This little monkey and his buddy below are their way to find new friends at the Little Heroes Preschool Burn Camp in Livermore, California. The camp, for burn survivors age 3 to 6, helps children and their caregivers to deal with the physical and emotional challenges of burn recovery. Best of all, thanks to generous donors and volunteers, the camp provides this opportunity for free.

Check out the project’s Flickr page here. Some of my favorites are here, here, here, here, here and here. OK, OK, I love them all.

Thanks to Marjorie and Craft Hope for organizing this project! I’m so glad I was able to be a part of it. And now that I know how to make sock monkeys, I just can’t stop!

You might say I have monkeys on the brain.

My only excuse is that the LCD screen on my camera broke on the way home from my trip to San Francisco. I sent it off for repair under its warranty, and was camera-less for about a month. Then, when I finally got it back, it had a completely new problem- the lens keeps getting stuck. I’m trying to decide if I’d rather just deal with it, or send it back for repairs again.

At least it’s still taking nice pictures. Here are some taken in our garden this afternoon. Any of you who live in the northeast know what a challenging summer it’s been. The sun barely came out in June, and July wasn’t much better. It’s gorgeous out there today, so here’s hoping August brings much more sun!

M. Ward, Here Comes the Sun Again

A pumpkin is our garden’s largest resident.

A seed accidentally sown now towers over everything.

Newly sown swiss chard remembers only the last three sunny days.

After weeks of nothing but green tomatoes,

a flash of red

means the first taste of the season.

climbing telegraph hill

murals at coit tower

approaching alcatraz

prisoners are crafty, too

sunning ourselves at fisherman’s wharf

so said martin luther king, jr.

putting it all in perspective at muir woods

feeling transported

my senses delighted

finally, san francisco.

Last week I made a couple of dolls to send to the Casa Bernabe orphanage on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua. Eren of Vintage Chica will be traveling to Nicaragua in July and will bring the dolls with her. I hope to make a few more before the deadline of June 13th. If you’re interested in participating, check out the Craft Hope website for details.

Here are the latest photos of my salad table’s progess: it’s been a little over three weeks now and it is at the microgreen stage. The arugula (the largest, greenest row) and mustard greens (just behind the arugula) are particularly tasty. I planted several different types of lettuce, all of which are still quite small but are coming in nicely. The herbs (in the first rows) and the spinaches (in the last rows) are taking their sweet time.

I’m heading off to San Francisco for a few days. When I travel, I usually take only a few pictures, choosing to live in the moment rather than to take the time to capture it on film (or SD card, as the case may be.) When I return home though, I always wish I had more pictures… so I’m promising right here that I’m going to take lots of pictures and post about my trip next week!

Lilac buds and vinca flowers in my backyard

The winter, which was a difficult one, has finally given way to spring. It feels like a good time to start new things. Instead of huddling indoors or inside my own head, it’s time to get outside, to build, to create.

First on my list was to create a salad table. If you’re wondering what that is, check out the University of Maryland’s website, Grow It Eat It, which explains how to build your own salad table and has lots of tips on planting and harvesting lettuce greens and herbs. The table is movable, so you can give your greens direct sunlight in the spring, move them into the shade for the heat of summer, and back into direct sunlight for the fall. We did have several types of greens in our vegetable garden last year but they didn’t fare very well, and I’m hoping that I’ll have better luck with a salad table this year.

Yesterday, I painted the table a bright robin’s egg blue. I just planted this morning, so nothing is growing yet, but here’s a “before” photo:

Today I had my first taste of food from our garden. Our collard greens from last year’s planting are up and ready to eat. They’re not very big, but I say let’s just call them microgreens and dig in!

I prepared some using this method from Gourmet.com, which worked great. A little olive oil, garlic, butter beans and vinegar and I had a delicious lunch. I can get used to this.

Free pattern here.

Bailey Works, a Portsmouth company, commissioned 15 local artists to re-invent their messenger bags. The Ello Gallery will exhibit their work from today until April 27th. My brother, Adam, is one of the artists that will be featured. A sneak peek of Adam’s work is here. Photos of last year’s exhibition are here. Check it out. Grab a bite at the Friendly Toast. It’s time to come out of hibernation!

Try this exercise for a twisted bit of fun. Google the phase, “Unfortunately, _______” filling in the blank with your first name. Here are some of my grim results:

Unfortunately, Meredith was not a good worker and took to drinking.

Unfortunately, Meredith is adamant that she’s not an alcoholic.

Unfortunately, Meredith’s mother is a bigot.

Unfortunately, Meredith didn’t finish this race due to a snow machine running into her team during the race (she is fine but one of her dogs faces surgery tomorrow for a fractured foot.)

Unfortunately, Meredith has barely gotten to know her neighbor when Harriet meets with a fatal accident at the Boxing Day Hunt.

Unfortunately, Meredith’s tumor returned.

Unfortunately, Meredith is dead, and nobody can do anything for her anymore.

Puts a rough day at the office in perspective, doesn’t it?

Via allsorts

She had snatched a knife from the sink and was chewing on the handle cluelessly until I intervened. Or, perhaps she is smarter than I thought, and was planning to take me on a trip to Petco at knifepoint?

Disclaimer: No dogs (or humans) were harmed in the production of this post.

For his long treks through the tundra, he carries a backpack.

And what is in his backpack, you ask?

Knitting needles and yarn! He is a crafty yeti.

Before shipping off to his new home in Portland, Oregon, Harry got to spend a little time with Phillipe, a fiery monster that now lives with me thanks to Rebecca, my other swap partner. Phillipe feeds on angry feelings, and brought his own box of fiery flakes to eat whenever I’m happy. Harry and Phillipe got along great, but now Harry’s on his way to his new home. He’ll be knitting all the way, of course.