Gabriele's Flower Color Journey

Flowers Arranged by Gabriele of naturalinjapan

 I am thinking about my friend Gabriele these days, and some of our friends from Sendai.  Gabriele is from Chigasaki, Japan and lived near a crippled nuclear plant.  She and her family of two children have left their home forever and moved south out of the danger zone.  She is ensconced with her husband's family as they wait and try to decide what to do next.  This is what she wrote yesterday in her comment on her blog naturalinjapan:

Dear Beth, it is hell, as nobody cant decide anything, cant guess anything, cant say anything, its a time without a future. Worries dont finish, we cant start cleaning up, cant start mourning, cant start hoping,just staring paralyzed at Fukushima, its more stressful as the tsunami or the quake, because those actually finished. Only these 2 terrible events would have resulted in activity, in sad activity, but in activity, not into this unbearable waiting, into this seemingly endless fear. nothing left than praying.

Can you imagine?  Pray for my friend, Gabriele, and her family, and Japan.  In honor of her and her adopted country, I am linking to Gabriele's wonderful post for Acorn Pies, "A Flower Color Journey."  Gabriele designs and teaches flower arranging, and even has a book out about how to arrange flowers sensitively, by closely observing color detail.  Click on the title of this post to read it. 

We are thinking of you and your beautiful Japan, Gabriele.

A Baby's Busy Day

 It's a busy day and there is so much to do!  I need to blow some bubbles,

clear twigs out of a crack in the pavement,

 

arrange the gravel,

check for holes in the wall,

touch the flowers,

 give full attention to a lollipop,
 

 

 inspect a dead tree and
 

 an old stump, 

take five in Mommy's arms,

 do play dough with the big children,

check out a toy Daddy had when he was a little boy,

do lunch,

help Mommy sweep the kitchen floor,

read a book without sitting down,

and take a power nap.

After my nap, I'm in such a hurry to get back to work, I don't have time to put on any pants.  What a busy, busy day!

Hat Love

I love to knit hats for people I love. I knitted this hat for my little boy. We passed it on to the little girl in the picture above, a good friend of ours. I love to see her wearing it. I designed it with the help of my collection of pattern books.

The pattern for this hat comes from Purl Bee. It was free, and the name of the pattern is "Giacomo's Hat." The colors suit this little red headed friend of mine very well.

I made this bonnet for the baby next door. Her mother loves bright colors. No plain old pink in that family.

Hand knit hats are wonderful new baby gifts.

This soft cotton spring hat was my child's, since passed on to a little friend. The pattern for this hat, and the orange bonnet, come from Minnow Knits, Too.


I designed this hat in collaboration with my son. He wanted volcanoes spewing fire and ash. He told me what colors to use, and I used graph paper to chart the design.

I use this Yankee Knitter Designs pattern over and over for my own color variations and charts. It is excellent. All patterns are written for both worsted and bulky weight yarns, for infant through adult! I love to use stripes....

Pink and white for a niece.

Blue and white for me....

Blue and gray for my grown son, Nicholas....

with a cashmere lining from an old sweater of his father's, so the hat won't be scratchy.

In the colors that the little one requested...

In blue and white for a little buddy, still on the needles....

and in some favorite colors of mine, blue and green, for another little friend! Knitting hats is one of the things I do to lift my spirits in the gloom of winter. I feel happy when I am doing something special for someone I love.

Let Your Baby Touch Spring

Spring is just beginning where we are, but I am so longing to be outdoors, in the sunshine, barefoot, with flowers blooming all around, dazzling my wondering eyes. The burst of spring documented in this post won't be here in New England for six weeks or more. But I can experience it now through the eyes of my nephew, in this posting from last spring.

Take me outside! Take me out of the stroller or sling and let me touch spring!

Let me feel grass on my skin.

It prickles.

It tickles. It makes me curl my toes.

Let me reach out with one finger to touch this eye-popping, velvety red azalea.

I love it.

I love this leaf so much I want to pull it off, put it in my mouth, and find out more about it.

I bring my hands together, gently, gently, to touch these candle-like blossoms.

I stroke these soft iris blades.

And when you bring lilac close to me, I am amazed. Light, softness, and fragrance. I'm going to need a nap after this. And my dreams are going to be breathtaking.

This adorable little butterball is my nephew and Godson. I love him. Take your baby outside like his Daddy did, and let him touch spring.

Visit to the Horse Barn

We visited the horse barn where my niece rides last weekend. The tack room door was standing open and we went inside.

Each horse has its own bridle.

These are some traditional velveteen riding helmets.

These are girth buckles. The girth is the strap which holds the saddle on the horse's back. It goes under the horse's belly. Did you know that horses will inflate their bellies a bit to make sure that the girth is put on loosely and comfortably? You have to tighten the girth before you mount, so that your saddle won't slide off with you on it.

Here is my niece putting on the horse's bridle. She worked surely and swiftly as she tacked up the horse.

My niece is a beautiful young rider.

Here is a funny barn dog. He is sitting as close as possible to a girl waiting for her turn to ride. Every time she moved over, he scooted closer, and leaned on her.

Look at all these beautiful, sensitive faces.

Look at the long whiskers on this velvety nose and chin, and the cavernous nostril.

I like this horse's calm, alert expression, as my niece groomed him after riding.

The horse was sweaty under his saddle after the riding class, and my niece curried and brushed him until he was dry. Then she covered him with a light blanket and put him in a stall.

The horse's ears swiveled to and fro, listening to all the voices and activity in the barn.

Here is the coarse mane hair.

In this picture, my niece is scraping the mud out of the horse's hoof using the hoofpick. There is a tender bit on the bottom of the hoof called "the frog" which I was always very nervous about poking when I was a girl and had to do this, but my niece worked with confident care. I was so proud of her and so fascinated with all the activity around the riding barn. I realized how wonderful it is to be around horses, all over again, and that I miss it. I even miss all the horse smells- the sweat, the leather, and even the manure!