Waiting for Azaleas

Spring is not my favorite season, but I do love the marching progression of things. Last year I saw my first dandelion on April 18th, this year on April 19th. Last year was mild, this year's been cold, yet the dandelions know just when to show their mischievous yellow faces. First the forsythia, next daffodils, then tulips, plum, cherry, apple, redbud, lilacs, dogwood.... Then Azaleas. I do not really like azaleas, but every year I find myself waiting for them. A house I pass on my way to school has a huge bank of several colors. They are the Best Azaleas In The World. What makes them even better is the modest house they grace. We're not talking Bellingrath Gardens here. We're talking equal opportunity azaleas that any one of us with a little Miracle Grow and a lot of time could foster in our very own yard.

I will check for the azaleas today on my drive to school. I think they will be blooming. Meanwhile here's something to distract you. I made a postpartum exercise flip book for a project last semester. Everyone loved it. I think it was the absolute low techiness that did it. Here's a similar peek out my window this week watching the dogwoods bloom, waiting for the azaleas (you will have to flip it in your imagination) :

Burning the Candle At Both Ends

Does art imitate life? Right now my knitting is doing a pretty good imitation of the rest of my life:

I'm knitting both ends at the same time of the Serendipity Stole by Georgina Bow (AKA Mystery Stole 4). Most people started the knit-along back in September, but I had other things going on. 4,345 people signed up; I am curious to know how many people actually knit it.

I think the needles are size 5 Options and the yarn is KnitPicks Gloss Lace in Raisin. I would use it again because it has a charming squooshiness to it. I'm not sure if that comes from the Merino or the silk. The beads are who-knows-what from AC Moore. In real life they look a bit like hematite, but they're just glass. I'm on row 144 of 281 so I am more than half done.

The thing is, this is the first knitting, certainly the first lace shawl, that Cass has said, "I would wear that." What do you think that means?

Welcome to Motherhood

This is a photograph of Vincent's actual first step. I remember this day so clearly. He was such a cheerful guy, so excited to be moving up, spreading his wings.

He's still cheerful (mostly) and still spreading his wings, but now he's doing this:

Welcome to Motherhood. Please pass the Valium.

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Years ago my friend Kathy told me that her mother, living as she did on an Oklahoma ranch, thought the greatest innovation in recent history was the window screen. She had sound reasons for it, having to do with flies and such going from poop to parlor spreading disease. Something about the mental image must have stuck because every once in awhile I ponder on The Best Thing Ever.

Right now, the innovation I can't help but appreciate every single day is on-demand hot water, dribbling in endless (well, not endless; I do have some social conscience) rivulets from my exhausted head down to my poor boxed-in-all-day-longing-to-be-free toes. What could be a greater luxury? What would be more sorely missed?

What is your favorite thing? The thing no sermon has to remind you to be grateful for?