Saturday, April 30, 2016

Read 'em and steep:

I have the most outstanding coffee/tea mug that I found at an estate sale recently for .50. I near soiled  myself when I saw it, honey, because it was awesome. Awesome. 

I saw Shakespeare by the frame, and looked on the bottom of the mug: Wedgwood, honey. 
Wedg.
Wood.

I've been enjoying tea and coffee in this mug all the more for the mug. I decided to peek at eBay and see if I could find more. 1964, Stratford-Upon-Avon Advisory Council.  Crap. I've seen the last of the fifty cent versions of these: there's a buy it now on eBay for $55.00. There's also a buy it now version for $21.96, but it's in England, and I'll bet the postage makes it closer to the $55 version. 

Turns out this was one of a series of five lithographed mugs designed by Wedgwood artist Victor Skellern to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare. 

Well, no spares for me, but I'll contininue to
enjoy my cuppa, Bard-style. :)

Or maybe I should sell it...?

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

It's still here:

These photos were taken before the big storm on Tuesday night. Fortunately, nothing too dreadful happened in my neghborhood during the storm. 


Sunday, April 24, 2016

Squeeee!


Oh, you beautiful doll!
So glad I'll get to see my oak leaf hydrangea blooming this year. I've been watching daily for a plague of caterpillars to rob me of my pleasure. The first wee blossoms have emerged. 

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: my little prince

Chuy is the most excellent boy. :)

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Eagerly anticipating

My Oak Leaf Hydrangea is finally about to bloom!  I bought my house in 2010, and the plant was blooming when I planted it that spring. However, a year later it was ready to bloom when a marauding army of caterpillars came through and ate everything that was blooming, and half of what wasn't blooming. The plant survived, but never out flower spikes out again until now. I'm so excited. :)

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: she's at it again

My sweet precious baby girl finally got hold of the sadistic squirrel that's been teasing her for six months. There'll be no more of that mess. 

Chuy followed up shortly by killing an adolescent squirrel, but his kill was much more tidy. 

Monday, April 11, 2016

Sunday, Puppy Monday:

Sorry for the belated post. This is one of the busiest semesters ever, but in a good way. I sang the mezzo part in a famous opera quartet in a recital yesterday, and I had a grand time. 

Here's a puppy photo of my velvet fur-tube:

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

House cleaning.

Hurrah for Spring Break!

A year from now I'll be preparing for graduation, so that's a Good Thing.

School is going well, and I'm involved in various musical projects, including a part in a fabulous opera quartet, but more on that at another time.  I'm in voice lessons at school, and my teacher is outstanding, and each week seems to bring a vocal breakthrough.

In December, I closed my booth at the antique market, and good thing, too.  I've never had proper time to devote to maintenance, and this semester is as time-sucking as any other, although this time it's too much of GOOD things.

Based on conversations in passing with the professor, I enrolled in a Shakespeare class for the semester, and the professor asked me to lead the class on one particular discussion.  That was the third week of February, and it went wonderfully well.  In fact, the professor asked me to submit an abstract of my lecture to a regional writing conference (5 states, not regional merely to Texas).  I have not submitted  the proposal yet, but I hope to within the next week.  The great honor was in having the teacher express such confidence in me.  Honestly, if the Fall semester is like the Spring this year, it might be too stressful to speak at a conference on top of school commitments.  We shall see.  I have two major research papers to produce for the semester, and I'm going to the campus library to work in earnest on that starting tomorrow.  The break this summer is bound to be well-earned.

This week I'm doing a bit of tidying and I hope to get a fair bit of sewing done.  I sewed a dress in dotted Swiss lawn over the Christmas break, and it's my favorite garment I've made, so I'm feeling excited about making More Things.

I noticed the puppies are asleep in most of the recent Puppy Sunday photos, and I promise they are not always comatose.  It's just that they are easier to photograph when they are zonked. :)  The last handful of days to sleep late all cuddled up with them has been glorious.  Curses on 8AM classes-- HATE them.  Hate.  And yes, a course I must take next semester is 8AM, but at least it won't be 4 days per week, as is the Spanish this semester.

Spanish is going somewhat well, but it is wit-addling to work on memorizing arias in Italian while working on memorizing Spanish with verbs and boatloads of conjugations.

The entire winter has been the Spring We Never Get.  Now that Spring has sprung, I expect it will be bloody hot in no time.  Yes, I need more frocks in dotted Swiss lawn, toute-de-suite!  Back to the cutting table!  I hope that you all are having a pleasant Spring, and thank you for the comments while I've been so tied up. :)

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: snooze fest

It's chilly tonight, and it's a little ironic for the first day of Spring, as we've hardly had a winter. The energy bills have been wonderfully low, so yay. For now, there's puppy snuggles:

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Happiness is a raft of new (old) hankies

Hankies are great for throwing in fabric projects here and there, but I also like carrying a hankie. Found some pretties at an estate sale this weekend. :)

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: drowsy doggy edition

The pups are cuddled up for a nap, as they are clearly exhausted from watching me Do Stuff around the house. They are excellent supervisors. :)

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: study buddy edition

Mochi never misses a chance to snuggle up to me when I'm studying on the sofa. The pile of fresh laundry merely sweetens the pot!

Friday, February 19, 2016

This is lunacy

At this point, I might be a one-issue voter and vote for anyone who will work to repeal the ACA. It's a sham and a power-grab. This is obscene. 

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/item/17216-another-obamacare-surprise-estate-recovery

...and while we're on the subject of the election, choosing from this field of candidates is like trying to pick up a turd from the clean end. No Bueno.