Thursday, February 26, 2009

What a Beauty!

It's a startlingly gorgeous morning. Snow, sunshine, visibility to the Olympics, new flowers, pheasants and bunnies. The cherry tree is just starting to bud out. The hamamellis is at its peak, crocus are bursting and narcissus are sprouting. Spring is on the way despite winter's grip on the temperature and white precipitation. Oh my oh my it is just gorgeous out there! It's a day to say, thank you for being alive!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Necklace

My latest crochet.
Cotton lace thread #40 Daiso.
I used my great grandmother's hook.
It is a lovely decorative steel hook.
I wish I had more of them.

Monday, February 23, 2009

NW Flower + Garden Show


I love the pattern + patchwork quilt quality to their display!
Ah the texture of California!
Wow! What a trough!
I loved these succulent balls hanging around the shop.
They had upside down succulent pyramids too (see below).


This year marks the last for the garden show in Seattle. It has been the biggest garden show on the west coast. Rats! No more browsing the delicious lily and dahlia shops. No more garden show great deals from Lee Valley. No more chit chatting with the experts. What a shame to end this rite of spring. Shown above is my favorite spot at this year's show. It's the Smith + Hawken shop booth. It wasn't even a garden display but it was far more inspiring than the mediocre grand displays that get all the attention.
Long ago I quit my job from a sexist bullying landscape architect's office to study for my landscape architecture exam. During that time I worked at Smith + Hawken in their original Mill Valley store, before they sold out to a corporation, and Paul Hawken's office overlooked the nursery from across the street. He didn't like it that I wore my Ville du Sole (oh I miss that store!) French hat while working in the nursery. He sent word to the store to have me remove my lovely hat and wear a Smith + Hawken straw hat instead. Too many customers were asking where I had bought my lovely French hat, and he was getting miffed.
That was a lovely summer. The plants were propagated in part and selected by the great plantswoman Sarah Hammond. The planting displays were exceptional! She said that they had never had another employee in the nursery that could sell as many plants as me before. It was my unbridled enthusiasm that roped in the buyers. After studying at Oxford, a few years earlier, and writing my research paper on Folly Farm, a Gertrude Jeykyll garden, I was fully engulfed in the English perennial border mania that was rising at that time. It was dreamy working regular business hours in a lovely inspiring place. That store is no more. The corporate takeover wiped out that little haven for garden aficionados. Sarah gave me a gorgeous Deutzia 'Goldsal Pink' when my son was born. She had brought back the plant from England and propagated it in her Bolinas nursery. I still have that plant growing in my garden and swoon when it blooms. By the way, I passed the five day landscape architecture license exam that summer, quit my job at Smith + Hawken, and went to work in another architecture + urban planning firm in the city. Yes, I made more money as a professional, but working at Smith + Hawken was more enjoyable by far.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Crochet

Using a tiny crochet hook
I made a cell phone pouch
to easily find my phone in my purse.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

Crochet stuffed with lavender, I love the asymmetry of the shape.
Great pattern found on Ravelry.
(You have to join to see the web page)

Monday, February 09, 2009

Pretty morning

Hamamelis 'Arnold's Promise'

I think that the pheasants watch for me to put out the bird seed.
As soon as I step back inside
they seem to come out in a flash
to gather up the droppings from the feeder.

We're getting close. Close to my self-determined date of the return of light. I consider making it to Valentine's Day, with sanity intact, as the date when the length of daylight is no longer an issue, and when I breathe a sigh of relief. By then I no longer subconsciously complain about the grimness of the northern winter. By then there is a sufficient amount of daylight to quell any longing to go south. And just at this pivotal point in the earth's rotation a lovely dusting of snow reminds of winter's renewed grip. Yesterday, while tidying up in the garden, I found crocus pushing up through the surface of the earth with tight buds. Soon the vast expanse of purple petals will be here. Those guys are such prolific reproducers. I don't mind one little bit that they have spread all over the garden.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Hooked

All of the patterns in Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Lacy Crochet are lovely. It was fun and I will definitely make more patterns from this book.