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Here is another new mini pincushion design – available in my Etsy shop. Stop by and take a look!

Here is my new mini pincushion design – available in my Etsy shop. Stop by and take a look!

I have started reading this book by Edward O. Wilson published in 1992 – following his opening chapters he describes this books purpose in which he will:

“…describe the formation of life’s diversity as it is understood-with traversals-by most biologists. I will give evidence that humanity has initiated the sixth great extinction spasm, rushing to eternity a large fraction of our fellow species in a single generation. And finally I will argue that every scrap of biological diversity is priceless, to be learned and cherished, and never be surrendered without a struggle.”

Dr. Wilson is the guy that came up with the idea of using the internet to create an Encyclopedia of Life, the purpose of which is to document all species of life on earth. What an immense idea!

I received the most wonderful letter back from Thomas for whom I hat made these crocheted hats. He is undergoing chemotherapy and some of his descriptions are poetic and I would like to share:

When talking about his loss of hair, he says “I’m not bald yet, but my hair is falling like needles from a Christmas tree in February” and when talking about how he feels after 5 of 12 treatments he says, “Every treatment yields unique results with some constants: feeling sick; alternating from need to sleep to sleeplessness; varying levels of interest in reading or TV; and a wholly unique feeling of being “unspooled”. This last thing is very curious, given what these drugs are designed to do, they actually unwind DNA strands, insert new chromosomal elements, then reassemble the strands. Who knew?”

Wow

After looking at so many flowers around the prop yesterday, I got inspired to get some bright colored fabric and make a Grandma’s Flower Garden quilt. Not sure how big I will make this or how frustrating the machine piecing may be, but it has been fun to cut the hexagons out and arrange them. Off to get the sewing machine rolling…

It is now three years later and I am no further on this quilt! My love for this pattern inspired me to create this lovely vase with my husband, maybe it will inspire me to finish the quilt!!

Casa de Wolf is officially a Monarch Waystation. We qualify due to the large number of milkweed and nectar plants that we have naturally growing on our property. We do not have any “grass” per se that is watered, our whole habitat is completely natural. So, this morning Theo and I took a walk around the prop to start our list of all of the wildflowers that we have growing – so here goes (Dean is up now and will help with photos…)

It is SO important for everyone to maintain some kind of natural habitat since our wild places are disappearing at an alarming rate. I would like to think that we have created a small ecosystem here (or at least not destroyed it by moving here and planting water-sucking grass and other non-natives…) and based on the bird, mammal, lizard, insect, and plant life that we have here, I think we have been pretty successful thus far.

For more pics of our growing wildflower property, visit Dean’s beautiful site Wildflowers of Central Texas

Texas Lantana

Prairie Verbena

Mexican Hat

Purple Horsemint

Texas Thistle

Indian Blanket

Nerve-Ray

Texas Star

Woolly Ironweed – this is last years pic, there are no flowers yet on this guy, should be in June or so

Zexmenia
Texas Dandelion

Square bud Primrose

Pink Evening Primrose

Standing Cypress
Baby’s Breath – pink

Black foot Daisy

Navajo Tea
Widow’s Tears

Silver Leaf Nightshade

Two-Leaved Senna

Scarlet Pimpernel

Agarita

Bushy Skullcap

Hedge-Parsley

Antelope Horns (milkweed) – seed pods from this year

Antelope Horns (milkweed) – flowers and monarch caterpillars from 07

Twist Leaf Yucca – for some reason the deer have not eaten all of these, nice to see them in full bloom this year

Snake Herb

Rain Lily
Texas Bindweed

Wind Flower – this was blooming in late February

Wild Garlic – this was blooming at the very end of March

Blue-eyed Grass – also blooming at the end of March

False Nightshade – bloomed late March

Can you believe it? Not even sure when I last blogged about needlepoint, but I am back in action. I have been wanting to create something with these great turquoise and chocolate yarns and this is what I have come up with so far. I realized that if I ever want to be able to stitch these little purses in a timely manner, I will have to use less pattern and color changes, so thus the big stripes of color. Not sure how it will turn out yet, but it feels good to do some stitching.

I think I will do nothing for a time but listen,
And accrue what I hear into myself…and let sounds contribute toward me.

–Walt Whitman, 1855

This is a drawing that I started about a year ago, it feels good to pick up the pencils again. Note to self, more art, less everything else

First stop – the garden. Green beans!

Mmmm…..cilantro. This is going in our scrambled eggs this morning

Pink Evening Primrose from the wildflower bed

Coreopsis from the wildflower bed – these have taken over

Theo leads the way…

Horsemint

Yellow Mexican Hat

Indian Blanket

And we wonder why he is scratching himself like crazy…hmmm

Mmmmm…this is so good and cooling for the summer. Dean has roma and grape tomatoes in the garden this year and neither of us have yet cultivated the taste for eating tomatoes raw (give me ketchup and salsa and I am all over it)….so I have been looking for ways that we can fix our crop into dishes that we will actually eat. After eating in Dallas this past week and having this salad as a side dish, it was fun making my own version. Next time, hopefully we will have some of our own tomatoes harvested, but was able to use our own basil.

Recipe basics:
Roma or grape tomatoes, halved
Fresh mozzarella balls, halved
Red onion, minced
Fresh basil
salt, pepper and olive oil to taste

We actually owned a Renault when I was growing up, it was not so affectionately referred to as the “tin can”

Some veg for the Grandma Saari chicken salad for Mothers Day tomorrow

Crocheted with lime and white Lion Micro Spun from this pattern, although modified a bit

Hot as ever but still fun to take a walk around the prop. This is a Square Bud Primrose

My worst enemy…the dreaded posion ivy

We have bees!! I saw no lack of these guys buzzing around the Lantana and other wildflowers…a good sign

The Mexican Hats

Pleasantly and well-suited I walk,
Whither I walk I cannot define, but I know it is good,
The whole universe indicates that it is good,
The past and the present indicate that it is good.

How beautiful and perfect are the animals! How perfect is my soul!
How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!
What is called good is perfect, and what is called sin is just as perfect;

The vegetables and minerals are all perfect…and the imponderable fluids are perfect;
Slowly and surely they have passed on to this, and slowly and surely they will yet pass on.

Oh my soul! if I realize you I have satisfaction,
Animals and vegetables! if I realize you I have satisfaction,
Laws of earth and air! if I realize you I have satisfaction.

I cannot define my satisfaction…yet it is so,
I cannot define my life…yet it is so.

I swear I see now that every thing has an eternal soul!
The trees have, rooted in the ground…the weeds of the sea have…the animals.

I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!
That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for it, and the cohering is for it,
And all preparation is for it…and identity is for it…and life and death are for it.

—-Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855)

Now available in my Etsy shop – please stop by for a look!

Periwinkle Crochet Purse on Etsy!

Wow, it is hot today, the AC has been running non-stop. Supposed to be 95 tomorrow…..here we go!

Ever since we got Theo just over a year ago, he has been really weird about drinking out of his water bowl, much preferring puddles and causing us to worry about his level of hydration. Finally the lightblub went on today as we watched Theo hesitantly approach his bowl, bob his head up and down, then back away even though he was panting and clearly thirsty. Dean, in a flash of brilliance, used Temple Grandin’s method of getting down on the level of the animal, to see what they see, and lo and behold when he got down close to the water bowl, its shiny stainless steel surface caused a reflection in the bottom. Poor Theo has been freaked out by the other black dog in the water bowl for a year now! We have always known that he does not like reflections, but it took us this long to put the two together. Temple, we owe you one