scanning (for) signs of spring

100 happy days :: day 76

future pears.

future apples.

future happy.

100 happy days :: day 68

cold, dreary. rainy. but raindrop-clad flowers offer a bright spot. 

100 happy days :: day 49

sunshine. blossoms on the mirabella tree. oh, and have i mentioned sunshine!! 

so welcome!  so much happy!

it takes two

we attended the wedding of a good friend of mine this weekend. we used to work together and i used to say that she was the keeper of my brain, or at least my memory and on more than one occasion, my sanity (i should note that the times when it didn't work are entirely my own and not at all her fault).  it was so great to be there to share in the happiness of her day.

it was a gorgeous weekend and she and her new husband looked so relaxed and happy amidst their friends and family. the church was lovely and filled with lilacs and people who were happy for them and children who plugged their ears when the organ played (what is up with organs? they're a terrible instrument). everyone gathered after the ceremony in her parents' beautiful, wide front yard for champagne from her father's own vineyard (in denmark, yes, it's true - and it was good!). then on to a dinner and party that lasted 'til the wee hours of the night. it was truly a stunning beginning to what i am sure will be a long and happy life together.

we stayed with her parents' neighbors, as we were a bit slow (what, me, procrastinate? really?) to book the pension they had reserved and all the rooms were gone by the time we decided we needed one. that turned out to be quite ok, because her parents' neighbors were a couple that knew husband when he was a child growing up in the heart of copenhagen. we had a leisurely breakfast with them in the sunshine before we left, reminiscing over the old times and the people husband knew when he was growing up. it is a small world after all.

but it got even smaller, as it turned out that the groom's parents had worked closely with my father-in-law on his technolution drawings - helping him with the latin names of all of them. husband and i had some nearly-tearful moments talking to the groom's mother about him. it's been more than five years since he died, but we do still miss him. it was very nice to meet someone who had known him and worked closely with him too. it made us both happy and sad at the same time and sometimes those are the best kind of emotions because they're so keenly felt. you feel alive at moments like that, when you are truly feeling something, even if it does make you feel a bit sorrowful.

a little bit weird to run into such connections from BOTH sides of husband's family (his parents split when he was 5) at a wedding where our connection to being there was actually through me, the girl from the other side of the world.

and it makes me think, once again, that we were undoubtedly meant to be. and tho' i shudder at times to think of the chain of events that had to be as it was for us to meet and how easily they could have gone another way, perhaps it's times like this that should make me realize we really were meant to be together. these things can't be coincidence, can they? there must be strong connections binding us - and we would probably have found our way to one another no matter what.

and now, our long weekend is winding to a close. a new week awaits. with new projects and new challenges ahead. but these experiences (and a lot of sunshine) leave us fortified and ready to face it head-on. but first, a bit of rest.

* most of the photos above were taken by sabin.

sunshine, bunnies and change

and the week of awesome continues...we've got sunshine and 20°C. we don't want to come into the house at night, it's so perfect outdoors. so many good things are happening this week that not even the disappearance for several hours yesterday of this little sweetie could really put a damper on things:

and after much frantic searching, peaches was eventually found, together with her naughty brother velvet. we didn't even ground them after their disappearance and they got to go outside for the first time today. they tasted stinging nettles and then vigorously washed their little faces with both paws. cute in a tragic sort of way. and maybe a sort of fitting punishment for the whole escaping and hiding thing.

it's a good thing i decided to have a great week, because there's a lot going on and i'm having one of those times where you actually can see yourself changing and adjusting and becoming someone new by leaps and bounds instead of so slowly that you don't notice. maybe it's just spring...the air is full of the song of birds having sex, the flowers are blooming everywhere, the animals are having babies. not that any of those things apply to me (easy there, folks, i'm old!), but yet i feel the speed of the growth and change - i guess we're all just hurrying up to soak up some light while it's here.

i know that was rather cryptic and doesn't make sense, but i'm still working on it. change is hard and sometimes it happens kicking and screaming and sometimes it happens in one giant leap. it's all a matter of how you choose to face it. i'm glad i decided to have a great week this week.

more soon.

dear autumn

autumn, you can be discordant and pushy - blustery and demanding attention one second and demurely bathing us all in a golden glow the next. you're nothing if not unpredictable. maybe that's why i like you so much. even tho' your winds are whipping fine drops of rain into my face every time i step outside today, there are also the last bright flowers to be gathered in the garden and brought in to brighten up the indoors.

oh autumn, you're so demanding and real and just so THERE.

thank you for that.

it's quiet around here

sabin is sailing.
it's endlessly raining.
it's awfully quiet around here.
i'm enjoying it less than i thought i would.

but there moments.
i get to finish whole thoughts.
all in my own head.
usually while sewing.

and that's a very luxurious thing.

i've also listened to regina spektor's far about 600 times.
because there's been no one to complain about it.
(husband has been in his workshop, listening to endlessly to eliza dolittle.)

and that's a very luxurious thing.

on friday, we'll go get her.

but in the meantime, i read this. and i'm reading this. and next i'll read this. (i'm loving the library.) you can read a lot when it's quiet.

but i'll be glad to have her back.
noise and all.

so i'm counting down 'til friday.

spring has sprung

i hate to keep going on and on about the gloriousness of the weather, but it is, well, glorious. and it's never been this good ever before, definitely not for so many days in a row. at least not since i arrived in denmark in 1998. so i've waited more than a dozen years for weather this good. so yes, i'm probably going to go on and on about it.

with little religiousness left in easter in denmark - it's really about the easter beer and having a whole lot of days off (from thursday through monday), as near as i can tell - i feel pulled back to the pagan traditions on which it was founded. a deep desire to celebrate spring, to wake up from the slumber of winter and to exalt in the buds opening and the trees leafing out and the world beginning to grow again. i feel that desire as i plant strawberries and as i watch the tulips open (at least two weeks ahead of last year, i can see in consulting my iPhoto library).

there are flowers everywhere in the garden and i had to bring a few inside. maybe it's only possible to appreciate such glorious weather when most of the time it's grey and dreary. perhaps it really is true that you have to take the good with the bad, otherwise, you don't really know that the good is good. right?

i think i'll go google pagan spring rituals...perhaps we should dance around a pole or something...in the meantime, happy easter one and all!

monday evening musings.

as she's falling asleep, she's already thinking about breakfast.

fresh pineapple,

greek yogurt,

a drizzle of honey.

the garden is filled with floral surprises.

color at every turn.

the legacy of those who lived here before.

the good legacy.

it's hard to be a parent.

even harder a step-parent.

you never really know.

anything at all.

and perhaps that's just life.

they're still here.
i can't bear to throw them out.
they grow somehow more and more beautiful.
with each passing day.
and i can't stop photographing them.
in every light.

scenes from a weekend

sorry for the heart attacks caused on friday, but i couldn't resist an april fool's joke. i've never really successfully played one, you see. and after i saw the one MOO had done, with the mood ink, i just had to give it a whirl. of course i have not stopped blogging. everyone in this house would suffer, as blogging is pretty much how i stay (reasonably) sane.

so, to make it up to you, i hereby give you cute kitty pictures:

woody in the garden.

and pretty flowers:

bottom row by sabin.

a sneaky peek at what i worked on on saturday:

plus quilt layout

it's a plus quilt, using the gorgeous cloud 9 nature walk fabrics. i can tell you, after an afternoon of working with the fabrics - cutting and laying out, that organic cottons are softer and nicer to work with. i didn't get to begin sewing it as my sewing machine needs to be fixed (going to take it to a wonderful shop tomorrow where there's the coolest elderly man who i am sure can fix anything).

i wish you all a lovely week...and hope you spent most of your weekend outdoors like i did.

happy weekend!

i got unexpected flowers today from an old friend. i gave her a reference earlier this week and she got the job and i got the flowers. how cool is that?  what a way to start the weekend!

it will soon be time for G&Ts - happy weekend one and all!

pretty poppies for the weekend

it's time for blog camp, so i'll just leave you with pictures of pretty poppies. i'm off to collect adventures and stories...happy weekend one and all!

rain, rain go away....

i'm in need of some weekend sunshine, but i'm not sure we're going to get any. tho' it makes for some pretty pictures, it frankly depresses the hell out of me. i hope the weekend brings you sunshine, wherever you are....