Deer, Geese, Turtles, and Turkeys

We have been treated to quite a show these past two weeks! It’s no news that there are deer around, but we don’t usually see them with geese:

The flock of geese & goslings from May has visited us several times more. It was fun to see them splashing in a puddle:

A couple of weeks ago, I spotted a turtle on our neighbor’s yard, heading towards the pond:

Two days after, Mr. E saw a turtle nest on our front yard…

…and two days after that, there she was!

Mr. E poked around in the nest a little, but couldn’t see any eggs. We’ll see, I guess. It would be sooo exciting if we had baby turtles in our future!

One afternoon we spotted this bunny in the grass:

Just a few minutes later, another one arrived and raced up and down the back yard. There was even a third, but we only spotted it when the pair of ears in the bushes happened to move right when I looked. (We did see all three at once, but sadly couldn’t get a picture.)

The most exciting visitor is this wild turkey mommy with her young:

Like the geese, the turkey has also seen back with her chicks. Three days in a row now! We counted six chicks, but I think I only caught five in this photo.

It’s such a treat to see this much wildlife right on our yard!

On Sale NOW: Designer Sheets for a Steep Discount

I was browsing the Crate&Barrell summer sale yesterday and spotted such mind-blowing discounts on Marimekko Unikko bedlinen that I just have to pass it on. (No perking or sponsoring involved; this is just such an amazing sale that I wanted to spread the word.)

For example:

Full/Queen Duvet Cover on sale $40 (reg. $130); Marimekko / Crate&Barrell.

Full/Queen Duvet Cover on sale $50 (reg. $140); Marimekko / Crate&Barrell.

The deal is, the discount applies only to this color (Dusk) and pattern combo; other Marimekko products don’t come with equally steep discounts. The Dusk sheets do come in two pattern sizes, however, regular and small flowers (Pieni).

I really love that greyish blue, but those shades of brown I’m not a fan of. Phew. Otherwise I might have had to replace a getting-ratty set I’ve been eyeing for a while.

P.S. I can’t find any info on how long they’re running the sale. If you’ve ever wanted Marimekko designer sheets and like this pattern/color, I’d shop sooner than later!

(Note: I do not not publish sponsored content, or accept gifts or discounts to write about products. Blog posts are based on my personal opinion.)

Special Dinner: May 2013

Mr. E decided on doing special dinners with a color theme this year. When Mr. E was little, he associated months with a combination of two colors (much like his colors for weekdays). His aim is to make dinner with ingredients that are naturally as close to each month’s colors as possible; food dyes are right out for this project. May colors are red and purple.

Mr. E decided to skip starters and only serve a big salad. The base of the salad was red leaf lettuce; in addition, we had red pepper, cherry tomatoes, red onion, red cabbage, and grilled salmon.

With dinner, we drank red wine that was recommended to us as a sweet red. (Both Mr. E and I like our wine sweet.) It was nicer than other reds I’ve had, but it still won’t beat whites in my book. As dessert we had a red fruit salad (strawberries, red grapes, and cherries).

Like for March and April, the table colors came mainly from textiles, but I was able to use my white plates with red flowers.

I also used two pieces of fabric, one red and the other purple, layered as a runner. Our plaid napkins were reddish enough to make the cut. To my astonishment, our poinsettias are still alive after Christmas, so I set them in the middle to add even more red to the table.

We actually did have this dinner in May – just barely. I have, however, not had a chance to blog it before now. The end of May and early June are always busy at work, and this year was no exception. I didn’t even start on my office (re-re-re-re-)redo until this Monday!

Big Goslings and Little Goslings Went A-Strolling

We usually see geese in passing every year. These guys stopped in our back yard a few weeks ago:

(Most of these pics are phone photos – sorry about the quality.)

This spring, we seem to have a small flock of them actually hanging around the neighborhood. In the flock, there are two or three families with goslings, and the goslings of one family are bigger than those of another. It’s like there were two hatchings a few weeks apart. I’ve never seen that before.

It’s very difficult to photograph them, but in the picture above you can barely see the smaller goslings in the bottom right corner and the larger ones on the left.

The last week or so has been cold and very rainy. The plants love it, though, and it’s good for the water table, even if I’m less than excited. And, sadly, the violets are almost gone. I do love seeing them.

This photo was taken in front of my dentist’s office. A definite positive to an often-dreaded visit!

In other news: I’ve known since last fall that this spring would be busy. On top of that, there have been a few totally unexpected curveballs life has thrown my way. (We haven’t even done May’s special dinner yet, and it’s almost June!) Things are slowly straightening themselves out, it seems, but my blogging time is unfortunately still very limited.

Stay well.

Hammocks!

Summer is coming! I’ve never been a big hammock person, but these cheerful hammocks make me want to (re)consider.

A happy, red hammock with a fringe:

Åhlens.

Swedish department store Åhlens.

Cozy bedroom, or is it living room? Author / artist Ursus Wehrli‘s pad:

Photo Andrea Wyner / The New York Times.

Photo by Andrea Wyner. Found via The New York Times.

Another happy hammock with a fringe:

Reeta Vartiainen, photo by Anna Huovinen / Glorian koti.

Reeta Vartiainen, photo by Anna Huovinen; Glorian koti.

 

Spring Achoo!

This past week, there’s been a lot of rain and sun. The yard is changing so fast! Things are filling up above…

…and below:

Unfortunately, that means my allergies are flaring. As a consequence, I’ve been more tired as usual, even with non-drowsy antihistamines. But I do love spring. Not only is the nature waking up, people are perkier and happier. Seems like every week there are lovely surprises! Stopping in the pharmacy on my way to work one day, I got a free rose:

Happy weekend!

Special Dinner: April 2013

Mr. E decided on doing special dinners with a color theme this year. When Mr. E was little, he associated months with a combination of two colors (much like his colors for weekdays). His aim is to make dinner with ingredients that are naturally as close to each month’s colors as possible; food dyes are right out for this project. April colors are purple and yellow.

Purple is a tough color to find naturally. Not surprisingly, Mr. E had to made substitutes and omissions, and we ended up with a simpler meal than he originally planned. We skipped appetizers, and had an omelette stuffed with fried eggplant. Mr. E had planned on using purple peppers as well in the stuffing, but we could not find them. For dessert we had lemon sorbet with blackberry compote. We opened a bottle of Hill Top Voyage mead as well.

Like for March, I had to rely on textiles (and not dishes) for table colors. This time I went to my fabric stash and found smaller pieces in two shades of purple and a larger piece with a yellow-ish overall impression. I ironed the pieces, folded the cut edges under, and layered them. I’m quite pleased with the end result, especially for such a cheap trick.

In addition, I used light wooden platters for chargers and plates with a cream edging to tone down my choice for the table runner fabric. Yellow napkins and candles complete the illusion.

(Note: I do not not publish sponsored content, or accept gifts or discounts to write about products. Blog posts are based on my personal opinion.)