By all means, make yourself right at home!

Yesterday morning I was doing the several-times-weekly task of dead-heading my hanging petunias on the front porch.

I'd last done the dead-heading on Saturday, and at that time I noticed a few twigs in one of the pots. I wondered where the twigs had come from, then I promptly forgot about them.

So yesterday was dead-heading day again. I'd finished with five of the hanging baskets and moved on to the sixth and final one.

I lifted it down from its hook and got a surprise: A beautifully-constructed bird's nest.

While the owner of this nest was, perhaps, a bit forward in claiming a nesting spot in one of my flower baskets, I can't help but be excited and pleased.

Watering the petunias in the basket will be tricky, but I think it can be done. If all else fails, I'll simply abandon the watering and let the mother and her babies enjoy their home. I know there will be babies, or one, at least, because I went back to the nest less than an hour later and found one newly-laid robin's egg nestled in it.

I hope this story has a happy ending. I say that because, several summers ago, a robin built a nest in my ficus tree, which sits on the front porch all summer but spends the rest of the year in my front hallway.

That mother robin laid three eggs. I watched the nest carefully, eager to see the babies when they arrived. Then I checked one morning and was devastated at the sight of dead baby birds scattered on the porch floor. A predator had gotten to them in the night.

The new robin's nest is much more inaccessible. At least I think it is. I hope it is.

Meanwhile, that first robin's nest, the one in the ficus tree, is still there. It's such a masterpiece of construction that I won't even think of removing it.

Another Multnomah

I love knitting Multnomah shawls. This is my fifth or sixth, I think.

The yarn is Painted Desert, by Knitting Fever.

The pattern, by Kate Ray, is free on Ravelry.

I knitted this rather small, to be used as an elegant scarf rather than a full-sized shawl.

Here it is being blocked. These blocking boards, which are actually children's interlocking floor mats, work great for putting the finishing touches on a knitted item. To me, the difference between a blocked and an unblocked item is night and day.

After the shawl was completely dry from its blocking session, I did the usual photo shoot.













And I was surprised, when I turned around toward the coffee table, to realize the shawl and my blooming streptocarpus enjoy the same colors!

Spring beauty

Things have been happening around here lately, things of the flora and avian nature.

A short walk up our road, to a private side road, is where I find the lady slippers in bloom each spring.

Last year I counted just seven blossoms; this year I counted eleven.

One of the male hummingbirds has taken a liking to perching on our deck railing after refueling at the hummer feeder nearby. I've never seen a hummingbird perch so close to the house. He seems to enjoy surveying the back lawn. Can you spot him on top of the railing?

Ken hangs our large American flag on the front porch on Memorial Day, Veterans' Day, etc. I usually take a photo of it from the outside, looking in at the porch. This year I decided to take the photo from the inside, looking out. This allowed not only our flag, but also the hanging baskets of petunias, and the lilac bushes in the distance, an opportunity to be seen from a new angle.

And while it's spring here, it's also dangerously dry. I wouldn't have guessed, when we were buried in snow in January and February, that I'd be complaining about the lack of moisture. My vegetable garden is planted and off to a good start, so I hope we get a good, soaking rain soon.

Third (and last!)

This is my third, and I'm 99% certain, last adult Aran cardigan. ( I've also knitted three or four children's Aran cardigans.)

I started it on April 1 and finished the knitting and sewing-together on May 15. It was a long project. This morning I finally added the buttons.

The pattern itself is wonderful: If you want to knit an adult Aran cardigan, the pattern by Yankee Knitter can't be beat. In fact, I've knitted several Yankee Knitter designs and would be hard-pressed to find a fault in any of them. It's fun to see the various knitting designs emerge from the project while making it,...but it's also a slow endeavor.

I worked on it each and every day from April 1 to May 15. I'm not saying I worked on it for hours each day, but I think it's safe to say two hours per day is a conservative estimate. Some days I gave it more of my time, some days I gave it less, but each day it enjoyed a bit of my time.

My first adult Aran was for me. I've worn it a lot. On a cold Maine winter day, there's nothing warmer, for sure.

The second was for my sister. I've never seen her wear it.

This one is for my dear friend Lynn. I know she wants an Aran cardigan, so I think she'll surely wear it. She bought many skeins of off-white wool yarn to knit an Aran for herself, many years ago. She put the yarn in a storage container, waiting for the day when she felt she had time to start knitting the cardigan.

Last summer the time had come. She removed the skeins from storage...only to discover the moths had been having a field day and the yarn was now little more than bits and pieces of wool.

So Lynn will get this Aran cardigan at Christmas this year. Meanwhile, I'll store it in a moth-proof container.

A flash of indigo

I glanced out our kitchen window one day last week just in time to see a flash of rich blue fly from the nearby bridal wreath to the flowering crab tree a short distance away.

I immediately thought bluebird!

I do love the little bluebirds, and we often see them in the spring.

Later in the day, though, I looked out the kitchen window to the feeder, and what was enjoying a feast there but an indigo bunting.

This was even more exciting than seeing a bluebird, because the buntings are not seen as regularly in this area.

I got little done for the next two days because I was on lookout duty at the window.

I spotted the bunting a few more times and even managed to get a few half-decent photos.

As it turned out, the female was with her partner, but she was a less dramatic blue.

Now the two have moved farther north for the summer.

It was nice having them as guests for a few days.

Montsweag!

Along about late March each year, Ken and I begin talking about Montsweag Flea Market and how we can't wait for it to open for the season.

It opens on Mother's Day Weekend, so that pretty much tells you where we could be found, bright and early, yesterday (Mother's Day) morning.

We picked up our good friends Jim and Lynn promptly at 7:45 a.m. and began the drive to Montsweag Flea Market just south of Wiscasset.

It's about a 1 1/2 hour drive from here, up the coast on Route 1.

Not all of the tables had vendors, but it's early in the season and the people "from away" haven't arrived in droves yet.

July and August are when the flea market is really hopping.

But yesterday was fun, nonetheless.

After finding flea market treasures, we then drove a little farther up Route 1 to the village of Wiscasset itself.

Our destination: Sarah's Restaurant, for lunch.

Many of the shops in Wiscasset display beautiful window boxes overflowing with flowers. These violet pansies caught my eye. They were especially beautiful against the fresh white paint.

Sarah's was offering a special Mother's Day menu. It didn't take long for all four of us to select the same thing: Haddock, Scallops, and Maine Shrimp baked in a lemon butter.

Delicious!

The dessert selection sounded really good, but none of us had room for anything more after the entree.

And my special find at Montsweag? A gorgeous hand-crocheted table cloth for $8.

It has a few spots needing repair, but I think I can handle that since all of the repairs except one look to be a simple chain stitch.

The table cloth is actually wet in these photos, since I just took it out of its bath water.

As soon as it dries I will give it a careful ironing and begin the repairs.

I'm sure there's a lady in heaven who spent hours and hours creating this masterpiece. I want to honor her by repairing and cherishing her excellent craftsmanship.

 

Quick and easy treat

Need a quick and easy treat to take to a friend's get-together this weekend?

This one is so easy it's almost embarrassing, and it always draws compliments. Friends will be in awe of your creativity. They will be in awe of the dainty pastry exteriors and the delicious, creamy interiors. They'll know you must have spent hours making these little treats just for them.

And you'll want to laugh, because all you did was buy a package of cream horns, slice them, and plunk half a maraschino cherry on top!

Happy May, everyone. I love May. Love, love, love it.