Thinking about Spring...

Thinking about Spring...

The wonderhub was up early this Saturday morning. He had dismantled the Boy's fort a while ago and we had a big pile of boards in the backyard. He recycled it into raised beds for the front garden. Our house is on a mesa and the soil is pretty much adobe bricks that's great for growing citrus trees and artichokes. (which are pretty much big thistles) but not great for other plants.

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Now they just need to be leveled up and filled with topsoil.

 

 The leftover bits will fit in as stepping stones.

The fish were happy to be fed.

I drew this this morning. 

Now, off to the market. Busy day! 

What do you think we should plant? I'm hoping for herbs and strawberries.

Marilyn.

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"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls."

 - Joseph Campbell 

Making things, Fixing things...

This morning the amazing Wonderhub is whirling about fixing things.

He is fixed the coffee maker. I am continually amazed at his ability to fix anything.

And a guitar that he made...

 

And he is building a screen door for the dining room. I am completely delighted about this! 

He also surprised me with this book, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, as a belated Christmas gift. It's a lovely book of vegetable recipes. We made the spiced polenta recipe last night. Every recipe that we've tried so far has been stellar.

 

 

A couple of days ago I tried his basic bread dough recipe. I had to look everything up because all the measurements and a lot of the terms were in, well... "British" Now I know what strong flour is bread flour. I can work my way around grams and milliliters. I know that courgettes are zucchini and coriander is cilantro.  The googling was worth the effort because the the dough came out perfect. 

Here's the results.... lovely pizzas.

 

The American version of this book is available in May 2013. I can't recommend it enough if you like to cook. All the dishes are simple to make and taste amazing.

 

I designed this textile yesterday. I'm still trying to master the drop repeat. 

Well, I'm off to drink another cup of coffee. I love weekends,

Marilyn.

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“Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't "try" to do things. You simply "must" do things.”
~  Ray Bradbury

Sewing Party!

One of the boy's friends received a new sewing machine for Christmas so she brought it over and we had a sewing party. I'd put the machine away over the holidays and just now pulled it out again.

I made a tee-shirt and a pair of pants for the first time. The v neck tee-shirt when together pretty quick and fit like a dream. I want to make a whole closet of them.

http://www.simplicity.com/p-2588-plus-size-sportswear.aspx

I'd never made a pair of pants before and I had to rip out half the seams because I kept getting everything backwards. I made them out of grey flannel and they are big and baggy, ugly as homemade soap. However they are the most comfortable thing in the world, like soft little warm clouds.

 

I think that flannel is an under appreciated fabric and if I ever had my own clothing line it would be all clothes made out of flannel for the winter, but some how sneakily look like regular day clothes, not pajamas. With my Day Flannel collection you could go to the market and run errands and not have people snark at you for wearing pajamas in public. Just a thought. :-)

JoAnne's is had a 99 cent sale on patterns and I bought five. Dangerous, I know.

WonderCon is coming up and the boy and friends are going as a Steampunk airship crew. Perhaps I should make a costume for myself. What do you think? :-)

What creative mischief are you managing this month?

Marilyn.

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“Each of us needs something of an island in his life—if not an actual island, at least some place, or space in time, in which to be himself, free to cultivate his differences from others.” ~ John Keats 

The Awareness Project

 Hello and Happy New Year from Casa Del Aguas.

This is my friend Annie Rugyt. She is not just an amazing illustrator, she is also a wonderful musician with a voice like a lost angel. She came over a couple of days ago and tested out some of the Wonderhub's guitars. I cannot tell you what a treat it was to hear her play them. It was like she breathed life into the guitars and made them glow from the inside

Annie and I have conspired to be more aware of what life is really going on around is in the world. So we have pledged to write about real things that are going on around us. We have dubbed this "The Awareness Project". The writing prompt is "Today I realized that...."

The light blue guitar is The Spazzmaster = handmade Jazzmaster inspired guitar, Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders Pickups, Mustang Bridge, rosewood fingerboard, vintage spec jumbo frets and vintage spec white "witch hat" knobs.

This is a Selmer Maccferri D hole Gypsy Jazz guitar. Spalted Mango back and sides and Bearclaw Sitka top. Ebony fingerboard and bridge.

Telecaster inspired guitar, glued in neck, Charley Christian pickups from Vintage Vibe. Bound Cocoabolo fretboard, contoured maple top.

I love the way this guitar sounds. It's got a retro jazz sound that transports you to a different time and place. The whole room just gets cooler when it's played.

Also in the news...  

The"Great Tidy" is in full swing. Every year after Christmas we attack the house and garden, decluttering, organizing, and giving stuff to Goodwill. It feels so good to have everything ready when school starts on Monday.  Here is a picture of one of the kitchen cupboards before... (Mister Mischief is helping out.)

Before....

 And After....

 

We fix dinner for my mom every night and so we have lots of plastic containers. Now we have lids and bottoms all sorted. All the bowls are ready for soup and cereal.

 The juicer had been stacked wonky and was always falling off the shelf. The Hub lowered the shelf an inch and now it fits perfectly.

All the coffee cups have lids. Yay! 

So today I realized that friends can light up a room and make it beautiful more than any expensive piece of furniture or stained glass window, and having less stuff is much better than having too many things. Less is more? Dang straight! 

What did you realize today?

Marilyn.

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To see Annie's art and read her take on the guitar test go read her blog here....

 

http://annieruygt.com/