A picture show

I am back, and getting up at the local getting-up time, but I don't quite feel settled. I have to get provisions and prepare for Easter (a quick chat with the bunny, for example) and do my laundry and say hello to the kids...

But I will quickly show you some pictures!

One day we went to the "countryside" for a family get-together and had a little party here:

 

Actually we were on the deck of the perfectly fine house, looking down at this one. It was kinda cool, don't you think? It comes with appliances, too.

We saw this at a sculpture garden.

Some trees by the river in the early morning. I must say it was nice to be out of the city, though maybe I should have gone in early May instead of mid-April -- as you can see the leaves aren't out there yet, either!

As usual, I paid a visit to the thrift store. One has disappeared into thin air, and one was closed Monday mornings, but the last available store had some treasures. The Mary Maxim fish sweater is my fave, I think. The books for men have lots of sock patterns, which should come in handy!

As well as these patterns, I got a cream pitcher that matches a little sugar bowl I got last summer, white pyrex with gold trim. I put the lot down on the counter and the woman said, "How about $1.50?" Deal!

My mom has a little collection of old tea cups, and she offered me a couple. This one is Coalport, and likely belonged to her mother, so it might well be close to 100 years old.  

This one is Royal Albert Petit Point pattern and I've always thought it was quite lovely.

I put them in a shoe box, wrapped up in paper napkins and dirty knickers, and they made it home intact, hooray! So now I have two fancy cups for those sophisticated tea parties....Note that my usual cup holds about 3 times what you could fit in one of these!

And my usual table is set with bits of knitting, as well.

I just have to graft the toe of the second sock and then I can call them finished. I was supposed to knit a grey pair this month, but I have made no progress at all on them. So we'll call these kid's socks the March/April pair, and move the grey ones down the queue!

I also made this petal dishcloth once I'd finished the sock knitting. Stephen says it should be called a throwing star, which makes me wonder what sort of movies he was watching with the kids while I was away...

Finally, I was delighted to learn that Lolly is running Project Spectrum again this year, and going back to the one-colour-per-month model. May, which is just around the corner, is Red month, and really all the red I have is dishcloth cotton, or some very nice lace yarn. I think I have enough on my plate without starting another lace project, but I will participate by making a red dishcloth and hoping for some red in the garden!

Hey, I still have my old PS button!