As alluded to yesterday, we’ve been moving things around. On one of our thrifting adventures last week, I bought a new desk for my office. I have been working at a beautiful antique desk that belonged to Dave’ grandfather. It’s a lovely piece of furniture, but it wasn’t ideal. It was a little small for my laptop, second monitor, keyboard, and printer.
We got this lovely l-shaped desk for a steal at the Sarnia ReStore. And while it does take up almost all of my tiny office… it makes for a much more comfortable working space. Considering I spend 40 hours a week in there, comfort is a big plus.
But… it does mean that there was no longer room for the cat tree by the office window. I did a little rearranging of the plants, and made room for it in the upper living room.
Happily, the cats haven’t seemed to mind the change.
In fact, I think they might prefer it. There’s certainly more too see out the front window then there is from the office.
There was no sewing this weekend. Saturday, as you saw, I spent having a flora/feline adventure. Sunday, I spent most of it doing some re-arranging and spring cleaning (more on that tomorrow). When I was done, there was still a couple of hours left before dinner, so I decided to get a little work done on my paint-by-number. It’s been sadly neglected for at least a month or more.
I am, however, very pleased with the progress I was able to make in those two hours. I’ve only got the flowers left to do, and I got through about 1/3 of the shades of pink they require. If I can put a couple hours in on it every week.. I should be able to finish it in decent time!
About a week and a half ago, we stopped in at one of my favourite nurseries. I wanted to see if they had any cat grass, as Relic’s been showing signs of a little tummy trouble. They didn’t, but they did have a sign advertising a “Cat Festival” which would be happening there the next week.
Well you know I just had to check that out. I made a date with a local friend, and on Saturday, we headed out.
The festival was put on by the Sarnia Humane society, and featured a number of vendors. I meant to take more pictures, but the place was packed! I was so busy maneuvering around people and trying to get to each booth, that in the end, this is the only other picture I took.
These t-shirts gave me quite the giggle. And you may be wondering…. were there even any cats??? The humane society had a whole section of cats they had available for adoption. Unfortunately, the line up to get into that area was massive! Since neither of us were actually going to adopt a kitty, we decided to skip that part.
That doesn’t mean I came home empty handed though.
I got a couple deliciously cute sugar cookies from a local bakery. And I got some toys for the boys. I found some large sparkle balls – which I haven’t been able to find in years.
He was thrilled and we immediately had a game of fetch when I got home.
Another local vet had a booth there and they were giving away toys springs. They gave me two, and I didn’t think much of it – the boys tend to prefer balls and small stuffies. But I tossed one at Lemmy and he thought it was the best thing ever!
It was hard to get a good picture, because he was shooting it around all over the place. Then all of a sudden, he picked it up and ran out the cat door with it.
I found it abandoned in the catio yard the next day!
And you may be wondering… what about those plants…. well it was a nursery, so of course I came home with a couple.
The first, was some cat grass (finally!)
And it’s been well received by all four boys. They’ve had nothing green to munch on for months.
And for me…
I got a Hoya Kerrii – a fun little heart-shaped plant I’ve wanted for quite a while… now I just have to find a space for it!
I am happy to report, I’ve made some very good progress on the first pair of the wedding socks.
I decided to start with the groom’s pair. That way, if I run short on time, I can do the bride’s pair as a pair of shorty socks.
But, as you can see, I’m already around the heel and onto the gusset of the first sock. If I can keep this pace up, I won’t have to worry about not making my deadline.
Of course, I don’t want to jinx myself… so I’m just going to go back to those stitches.
It’s that time of year when we are all on Mother Nature’s rollercoaster – whether we like it or not!
One day warm and sunny, the next, freezing and snowing. Depsite the ups and downs, most of the snow has melted from the yard and gardens. The ground is still really frozen, but there are lots of little bits of green poking up.
Even some of the perennials are showing signs of life… like my beloved yarrow.
But for now, the most exciting thing in the yard is still the pink pussywillow.
It’s really showing off this year. It hasn’t been warm enough yet for the bees to visit… but this coming weeks forecast is looking pretty good… I miss my little buzzing friends!
Even though February flew by much fast than normal, its still killing me that I can’t do anything in the garden.
And I know… I said I wasn’t going to do anything BUT direct sowing for seeds this year. But you all know I’m a liar. I’ve had some moderate success with winter sowing. In January, I started saving and jugs/plastic containers I thought I could use. By last weekend, I had three water jugs, a salad green container, another miscellaneous clear container and a cat treat container. It would have to do.
I spent a couple hours on Saturday afternoon prepping the contaniners, filling them with soil, planting seeds and sealing them up. In the end I planted Canterbury Bells, Lupins, Chinese Lanterns, Wallflower, Snapdragons, and Hollyhocks.
The majority of my failure with Winter Sow has been when the containers got knocked over from the wind, or the cats, or once, memorable – from the leaf blower of the maintenance guys at the townhouse (they got a good scolding for that!).
I’ve tucked these ones down between some of the pots in Potager Parlour so hopefully they will be more secure than in previous years.
Potager Parlor will also be expanding when the snow melts. I’ve been collecting large pots all winter, and I recently picked this up from Giant Tiger.
A sturdy little raised bed with greenhouse lid! I’m hoping this will help my with my spinach and lettuce. I’ve always waited until our last frost date to plant them (third week of May), but then soon after temps get so hot the spinach and lettuce just bolts! I’m hoping this will work like a cold frame and I can plant them earlier, giving more time to grow and get a harvest before the sweltering weather kicks in.
Wandering Cat Studio 