Tid Bits on Friday....

My Dad was a painter, a very talented artist although he only painted as a hobby.  He was very intricate in his younger days and went with a more impressionistic approach later on.  We found this canvas in his closet at his condo and I swooped it up.  It is 8 x 10, and I love it.  It reminds me of Autumn in Michigan, near the Pigeon River where we camped as kids.  I am still sorting and making phone call after phone call about his affairs, I am trying to do a little bit everyday so I am not overwhelmed. 

Last weekend I stopped by Home Goods, not sure if you all have one near by but it is a great store.  I don't visit very often but this visit was a great one.  I found all sorts of really great Melissa & Doug wooden toy vehicles for someone I know for Christmas.  They are the best toys and at Home Goods they had the best prices I have seen anywhere.  These are sturdy toys with no batteries, sounds, lights or anything technical, just basic, lovely, wooden toys that lead you to use your own imagination.  I also found this pitcher and I am in love with it.  Can anything for $7.50 make me happier than this?  A special treat for me and for my table.

Last week I also found out there is yet another new little one entering our family sometime in May.  You know what that means, another baby blanket is going to be made for that little one whether the parents want it or not.  This has to be a gender neutral blanket as we are not going to find out the sex until she/he is born.  I love that!  It is the best surprise in the world.  So as I was working near the yarn store in Largo, FL on Tuesday I stopped in and found this yarn.  I think I am going for another crochet ripple, alternating colors just like the cream/gray blanket I recently finished. I am aiming for an after Christmas start on this project.

Today after about three hours of Christmas shopping after dropping off Little Buddy at school, I took a walk around outside.  It is still pretty warm and humid here, not at all what it should be like for November.  I noticed that the wee little Christmas cactus I rescued from my parents porch is starting to thrive.  It was a dried up mess when I brought it home.  I re-potted it, watered it and I think it is starting to feel happy again.  

Speaking of Christmas Cactus, Princess here is wanting to be called a Thanksgiving Cactus this year.  She is blooming a little early this year, probably trying to show up her older sibling, Her  Highness.  These two plants of mine are huge, I think the wee little cactus  might be a bit intimidated with these huge, but lovely ladies around.  Don't worry little one, there is plenty of love for you here, too.

I also checked on the lettuce and tomatoes I planted last weekend in my Earth Boxes.  Yes I am trying again in hopes that the supposedly cooler weather of Autumn and Winter here in Florida will be kinder to my plants.  I know you all think it is crazy that I can be planting right now but remember I live in the tropics.  Keep your fingers crossed the fungus, cutworms and mites from my last trial stay away from these plants and I can have a wonderful harvest.

Not many berries are showing up on my Holly tree this year.  Does that mean it is supposed to be a gentle Winter?   I hear we are due for a lot more rain than usual.

This weekend I have a date with this project.  The lovely Flaum and I have not been spending a whole lot of time together recently.  I have tried to work on her because she is really quite beautiful, but by the time I can sit down I am sort of falling asleep.  And then I rudely awaken when I try to move because I hurt my back a couple weeks ago while lifting plants and boxes at my Dad's.  Let me just say it is not easy to work on the floor with little ones when you can't move your back!  I am taking this weekend to really doctor myself up with loads of warm showers, Tiger Balm (my favorite muscle rub) and knitting of course.  I am sure Little Buddy will have other plans in mind, mostly me running after him like a crazy woman.  We are going to our first birthday party for a classmate tomorrow at a near by park.  I hope he isn't a pistol!

As for Birthday's, just to let you know my sister Claudia is celebrating one tomorrow.  It is a tough one coming so close after my Dad's death, won't you go over and visit her and wish her a happy day?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.