Spring in Ithaca - Mother's Day 2013

 So, Vaneta and I made our annual road trip to Ithaca for Mother's Day weekend...

and it was wonderful as always.

 We spent Saturday at Cornell and went on a wonderful wild flower walk.

I love this fern!

 

 I really, really like lichen.

 

 Bluebells, aren't they lovely?

 

This is an unusual Trillum.

 

 Fern forest...I want one!!!

 

 
 

Pretty Cool Tree

As you may have seen in Keith's Blog,

 he spent considerable time identifying things.  

 

This is the formal gardens and this picture doesn't begin to do it justice.

We also went to the Ornithology Lab.  It was Migration Celebration Day and there were lots of people and activities including a Raptor rehab group.  this handsome fellow is from Costa Rica.  You might be wondering why he was in Ithaca...well I didn't think to ask, so now I am wondering also.

Thank you again, Sarah and Keith, for another wonderful Mother's Day weekend.  Vaneta,
 I think we make pretty good traveling companions, yes?!
 

Spring 2013

 

Since we are going to be home this summer

 we decided to try a vegetable garden again.

I decided to improve the area with a fence.

 Fence and gate complete.  Still mulling designs

for the entrance.  Time to plant!

 

Mom's quiver of garden carts!

Spring Break 2013

 

Spring Break this year, started with LeAnna's arrival.  Her wedding shower was held at

a delightful winery just outside Hartville.  A good time was had by all and she and Adam

received some very nice gifts!

 

 

It was a beautiful day, but really, really cold.  We were all doing our best to look

"springy" without freezing to death.  If someone had told me that LeAnna was

taller than I am, I would have argued the point, however, it would appear that she is!

 

 

What follows are random pictures from the past 2 weeks.  This is a hopefully the

last snowfall of the season.  It was cold, but sunny and dry this past week.

The rain is supposed to move in tonight for the next week, but the temps hit 65 today and

is supposed to stay in the 60's all week.  Ahhhh...spring in Ohio :-)

 

Arlo, Maggie and I got in several walks on the new trail.  Arlo, of course, didn't mind the cold.

The park district has decided to enforce the leash laws at all the parks, which I found out

after this walk.  We are pretty sad about loosing the lake as a place to take

the dogs to run.

 

 

Dad turned 83 on April 6th.  We celebrated with birthday apple pie and ice cream.  His film

camera bit the dust recently and Nancy asked for help getting him a new

camera - it should be a "good time" helping him figure out how to use a digital!

 



 

oops....out of order...here are my new hiking shoes.  Thank you, Adam and LeAnna-

Love those Merrells.

 

 

Finally!  A day warm enough to do some yard work.  This is the awesome birdhouse

that Sarah and Keith made for us - Thank you :-)

 

Here we are out for pizza to celebrate our upcoming "Grandparenthood".  Don't we look

like awesome grandparents?  Congratulations Eleftheria and Ian!

 

Here is another seasonal rental on the Harrington homestead.  Last year we had house wrens.

They had the sweetest call.  Hope they come back this year.

 



 

Look at this AWESOME garden cart!!  It is sooo cool.  It even has a cup holder.  The lady

from the garden tour called a couple weeks ago and asked if we would like to

be on the tour this year again...thank you, but no.  My cart should get a

nice workout this summer though.  I am predicting hot and dry, just for the record.

 

Becky was here Tues, Wed and Thurs and we had a really nice time, but unfortunately I

didn't take any pictures.  We spent several hours in the antique and resale

shops checking out all the cool stuff.

Now it is back to school for the final push to the end ~ 45 days, if I counted correctly.

Love you all,

Mom

 



Ye Olde Glass Shoppe

As you all know, I have been cleaning and refurbishing the basement for much of the late fall and winter in hopes of  re-establishing my stained glass workshop of 30 years ago.  The basement, while not completely cleaned is immensely better than it was and much of what is left is waiting for the Great Retirement Garage Sale slated for later in the summer.  My glass shop has been set up and functioning.  As always there are refinements to be made as I begin to use it, but at the moment I am very pleased with the results.


This is a panel I started and finished last week inspired by a bookshelf designed by Eleftheria for their apartment.
She sent me the drawings for it, but neglected to copyright it, so I stole it for my panel!



I did the joinery in lead (instead of copper foil), which has always been a challenge for me.
I felt the panel design would look better in lead.

The finished panel.  The lead joints represent the shelves of the bookcase.

A close-up of my joint work and soldering technique.  I am pretty pleased with my first effort.  It is much better than any lead work I did in the past.  I am anxious to try some more.

I also re-took a beginner's glass class and this box was one of the projects to come out of that class.  This is copper foil work and the lid design is my own.   That's and oyster shell soldered to the hinged lid.

Seville Antique Mall

 A couple Sundays ago, Linda and I spent a couple hours

in Seville at the Antique Mall.

 

 Ian, how about some old clip on bow ties? 

I thought they were really cool!

 

 I thought this was really cool. 

Think of the things you could collect!

 

 This is the fore-runner of the hoosier.

Linda's hand is on the flour bin.

The little black drawers were for spices.

This store had a very nice collection of primitives.

 

 Linda and I recently realized that inspite of 30+

years of friendship, we don't have any pictures of ourselves.

Hopefully our future attemps will be better.

 

 Cool old work bench and stool.

 

 

And look at this scooter!!

I almost bought a set of dishes, but I was afraid

your Dad would notice.

 



Bottle Blog

 

Dear LeAnna, 

 

 

 

Some are old

  

 

 

 

And some are new.

 

 

 

 

Some are green

 

 

And some are blue.

 

 

Some are tiny

 

 

 

And some are tall.

 

 

 

 

You can use none

or

You can use them all :-) 

 

 

 

 And, on a completely unrelated note...

 

91 days and counting. 

 

 

Moonshine

In the wee hours of this morning, I got up to

let the dogs out - they don't seem to "get"

the vacation sleeping schedule -

 

The moon light and the snow and the night

were so beautiful that I went back in

for my camera. 



My snapshots don't do the beauty of the

night justice, but maybe you get and

idea?

 



 

Every season has a beauty all its own.