Unfurling

This picture is about two weeks old, so the ferns look a little different now.  Here are some other things that happened in my yard:

Did you notice?  I wasn't the only one waiting for things to blossom.

On Mother's Day I took advantage of a sunny afternoon and assembled my new grill.  I ordered the same one Ann just got - it came in a zillion pieces but it was $95.00 with free shipping, so I was happy to build it myself.  Plus, I now have a decently-furnished patio on which to put it.

See poodle in the background?  She was busy all day.

Thank goodness for windchimes that make reflections.  Unfortunately, it is hanging on a building that is not long for this world.

All of this stuff looks totally different now.  The daffodil croaked, the lily of the valley has gone crazy and the jonquil never actually looked like that - I over-saturated the picture because it looks really cool.

This weekend I am participating in the Vermont Craft Council's spring Open Studio Tour.  I've mentioned that already, right?  So last weekend we had some glorious weather and everyone on the planet was out buying annuals.  I needed to do something to help the entry way to my "studio" so I jumped on the flower-buying bandwagon.  But first I planted a sink.

Yes I did.  You would have, too.

Then I filled some pots for under the windows on the front of the house.

I was trying to be frugal so I reused a few pots I found here - everything painted turquoise.  Gotta love a good can of spray paint.  I also painted this chair that I found here at the house.  It used to be black:

And, since it is located almost right next to that chair and we are talking about reusing stuff, sometimes found objects turn into something interesting:

Anywho, back to the entryway.  I ended up with this:

Oh I do love hot pink flowers.  I found that ladder hanging on the back of one of my sheds.  Pretty old and cruddy, and perfect with the flowers.  My entryway still looks like shit, but hopefully people will be distracted by all the flowers.  Although I would be perfectly happy if zero people show up.  That is not to be the case, however, as we are currently at the end of the first day and four cars have been here with a total of 11 people.  We met a fabulous couple who are my neighbors up the road; a woman came with her daughter and the daughter recognized Delaney's photo on my wall - they were in the same ceramics class last year; one car was full of people who probably wished they hadn't bothered to stop - they didn't stay very long; but, the funniest of the bunch were the first two women.  They drive up from the Boston area for the studio tour and go to a different part of the state each year.  Another mother and daughter duo, and it was the mother's birthday today.  Her name is Lee and she is 91 years old.  As a present to herself she bought three of my paintings - Hot Lips (my first cow), the second of my pink landscapes that I named "Snow Melts Into Spring" and a brand new sheep that I hadn't even photographed or named yet.  Woo hoo!  Awesome. Happy birthday, Lee!  You are my new best friend.

In my next post I will tell you all about my foray back to the land of the gainfully employed.  Stay tuned.