Spring has Arrived!

The last few days have been perfect weather wise. We've been listening to the peepers for over a week, and the flowers are beginning to bloom. I've got some seeds started, the garden has been tilled, and new flower beds are shaping up nicely.

Today Jonathan worked on putting together a birdhouse with Dad...At night he is busy creating with Legos. This is his latest creation...
Sunday Wayne got some pictures of 'his girls'...
Raven thinks she's a lapdog...
With the right motivation (a bagel) these 2 can be very focused...

Welcome News

In today's paper the owner of the Drive-in said they will be rebuilding and hope to have a new screen installed by May. With that news, the area has lots of happy drive-in fans.

Death of a Local Icon

In August 1998 we arrived in Unadilla. Wayne drove us along State Hwy 7 without telling us how close we were to our new home. (We had only seen the house via video. He had flown from England in May of 1998 to look at the house and signed a contract.) He was waiting to see if we'd recognize it as we drove closer. I got sidetracked by the fact that there was still a family drive-in theater in existence. He had to interrupt to show us that we were at our new home.

When we first moved here you could clearly see the movie screen from our back field, which made walking the dog at night very entertaining for Matthew. The trees in the hedge row have grown to block the view, but over the years the drive-in has been a place of memory making. Matthew had his first paying job as a cook at the snack-bar and gained the nick name "skunk whisperer" by providing skunk removal. (Thanks to Grampa Goss who told him the tricks of the trade.) It was a favorite activity for our kids to meet friends at the drive-in with lawn chairs and blankets, bug spray, and homemade popcorn to experience a movie as only a drive-in allows. The business has been on the market off and on and each time the sign came down, there was a sigh of relief from the kids.

The other night we had strong winds. None of us really thought anything about it since such storms come through every so often, but the next morning revealed a death in the neighborhood that shook the whole area...
Somehow summer won't be the same without hearing the occasional rumbles and cheers, the cars lining up along St Hwy 7 to get a favored spot in the field, or the surge of cars leaving at 10:30 (after the first feature) and 12:30. A sad farewell.

Friends

These 2 boys are never far apart. They're either pestering each other or planning their next adventure...
and these 2 dogs are becoming friends. The girls were thrilled when they caught the two of them sleeping so closely together "without being staged!" and had to record the event. Even though Captain grumbles and complains about Raven being so rambunctious, he certainly does his part in chasing her through the house, barking and growling...with his tail wagging furiously.

March Projects

Ian made his version of a game that he saw on the video "3-2-1 Penguins" called "Squid-Tac-Toad". He thoroughly explains the game to anyone who will listen, but I have yet to figure out all the characters and moves that are legal. The other night he was playing and decided that the 3-d glasses made the game more interesting. I thought it made for a cute picture...Jonathan continues to create with Legos and proudly displays his latest version of emergency vehicles...
The boys love doing hands on projects for school and the other day they were working on a solar system that stretched across the family room. Wayne has lots of experience in 'learning isn't neat' with schooling these two scientists...Several months ago a woman asked me to make her two felt appliqued/embroidered mats--one to go under a plant and the other in the center of her table's lazy susan. I've been working on them off and on through the winter months and finally finished them last week. The bigger mat has flowers, leaves, or vines for each season and the smaller one has a variety of flower blossoms. I enjoyed the challenge of creating blossoms to applique and will probably use some of these ideas for other projects for the shop.

I also finally finished a 100% angora scarf for a customer...just in time for Spring! Oh well, at least she'll be prepared if we have a wintry spring day.

My projects this week have been building a couple of flower beds and coming up with some spring items for the shop...potpourri sachets and a crochet cotton shopping bag. A quilt is getting closer to completion. Hopefully, today the borders will be on and it'll be ready for 'sandwiching'.
My fingers are itching to spin on my wheel--especially when I look at the sheep and alpaca with their beautiful fleece ready to be sheared in a couple of months. So many projects, so little time!