I have made a little progress on my crazy quilt block, so I thought I’d show you a small part of it. I digitized that little bird, and then I needle-turn appliqued the tree trunks. I hand-embroidered the branches, intending to hand-embroider the leaves too, but when I got a good portion of the leaves done, I didn’t like them. So I ripped all those out, and I stitched the silk ribbon leaves instead. I think that looks better. That shows you that your first inclination is often best. When I first thought about the leaves, I thought I’d use the silk ribbon ones, and then I changed my mind. I guess I lost some time just because I wouldn’t listen to my best instincts. When I make a little more progress on it, I’ll show you more.
Living on Bunny Lane
We must live near a rabbit warren. For two nights this past week Peaches has brought in more small bunnies. The first one Peaches dropped at John’s feet cleverly waited until John took her inside before it scampered away. The second one appeared to be dazed or hurt and didn’t even move, so John hurridly put Peaches inside so he could see about the bunny, and when he got back outside, he was just in time to see it hop off and get lost in the shrubbery. Maybe it wasn’t as ill as John thought. I hope both of them make it.
We’ve lectured her and told her that catching bunnies isn’t what we want her to do, but she has her own way of thinking about it; we can’t seem to convince her otherwise. Every time she brings a bunny home, she is totally exhausted. She fusses like crazy when John takes her away from the bunnies, but when she gets in the house, she lies down and rests for a long time. Why she persists in bringing them in, I don’t know. She doesn’t outweigh them much, and it must be a job dragging them home. I suppose she gets some fun out of it or she wouldn’t do it.
Cycling
I’ve been watching the Giro d’Italia the past three weeks–off and on. Unfortunately, OLN doesn’t carry it every day. I was glad to see Ivan Basso win yesterday. It was obvious that Discovery Team didn’t have anyone to match him, so I was cheering for him and Team CSC. I thought he deserved the win, and he did it with a lot of style and a hard-working team that didn’t let him down. He was over nine minutes ahead of everyone else. What a lead!
I hope Discovery Team can get their act together in the next few weeks. Hincappie has recovered, and maybe that will help things somewhat. I’ve got to get some hand work ready for the Tour de France coming up in July.
Books
I finished listening to Outlander on my new CDs, and I’m going through it again when I have time. I have no idea how many times I’ve read that book–five or six? I also finished Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian and promptly ordered three more in the Aubrey Maturin series. Post Captain came in over the weekend, and I’m eager to read it.
However, thinking that it would take a while to get those in, I stared reading The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. I read all the Frank Herbert Dune series years ago, and I’ve been reading the prequels now and then. I am finding this book quite interesting; I will finish it before I start the other books in the Aubrey Maturin series.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day. I’ve been remembering the veterans in our family. I hope you remember yours too.