Wow

It's only been, what, 11 days or so since my last post?  (Catholic school flashback - making a confession and having to say how long it had been since my last confession... )...

lots of things happened while I was away... there were birthdays 

Ben turned 13, which I find utterly shocking, and I aged a little more too - let's just say that 50 no longer seems as old as it once did...

there was a trip which was heartbreakingly cut short due to Swine Flu - and if I may digress for a sec, without minimizing the effects or spread of this disease, what I saw in Mexico confirmed for me that the biggest problem with it was media overreaction - 

there were no signs of anything, not even concern, where we were, not at the airport on the way home or on the planes as we scooted home on the last flight out of Cancun until June... do I feel like we dodged a bullet by leaving early? Hell, NO.

Frankly, this, spotted on the highway from Cancun, scared me more than anything else I saw

There has been gardening, and new transient occupants in the garden  .

There's even been some construction

Before:

After: - well, it's not 100% after, but I'll post a final pic when it's actually done.

Heck, there's even been knitting and other fibre games, but I'll be back with those in a bit - right now I'm off to paint a wall or two...

Oh, the Irony...

Don't you just love how some people love to spout off about how great they are, how, oh, I don't know, virtuous they are... and then they just drop off the face of the earth?

I do...

I have/hopefully had lost my blogging mojo - I have written more posts in my head than I can count , but have had no ooomph to actually write them down.  And putting up pictures???  Puh-lease...

lots has happened since last we spoke - there have been birthdays (Ben is now 13!!!!!, although he insists that he will not be teen-like; and I am now officially older than dirt);  there have been vacations;  there has been a new computer purchased (the reason for lack of pics is I am having a bitch of a time getting Flickr to work with this - I am now a Mac user and still figuring it out - stupid learning curve);  and there has been much knitting.  For that, you can take a peek at my Ravelry page and see what's been shakin' on the needles... 

and now we are in the death throes of the school year and are DYING for the start of summer vacation... I am, as in years previous, planning many to teach myself many new skills, including weaving, spinning, and dyeing - I have finally settled into my home (only took 5 1/2 years) and am planning to start ripping out stuff from the garden that I hate; I am going to buckle down to my AutoCAD course once the updated version becomes available...

and I will try my darndest to be a more faithful blogger... starting with uploading pictures...