Second chances and a finish

Bug alert, caution. Don't say I didn't warn you. First cicada of the season on my deck. They're out. 

About half a mile away but pretty loud. Not deafening this time around. I guess there are thousands rather than the millions that emerged right over our heads last time and caused me temporary deafness, no joke.

A short life, but a merry one.

And here's the second blossom of the white iris, coming on bravely. Maybe even the third one will get there, too.

And finally the Serious Old Party finally gets the Mitered Squares jacket stitched up and tried on. 

Like a real photo shoot, modeling a Very Warm Jacket Suitable for Fall and Winter on a broiling hot late May day. Model stressed out.

 

Looks like yoga stretches 

And here it is. Still needs to be pressed, but I think this will be fun to wear, if we can get the model cheered up.

Now I can get on to my seasonal skirt.

 

Three Good Things

This week, among a lot of other good things, three stand out nicely.

One is the shelf thing, made of actual wood, not mdf, found at the dumpster, needing only a dusting and damp wipe to take its place at the end of my bookcases, as a home for my collection of teapots.  I thought the pots needed a bit more visibility, since they're so good to look at, and the top of a kitchen shelf didn't do it.

Reading north to south: Japanese clay, probably antique, pot, then shelf with three milk pitchers, one a Wedgwood Queensware piece, on an Irish Belleek, one an unmarked, aka back door, Lenox.

Then recent thriftie find, Japanese architectural shaped pot, metal handle then one down, a Chinese porcelain one, courtesy of the Asian store.  Then at the bottom, a coiled pot with bamboo handle, might be Chinese, don't know, but signed in some way.

All very nice to see from the sofa. Interestingly,  they all make tea taste different one from another.  Same tea, same boiling water, different flavor.

Then there was a great lunch, salad of farm grown curly lettuce and scallions, with added homegrown romaine and curly, with chives, then dried figs chopped in.  With a bowl of carrot and red lentil soup, into which I put a rind from a parmesan cheese, first time I tried this, and now I see why they do it. Great flavor addition, and there's yogurt whey in there, too. Also homemade chicken broth. This lunch is a repeating event, plenty of salad greens and soup available.

Then yesterday, after a brisk wind, neighbor stopped by to give me these white iris broken in the wind and she thought I'd like to have them.  I will be drawing and painting and looking at these beauties for a couple of days.

So that's here for now.