little messes

today jeff found a new friend. he’s a shy little guy. a real slow mover and he fits on the tip of a finger. the garden is in full bloom so it’s no surprise to find this little guy. i hope we get to see more of him.

in other news of tiny creatures, the wiggler’s and i are growing pretty big these days. i’m expanding faster than i can find long shirts and stretchy skirts and my train rides are filled with silent hurried fingers on my needles.

i’ve gotten one sweater nearly done (ran out of yarn before i got to the sleeves) and a second sweater started, well so far just the hood. just waiting on another round of skeins to arrive to really get down to business. the house is quietly shifting it’s focus too. we’re having a bunch of work completed on the hallway upstairs and the back roof. a room that i’m too shy to yet call a nursery has been painted and FLOR laid in place. we’re just settling i guess. and hoping the next few months don’t pass too quickly so we run out of time and focus to get stuff done. i guess i should add agility and energy to that list too. i’m just trying to be quieter. which if you knew me you’d know what quite a task. but there it is. the quiet before what i hope to be a happy storm of new voices filling the halls of our home.

i had big plans for today. get up early, drag a carload to the local thrift store and perhaps find a bit o’ gold, clean the house, put all the ornaments away and put the tree out for mulching, maybe dig my sewing machine out from beneath the pile of fabric where it’s been buried for weeks… but then i walked outside with henry for his morning jaunt in the park and the found the day had other plans for us. the sun was out, the coat stayed at home, and we got an invite to the farm.

i’ve written of the farm before, visiting over 200 acres of woods and farmland just 30 minutes outside of baltimore always makes me feel like everything is right in the world. just to know that places like that still exist in this development crazy world of ours warms the ol’ ticker.

and i think henry enjoyed himself too. he ran. and ran.

and ran.

and me, i got to walk in the woods with my dear friend adrienne and her pup smellers. it was just what i needed. i think henry’d agree… if he were conscious that is. a visit to the farm always ensures this pup will sleep well for days. ahhh.

we’re back from a much needed road trip to seattle and portland and although it’s nice to be home… the west is the best.

we spent one week in seattle, a few days on the coast and nearly a week in portland. i can hardly explain how amazing this trip was. we spent the first week with dear friends (and their newest addition) who we haven’t seen in far too long. we had incredible home-cooked meals and long conversations, we made visited the sound and dug our dinner from the sand, we made art and drank sake and watched oh so many happy kiddos prancing about. it was just what we needed and i hope to go back very soon.

and after a quiet few days along the coast we made it to portland for a few nights at the ace and a few more at the home of my favorite jewelry designer and her husband barry. i don’t think i’ve laughed that hard for that many days consecutive in i don’ t know how long. susan, my sides hurt and my belly is still full after all those good eats… so in six months… he he.

i also got to finally meet another of my virtual friends, miss amy ruppel. and coming this friday if you haven’t already heard, amy and her husband’s restaurant Cava Tavern opens up. I got to taste some nibbles on saturday and oh geez people, get you there pronto. thinking about it makes me want to drive to bwi and hop a plane tonight.

so now we’re home, which always does feel nice no matter how much you enjoy a trip. back to the pup and back to work, but with just a hint of the west in our lungs to keep us smiling.

the 19th annual model-t jamboree brought us out to ohio this past weekend for our second year of road-trips with jeff’s grandfolks! it was oh so fun driving around in the bright sunshine through all them miles of corn and soybean fields. just beautiful. i couldn’t stop taking photos. i think i might have sprained my trigger finger.

do henry feet count?

i recently had the pleasure of being let loose inside an abandoned 1830’s building here in baltimore. the top floor once served as a brothel with little tiny rooms running the length of the hall. adrienne and i could have spent an entire week in that space i’m sure. the layers of time inside that space gave us goosebumps. have a look.

decay within decay, an old piano inside an abandoned dollhouse inside an abandoned house.

see the whole set here