Wheels redux

 

One more time, Jake has revived Jim's pickup. A major engine rebuild this time. Here's hoping we can wring another 100k mile out of it. It still has to be driven a bit, then pass emissions, then update the registration. All doable tasks, one at a time. 

I'm sure the neighbors are glad to see it put back together instead of up on jacks with its guts strewn about the driveway.

There's nothing like getting drunk on fragrance with my morning coffee. 

And this valiant little sunflower popping up in the middle of the venerable mother lavender. Only three feet tall and grinning at us already.

                    My small flower beds are coming on strong and summer has just begun. 

Of course, the water is still too cold for these old bones and the pump is having a small fit for itself. Issues. I know I'm going to hate it after the landscapers scalp away all that greenery, but it has to happen. That's poison ivy hanging over the back edge of the water.  I went to the grocery store for apples and came home with pool noodles.

It was a grand day

 

Forty-five years ago we threw a party in the backyard, invited all our friends and family and a judge.

It was a day just like today and it still feels like yesterday.

those cloth envelopes

It's going to take more digging. I was all on board with the idea that these were intended to protect silk stockings and other delicates, 

but, on closer examination, each has a different monogram. 

I can't even make out what the letters are, the font is so elaborate. Any guesses.

The camera has brightened reality. They are yellowed a bit. I'm sure never used for whatever intended purpose.

 The stitches that join the sides together are so very tiny.

She made the nuns proud, I'm sure.

Aged and spiced

 

I got mine. Posed here on some of that Sicilian trousseau. The same dimensions as a modern business-sized envelope, I wonder what these pockets were intended for? Wedding cash?

There was a breeze in the night and this lot of loose loops was flipped off the table down to the dirt and detritus below the deck. I'm not the least bit pained.

But don't look for a repeat of this as a technique. I had to wash slug slime off the top one! God only knows what crawled over them or tasted them in the night.

I was looking for another set of stone and sand colors. Instead, I got dark deeds, old cemetery flowers, magic, and fading hope. 

The cousins are here.

Homage

 I'm so honored to have my raw materials used by Liz in honor of Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert. 

Her little caterpillar makes my heart ache.