those northern skies

Soapwort is blooming in the yard now. I think I might trying making a shampoo out of it for fun this summer.

The irises are blooming. I've got yellow, purple, lavender, the type with variegated leaves, and the bi-color you see below. I also have some very expensive irises that sometimes bloom and sometimes don't and at the moment I couldn't tell you what they look like.

Speaking of garden. If you need a humane way to keep rabbits out of your yard (and can stand the smell for 24-48 hours) Liquid Fence really works. My cabbage, cauliflower and brocolli were starting to come up and I wanted to protect them and my sister AJ suggested this product. The main ingredient is putrescent egg solids.

The only rabbit I've seen in the yard in the past two weeks was an itty bitty baby and it was so frightened it ran headlong into a board and nearly brained itself.


DQ had a field trip on Tuesday. Her last day of school was Wednesday. The trip was to a small local zoo and conservatory that is free. We hadn't visited it for awhile and the girls had a blast.





Flowers at the conservatory...the lilies are from the conservatory too.



SB wears the cape I made for her birthday. The crown is an old one I made for the girls last year. Funny how the combo comes together in a weird way - sorta of wonderwomanish. Don't you love the silver sandals? The girls needed sandals for shopping and stuff - sandals that they have to keep clean as all their other summer shoes are already filthy so we bought these on Saturday - very inexpensive but adorable. Wish I had a pair. :0



SB doesn't like the princess hat I made for her birthday so DQ wears it. I am hoping sibling rivalry will kick in and SB will want it.


DQ's teacher sent home a memory book with all the students it was absolutely precious. In it was this photo she took of the four of us when we went in for a parent-teacher's conference. It was in color but I don't like photos of myself much less in color so bah!


A few weeks ago the mother of one of DQ's classmates approached me and asked if I would be interested in helping with a gift project for the teacher. She wanted to incorporate the kid's drawings into a quilt. I thought she was nuts but agreed to do the scanning and printing of the pictures. This is it. It is navy blue on the front with a pretty swirly powdery blue flannel on the back. Instead of tying it with thread they tied it with ribbons.



The girls hug Mrs C. I told my Mom the other night that I almost wish I had more kids because teachers like Mrs C or the preschool teachers Mrs D and Mrs E make me want to send more children to their classes so I don't have to stop going to their classrooms.