Winnowing redux and other plans

 I saw a bee on the lavender this morning, first one on it, which tells me it's nearly ready to pick and share. Bees are great indicators of when blossoms are ready.

Several friends will dry their share to use on the linen shelf, one, a great cook,  is planning an ice cream experiment. A day or two more sunshine will bring up the scent into the flowers.

And our cool rainy spring has kept the pansies going much longer than usual

And driven up a lot of foliage

Indoors, Winnowing is happening again. After waiting long enough to be sure, I'm moving along some crewel and other yarns.

They'll do well at the thriftie, when I get there. I've used all I can of them, and they're good quality, so someone may be happy.

This is the result of receiving an email about a yarn sale, which caused my Inner Cheapskate, I mean Green Warrior Guarding the Earth, to say are you sure you need to buy? Check upstairs 

And I did, finding the Winnowing material, also this, 

Beautiful fine wool, which I'd forgotten about and is  just like the thing that I nearly bought and now don't need to. And some fine cotton that will go with it. 

I don't have a great track record of rendering skeins into usable balls, not having one of those machine things (swift?)  but my mom didn't have one either. 

She did usually have a kid, me, though, available as a yarn holder and steady waver-about to keep the rhythm going without snagging the yarn and annoying the knitter.

The Tunisian Mitered Square learning seems to have reignited my Square hunger, so the skirt can wait a little. The weather's stormy anyway, not exactly skirt weather. Anyway that's my story.

No, I don't know what I'll make. I'll make squares until I find out.

First trip to the garden center

This year everything's late, so they had only pansies and herbs. I picked up a flat of yellow pansies and admired the display.

Then, one aching back later, I have my own display.  I doused everything with chili powder to  deter squirrels.

If my performance is anything to go by, they'll be kept busy sneezing.

The daffodils are still in bud

And the lettuce is recognizable.

So that's the outdoor update from field and fen.

He followed me home, I have to keep him, and philosophical musings on winter pansies

While my cleaners are at work I always make myself scarce, and use the time to do a few things I don't tend to get to on other days. So a trip to a  distant grocery for various items such as whole black peppercorns, pure honey, steelcut oats and so on, that I can't get more locally, then a detour via Mazur's, the lovely, family run, four generations, nursery where I get my plants when I have space and budget.  This is not the farm, also a four generation situation, where I'll be getting my farmshare this afternoon.

Today I came home from the nursery with white mums to put out front, annuals just sitting among the pachy, and they'll get more spectacular as they go. 

The cat followed me home, showed up on my step the other day, so I have to keep him, and he's earning his keep supporting the sedum.

And blue and white pansies to sit on the fence out back, along with the other plantings.  They're not planted yet, just looking around at their new digs.   

It's taken me years to get around to getting winter pansies, because of an enormous moral objection to making spring plants work like winter ones.  It's going against nature, I tell you!  and every year I've looked at them and thought, no, it's better to stay with the seasons.  

Then this year I finally thought, well, I don't want to assume too many more springs in my life, so why don't I just get them now and enjoy them.  So I will.