In Progress

When we moved a few months ago, I asked the movers to leave the china cabinet in the garage so I could paint it. It took awhile, but here is the almost-finished project. A close look will reveal that the handles differ and one drawer has no handle. I'm waiting for more handles on a back order, and installed the old pulls on the doors to make them easier to open in the mean time. 
Here's a link to a photo of the cabinet - before. It was taken in our former home, and is just in the background of the second image. We removed the doors on the hutch to create a more open feel.

How does anyone take a good photo of a gallery wall on a staircase? I stood upstairs, downstairs, half way - and this is the best I could get. Another project in process. The three large wedding photos will anchor the gallery and other photos will fill in. These frames will be painted as well. But I wanted to get started. Tim helped me with the measuring and leveling - so glad for a husband who will take the time to indulge my ideas.

Friko recently posted about the apparently perfect lives many bloggers seem to live. The comments are enlightening, too. My life is not perfect - there are things I'm concerned about, unfinished projects, disastrous attempts at creative endeavours that never get posted, family issues that I prefer not to discuss here, and so on. But I hope my blog is real enough that no one thinks I'm making my life out to be something it is not. 

The quotation above expresses, in a small way, one of the reasons that I blog the way I do. This blog is a creative outlet for me. It's not my journal where I spill my deepest longings and frustrations, nor is it mere frivolity (I hope). I appreciate the friendships, the connections, the inspiration I've found through blogging and hope that I give back some of the same to my readers.

It might not be fine art, but these lettuce leaves and herb sprigs are beautiful to me, worthy of the time to take a photo. Yet, they are not perfect. A couple of tiny slugs washed down the drain when I rinsed the leaves in the sink.  

My parents were here for a quick visit to see their newest great grandchild, and spent a morning with the Little Miss as well. She warmed up to Great Grandpa when he took her outside to play!

I've been helping with this little one, three weeks old today. A few feeding issues have been sorted out and she's gaining weight well. Her hair is quite wild sometimes, and she reminds us of a hedgehog. As a result we sometimes call her Miss TiggyWinkle, after the Beatrix Potter character (who was a Mrs., not a Miss).

That's some of what's been happening around here. Things are not perfect, but they are good. I don't take any of it for granted.