GOOD MOOD . . . ♥

Hello Girlfriends!!!   I am in such a good mood! Except I miss you!  Musica?  Of course!

It was 60° here yesterday!  Which is ridiculous because it just never happens in January, but we took advantage of it and opened all the doors and filled the house with fresh air.  We hear it will go down to 20° today which makes me happy (in a strange way) because I really hope the first buds of spring, and the finishing of our book, happen at exactly the same time!  I definitely wouldn’t want spring to come first!  I do not trust myself with something like that . . . I might never get the book done if flowers start to bloom!

 This is one reason I’m in such a good mood.  We are getting the book ready for the printer — the scanning of the pages has commenced!  Kellee put together this two-page spread — the first I’ve seen where all the photos I’ve chosen are in with the art (not just xeroxed and pasted on).  I can finally see what it will really look like!  Hope it makes sense to you . . .  it’ll be much bigger in real life!  That doesn’t mean I’m finished writing it . . . I think I still have about forty pages to go, but we are getting so close!

These little guys always make me happy — their colors are spring personified, even in the deepest darkest winter.  They are my muse.  Another thing that makes me happy is the new WILLARD I’m planning.  As you might have noticed, I haven’t sent one in a while . . . this one is going to be really special — it’s exciting to have secrets and surprises for people I love!  Makes me happy!  I’ve decided that it should be your Valentine Present, so look for it around then . . . and be sure to sign up everyone you think would like one too . . . then it can be YOUR Valentine Present too. ♥

Speaking of Valentines . . . no one could be sad when they have something like this to cheer their day  . . .

Reminds me of me!  I can see this post is going to be all over the place!  I didn’t know what it would be when I started, and now look where we are . . . let’s get out of here!   Let’s see, where was I?  Oh yes.  Happiness.

This is on a page of one of my old diaries and tells the reason I feel so happy right now.  Because I’m getting to be creative!  Each page of  A Fine Romance  is its own little world.  It requires words, sketching and watercolors, maybe a photograph, it needs to be put together, hand-written, with a quote, or maybe with some other little surprising thing.  And that’s what’s so fun for me, figuring it out.  I did a cute page this morning, about tea, with a cute teapot, a cup and a story, with the perfect quote no one has seen before, like the whole book …. all new art and everything . . .  and that alone is enough for me to smile the rest of the day!   Now let’s see if I can find something that will make you smile . . .

Hello birdie!  How about a cupcake?  Or, perhaps a walk out back on a spring day?

. . . to be mesmerized by windblown quilts . . . this always makes me happy!  Love that ocean air . . . the harbor is just two blocks away. ♥

snow drops . . . right?  Happy?

mmmmmm, a blooming plum tree and soft sunshine . . . can you hear the bees? zzzzzz

 Weather news is reporting that some places in the country are experiencing really low temperatures!  Was it South Dakota where it was something like 40° below?  crazy . . .  I’m thinking . . .

Not that I’m any hurry to move the season forward; I am happy here with my cozy shawl and my crackling fire, truly I am, but sometimes the eyeballs require a little relief, and the nose needs to  i m a g i n e the smell of flowers.  Just for fun.  A little break.  Here we are again in the Sissinghurst White Garden in Kent.  What a day that was, all those wonderful white delphiniums swaying in the breeze, looking a lot like the tower behind them. Lovely to send you Sissinghurst in January — because we have the internet!  Yay!  Makes a person wish she was a bee, just for one day!

Love that this creamy rose isn’t perfect — definitely not from the florist.  Can you smell it?  Doesn’t it look like it’s part gardenia?

Forsythia, I cut from our bushes last spring and forced  . . . still a little bit early for that, but what a wonderful thing to bring into the house at the end of winter!  And to look at, eye candy, free of charge, no work at all, in January.

When the book is done, Joe and I will get on a train and go west to California . . . here is my garden there, on a foggy California morning.  Every time I look at this photo I’m in a little bit of shock.  Must have been a REALLY good day!  Aren’t those yellow-topped golden cypress bushes the cat’s meow?  Their shapes make a good contrast to the flowers.

We can just bring springtime, or a reasonable facsimile, indoors!  If you need more little vases filled with flowers, here they are!

What’s more wonderful than daffodils in the house on a snowy day!?

OH yes, this is more wonderful!  I had to do it . . . Time out from flowers, I just saw this photo!  Remember when Jack saw a bug?  I love this picture!

Is this working, is it making you happy?

Remember eating outside?  Remember lightening bugs?  Remember cricket noises?

. . . remember dinner under the arbor . . . ?

I feel like he does.  So lucky.

Just went to the kitchen to start some water for tea, held Jackie up to the window to watch some robins on the lawn and saw a robin eat a holly berry.  The robin picked the berry up in his beak, flipped his head, and popped it down his throat.

Tea water is boiling girlfriends, back to the drawing table for me.  Love you all, hope life is being good to you.  Bye for now! ♥ XOXO