I was stopped for speeding this morning and am completely flabbergasted that I was let off with only a warning.  That just never happens – especially WHERE it happened — plus, I was admittedly going pretty darn fast.  So, WHEW!  What could have set the tone for "Vicki's" Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day actually Made My Day!

Before Katie started tossing chips all over the other day, I was walking around the yard with my camera and getting some clicks with the zoom lens on.

Wild geranium — not a perfect specimen, but one of my favorite wildflowers.  I love the greens in this photo, too.

I unexpectedly, but very happily, spied some lilies-of-the-valley!  I figured I'd see some buds, but didn't think I'd see flowers.  Believe you me, I could smell them, too, and there will soon be a lovely little bouquet in my kitchen!

Allium… I should plant some more of these.

I am so excited!  Tomorrow promises to be the best day of the year so far, weather-wise, and I get to drive up to Door County!  I'm driving DH to Fish Creek where he's teaching a 3-day Watercolor workshop at Peninsula School of Art this weekend.  (If you're interested, last I heard, there was still an opening or two.)  He doesn't actually have to be there 'til late, so we'll have much of the day to just tool around.  There ought to be orchards in bloom, forest floors carpeted with trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit, general spring loveliness!!

Katie came down to the lower garden as I was shooting some flower photos yesterday.  I thought I'd shoot her, too; she just had her hair cut the day before Mother's Day, it turned out pret' near perfect, and she'd mentioned having a reference photo taken.  Well, next thing you know…

…I'm getting a look.  You can just tell there's something up, can't you?  Then…

…she threw the corn chips she was eating on the ground.  She picked them up…

…and did it again!

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The weekend was mighty fine.  Mom and I watched the little boys yesterday morning during the graduation ceremony.  The celebratory family dinner on Saturday was fun and there was lots of great food, including the best tiramisu I've ever had.

That's Addison's cream cheese handprint on my sweater.  He left traces across my entire
back, trying to sneak around behind me, ending with this nearly perfect print in the
area of my right shoulder.  He was pretty involved with the
eating of a bagel with cream cheese on Saturday.  Heh.  That I gleefully took it outside for a blog photo before throwing it in the wash makes me think that perhaps the blogging mojo hasn't completely left the building after all.

It looks kinda nice, but it's very windy and quite chilly… for the middle of May!

A big bank of clouds is sitting on the eastern horizon, making for interesting light coming into the kitchen this morning.  These are taken from the back porch.  Soon, the leaves will seriously limit my view!

I'm heading off to Zumba in about an hour — my punch card is half-used-up already!  After dashing home for a quick shower, mom will pick me up and we'll drive to "Madison."  It isn't really Madison anymore, but I'm always going to think that when I drive south to visit Annie.  There's a special celebration tonight for Mack & Addison's oldest brother's graduation from college.

I cast off the back of my Habu sweater last night.  I've kept track of the increase/decrease rows with the markers rather than writing them out.  This piece was knit from cuff-to-cuff so the second half mirrorred the first.  The piece seems seriously small, but the bejeebers is blocked out of these Habu sweaters and I think I'll do that before I start the other pieces.  It's knit on big needles with small yarn and I tried to knit loosely, so there's a LOTTA stretch.  We'll see…

Happy Weekend.

Sometimes Mother Nature's wires get crossed and a duck doesn't realize that the safest place to lay eggs isn't really going to work in the long run.  Thankfully, there are people like Celia and her coworkers to lend a hand and make things right.  It's an example of true awesomeness.  I love a happy ending with fuzzy ducklings!

More awesomeness in the form of some recent Flickr Faves.  The two at top left are from Kate's Greece set — I was salivating when she told me about their experience at the cafe, the photos make me cry!  If you're interested in more of her trip, here's Rome, Florence, and London.

 

1. Greece20, 2. Greece39, 3. 62_tbird_002, 4. stand in my light, 5. just another day in tuscany, 6. parasol for an angel…, 7. 120-365 Hosta Watch 2009, 8. Forget the cameradude, let's eat before it pours!, 9. Delicate Yelllow Pansy for Project Spectrum East, 10. Buds, 11. Untitled, 12. abandoned, 13. Cupecoy, 14. Solitaire, 15. DSCF6703, 16. Digging for sand fairies, 17. Looking skyward, 18. march 13, 2009, 19. february showers, 20. signs of spring on beacon street, 21. budding, 22. Scrappy: piecing done, 23. it floats in my periphery, 24. YIP: 03.11.09, 25. .stack.

This is my laughing face entry in the laughter challenge crowd this week at I ♥ Faces.  One of my favorite things about this photo is Addison's wrinkly nose!  There's a photo from about a year ago — when he was just starting to walk — with the same adorable, wrinkles.

LAUGHTER!!  What a great theme for a photo contest, huh?

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Y'all might be happy to know that I threw out the bad bra last night!  I had a few minutes before Zumba, so went shopping for a sports bra — OMG, are they all so WARM?  I couldn't stand it!  I'm a little very picky, too, about the fit between my shoulder blades — I can't stand it if the strap only grazes that area, it starts to tickle/itch and drives me nuts!  I don't know why I thought shopping for a sports bra would be easier than a regular bra.  It ain't!  Did you see Lisa's comment yesterday about the SPREADSHEET she started to keep track of bra brands and models?  Honestly, she might be on to something!  In the end, I walked out with two tops and zero bras, but one of the tops has a BUILT-IN bra!  We'll see how it goes.