There have been a few drafts

since the last time I posted but none have been posted. I haven't posted for a number of reasons. None of them are sinister. A bit of the energy I used to put toward blogging has gone to librivox.org. I've recorded a few things (I'm not saying which) and I've listened to a fair number as well. There have also been the usual hobbies, knitting, reading, gardening and life, that have gotten in the way.

There is a knit baby gift that is in the offing, but it is taking a long time. I'm quite pleased with it though. Soon I will be able to post a picture of it. The baby has been born, and I was lucky enough to be present. Can I tell you, there are few occupations more worthwhile than being at a birth and being useful. I have acted as a doula for several of my friends, but now I think it is time to branch out. I can't do it too often, but about four to six times a year will be just right.

My next knitting project will be Monica from the Spring edition of Knitty. Fiona and I chose Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece Cherry Moon and Prosperous Plum. Here is the color card. I'm going to take a chance and work this in the round. I just don't feel like doing all of the knitting then purling. I want something mindless and relatively quick. I'm setting her birthday as my finishing goal.

The garden. I've planted a passion flower vine in the front to climb up the wires from the utility pole that is on the property line. It looks as if the buds will open any day now. June weather is never particularly warm here, so I am waiting for July. The heat it brings will surely open up the flowers.

My husband helped me plant a climbing rose. It is looking a little pale, but I think I am just nervous about it. The trellis/arch for it to climb is laying in the front yard. It has been a bit challenging to get it up, just right. We will try again after the first of the week.

My brother built a lovely raised vegetable bed for me, and my husband moved 5 yards of dirt into it. So far I've planted four kinds of tomatoes and two kinds of carrots. The tomatoes are Sweet Million (cherry), Egg Yolk (cherry), Limmony (slicing) and Beefsteak (slicing). The carrots are Thumbelina and Yaya.

Our main bathroom has been torn apart for remodeling for ages, and recently we have started making some progress. We have a lovely tile floor now and a re-glazed bathtub. We've had one plumbing contractor in for a quote and we will be having another soon. Our kitchen sink drains into the same pipe at the same point as the bathroom sink. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, except there is a garbage disposal in the kitchen sink that shoots chewed up food bits and yucky water into the bathroom sink. Charming! So we are going to get it all magically rerouted so we can have the garbage disposal and a food-free bathroom sink. We also had an old toilet that used something like 5 gallons of water per flush. That will be replaced with a 1.6 gallon toilet. I'm hoping we can find a good price on a dual flush toilet.

Our house didn't really seem like our house until we started doing things to it. We painted the bedrooms and then the living room. That really made it feel like home. The more we do to it, the less I think of leaving it. When we bought the house we only expected to stay in it for 5 years, and then find something better. It's been three years and now I only think about staying.

Here is a picture from earlier this spring when we went out to the tulip fields.