Laowai

Brian and I are back from Italy and full of gelato.

We made some great memories and took lots of photos. I'll report soon.

I made two pairs of shorts for Claire's Birthday – summer will be here someday right (?).

And for myself I tried a new pattern called the Marcel Dress/Top. I think this dress would make a nice beach coverup. To try the pattern out I used an old sheet for a muslin and since I'm happy with the fit I will wear it as a summer nightie. 

And I've started a new knitting project. It's a basic two color sweater that is knitted from the top down. Here's a close-up view of my fuzzy yarn and the collar and shoulder stitches. 

I'm excited to do some airplane knitting – Brian and I leave for Italy tomorrow!

Hard to believe but Claire turned twelve this week. I find it difficult to get nice natural photos of my girls now that they are older. But here are a few recent shots of Claire – returning from a school party, doing some baking and goofing around with Brian.

For her birthday she took a few of her sweet girlfriends to dinner. 

I made a yellow cake with strawberry curd inside and strawberry buttercream on the outside. And luckily we got to have birthday dinner with Grandma J. since she is visiting. Why didn't I get a photo?

Happy Birthday love!

I took a walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden today. Knowing the names of lots of plants makes me happy. A walk through the garden is like visiting old friends. 

And I saw one more friend today. I noticed a big dragonfly on my rhubarb plant. I was surprised to see him since we don't get too many dragonflies in our yard and also it seems much too cold for him. I noticed him in the morning and he was still in the same spot as the sun started to go down. I hope he can get some warmth soon.

Peas:

Daffodils:

Windowsill:

French Macarons:

Baby Globe Thistle:

Easter candy:

Living room:

Storm windows out, screens in:

Seedlings:

Window restoration progress:

 

… and laughing. Bea got her driver's permit on Friday and then we went to a big parking lot so she could get behind the wheel for the first time. We got to laughing because she was stopping so abruptly. 

Surreal moment. Good moment.

Time to get busy on my sad windows. My garage workshop is set up. Today I took out a set of windows from Claire's room. I removed all the old putty and glass. And I didn't break one piece of glass!

What are we up to? Not much. Mostly waiting for Spring. I peek around the yard looking for any bits of green popping out. I check on my tiny pea plants each time I walk to the car. I open the back door and stand there listening to the birds while it's still dark. It's all coming in it's own time but I'm impatient. 

Claire came home from school with a swollen and painful thumb last Wednesday. She was playing around with her girlfriends and she fell down with her thumb going straight into the concrete. Ouch. By Friday it wasn't any better so we went and got and x-ray. We found out she has a small fracture on her thumb. Poor thing. It's her right thumb so she can't write (or text) very well. So she is also trying to be patient.

Here's a photo of her bedroom. She got a hand-me-down bed frame last weekend. It helps keep her pillows from scooting off the top of the bed in the night and it has a trundle too. I love the she loves to decorate her space. She's always adjusting her wall of photos.

Our trip to Italy is coming up and it's on my mind. I had to have a new accessory for the wedding weekend. A cute vintage basket handbag from Etsy. It's so summery isn't it!

Brian took me to the Lyric Opera, they were performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony and I enjoyed it very much. It was fun to see the musicians (something you don't get when you watch an opera).

Almost done with another knitting project. It's a pillow.

Cinnamon rolls. I've had good luck with Shauna Sever's recipe lately.

I was vowing to take it easy with the Easter candy this year – since I still have a chocolate bunny from 2021 in the back of a cupboard. But then Brian told me yesterday that Easter candy is his favorite and he wanted some. With his endorsement I went a little wild and now we have every kind of Easter sweet that you can buy at an American grocery store.