Gorgeous Spring Day

Today's postcard


It was a gorgeous spring day, sunny . . . .

and warm.

I had a tire replaced at a store on Fourth Street, and while I was waiting, I took the bus to Cincinnati and the art store, where I spent too much, not a surprise. That's where I found these blue footprints. They had very cool scrap packs of mulberry paper on sale, as well as individual sheets. I'll just pretend that the tire cost a little more.

I walked back across the bridge and spotted this banner at Newport on the Levee. I'd like to have one of those banners at my house. They really should sell them.

Lightposts Along the River

Today's postcard

Along the river at Newport -

April Challenge Update

Today's postcard - painted paper towels - the pretty texture doesn't show up.

The middle of the month is here - time and then some to start the April challenge - how I do feel about change. I enjoyed the Structured Fabrics class I took with Dena Crane and decided to use that technique since it changes the fabrics. I'll just try to build in some positive thinking to reflect that I enjoy changes.

Here are my basic fabrics.

And here is my woven check. Don't worry - there probably won't be scattered frog legs by the time it's finished.

Pictures from tonight - Nora making salad - she's just so grown up with her new haircut that it tugs at my heart.

And Aaron's bath - he loves it and he sits well enough that giving him a bath is easy now.

Tax Forms Are Gone

Today's postcard

I'm feeling good - my taxes went off in the mail today. The semi-circle of tax-related papers on my office floor is picked up and out of sight and walking to the desk is no longer a challenge. Maybe now I can be more creative.

No pictures of the post office, since it's 60's institutional ugly - we'll just look in front instead. There is a second post office in Newport, very old and charming, but it's only open in the mornings and I wasn't ready in time. I'll show you a picture of that one of these days.

When I was growing up in Bluffton, Ohio, I loved to go to the post office and admire the huge mural that took up one entire wall. I can't remember what it looked like, but a quick internet search tells me that it is "Joseph Deford and His Friends Building the First Cabin in Bluffton" by Satee Graziani, oil on canvas, 1941. That article says that most post office art works were not WPA funded but were commissioned under the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture. History for the day.

Like Me

Today's postcard - Cape May - for Cindy

I stopped by Steph and Mike's today to pick up some oh-so-cute studio pictures of Aaron. Nora was excited that Grandma and Pap were coming and was agreeable to taking a nap before they came. She fell asleep with a nice selection of books - just like me. I'm surprised, sometimes, that the clunk of a book falling to the floor hardly ever wakes me.

Like every other day, Aaron was not agreeable to napping. He usually cat naps a couple of times, 20 or 30 minutes each, both at home and at school.

My sister likes to spend a few days at Cape May in the summer. Several years ago she sent me a picture of a pink fence with some flowers and plants. I always meant to make a little quilt of that picture and tonight I decided to just go ahead and do it, even though the little postcard doesn't do it justice. Sometimes you just have to make a start - maybe there will be a bigger quilt later.

Spring Light

Today's postcard

I love the light of a sunny spring day. Not too intense, not too warming, so welcome from the bleak winter days and the overcast spring days.

My neighbor's tulips -

Flags at Newport on the Levee -

Ohio River from Newport

Pictures of April

Today's postcard

How wonderful to see the flowers of April. Not in my yard, although next year will be different. I've been looking hopefully for a daffodil or hosta shoots or even the pansies I planted last fall. No luck, although there will be peonies in a month or so. But, other places share their beauties with me.

Ever since we moved to Aberdeen and I first saw the combination, I've loved the mix of pink and white dogwoods planted close together. Different places, different landscaping. In Fremont, a redbud tree was a treasured ornamental tree, in Berea they grew wild on the hillsides. In Detroit, flowering crab trees were the tree of choice for suburban front yards.

It's amazing how ornate some of the common flowering trees are.

We're supposed to have rain and cooler weather for the weekend, but surely tomorrow will be a good day to plant lettuce.