I've been feeling a bit stalled lately...more lazy than productive...but the wheels have been turning nonetheless. Instead of putting away the folded laundry or packing away the Christmas trees and decorations I've temporarily stashed in the guest bedroom, I stand at the kitchen window, watch the birds at the feeder and note how bare the woods look out back, so brown and brittle with the busy gray road visible through the branches a few hundred yards away. In the summer the woods are so lush you can't even see the ground beneath the trees or the creek down the hill, but in the barren winter I spot foam cups and cardboard and bags that have blown from our trash or someone else's and tell myself I should trek out there with a bag and pick it all up while the temperatures are still unseasonably comfortable. But I don't. The little birds are much busier, and while there are a number of cardinal pairs that stop by, I find it sweet that my favorite little regulars--chickadee, tufted titmouse, downy woodpecker--all arrive in shades of my favorite color scheme...black and cream and gray and white. The round mourning doves huddle on the wrought-iron railing, and the back deck itself is a mess of seeds and gifts the little birds leave behind, but I don't guess I mind. If I'm not inclined to chase after the paper cups in the woods I'm probably not going to sweep of the unused deck any time soon.
Perhaps when the grass is greener I will put together some variation of this adorable project I spotted in the recent Country Gardens magazine. I know just the place here in town I could get the mini fence and other accessories, and I'm thinking the metal washtub I brought home from my Papaw's barn a few years ago, already rusted through a bit in the bottom for drainage, would work just as well as the wheelbarrow. 
I've also been contemplating creating some button art like these found on pinterest and etsy. I'd like to do the word Love or Home in a script font with all white/cream buttons on linen then have it inserted in an old black frame I have, no glass. Some of these versions look stitched and others glued. I'd be going with the latter. A whole word might be too ambitious, too...not sure. I asked the boys at the flea market last week if they'd seen any jars of white buttons in the booths (of course I see them all the time until I am looking for one) and they both offered to bring me some from their treasure stashes at home.
I watched Water for Elephants yesterday afternoon; the book gave me so much to think about when I read it last year. I just couldn't bear the scenes where August mistreated Rosie so I skipped those and might have missed a few things, but I liked the movie and loved Reese's look. Tonight we'll be cheering for Ryan's 49ers in the NFC Championship. He's loved San Fran since he was 11 or so and this is the first football season I can remember in our 15+ years together that the team has done well. He's loyal, that one. I am making guacamole and cupcakes for the occasion...better get to it. Go Niners!
