I Like #251

 Welcome to another week of things to like!

Lots of dogs this week as always.  My sister gave me a bunch of big foam chunks from her old latex mattress we cut up and I finally got around to making another cover for one of them to be a new dog bed for the studio.  Very thick and cushy.

Of course not nearly as cushy and warm as my bed; I usually try to get it made before they can roll into the sheets, but I failed this morning.

I had my first flower come up in my garden this week.  Sadly, even though I have no objections to dandelions in my yard, I didn't want it in my garden bed so I pulled it up.  The roots were like carrots!

Cash came over this week to play with Spooky.

And I made a run to the Norman Compost facility and filled up dog food sacks and crates with compost for my new garden bed.  It's not quite full but getting closer.  Unfortunately now I'm sore, but it's worth it if I can have good stuff in the garden.  After several warm days it's cooled off again, hopefully we won't get a hard freeze.  I love the cool weather in spring.

I also found a good new podcast this week, it's called Cautionary Tales by Tim Hartford.  It's been very thought provoking thus far!

I hope there is good in your week!  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

I Like #250

 Welcome to another week of things to like.  

I received an exciting pack of dahlia seeds last year when I bought the outstanding and beautiful Discovering Dahlia book from Floret Flowers but I didn't get around to planting them last year.  I decided to try them this year, but immediately after getting the seeds planted I dropped the seed tray and it splatted all over the floor.  I was so so sad! I swept it all up and put it back in the seed tray hoping that maybe a few would still sprout.

And now a few days later, I'm so excited, I have two little sprouts!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will keep growing!

Also on the garden front, I built a new raised garden bed this week to replace an old in-ground bed that was always overgrown.  Still too cold to plant outside, but I'll be ready.  We had a major major rainstorm this week (my friend got 2.9" in one day at his house) so right now my backyard is pretty much underwater.

Spooky and Blue are doing well, as weird and loveable as ever.

I saw this on instagram this week and it made me laugh.  I guess we've been loving, complaining about, and documenting the headache-inducing foibles of our pups since antiquity.  Instead of 3000 phone pics of what the dog damaged, one mosaic!

I shipped of my smocked art quilt Cloud Rim: Summer 1991 this week.  It's going to the show Evolutions at Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum which opens April 18 in Golden CO.  Stop by and see it if you're in the area.  I'm very excited because not only do my mom and I both have pieces in it, my friend and fellow cell biologist Kathy Suprenant has a solo show at the museum at the same time!

It was nice and warm this weekend and I got to go walking with a good friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while.  We walked in a part of Norman I hadn't explored and there are all of these wonderful historical exhibits, including several of these bronze scale models of Norman at various times throughout history.  They are super detailed and super cool!  So glad she introduced me to the area!

She's also a reading friend and introduced me to some new science fiction,  the new book I read this week is Infomocracy.  I really enjoyed it (sort of a near future sci-fi mystery) and am looking forward to reading the next two in the series.

I hope everyone is hanging in there!  For more things to like, click over to LeeAnna's!

I Like #249

 Welcome to another week of things to like!

I love my microscope at work.  I had been seeing all these little tiny black-red flecks around my houseplants and was so worried I had some sort of pest, so I gathered them up and looked at them under the scope and determined they're just woodsorrel seeds.  The woodsorrel grows in some of my house plants, sometimes I let it grow and sometimes I pull it out.  Regardless, I'm glad it wasn't bugs!

Blue and Spooky would like to play!

On Sunday I made a quick day trip to Dallas, in the late afternoon I had to go to the Dallas Quilt Show both to see the show and to pick up my quilts, and I spent the morning visiting Becky and her family.  Auto was very concerned and kept sniffing around trying to find Spooky (I left my dogs at home).

I think Checker just thought I had a treat.

The Guinea Pig did not care about Spooky- she just wanted a lettuc.

There were tons of wonderful quilts at the show, both traditional and art quilts.  I just thought I'd share a couple of favorites.  This piece "Summary" is by my friend Deborah Boschert, I found it so balanced and calming.

I always love to see Andrea Brokenshire's exquisite painted flowers, I swear they get more beautiful every time I see one.

I fell in love with this beautiful and subtle landscape by Linda Creagh,  the trees are laser cut with really beautiful texture and detail and I love the gorgeous light colors in the background creating the skyline with paint and thread on silk.

I took my lab members out to lunch this week for to celebrate one of my students passing her general exam.

And it's always best to close the way you open, with Blue and Spooky.

All in all, it was a week filled with blessings amid the ongoing chaos and war in the world.  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

I Like #248

 Welcome to another week of things to like!  

This week I read (listened to) two fun mystery books I'd recommend if you like mysteries.  They're a little thrillery but not too much.  They're both by Lucy Foley, one is called "The Paris Apartment" and the other is called "The Hunting Party"

I also like the symphony, we got to go to the OKC Philharmonic for the first time in months this weekend.  They played Mahler's first symphony which was lovely but also a violin concerto (No. 2) by a contemporary composer named Jonathan Leshnoff.  I thought it was really amazing, very moving and like a fantastical epic poem.  You can listen and read about it here:  https://www.jonathanleshnoff.com/violin-concerto-no-2

I love Liz Climo's cartoons, they're often about friendship and always charming.  I'd definitely recommend following her on instagram.

And of course my pups are good.  Always interested in a cookie to chew on (or a blanket, part of which is still dangling from spooky's mouth)

Spooky sleeps in the bed, and Blue just climbs up there in the morning while I'm showering.  Neither want to get off so I can make the bed.

I hope everyone is having a good week.  Click over to Lee Anna's for more things to like!

I Like #247

 

Welcome to another week of things to like. 

This week was filled with the second half of the ice storm, so we mostly stayed in.  Spooky unstuffed the pouf again one day when I neglected to put it away before going to work, but that's just my fault.  Lots of snuggles with the pups, and then lots of mud on them as the ice and snow melted.

When everything was melting I had a lovely swimming pool in the backyard,  now it's 77 degrees and I have a swamp instead.  #springiscoming.  I don't even mind, we so desperately need the moisture.

I 

I started working on something new this weekend, in common with many of you I'm sure, I've been so stressed and worried about the horrifying situation in Ukraine.  I needed to be doing something with my hands that didn't require a huge amount of planning, so I started a piece using couched yarn.

I hope amid the world chaos and darkness there have been some bright spots in your week.  Click over to LeeAnna's to join the great community.