Too bad the kids have off for Memorial Day. They might have had a snow day.
30 inches in the mountains yesterday! This photo was taken from @SkiWhiteface, the Whiteface Mountain Twitter page, on May 25, 2013.
Memorial Day like November
This is why I am still eating root vegetables in May. There was snow in the mountains today!
So while those of you downstate are munching on fresh lettuce and tomatoes, I am still eating the remains of cold storage. Potatoes and kale are finished but beets, carrots and parsnips abound. I started a hydroponic garden about a month ago and this weekend, we shared about 8 pieces of arugula, mustard greens and lettuce among four people. And it was good.
There comes a time in mid spring, where I have to have fresh greens and fruit after a long winter of root vegetables. I threw slow food to the wind and bought mangos, pineapples, oranges and cherries. Don’t judge me.
More spring visitors
Avian and mammal. Spring brings feathered friends and family. All welcome.
Bluebirds found the new house by the cabin and are making a nest. 
My sister-in-law and I walked through the grasslands and she spotted a Chestnut sided warbler by the road. You can just make it out hidden to the left in the brambles. It’s not the large tan leaf in the upper right
. 
She also spotted an Indigo bunting just outside our screened in porch.
The lilacs are in bloom all around us. Their scent is the harbinger of spring. With nice weather, cool (40f) nights, visitors return to the Adirondacks in heaps. I love hosting guests during this time of year although there was snow in the forecast for tonight (Memorial Day Weekend)!
So I clean my house before guests arrive. Tim likes to wait until they leave. Any thoughts?
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Cosmopolitan
Travel time. I arrived in Washington, DC to have a staycation (for her) with my daughter and help her out after oral surgery.
I made myself at home in her beautiful apartment and tried to make a cup of coffee while she slept in. I finally found a coffee maker but no coffee. So I opted for a cup of tea instead. There was plenty of tea, hot water, milk and sugar. I had to look hard among all the bar ware to find a mug though. I spotted martini glasses, champagne flutes, beer glasses and a shaker.
Ice packs were stored among several bottles of liquor in the freezer. I did spot a package of frozen peas in there too, if needed in a pinch.
Post op, I visited my favorite DC yarn shop, Looped Yarn Works, and bought some lovely yarn to crochet boot toppers for the long DC summer. These were super quick and will just peak over the top of work boots.
I benefitted from the generosity of family and friends and helped eat the ice cream she received while we watched scary TV, The Following, and Romantic Comedies. Bittersweet.
Mother’s Day Muse
When my kids were little and people asked how they were, I usually quipped they weren’t involved in drugs or other teenage associated shenanigans.
Now that they are young adults, and make me proud every day, I am happy to report they sleep through the night and are potty trained.
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Fiber Play
Yesterday was a perfect day to spin outside and whatever I left behind was a gift to the birds for their nests.
I have plans to make a pair of leggings for a friend in South America, where it is almost winter. She wanted grey. Amazingly, I don’t have any grey yarn but I had grey roving and I spun it up into a worsted/bulky two ply. Not my best effort but I have let my spinning wheel languish for far too long. In order to wind a skein of my new yarn, I had to take a skein of Blue Faced Leicester/Alpaca blend off the bobbins. It is luscious and I have tons of it.
I think I bought a pound of BFL roving and I distinctly remember buying the alpaca fleece. There are several breeders in the area and when I saw an ad for alpaca fleeces I headed out to the address. To my surprise, it was a chiropractor’s office. I walked in and approached the receptionist. As if I was engaged in an elicit trade, I quietly asked if I was in the right place for an alpaca fleece. Sure enough, she pulled 3 bags full from behind the counter and I paid with my credit card. I cleaned it and carded it and have been gradually spinning it. I plied it with the BFL and think I’ll either knit a soft, cushy warm garment from it or use it as weft for a blanket. After I dye it. Perhaps with the lichen I have been collecting.
My braided rug is coming along. I tore strips from several old sheets and it will make a great rug for one of the bathrooms. I began with an old table cloth in the middle and it wasn’t the right weight or material. But it will remain as a reminder.
This little dress is on the needles and the baby has been born. 
It’s the Clara dress and is an easy, knit, great for meetings and travel.
Bird house shopping
If you build it, they will come.
Tim installed this sweet Purple Martin house the other day. I was nervous
when the Bluebirds checked it out because I thought they would change the
neighborhood and keep the Purple Martins out. We have never seen Purple
Martins near our house but heard they love to eat mosquitoes, which would be
good, or some people report dragonflies, which wouldn’t be so good.
Today, I saw the Martins checking out the house. Noone has put a deposit on
it yet, but I am hopeful.
Spring is in the air
The weather has warmed up – a bit too much – and spring is in the air. Yesterday, the high temperature was 85 degrees f and the low was 35 f – a whopping 50 degree spread. What to wear? Actually, we don’t even notice the cool nights, except we sleep well, or I do anyway. We’re outside doing all sorts of projects – Tim is working on his cabin; I’ve been trying to figure out what are weeds and what are not; and the boat is ready to launch.
Trees are blooming and love is in the air (and in the hills). I see a heart in the trees.
Our first Humming bird returned, Bluebirds are checking out the boxes (including the Purple Martin house, which is supposed to be used by Purple Martins) and Eastern Phoebes keep trying to build a nest inside our porch. It’s complicated when the birds refuse to keep to their own neighborhoods. Goldfinch are wearing their bright yellow feathers and are so colorful.
It’s so nice outside, I haven’t been doing any quilting or weaving. I still do laundry though and love to dry clothes outdoors on a windy day. I may find clothing scattered around the lawn, but they smell nice.
One of my favorite pictures is my porch swing in the snow. Here it is in the spring.
Time to go enjoy another day.
Busy, busy, busy
On all fronts. Despite nighttime temperatures in the 20’s f, Spring is definitely here. Shoots are shooting, I see the grass but the wooly bear still hasn’t moved, even though I sprinkled some sprigs of grass near him.
I have managed to layer four or five quilts and am getting ready to start quilting them; perhaps one or two by hand.
My new Icelandic sweater is finished. I had to attend a forty hour course, which provided at least thirty hours of solid knitting time. I was basically done when the course was over but ran out of yarn. Rather than go back to the Icelandic source for Lopi, via Canada, I ordered Reynolds Lite Lopi and knit the button and neck bands. They match perfectly. This wasn’t the same lot, or even the same brand! Go figure.
Four bracelets are in the works for a reunion with high school friends. So are 12 placemats.
Now the loom has a blanket on it. My widest project yet but by no means the hardest. I’m using Plymouth Encore yarn, which is very smooshy and washable.
The kitchen has a batch of sourdough starter in the works. I found a loose recipe on PBS’s site with Julia Child. I took a pound of grapes, mashed them up a bit in cheesecloth and added flour and water. The concoction has been bubbling away for about a week and will soon be ready to create a rustic loaf of bread. And I will feed it more flour and water and perhaps it will last for years. Will I want it to last for years?
s
We miss fresh greens in the winter and even would like more in the Spring. I found a little hydroponic grower and have sprouted arugula, mustard greens and red lettuce. We’ll see how this goes.
Now to get my butt off the couch and get outside and enjoy Spring!
I stand corrected
The other day, I waxed on about Spring’s arrival to the North Country. Not so fast.
Mountain Man proposed a hike to Scarface, a relatively diminutive peak by Adirondack standards, so I said yes. A nice Spring walk. NOT!
There was an icy “spine” most of the way and I clumped along in snowshoes. It was Spring after-all and i left my micro spikes home. I can only speak of most of the way, because when it became too gnarly by my standards, I turned back and headed away from the hills.
That’s Spring in the Adirondacks.
My walk out provided plenty of time to collect a pocketful of lichen, which had fallen off the trees, and to contemplate rocks.
I may not see dead people but I do see things in rocks.
Island and North Country Life 