Spring!

Hello everyone and happy spring!  Perhaps I'm learning to be a better wisteria pruner, as it looks like there will be many more flowers this year...

It's been very dry here so I'm working on ways to save water, remembered and hopefully improved on from our last drought.  For starters I'm saving the water that usually goes down the drain while the cold water turns to hot, and being judicious about watering the garden.

I took a vacation day at the beach, staying at Asilomar and visiting the Monterey Aquarium and especially the jellies!  Here are some very small ones that light up...

the beach:

my room...note the beautiful curtains...

I walked around Carmel, but didn't enjoy the commercialism.  The best part was this bird who visited bread baskets after the diners departed.  

He even visited my table and graciously offered me this view of his intricately overlapping feather situation whilst scanning the horizon for more profitable perches:

I've been constructing a table runner for my daughter-in-law, using methods learned from Jude...here is a view of it today, but there is a long way to go!  I'm embroidering state birds and flowers from 3 relevant states, but I just realized I only have been showing the boy birds because they are more "colorful".  This is embarrassing, being a girl bird myself and I will make more for us. Lately I was reprimanded for using the word 'girl' instead of 'woman' to refer to myself.  Hmmm, well...it's partly because the idea of being a cowgirl has always appealed.  You wouldn't say cowwoman, or cowoman...I can't even spell it so it looks right. My girlhood continues in my mind.  Anyway! here's a fuzzy picture of the table runner:

This is our state bird, the California Valley Quail (male version), that is becoming a brooch:

And lastly, Sleeping Beauty herself, resting on one of the beautiful pillows we found as recycle:

For each of you dear readers, I'm hoping that Spring is filling up your cup of wonder...xoxo, s.