December and all that goes with it

December is a great month.    Busy things going on, the fun of shopping and seeing the decorations in the stores.  Then the food and the family and friends.   This is Christmas Eve and here I am at the computer.    We celebrated our Christmas yesterday as we had a sudden change in plans with the work schedule change for my DIL, so we had two hours to prepare.   Not time to fuss or worry, just boil up some eggs for deviled eggs, plate up some fresh baked cookies, and order a couple pizzas.     It was so much fun, I think we should make it a new family tradition.   Impromptu and fun for everyone with no big mess or time spent cooking and setting up.    So today I'm playing with art supplies, cooking the turkey and relaxing.   Thought I'd bring this blog up to date by including pics from last week's trip to Fair Oaks.   Friends meeting  for some shopping/browsing and lunch.     Fair Oaks is such an interesting little town.  Very informal.  Cold as ice the day we were there, felt more like the high Sierras or Colorado!  But the sun was out and we were dressed warmly.      Here are a few pics.    BTW chickens roam the street there and seem to like to hang out in front of the bakery.  Perhaps they get tidbits from patrons.      We didn't know the guy sharing breakfast with his dog, but could not resist taking his pic.

Rain, rain, rain

Down in comes, in drips, drops, and drizzles.   buckets full.     We are cosy and warm and have not lost power, so except that we are now flooded in and only the vehicles are water damaged, all's well.   Nathan's car was on the street when the storm drains failed, so his car has several inches of water inside.   Kids baled it out and moved it into the garage so Trevor could move his van onto the driveway too.    Matt and Christina are both working.   I hope this is all gone before they get home.    According to the news, the worst will have passed in another hour.     Candis is supposed to be singing at the Mall with her chorale group late this afternoon and so we are hopeful that may still happen.        I have plans to go to our Brit film Club this afternoon, but may  not be able to drive out.    I'd rather skip it than try to pass through flooded streets.

Hope you are all warm and dry and safe.    

Halloween at Home

Halloween is a big deal at our house.   It's my son Matt's favorite holiday and he and his family decorate the house and themselves.   This year the boys decided they were too old to dress up.    Made me sad.    But Candis and her friends at 16, are still having fun being silly. 

  Here are a few photos.   Matt had the electric chair wired up to send out smoke, and make awful noises and jolts the dummy he used this year.

  Some of the people that came were disappointed they could not sit in the chair this year, in fact they wanted to climb into the dummy's lap to feel the jolts.   LOL    Some newbies to our entrance left scared, crying and clinging to parents.     Kids gave away mountains of really good candy.    Large size Hershey bars, Kit Kats, and Reeses Pieces.      Everyone wants those.     Mostly the parents are sticking close to their kids, which I appreciate.    Some tiny ones are still in arms, with a little bag learning the fun of the holiday.  Here's the pics.

What's new?

Lots of new things going  on, just like everyone.     I had a birthday!    Another one.     Lots of calls and cards.    And a beautiful new fountain in the back garden.     And a visit from one son from out of state.   And I had a cold for a week.     And now I'm busy working on the new brochure for the Art Center, and getting ready to help young students with an art project on  Tuesday.  But first a trip to a quilt show tomorrow.       Another really fun thing was a nice visit with my grade into high school friend Pat.   We don't live that far apart, but having a free day at the same time makes our meetings few and far between.     Here's a pic taken this week.     How come I"m always the only one with grey/silver hair?     LOL    I'm actually proud of it.   It's a family thing.     We don't paint our toe nails either!     My sons all have a lot of grey showing now.   It's in our gene pool.  

It was so wonderful to see Doug again.  we have not seen each other for several years, since I stopped driving over the mountains to the desert -  and someone from his family has to be home with their dogs.   Otherwise the coyotes get to them, or visa versa.      He's going to be back again in a couple weeks.  I'm already excited about it.      Here's a picture of us.   Think I'll bake his favorite cookies.   The pic of the little boy is Doug at the age of 4 with his fav toy, a mouse named Norman.  His favorite book was Norman the Doorman.  



Matt and Christina went on a Bay Dinner Cruise last evening and I had some repairs to make on his overcoat.     They both looked so wonderful.     It's nice they could get a date nite out, and I don't have to baby sit anymore, although I offered.   The kids just laughed.     Okay, so the youngest is 16 and driving, and the oldest is 20.   But, I could still sit with them, right?   LOL   I used to take in games and puzzles.   We  had many fun times.    

October

Here it is again. Another October.  Where did the summer go?      

The family and I went to the mountains and shut down the RV for the winter.     Matt repaired the generator and fixed the steps to the screen room.      The kids helped load up things to bring home, and helped with all the projects.       With the weather being so warm this late in the year, the park kept the pool open until last week, when it started to cool off.      

Trevor and some friends went to an art exhibit on my b'day at the junior college.   There is a really nice gallery there, and the show was inspired by prose and poetry.     Right up my alley, but I didn't know about it in time to enter anything.     Sam and Pepe has a piece in it, and Caroline Henry did too.   I didn't know the others as many were from distant places.      Very interesting show with some really nice work.      Matt was acting quite nervous about the timing of our gallery hop, and I promised him we'd be back long before dark.    It was unlike him.   I thought it was because we were planning on having a family pie party in the back garden when we returned and he said it might get dark.       I was so busy I didn't think anything more about it.     Then when we got home, Trevor suggested I walk throught their house to the back garden.   When we went outside, the girls had set up the pies and plates.    How fun to have a little family time.     And then they presented me with some gifts.     Awesome gifts.  First was a metal and stone ant for the garden.   I love garden art, and they had picked this one out knowing how much I'd like it.        I thought that was more than enough, but then they had me uncover something that was covered with a black sheet.      It's getting closer to Halloween so I figured they had unpacked some of their stuff and just set it there.    I was wrong..   It was a lovely concrete fountain with a little girl on top.   Reminds me of Candis when she would play in my garden.      I love it.     I"ve been wanting one for ages, but could not decide on one.      This is perfect.    I have not quite decided on it's permanent location, but in the meantime I'm using it - and enjoying it. I'll post pics later.   

I usually work in the garden in the late evenings.   The Mexican Sage is now about 7 feet tall.  This means when the rains come, they will bend and probably break.     This is the tallest they have ever been.  The pic is from last year.     Now it is getting dark so early my whole day gets rearranged.     I've moved my late evenings into the studio where the dogs curl up in their little beds while I paint or collage.    I started painting people in an old atlas.    Roberta is doing that with one, and I liked the look, so I'm following her lead.   We'll meet next month and compare!      And swap ideas.      I thought I was one of her mentors, but I find she has grown so much I'm probably learning as much from her......   Cool.       

Good heavens another change

Every time I get used to and comfortable with some computer program, the geek brigade takes it upon themselves to change it all.    Improved, so they say.    I'm kicking and screaming cause I don't adapt easily to all these changes when I am totally happy with the old system.    

The week past

Well, that was not my best week. Two dental appointments, one for cleaning and one to prep for 5 caps. Cleaning was fine, but the day devoted to prepping for caps did not go well. I had a terrible reaction to the injections in the jaw. I didn't know there was a new pain killer - I thought I was just getting Novocaine. Well, within a minute my chest and stomach were hopping up and down and I could not stop it. They recognized what was wrong, you could see the thumping from across the room. ( It was much like what happens when you have a nuclear stress test, but much worse. And no physician standing by. ) They assured me it would pass in a few minutes. And it did. But it scared the dickens out of me. They said they only gave me half a dose. Whew. I would be dead if they gave me the full one. I told the nurse to stay with me, and if I said I needed 911 she'd better call fast. I told them to write all over my chart that I cannot be given that stuff again.

Well, that was just the beginning. The drilling went okay, the molds were made and the temp was ready to put in. It went in a little crooked however and when she tried to remove it -well, it was stuck tight. About 10 minutes of rocking, tugging, coaxing, and pulling, and it finally just snapped in half. But neither half came out. So back to tugging. Then some cutting with drill, and finally they were out. But, she had to make a new one. And then get it installed. Of course they wanted me to leave happy, so they offered me all kinds of things I could not chew - couldn't they tell???? Then they offered smoothies. I can't have dairy products. So, there was nothing they could give me but a pat on the back for being a trouper. So much for bravery!

The week before I had an eye appointment I was very nervous about. I had a brownish spot just to the left of my vision in the right eye, and another browning arc across the bottom of the same eye. My eyes were checked very thoroughly, I really liked the doctor. He explained everything and reassured me that they are floaters, part of the lining of the retina that have torn loose. The retina is not torn , that's the good news. So, I"l learn to live with my spots as they are not dangerous and I'm not losing my vision. I came away very relieved.

The rest of this week went fine. Our Lodi Mixed Media group met on Thursday and we did some monoprinting, lead by Marilyn and Patti. In the afternoon I picked up my new glasses. Two pair. Friday, Jean drove Phyllis and I to the Lodi Grape Festival to see the art exhibit. Jean took first place in water media, for a wonderful painting. It was by far the best thing in the entire show. Elizabeth took first in digitally enhanced photography, and also got an honorable mention. I have never entered anything there, but many friends do. And many receive ribbons and cash awards as well. Congrats Jean and Elizabeth.

Tomorrow the family and I are headed to the hills to repair steps to screen room, and Matt will try to fix the generator. I think I'll close up the camper and be ready for Fall. I don't seem to have much time to get up there with all that's going on down here. It's easy enough to open it again if I do go up.

Trevor and I carted off 7 more boxes of stuff to the Thrift Store and 2 more boxes of books to the Library Book Sale. They are getting to know him, we've done this so often this summer.
Now, it is starting to feel like Fall is around the corner. The days are getting shorter, the light is coming from a different angle. Neighbors are getting things done like tree trimming, and I saw another gaggle of Canadian geese flying overhead. Matt is replacing some of the watering system in the front lawn, and Trevor is cleaning u p some of the landscaping there. My goodness things like to grow here.

Bob has the videos up on his SMUGMUG site, so the family can see them there. It is really awesome how he included interviews and voice clips of family members into the videos, as introductions and commentators. Cool idea.

I had a nice chat with DIL Sherri in Nevada, whose only son just went away to college. She is having a hard time with empty nest syndrome. My son is coming down in a couple weeks so I'll get to see him - it's been way too long since I could wrap my arms around him. I'm looking forward to this. That's the news for now from my neighborhood.

Trip to Paris

No, it wasn't me, but my granddaughter Keena who just had a trip to Europe, including several days in Paris. She loved the whole trip. Years ago when she was a little girl, I sent her a poster of the Eiffel tower. I have one hanging in my bedroom, a twin to the one I sent her. I always hoped she would be able to go to Paris, and now she has. I don't know who is happier, Keena or me! Here's a pic she sent of herself on the street, where she had just purchased a watercolor painting from an artist there. Keena is an artist too, so I"m sure this will always be a special piece of art she will treasure.

White Pines Flea Market 2012

What I love about traditions, is they help mark the passage of time. Another year has passed since the last flea market at White Pines. And here we are at this year's event. If anything it was bigger and better than earlier years. I bought much less than usual, having set my goal to divest myself of "stuff" rather than accumulate more. But, I had just as much fun. Spent a lot of time chatting with friends and pointing out things they m ight use. Frances was there, Patti was there for the first time - and loved it, Rosemary came without her husband this year. He stayed home to mind the pets. Cat and Gene were there, and Mary and a new friend. The day before the flea market we spent time making prints with our new Gelatin pads. I really liked using them and think I'll be doing more with them again. Here's a pic of us in the kitchen during the flea market.

checking in again

Nikki, Lulu and I just returned from a wonderful mini vacation at the beach. The LSB Art Show was on Saturday, and it was the main reason for picking the dates for the visit. Also the beach house was available, for a change, on that special weekend. Rosemary went with me and brought her little dog Tuff. I had my two dogs in tow, so we had a row of little dogs on the back seat. They looked so cute. And they were so good. Rosemary and her hubby were worried Tuff would not make friends with my girls, but he was a perfect little gentleman. He mainly ignored them! And they accepted him easily.

Needless to say we all did a lot of walking around town with our little merged pack. Up one street and down another, down to the cliff overlooking the beach. Weather was perfect, sunny and warm. Very unusual for mid July. Inland was hot, in fact very hot. We also did some sewing and playing with magnetic poetry - and cooked. Rosemary tossed fresh veggies in a bag with olive oil, and roasted the veggies on a baking sheet in the oven. My goodness they taste good that way. I baked a small meat loaf before leaving home and had it along for sandwiches, but instead we ate it for dinner.

Speaking of sewing, Rosemary gave me a machine that used to belong to her mother in law. It has a drop feed plate, so I can try some free motion stitching. It will be a challenge. ! In the evenings we watched Pride and Predjudice DVDs. Hours and hours of it, with Colin Firth at Darcy. How fun is that? One evening we watched the first two episodes of The Vicar of Dibley. I'm still laughing.

The art show was wonderful. The weather put everyone in a good mood, and I saw lots of old friends while I was there. The whole vibe of the show was friendly and upbeat. I found some new treasures. Pieces of hand made ceramics drilled to stack together into a totem. The artist had some finished totems, but I was more intrigued by the prospect of constructing my own with some of her components. They will stack together and stay in place with a piece of rebar to stabilize it. I am anxious to learn how to drill through some ceramic plates to add to the construction. I hope my son has the right drill bit, but if not, it's on my shopping list.

On the way home we visited my brother and sister in law. Bob wanted me to add our voice over to the films he is editing - one was our childhood film. We used to have a box full, but over the years they were lost. We had some fun watching it together. Kris took a short video introduction which Bob will add to the film by magic!

Wanna take a walk?

these are magic words in dogdom. Nothing like them to perk up their ears and eyes and get them ready for their walks. In the country, walking is our favorite activity. Especially when the campground is quiet and we don't have manic episodes with Lulu imagining impending danger from all quarters.

On our last trip, we had several nice quiet days and we met another doggie friend. Murphy. Looks a lot like Lulu. When she first saw him she went ballistic, and tried to lunge and attack him, barking furiously. He's a calm little terrier, and had no response. So, I asked Wendy (his owner) if I could let Lulu off her leash so she could try to make friends, trusting that she would be good. She dashed at him like she would attack, but soon as she was withing sniffing distance, she calmed right down and they had a sniffing contest and became fast friends. Nikki is always ready to make new friends, so she joined right in too. and we spent some quality dog time with the three little pooches. We will make it a point to visit them regularly, and set up some play dates in the future. One of the other good things that came from this was that Lulu was much less nervous about other people's golf carts and coming s and goings. She didn't feel as threatened. I guess, Murphy arriving on a golf cart changed her mind about their danger. So, we rode around in ours for awhile and that went well too. This was our first ride this summer. Next week, we'll be there for several days, and hope to find more new friends.

Funerals and families

I've noted previously of the passing of some of my friends here. First Paul, then his mother Rosie and last year it was his dad Ray. And now I have to add Marlene (Ray's sister) to the list. Marlene is the last of her generation. She did not have children. She had been a widow for many years, a cattlewoman, rancher and person with personal strengths and determination. Raising cattle was her life work. She could brand, herd, and birth them. She could buy and sell. She owned hundreds of acres of land on which to house them. Now she is gone. She was buried yesterday in the family plot at the remote little cemetery which most people do not know exists.

Marlene was raised at Comanche, which is now at the bottom of a reservoir. Later she lived in San Andreas. She worked in a bank until she retired, but at the same time she kept the cattle business alive. Marlene was diagnosed with Cancer about 6 years ago, and I never saw anyone put up a braver battle to survive. Two surgeries, multiple barrages of chemo and radiation could not stop the cancer. It spread to bones and throughout her body. Eventually it took her, but not without a fight. I think it was her strong will that kept her alive, although some joke that it was stubbornness. She leaves behind a nephew and two great nephews. The nephew had taken her to live with them the last months, and she died in the same room as Rosie and Ray when they lost their battles with other forms of cancer.

There was a nice Catholic service at her home church, and a big reception afterwards. I have never been in a room with so many cowboys. Who even knows many of them. She did. With the family dwindled down there was really no one to do all the work associated with putting on the reception, so of course my bff Cat and her husband stepped up and took it on. Marlene's great nephew is their grandson, so they are shirt tail relations, I guess you could say.

The food was catered by DaVinci's in Lodi. Gene had to drive down to pick it up and haul it back to the reception hall behind the church. Marlene's friends started to show up with desserts. We got ice and packed huge chests with ice and soft drinks and bottled water, cut cakes and pies, laid out the serving things, and made it ready for food. Wow! The food was wonderful, it is the traditional family funeral food! Raviolis, Chicken, Tri Tip, Salad. Wine, beer, coffee, lemonade. And in quantities that far exceeded the crowd's appetites. The unopened portions were donated to local shelters and churches. I'm sure there are a lot of people enjoying the good food that never knew Marlene. BTW we only had one person volunteer to help with the food. He was my hero of the day. A tall handsome cowboy. Wish I had taken his picture.

Marlene will be missed. It is very sad to see this proud family slip away. It probably will be a long time before there is another generation, if ever. Zachary is their only hope and he is still young and unmarried. Time will tell.

Senior awareness day at Micke Grove

June is here. Where did May go? Whooosh! Another month flew by. Full of fun and interesting things to do, places to go, people to see.

The last Thursday in May is Senior Awareness Day in this county. It is celebrated each year with an annual event at Micke Grove park between Stockton and Lodi. It's a lovely old grove of Oak trees with a zoo, an historical museum grounds with many buildings and farm equipments, a Japanese Garden, a playground, and lots of lawns and picnic tables. It is an awesome place.

This year, I got a call from the woman who puts it on, and it seems that there were not a lot of artists represented there, and she asked if I would be able to participate. With nearly perfect weather this year, it seemed like a good place to be, so I said yes and then had to decide what art to take. And who could I get to help with the logistics, carrying , setting up, watching my stuff while I was looking around at other people's art. Trevor!!!! My grandson was laid off recently from his security job, so he was available and always happy to help me out. He was the answer to my prayers that day. This is an event that starts early. Why do they think older people are up with the birds? I like things that start at 10, but this one starts at 8 in the morning, which means set up starts at 7. That's pretty early for me, and even earlier for Trevor who is a night owl. But we managed by loading the car the day ahead, and only had to get ourselves together the next morning. Trevor unloaded the car at the art show section and I moved the car to the assigned parking lot. A shuttle car picked me up and my friend Jean who was in the parking lot too, and took us back to art show. There we set up our things, hung our works, and set up our tables. There were many empty spaces for more art. We could have hung twice as many paintings. The three dimensional art works took up only two tables, and things were spread out pretty far.

The day was perfect. I got to spend it with good art friends and we were all close enough to visit most of the day. Trevor fit right in, he likes people and can converse with most anyone. The streets were full of booths and tables with freebies and lots of information for seniors. There was a little parade, horses, decorated carts, a small band. And on stage there was a good band and a fantastic Patsy Cline type vocalist. We could smell the BBQ, and just relax and visit with old friends and make some new ones. A couple of people came by that I met the first year I showed there, who have remained in touch over the years.

There were three judges of the art this year. It was pretty obvious who they were, once they had their clipboards and started looking at everything and making notes. When I first started showing my work, this would make me pretty nervous, but after doing it more often, I am more confident and it does not bother me a bit. I am more amused by the process than intimidated.
One judge returned a couple times and sat and looked at every little detail of my cloth book entered as a three dimensional piece. I also took Alice Meets the Internet and set it on a corner so both sides could be viewed. It got a lot of attention and comments. Several people took pictures of it on their Iphones. I also entered the collage piece that was used for the Spring art Show, and the torn paper face I did a few months ago.

Finally the winners were announced. I took First Place in 3 dimension with the Alice piece, an honorable mention for the Fabric Book, and a Third Place for the torn paper face. Some of my friends got ribbons as well, and we are all happy for each other. One of Jean's students (a 90 ear old) got a ribbon for her watercolor. This is her first and she was so pleased, and Jean was so proud of her. Her picture is shown here.

At the end of the short day there (It's all over at 1 o'clock) we reverse the process and take things down and get the car and load it up again. Trevor was my lifesaver. He not only helped me, but some of the others as well.

I'll post pics soon.

Spring Art Show

Here are a few pics. We had 280 people , most of whom got into the spirit of the gala and came dressed in variations of vintage Hollywood.

Spring Art Show

It's time for the Spring Art Show in Woodbridge. Oh my, what a lot of work goes into it, and how few volunteers give so much of themselves to make it a success. We are all grateful for their hard work. The Gala event is tonite. We'll be dressing up like Vintage Hollywood and showing up to help do whatever is needed. My grandson Nathan will be posted at the door in a black suit and tie and top hat to play doorman. It will be fun for all of us. Can't wait to see what everyone comes looking like. Will take pictures and post them later.

Senior Art Show

One of my friends snapped this pic of me at the Senior Art Show this year. We were working on hanging things and taking a little break.

Wildflower Train ride

The Western Railroad Museum on Hwy 12 between Rio Vista and Fairfield has a Springtime special train that runs only in the month of April. It's a special car with comfy chairs and tables, serving the patrons lemonade and cookies and a docent to tell a bit about the history of the car, the museum, and the wildflowers. The trip takes about and hour and a half through the open meadows/valley floor. While the ride was a bit rough and lurchy, I thouroughly enjoyed every little lurch and rumble. Railroad noises like the bell and the whistle were fun too. The scenery, with the grasses and trees, the wind farm, the sheep in the fields with babies, the cows and farmyards - it was Spring at it's finest. We had 13 in our party. We took our own lunches along and could eat on the train. Two of my grandkids joined us at the last minute as we had two cancellations. There was a crisp breeze blowing and most of us had warm jackets along, thankfully. The Valley breezes are usually quite brisk in the spring, in fact now through May. Here are a few pics. The two on the tracks taking my picture are my grandkids Candis and Nathan. It's Easter break. We lucked out.

Lilac Time

Here they are. Coming in like mad and in the middle of rain storms. I picked these a couple days ago, so I could have them close up near by doorway. Aren't they beautiful? I can't have them inside because of allergies. Darn. The other pic is looking down my stairs to the garden. I keep some pretty things on the little landing.

Mixed Media Group

Last Thursday the mixed media group met and were led by Vivian Choy in a basket making project. Folded newspapers were the base. Here is a pic. I didn't work on this, but instead carved more stamps. I'm folding challenged as most everyone knows.

Fine Day with Friends

Oh my! What could be better than an outing with friends. Rosemary and Char got us to go to the Stamp Art Shoppe in Roseville on Saturday. So, with Bobbi, Pat , Cat and Pam, we had a good time laughing and sharing. Rosemary made a paper apron that was hanging in the shop. There was a contest that day, with three contestants. Each was given a cake box full of assorted supplies and their challenge was to make something using everything in the box and the box itself. They had no idea what was inside when they got it, and they were timed. They worked furiously and each one came up with a truly unique concept and did the job. Awesome. I'm quite sure I could not work in front of a crowd with a challenge like that, and a time clock ticking away.

While that was going on, I was shopping. I bought some of the distress inks in bottles with daubers on top. And a few more rubber stamps I could not resist. Each of us came home with a few new things for our art.

Sunday I made two batches of post cards, each one using the daubers and a new stamp. Some of you will be seeing them showing up in your mail boxes soon.

Monday a whole bunch of seniors showed up at the Sr. Center to hang the art show. we had to construct the structures to hang them on. The man putting it on is John Carruthers. He got a city grant to do this. He also did the designing of the structures, and precut and predrilled them, so we only needed to assemble them. then figure out how to hang so many paintings. Hanging on the front was not too hard, although it was a bit tricky. But hanging on the reverse side without knocking the front ones off was a huge challenge. It took us more than half a day without stopping to get the job done. Thank goodness enough people showed up to make it doable.

Today an old friend stopped by to say hello. He was in the area on a whirlwind tour. Dan is a singer/composer who had sung at my retirement party. I have several of his CDs and listen to them often. It was a total surprise to see him at my door, and my little dogs went crazy, now knowing who he is. He filled me in with the news of people we both know, and what is new in his life. Val (his wife) is working so could not make the trip. It was so wonderful to see him again. He is going next to Sacramento to record some music with the Anderson Gram duo. You are in for a treat if you can hear some of the music created by these wonderful people. Click on the links to hear some of it.

Spring rains

This week has been a week of light rains and breezes. I only got out to garden for short periods. Lulu had a sick day, I had a volunteer day, Candis was in a concert, and the rest of the week has slipped by with me working on special projects. Surprises for very special people so I can't say who or why here. I'll post after things are delivered. And then there is the post card for the Lodi Art Center. It has taken hours and hours and hours. Tweaking, changing text, adding this and that and then finding out how to upload it and tweak it in the program for the Vista Print and for Staples. I wanted to compare their systems and prices. Still not ordered, but must do ASAP.

ON the spring front, the swelling buds on the white lilacs started to open day before yesterday. It's been rainy since then. I'm trusting the sun will come out before too many more days, and dry them and make them open fully. They are always so beautiful. The yellow (weeds) oxalis are blooming along with the violets. Yesterday some of the geraniums started to bloom. I'd sure like to be outside weeding. Little weed seedlings are springing up everywhere. I dug up a few more of the little white birch seedlings and have them in pots. I love the idea of starting trees from seeds. It does not seem possible, but I know better. I have a number of trees planted by God in my back yard. A walnut tree, a holly tree, and others delivered by birds apparently. I always get an oak or two every year. Blue jays bring them in. My little garden is too small for all these trees so I have to tug them out or cut them back. I've been cutting that walnut tree back to the ground at least twice a year for probably 10 years. It just won't give up trying. LOL

I have pansies to put in the ground, they are still in their little six packs. Finding a spare inch of space is a challenge. I can't resist buying pansies. And Johnny Jump ups. And allysum. All come in the spring just before the herbs show up at the garden centers. Then I want all the good smelling herbs to fill in spaces. Here's an old pic from my garden.