...and hubby finished painting his robin woodcarving.  He was thinking of staining it, but decided he wanted it in color and I'm glad he did.  Now to find a special spot to hang it.  Nice! 

Clouds

Yesterday morning, the sky looked threatening.  Full of dramatic clouds, I thought for sure we would get a good rain shower.

But no.  The sun tried to peek through sometimes, but it was just a cloudy day.

Henri didn't care.  He just wanted to play ball.

playing hooky

Today Danielle came over.  She is on spring break.  I just had to play hooky from art class so we could have some art time together.  Here she painted a beautiful colorful spring flower!

In between, she picked a bouquet of dandelions for me.

Then she drew a bird on a branch and some fish in the water underneath...

and i drew the dandelions.

Grandpa had started painting his bird carving. 

More blooms at The Center

The leaves of the Bloodroot are now out.  I love their shape!

And the Cutleaf Toothwort has joined in the celebration of Spring!  "Tootie-toot-toot!"

The sweet Mayapple.

And I think this is the Wild Ginger coming up.  I can't wait to look for their hidden flower.

A day of Little Books

On Sunday, our Creative Spirits group met at The Center to make some little books.  I couldn't wait.  I had never made a Little Fat Book before.

Then, we also made a Leather Book and I used some of my paper beads on it and now need to add more.

Back to the Fat Book, I had used some of my own watercolor (copied) for the cover and felt it was too light, too late as I had already attached it, and so when I got home I toned it down with some tissue so it would match some of the ribbon I used. 

It has lot of pages (12 signatures) and so I felt it could handle lots of adornment.

So I began adding beads...

and beads and more beads.  Now I don't know if I want to cut the strings or maybe just trim them; I kind of like them.  ???

It was a fun-filled day!  We also made an "envelope book" which I have to decorate before I show you.  Thanks to Joyce, Mary and Sandy for the wonderful instruction!

"Just living is not enough", said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."  Hans Christian Andersen

It's Wednesday!

The Spring Beauties had popped when we arrived for class on Wednesday.

 And the Scilla. 

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.  Budda

My collage class, getting to work right away; excited about their pieces.  Their Studio Muse.

Lora Lee finished another one of her beautiful pieces from last class.  Wonderful color and depth. 

Peggy's fond memories of her grandmother.

Bernie is remembering an inspiring dear friend.

Sandy, paying tribute to her dear mother-in-law.

Busy, busy.

We can't wait to see how Barb will finish hers on this long piece of canvas.

Maryann is thinking of her Mom.  Now we know where she gets her love of glitz and glamour!

Carolyn's memorabilia and beautiful handwriting of her mother's.

Marge's soft and pretty garden look.

 Judy has lots of beautiful memories of her grandmother.

Back home and hubby and Henri were playing  their game of "pool" (billiards) on the deck.

Hubby puts Henri's ball in the hole in the middle of the table and "shoots" it with a yard stick and Henri catches it with glee!  Good shot!  Great catch!

Plants and animals

Yesterday was groomer day, and Henri was happy to be back home to play ball!  He looked very handsome when he came home with his "egg and chick" scarf around his neck though. 

In the afternoon, after calligraphy class, I took a run out to my son's house.  They had been cleaning up the garden; lots of things growing there from before he moved in.  We think this is rhubarb, but not sure.  I have a small plant, but I don't remember it having such curly leaves and that bulb at the bottom!  I think, if it is, this must be a very old, vintage, well-established, yummy plant!

And there's lots of them...

with a huge root system.

And I haven't introduced you yet ... but I want you to meet my new grand-dog, Shelby.  She's a Wheaten Terrier and she is a sweetheart.  She loves Grandma and I love her.

The Retreat

A beautiful Friday evening to start our spring retreat at The Center.

After dinner, we colored eggs with natural dyes that Lois had all ready and cooking.  Here is onion skins, red cabbage, daffodils. 

Later, we watched "Miss Potter", the most wonderful movie about Beatrix Potter with Renee Zellweger.  And, before bedtime, we still took time to make little sheep with the wool from the sheep at The Farm.

And crepe paper snowdrops...

and crocus.

Here they are in our little pots; the crepe paper snowdrop and crocus.....and a real little daffodil from Lois' garden.

One of my little sheep...

and another.  They are the sweetest!

A big happy table in the dining room with the best home-cooked meals.

Breakfast, on Saturday.  A yummy skillet topped with eggs, bacon, oatmeal and delicious fresh fruit.

And on to the schedule of the day.  First, making our journals.  I showed them how to put together a simple little book with an easy pamphlet stitch.

All ready for lots of good notes.

Sewing.

A walk over to The Farm and it's again such a pretty day.

Time to cut a few branches to put in water and wait for their blooms.

A red-wing watches us.

And, of course, a visit to The Children's Farm.  This beautiful bunny's name is "Peter Rabbit"!  How about that for our Beatrix Potter theme!

Sweet little chick.

The ladies having a chat on the windowsill.

Just look at that sweet face.

Baaa Baaa!

And the resident barn cat.

Showy magnolia by the chapel; just beautiful.

And daffodill coming up all over.

Back to our creativity, we collaged some Easter cards.

Pastel and pretty!

I did get some of the gals to blow eggs and here are a couple of my samples that I showed them.

Really pretty for hanging on our branches that we cut.

I kept seeing a chickadee fly into this tree stump, so Julie went over to investigate but couldn't see him.

Above are the "pink noses" of the Bloodroot peeking out last Thursday...

and here they are on Saturday, all blooming!

How about this little visitor!  He was sunning nicely under a tree along the path.

So, I finally sat down to journal for a while.  Some quiet time.

with a few pictures included from Beatrix Potter.

"There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story.  You never quite know where they'll take you."  Beatrix Potter

It was Denise's birthday on Saturday too, so for our "good-bye" tea, the chef baked her a beautiful and delicious birthday cake.  Decorated like a quilt for our quilting teacher!

Happy Birthday, Denise!