It looks as though you are well into spring in TX. I'm in Virginia and I'll be darned but we keep flirting with frosty weather so I am holding off with putting out any annuals or tender veggies. This is on the southern coastal area of the state and even with the El Nino.

I'm glad to know others get into knitting socks, I also tend to knit smaller objects such as socks, gloves, mitten and hats. I can do larger objects such as shawls, but haven't done the infamous sweater. For me what has held me back is that as a plus size lady a.) the discouragement of seeing what size it would be to knit, and b.) for style it's recommended that DK weight yarn be used to keep down bulk. Yippee, yahoo, knit forever to make a big sweater in tiny yarn! Since 2003 when I finished my Ph.D. I've learned to knit again and have progressed to cables, lace and now color work, so maybe that sweater will come. Enjoying your socks and other stuff!

Thanks for your patience in reading my drivel.

Lots of others are into socks. Are you on Ravelry? There are several groups of sock-knitters. I went for a casual one.

MUCH joy at feeling better on my part, too.

Love seeing the photos of the land.

I got the new loom warped yesterday. Dish towel is now in progress.

I saw that image on Twitter...very impressive. When we first moved here, a weaver had one of the stores downtown and produced beautiful stuff. I believe she's in south Austin now.

I'm hoping it isn't too steep a learning curve from where I am now to "beautiful."

It's nice to see some green. Got my motorcycle out of storage but it has been raining all week. This morning there is snow - enjoy the summer up here in New Hampshire.

There is an article on NY Times.com concerning a southern lady who is the queen of socks.

Jonathan

You should have real summer by June, shouldn't you? We will be in the furnace by then.

Great photos! I hope you're feeling better: it is rotten to have to put off plans because of illness, especially, somehow, in spring.

Thank you for the sympathy. I am not a patient patient. Apparently, as one gets moderately older, one must admit that the recovery takes longer. I'm not feeling patient about that, either. Today was lovely, but after singing at two services this morning in church, I came home and face-planted in the bed, unable to go out for a walk. Still not completely well. OTOH--alive, can see flowers from my window, and am back to a normal diet and not coughing all the time. Improvement will occur on its own schedule.

Sorry you missed singing in the Easter service, I guess singing in that service with the rest of the choir is a wonderful feeling. I'm glad you were able to sing yesterday.

The lack of resilience with all of it's implications is one of the things I find frustrating with a chronic illness. Knowing it is never going to 'get better' is rather more than frustrating.

In my part of the UK we have the under storey flowers in bloom, the ones that flower and seed before the trees are in full leaf. So primroses, celandine, wood anenomes, daffodils, irises. The earliests ones, snowdrops, aconite, crocuses are completely over. The earliest flowering cherries are done too

You have some really nice images there. I love the bull frog and REALLY love the woodpecker. FYI, photojournalist for 34 years and now just a commercial photographer (victim of shrinking market). I hope you are feeling better and I can't wait for the release of Cold Welcome.

Ed Bunyan

I had thoughts of going into photography seriously at one point, but first came kid and writing books (both time sinks) and then came digital photography and its effect on the market for images. So now I document what lives on our place, and take whatever other pictures I want for my own pleasure. The woodpecker picture was a gift...I looked out the window in late afternoon, a shaft of sunlight between the clouds caught him right on the red. Grabbed the camera and caught it. Overall a bit dark; I confess to letting Paint Shop bring it up a bit brighter.

All great images are a gift. The light, the moment, having the right equipment and the talent to see the image ready to be captured. The rest is just artistic magic. Don't worry about admitting to having to correct an image. ALL images need to be corrected somewhat, whether it is sharpening (all images need this), color correcting to make the image what you saw in your minds eye or cropping to help the viewer focus on the main elements of the image. I personally am glad you followed the writing track or else we would not of enjoyed the great worlds you created.

Ed