Bits of Spring All Around

     Just as spring gently overtakes winter, creeping in bit by bit, so it does in our home. One day I set some pysanky eggs in a basket, another day I put out the pitcher with apple blossoms, and on another I added my wooden scripture verse to the windowsill along with the pansies I was given. Tess found more pysanky eggs and so we put those out too. It looks like spring has stopped being entirely meek and we're beginning to hear from her loud and clear today. Streetside, the ornamental plum trees are blossoming and daffodils and forsythia are everywhere!
     In gardening news, I completely dug up the two beds that flank the stairway on the back hill. I dug all the perennials out in clumps and set them on a tarp to be kept moist. Since I'm redesigning this as a rock garden rather than a perennial bed, I will give most of these perennials away. I had to spray Round-Up on the empty beds to combat the invasive and persistent whatever-it-is weed/grass that causes me to mutter bad things under my breath. I've battled it for years and I'm not calling UNCLE yet. Once the new plants are in, I'll use landscape fabric, which I normally shun, to keep this invasive grass from reappearing. The fact that I'm using landscape fabric means I'm desperate, but shhh, the weeds don't know my strategy.
     So, here are a few photos from around the house. I reuse the same decorations year after year, but I use them in different places and in different combinations to change it up. The apple blossoms are artificial. I'll bring in real ones when they come into bloom, but these artificial ones were so lifelike that I had to buy them when I saw them at Ikenberry's Farm Store a few years ago.. We made the pysanky eggs over the years and that collection is ever growing (or shrinking depending on how many get broken.) They do break and I rarely flinch over that fact any more. I would probably mourn more over an egg one of the girls made when they were young than over a detailed egg made today. The end result of these eggs are beautiful, but the process of making them is just as rewarding. So, if it breaks, oh well, it was fun while it was being created.

This is the wood sign I stenciled and painted at the retreat last weekend. So simple!

This basket was Steve's grandmother's. I rediscovered it in the pantry and thought it perfect to use for the eggs.

When teaching a pysanky class, the back left egg is good pattern for beginners. They are much easier to make than you would think. The back right egg is a freestyle floral pattern. Also very easy.

I love the browns. It's hidden by the basket handle, but that's Audrey's Lord of the Ring egg : )

Many of the designs are symbolic. For example, the fish is the Christian symbol, but notice the pea pods in the border? Fruits and vegetables symbolize a good harvest and a good life. There are  many variables that can cause an egg to turn out flawed. This egg's shell absorbed the red dye in variations. I think this particular flaw is very pretty.