Mothers Day

This is the Clematis that Dad planted last year. It would be taller, but it keeps trying to spread instead of climb. They sure do add bright color and lift my spirits. Arabella has been helping with the gardening, watering especially, though I did catch her with the pruning scissorsyesterday, about to cap the smaller of the Black Oak trees M planted. I think she has confused the buds on the trees with the bugs in the garden. Amazingly, considering her overly attentive ministrations to the 2 dozen seeds she planted, there are two sunflower seedlings coming up. The blackberries are covered in buds and delicate white flowers, soon to be fruit. the red raspberry seems to have had some damage from the late freeze, and the old growth died back, but it is full of knee high volunteers, none with buds. The yellow raspberry is making a comeback, slowly, but it may be next year before it makes fruit either. We also have two tomatoes plants in the garden, growing fast and furiously. I am soon to be hunting for a red or yellow bell pepper, and that will be all for our tiny little veggie patch.


The in-laws visited 2 weeks ago, and had a short, but lovely visit. The weather was nice, so we had lots of outdoor time.


And I have been knitting. I made this for J-'s baby girl. Its 50 cotton/50 acrylic, so it is machine washable but soft as a bunny. I do wonder, since the pattern calls for dishcloth cotton (100% cotton) if it is meant to shrink, cuz it seems awfully large for a newborn. I don't think this will do alot of shrinking. I am engaged to make at least 3 more this summer, 2 for gifts and one for a trade with a pregnant artist. And oh yeah, I should make one for my OWN baby.

Which, by the way, the ultrasound suggests strongly will be ... a girl. This will be advantageous in names (M and I have more agreement on girl names than boy names), and in sleeping arrangements (A and baby2 can share a room, when the baby is big enough to need more space), and in clothing and such stuff (we still havea healthy amount of baby clothing and gear left over from A). Otherwise, the ultrasound shows a perfectly sized, healthy and active baby, all that really matters to me. It would appear my due date stands firm. October 6. If this baby is as anxious to be born as A, then that will be more like October 1. On Tuesday I go and discuss delivery options with the OB. As A was delivered in about 3 - 3 1/2 hours of labor, I am understandably concerned about an unintentional home / car delivery. Is a 3-year-old ready to help with a delivery?

Baby name roundup.
In keeping with the New Orleans street name theme, we have checked a list of names (in addition to using our own memories), and the top 3 so far are:
Julia (where the galleries are located)
Sabine
Violet

Names we will not be using, so don't even ask:
Bourbon
Burgundy (did you know it was originally Craps Street?)
Ursulines
Calliope
Erato
Urania

I prepared for the trip to Texas by getting loads of yarn and some bamboo circular needles so there won't be any trauma at security time. I pointed out to the UUI knitting group yesterday that even if the TSA says something is "safe" for carryon, security personnel still have the right to take away anything they deem dangerous. Even knitting needles.