The Orioles Have Arrived

We were sitting at the table just about an hour ago and Durwood looked up and said, "Oriole!"  Sure enough, there he was.  On Sunday I put out the oriole feeder that Mr. & Mrs. Boss gave me for Christmas a few years back and was thinking that yesterday's 1.5" of rain had made the grape jelly into grape soup so it probably needed draining, but there he was eating on the orange, he tried out the hummingbird feeder, and then when he went back to the orange a female (or what we think's a female, it doesn't look like the picture in the bird book [turns out it's a first-year male Orchard Oriole; according to the book they're expanding their northern range.  cool, huh?]) appeared on the jelly.  Hot diggity, orioles!

LC is exploring the lower ranges of her voice this week so there's a 4 month old lying here growling at Alfred the stuffed gorilla and playing with a ring of plastic keys.  Very amusing.  Watching her grow and change is way better than a movie.  I can't wait until she talks, I just know she's going to have a lot to say.

I finished up crocheting May Men's Chemo Hat #1 at work yesterday and made some progress on an Elephant pacifier clip for the growling baby.  I know it doesn't look very elephant-y but this is the yarn I have on hand and it'll look better with a trunk and ears, I promise.

May 13--Julia Margaret Cameron, Julia Jackson.  The face stared up from the still pond surface.  Her hair, fine as spider silk, flew wild in the small breeze.  The pine trees stood sentinel whispering among themselves and the wild grapes smelled so sweet she could taste them.  Minerva stared at her reflection ticking off everything wrong with her looks, starting with her unruly hair.  Her eyes were too big and round, her brows too assertive.  Her nose was straight and thin, like a knife blade in the center of her face, and her mouth was too small and turned down at the corners.  She reached out and swept her hand across the pond surface as if to erase her image and flung herself down in the tall reeds.  She heard Cale and Nora laughing in the orchard but she didn't respond when they called her name.  She knew they would soon move on to other amusements and forget about her.

It's another dreary day today so I think I'll sit under the "daylight" lamp and pretend I'm at the beach.  Even a rocky beach would be better than the drear.  Or maybe I'll watch for more orioles.  You enjoy your Tuesday.
--Barbara