Back again

I haven't been very attentive to my poor blog lately.

One reason is because I suspect it's hardly worth reading.

Another reason is because we've had such miserable weather  this spring that my desire to think at all creatively has been nearly drained.

But the weather has taken a turn for the better, so I've decided my attitude had better do the same.

I saved another life recently. I was just coming down to earth from the thrill of saving a little hummingbird when I came across this little creature early one morning as Sage and I took our daily walk.

This little guy was in the middle of the road, so it was only a matter of time before he became a squashed little guy.

I scooped him up into my hands, where he lay motionless for a few seconds; then as my hands warmed him, he perked up.

I carried him home, took a couple of photos, and placed him in my rock garden. I haven't seen him since, but I suspect he's finding life comfortable among the plants.

He's a red eft newt, common to the Northeast, or so I read when I googled his photo. He can live as many as 15 years, and he can grow to as much as five inches long. He's got some growing to do. Years ago I used to see red eft newts just about every day on my summer morning walks. I seldom see them any more, so I was especially determined to save this one's life.

In the knitting department, I made this Multnomah shawl with a skein of Malbrigio Mechita fingering-weight yarn which I bought at The Quarter Stitch in New Orleans in April. (Great yarn shop, but with a husband waiting outside for me, I had to hurry. I gave everything a quick glance, grabbed the yarn, paid for it, and fled.)

This is my fifth or sixth Multnomah, and with every single one of them the stitch numbers in the feather and fan section have come out wrong. Suddenly, in the middle of the night about a week ago, it dawned on me why I've made this mistake on every single Multnomah shawl. Now I'm eager to knit another one just to see if my theory is correct.

My vegetable garden is planted, but what will survive and what won't survive is still unknown. With so much rain and cold in April and May, I had no choice, if I was going to plant anything at all, but to plant the seedlings in soggy soil. Some tomato plants look fine, some don't. The green peppers appear happy, as do the lettuces and the kale. The cucumber, zucchini, and butternut squash seedlings are just beginning to develop nicely. I think they might do okay. Ken finally planted his potato patch last week. He was getting a bit discouraged about the late planting, too. I hope his crop does well.

Heavy thundershowers are predicted for this afternoon, so I'd better shut down my computer and find something else that needs attention.