april 2013 phenological events

1st frost

2nd tree swallows arrive

3rd wood thrush fox sparrow

6th marsh marigolds

8th seedlings in greenhouse

20th trellised red raspberry

24th tilled the garden

30th planted fruit trees

worth waiting for

When spring finally comes to the river valley, there is beauty almost everywhere you look.



The hellebores..



....the hyacinths ...



...the lungwort..all showing bloom. They are my old friends, and I enjoy our visits while they last.



The lilac leaves are as big as a squirrel's ear, and phenological records of the past tell me that it is time to plant potatoes.



There are two new hens in the henhouse.



and a large pileated woodpecker visits the Norwegian Pine stump almost every morning.



Knitting has been getting accomplished, despite the fact that my hands hurt from all the garden work. This is my amalgamation ...my version of Laura Nelkin's Butin Collar.

lapis lazuli warped face

Spring has returned to this river valley, and each day shows more evidence of that. The marsh marigolds are blooming, the fox sparrows and wood thrush have returned. There are daily hatches in the river and the clouds of insect life take flight. The trees are in bud, and a good rain storm will have them bursting open. By the weekend, the trout fishermen will be wearing their hip waders and casting their rods.

In addition to planting my seedlings and getting the garden ready for sowing, I'm learning to weave a warp faced pattern on my rigid heddle loom. At my spin group, Grace and Greta were my teachers (ahem. enablers extraordinaire.) The timing was perfect. I had just purchased a gift for my husband, a lapis lazuli guitar pick, and decided to make a guitar strap to give along with it.

Grace let me borrow her warping board. We picked a warped faced pattern from one of her books. Greta showed me how to read the pattern and string the warp on the board. I was going to continue the project at home and return the following week to finish and transfer it to my loom, but my car broke down, and I decided to go it alone without instruction. I managed to make it work, but, I'm not sure I did it correctly. This is something I would like to try again. It is really nice to have good friends who are also good teachers.

I hope he likes it!