mounds--one squash, one zucchini

Kentucky Blue runner beans

Brussel Sprouts (from seed. . . again hope springs. . . )

Basil

and. . . 

 Green bush beans and Yellow Wax Beans

 

Plus, some veggies in containers with more to come.

The peonies are in bloom.

And L.P. helped out the whole time.

Man, I love spring and summer.

And four-day weekends.

Austin Exit Art

How great is this little guy?  A little spaceman?  A giraffe jockey?  I'm not sure, but I love his pout, his slouch, and his blue comma nose.  

Located on the back of a sign facing the Austin off ramp from I-290

NATO Visit

I love the Columbia College Bookstore. I've bought books and sweatshirts and snacks and gifts from the Columbia Bookstore. . . but this sign strikes me as a little weird.

I don't know that the NATO delegates visiting this weekend are in the market for books.  But I guess if they are, they'll know where to go.

Or this might be just the kind of sign that could set protestors off. . .