{texas in bloom}

A little glimpse of our flower bed, happily growing and blooming.

The giant coneflowers were for Mother's Day just a few weeks ago -- huge and daisy-like, with petals that fold back and down to make unusual cones. The garlic, we have yet to work out if we'll actually be able to eat, but the flowers are nice nonetheless! The borage -- only just sprouted -- came back with us, as a packet of seeds, from England, and should give lovely blue flowers to put in our summer drinks. The achillea only came in packets of "mystery colour" and so I'm rather pleased to see it coming out white.

Patiently waiting for the next planting season, we have fennel, marigolds, nasturtiums, "demon" peppers, Thai basil, and red spring onions... and I'm dreaming of a big purple buddleia to bring in some serious butterfly action!

{yarn bombing comes to texas}

A little birdie just told me that a yarn bombing of the Texas A&M campus is underway, featuring the artist Magda Sayeg, of knitted-bus fame. For the trippiest website you've ever seen, click here. (But maybe give it a miss if you're epileptic, or have had more than two cups of coffee today).

There'll be info sessions taking place:

Tuesday, February 7th, 1pm, Rudder 402
Thursday, February 9th, 6:30pm, Rudder 410

Tilly and I plan to stop by tomorrow -- a room full of yarn bombers sounds like quite an experience in itself!

{a community quilt}

Last night, as the clock struck twelve, the last of the tea was drunk, the final ginger-chocolate-chip biscuit was scoffed, and the 130th square was slipped into place on my living-room floor. The enormous grey and yellow geometric pattern is a first effort at community quilting -- quilts made with donated fabric, by volunteers, for local people in need of bedding. 

You can read more about the project, and get involved, here.

P.S. Anyone else imagining a bumblebee? You know, the modern sort of bee, who's strictly about organic honey, wears waistcoats, and comes home to a minimal, Scandivanian-style hive? 

Walkies

Thank goodness for September, with Texas evenings finally cool enough to take the family circus out on the road... by which, of course, I mean go for a stroll. (Or, "walkies", as Bella knows it!)

Tilly is so excited to be able to show off her wonderful collection of sun hats to the neighbours. Here, she's sporting the pink-gingham-with-daisy, with the most adorable little under-the-chin-strap.

And though she loves the walks, Tilly is always eager to get home for her favourite time of the day: bath time!

A Glimpse of Texas

Yes, I know, you're stopping by to see if there are baby photos yet.

Sorry, not today...

just a very round Astrid, and her boots and hat.

All We Are Wondering

Another weekend has almost passed

and all we are wondering

is whether Father's Day will be the day

that Justin becomes a father.

-----

P.S.

In Texas, there are trees

eight or nine feet tall

that look like enormous flowers.

Everywhere.

It's beautiful.

Texas Reds Festival

Today, feeling ambitious, we went to the Texas Reds festival of steak and wine in downtown Bryan. What an experience! The streets were clouded with the smoke and smell of cooking steak, chicken, corn and all manner of other delights.

We strolled around, taking in all the amazing people, and stopping to rest every now and then to eat, drink lots of water, and listen to a wonderful variety of jazz, rock, and country music.

Everyone was so incredibly nice to pregnant old me... we got free parking when the attendants noticed a baby seat in the car, free water bottles, free hugs, and plenty of smiles and friendly remarks about my belly and cowboy hat! We even met a labour nurse from the hospital, who said if we came in on Monday night, she'd be there to help us!

Now, time to put those fat feet up, and hope all that walking and the vibrations from the music have gotten Tilly excited to come out!

A Day out in Bryan

In the spirit of doing things worth taking photos of, yesterday Justin and I had a little stroll around downtown Bryan. I lured him out there with the promise of an icy cold chocolate malt from this lovely little antique shop on the corner. Delicious.

And then, fueled by chocolate, we walked around, stopping every few feet so I could take a photo of something or other! This lovely rusty car was the door knob to another little antique shop:

Justin thinks I'm completely insane. He likes the new, clean buildings, and wondered why I wasn't taking any photos of them. But for me, peeling paint and uneven edges are the most beautiful thing!

And old doors.

Did I mention peeling paint?

This was my favourite shot of the day. The fading white paint on the front of the building makes me think of a geisha's face paint at the end of a day!

Today, we'll be staying home and resting, as Justin isn't feeling well. I've also decided to make my cushion cover fabrics into a table cloth, using the red spots as the main piece and adding a border of turquoise (as the red doesn't completely cover the table top!)... so hopefully I can finish that today.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Snow in Texas

What fun! It's snowing... and the snow is sticking!

I've been out photographing fence-posts,

and our lovely Bella, who enjoyed wearing her winter jumper,

catching snowflakes on her nose,

and eating big mouthfuls of snow!

Just when I thought spring was on the way! My Ugg boots are going to be worn until the baby arrives at this rate!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Starting today, and running for the next year, I'm going to take at least one photo every day. My Mum suggested this little project, and is setting up a Flickr group some time soon to show all the photos we all take. Exciting!

I got a little nervous today about being able to take a good enough photo, so took a whole load!

Justin's method of keeping the shed closed!

The shed roof

Justin and Bella on our Valentine's walkies

A sweet little flag we saw on the walk

Our Valentine's cards... Justin put a pack of 1994 basketball trading

cards in with my Valentine's card,

which gave me a good laugh!

Apparently, I got some good ones, and he put them in collector's cases for me!

We're barbequeing for lunch, and then off to the cinema... what fun!

Hope you're having a lovely, love-filled day, too!

Comfy, cozy, rusty?

This week, I'm mostly:

• Trying to find excuses to leave the house, so I can wear the wonderfully warm and fluffy UGGs my Mum sent me for Christmas. I LOVE them!

(Well, okay, to be honest, I'm wearing them inside too, and completely abandoning my Anti-Shoes-in-House policy, much to Justin's relief!)

• Eating the Terry's chocolate orange that Bella got me for Christmas, and wishing I was in England.

(Well, okay, I bought it for myself, but Bella showed

no signs of going to the shops on her own!)

• Loving rustiness. All the barns we saw on the drive back from San Antonio really inspired me, and though I haven't decided what form my 'Tribute to Rust' will be in, I'm working on it!

• Writing and illustrating a few pages on how the pregnancy is going so far. I tried using a regular 'baby book' type thing, but four lines a week isn't enough room! I want a page a day, and room to draw!

What a lot of fun!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas,

full of family, fun and chocolate ('tis the English way...)!

xo

What a Weekend

Wow, did I need that weekend! Starting a new job is very exciting, but I sure got tired fast, and so we had a lovely relaxing Saturday and Sunday.

And what's more relaxing that sitting beside a peaceful lake, doggie and husband at your side? We took the fishing rods out there, and caught a few ('small') catfish. It was great!

Bella enjoyed getting to sniff the fishies before we threw them back.

How pretty! You can't really see it in the photo, but there's a gorgeous white egret in one of the trees.

"Hey, you're supposed to be taking pictures of me!"

Hello, Texas

We finally arrived in our new home. Yippee!

(I hope y'all haven't missed me too much!!)

It wasn't an easy trip... we had a miserable moment in Junction, Texas, (*cough, middle-of-nowhere, cough*) when the U-Haul wouldn't stop beeping it's 'your-brakes-don't-work' noise, a fun-filled hour in the hotel parking lot when the bloody thing wouldn't start... and then U-Haul wouldn't even take the truck back ("we've got no room in our lot!"... like we've got more room in our driveway!)... but we made it :)

And it's so lovely... a beautiful old-timey kitchen with more counter space than I'd dreamed was possible! And a yard, with the most adorable little mobile barn-shed in it (which is currently filled with the last people who lived here's trash... but I'm working on it!) And it's got a wonderful room which is to be my studio... it used to be the garage, so it's enormous, and has all this great shelving built in, and electrical outlets every few inches along the wall... seriously, I could open my own internet cafe in here, and have plugs left over!!

So, I've been unpacking these last few days, with a little knitting thrown in. I'll get pictures up soon... I promise! And, I'm off for a job interview tomorrow, so fingers crossed! :)

Vroom vroom

The boxes are packed.

The food from the fridge is (almost) all eaten.

The on-the-road knitting project has been started... but, unfortunately, I won't be able to do it on the road anymore. Turns out, we both have to drive, Justin in the U-Haul, me in the car.

Two 10 hour driving days!

Eek!

So, in the interests of staying awake come hour 9.5, I'm making some upbeat driving CDs. Usually, I'm more of a mellow-music person (I could listen to Damien Rice, David Gray and Bob Dylan for ten hours, easily) but I'm breaking out my Modest Mouse, White Stripes, and The Doors tunes.

Anything with bass.

Anything with drums.

And perhaps a little Dwight Yoakem, just because :)

Anyone have any good driving music they use? I'm open to suggestions!

Beaver in a Bow Tie

What happens when you leave a beaver alone with the moving boxes for an hour?

She's been feeling a bit cheeky ever since I made her that little red bow tie. It was meant to go on her head (so that everyone stops thinking she's a boy beaver) but she kept slipping it off, so it ended up going round her neck. Very dashing!

I've been out, scouting the local knitting shop. Thus far, I've only been buying my yarn from Michael's (and the first few from the infamous 'Peter Jones' in London! Ooh la la!) and it was such a treat to walk into Kiwi'sKnitting company in Tucson, Arizona, today and see colour! All colours! I walked around for a while with a gorgeous spotty muted pink (which reminded me of raspberry ice cream), then I switched it for a lovely eco-friendly banana yellow, then I switched that for a so-soft alpaca grey on sale, then I put that back and got these:

(Please excuse the moving boxes... it's the only backdrop I have right now!)

It's Peruvian Kettle-Dyed Cotton, made by Manos del Uruguay, and I think it's the new love of my life. So soft, lovely earthy colours, and it's got this wonderful natural wave to it. The lady in the shop asked me what I planned to make with it, and I told her,

"To be honest, I really just want to wear it as it is!"

After which she kind of gave up on helping me and disappeared into the backroom!

I do want to make something... and that something is almost defintely going to be a scarf. A striped scarf. I'm just wondering whether to do a normal horizontal repeating stripe, or try a vertical stripe. I think big blocks look best with special colours... hmmm. You know, with three of these skeins, I've probably got enough to try it both ways! When in doubt, avoid choosing! :)

Yes, so that is what I'll be doing on our 18 hour road trip to Texas... (Justin says I'm not allowed to drive the U-Haul... which is probably a good idea) or for as many as hours as my fingers can take it! Endurance knitting... can I go the distance?

It's high time for pie time

Baby don't you cry,

gonna make a pie,

gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle,

Baby don't be blue,

gonna make for you,

gonna make a pie with chocolate and bananas!

Yes, it's time to use up everything in the cupboards before we move! Hello, pie crusts I bought months ago! Good day, pudding packets! How are you, yummy yellow bananas?

We're so excited to be leaving, and are spending the weekend packing boxes! We've decided to haul it all across country ourselves after getting quotes from three of the least trust-worthy people I've ever meet... which will be an experience, I'm sure!

Warning: future posts may make contain the words y'all, howdy, and Taco Cabana and excessive use of cowboy hat imagery!